Japan’s Island Count Doubles to Over 14,000 Following New Survey Method
This information was reported by the British newspaper The Guardian, citing data from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan.
According to the report, a re-evaluation conducted after 35 years using digital mapping revealed that the current total of islands in Japan is 14,125, an increase of 7,273 islands from previous estimates.
Counting the islands scattered across an area of over 370,000 km2 in a country significantly affected by volcanic geological activity and climate is no easy task.
The new survey using digital maps was conducted following numerous suggestions that existing data had become outdated and that a reassessment of the number of islands was necessary. For instance, a lawmaker stated before the Japanese parliament in 2021 that “accurately counting the number of islands… is in the national interest.”
Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido, Japan. (Photo: AP).
Kyodo News reported that Japanese officials will release the new statistical data in the coming weeks, emphasizing that the addition of over 7,000 islands does not imply any change in Japan’s land or maritime territory compared to previous counts.
It is noted that the last survey was conducted in 1987, where the count of islands in Japan was based on the coast guard’s efforts using paper maps.
The recent survey utilized the same criteria for defining an island’s size but counted the islands using digital maps.
Furthermore, the information was cross-referenced with historical aerial photographs and other data to exclude artificially reclaimed land.
