Japan has conducted an inventory of its islands amid criticism that the figures are inaccurate. Geographers expect to add more than 7,000 islands to the list.
Eugene Hoshiko/AP
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Eugene Hoshiko/AP
Japan has conducted an inventory of its islands amid criticism that the figures are inaccurate. Geographers expect to add more than 7,000 islands to the list.
Eugene Hoshiko/AP
The number of islands in Japan is expected to more than double after 7,000 new islands the country didn’t know existed were discovered.
Yes, type.
The country currently consists of 6,852 islands, but that number comes from a 1987 study conducted by the Japan Coast Guard. During a parliamentary session in December 2021, one lawmaker argued that the data is old and the real numbers could be vastly different.
“A precise understanding of the number of islands is an important administrative issue in the national interest,” the lawmaker said. news Kyodo.
In the 1987 study, officials listed — by hand — islands with a circumference of at least 100 meters. They used basic technology that often misidentifies groups of islets as one island.
They also left behind thousands of islands, many of which are located in lakes or rivers. They also do not include river sandbanks, which the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea now recognized as an island. Plus, volcanic activity has led to the creation of more islands since the study more than 35 years ago.
Now, with the recount of votes, that number is expected to grow to 14,125 islands, a source familiar with the matter told Kyodo News.
The news is part of a report that the Japan Geospatial Information Agency is expected to release next month.
To recount, geographers used advanced mapping technology and cross-referenced past aerial photographs. Like the original study, they don’t include anything less than 100 meters in circumference.
The final number is still subject to change slightly as geographers are still making final adjustments.
Kyodo News reports that, despite the large increase, the discovery is unlikely to change the size of Japan’s territory or waters.
