Japan - Japanio

Japan

Japan (JP)

Capital

Tokyo

Area

377,944 km²

Population

127 288 419 (estimate 2008)

Currency

Japanese yen (JPY)

Electricity

100V / 50-60Hz, American contact

Tel. pre-code

81

Horizon

UTC 9

Japan, or Nippon (Japanese: Nihon or Nippon (日本)), is an island country in East Asia. The capital is Tokyo.

Regions

Usually, Japan is cut between nine regions, listed north-south:

Hokkaido (Central Circuit, Eastern Circuit, Northern Circuit, Southern Circuit)
Most northerly island and extremely snowy site. Famous for its wide, open spaces and cold winters.

Tohoku (Aomori, Iwate, Akita, Miyagi, Yamagata, Fukushima)
Mainly rural part of the main island of Honshu, best known for seafood, skiing and hot springs.

Song (Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa)
Coastal plain of Honshu, contains the cities Tokyo and Yokohama.

Chubu (Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Yamanashi, Nagano, Shizuoka, Here, Gifu)
Mountainous central region of Honshu, where the Japanese Alps and the fourth largest city in Japan, Nagoja.

Kansai (Shiga, Me, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Wakayama, Hyogo)
Western part of Honshu, an ancient capital of culture and commerce, containing the cities Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and Kobe.

Chugoku (Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi)
Most southwest in Honshu, a rural area best known for its cities Hiroshima and Okayama.

Shikoku (Kagawa, Ehime, Tokushima, Kochi)
The smallest of the four main islands, a destination of Buddhist pilgrims and the best place in Japan for floating.

Kyushu (Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Oita, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Kagoshima)
The southernmost of the four main islands, the birthplace of Japanese civilization; largest cities are Fukuoka and Kitakyushu.

Okinawa
Semi-tropical southern archipelago extending to Taiwan; formerly the independent Ryukyu Kingdom until its unification with Japan in 1879, so its traditional customs and architecture differ from the rest of Japan.