JAPAN

Japan comprises an island chain along mainland Asia's east coast. The four main islands Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu stretch some 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) from northeast to southwest. Including the more than 3,900 smaller islands, Japan is about 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) long. Its maximum width is about 200 miles (320 kilometers). Japan has no land border with any other country. Across the Sea of Japan to the west are North and South Korea; across the Sea of Japan to the northwest and the Sea of Okhotsk to the north is Russia; across the East China Sea to the west is China; southwest of Japan's Ryukyu Islands are Taiwan and the Philippines. The open waters of the vast Pacific Ocean wash Japan's eastern and southeastern shores. Across the Pacific, more than 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) away, is the United States mainland.