Japan, photos of Japan, Japan pictures

Japan, photos of Japan, Japan pictures, Japan images - Himeji Castle, Hirado Castle, Hiroshima Castle, Kumamoto Castle, Matsumoto Castle, Nagoya Castle, Osaka Castle, Shimabara Castle, Shuri Castle, Tokyo, Tokyo Imperial Palace _____ Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is often referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, which together comprise about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Honshū's Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.