It can’t be easy keeping count of the number of islands scattered around an area of more than 370,000 square kilometres, in a country that is regularly subjected to volcanic activity and extreme weather.
While Japan has seen the formation of new islands, and the quiet disappearance of another, geographers have said official statistics showing it is made up of around 6,000 islands are way off the mark.
Using digital mapping technology, geographers will soon announce that Japan’s island count is actually double the previously recognised number, according to media reports.
In the first survey of its kind for 35 years, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan has totted up a total of 14,125 islands – 7,273 more than previously thought.
The government body, which is due to release its findings within the next few weeks, said the new information was unlikely to change the size of Japan’s territory or territorial waters, according to the Kyodo news agency.
The authority launched the new study following criticism that the previous data were out of date, meaning the actual number of islands could be dramatically higher.
An MP from the ruling Liberal Democratic party called for a recount, telling parliament in 2021 that “an accurate understanding of the number of islands … was in the national interest”.
In the last survey, released in 1987 by the coast guard, paper maps were used to tally islands – defined as land masses with a circumference of at least 100 metres – resulting in the previously accepted figure of 6,852.
In the most recent study, officials used the same size criterion, but counted islands using digitised maps and cross-referenced the information with past aerial photographs and other data to exclude artificially reclaimed land, Kyodo said.
Some of Japan’s 47 prefectures comprise huge numbers of islands. The northern prefecture of Hokkaido – one of the four main islands, along with Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu – has 1,473, according to the new survey, while Nagasaki in the south-west has 1,479.
