第1个回答 2012-01-17
GeographyMain articles: Geography of Japan and Geology of Japan
Topographic mapJapan has a total of 6,852 islands extending along the Pacific coast of Asia. The country, including all of the islands it controls, lies between latitudes 24° and 46°N, and longitudes 122° and 146°E. The main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshū, Shikoku and Kyūshū. The Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa, are a chain of islands south of Kyushū. Together they are often known as the Japanese Archipelago.[50] About 73 percent of Japan is forested, mountainous, and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial, or residential use.[2][51] As a result, the habitable zones, mainly located in coastal areas, have extremely high population densities. Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.[52]
The islands of Japan are located in a volcanic zone on the Pacific Ring of Fire. They are primarily the result of large oceanic movements occurring over hundreds of millions of years from the mid-Silurian to the Pleistocene as a result of the subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate beneath the continental Amurian Plate and Okinawa Plate to the south, and subduction of the Pacific Plate under the Okhotsk Plate to the north. Japan was originally attached to the eastern coast of the Eurasian continent. The subducting plates pulled Japan eastward, opening the Sea of Japan around 15 million years ago.[53] Japan has 108 active volcanoes. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunamis, occur several times each century.[54] The 1923 Tokyo earthquake killed over 140,000 people.[55] The most recent major quakes are the 2004 Chūetsu earthquake and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, a 9.0-magnitude[56] quake which hit Japan on March 11, 2011, and triggered a tsunami.[49]