Japan Current

Japan Current

Japan Current or Kuroshio[Jap.,=black stream], warm ocean current of the Pacific Ocean, off E Asia. A northward flowing branch of the North Equatorial Current, it runs E of Taiwan and Japan; the Tsushima Current separates from the main current and flows into the Sea of Japan. At about lat. 35°N it divides to form an eastern branch flowing nearly to the Hawaiian Islands and a northern branch that skirts the coast of Asia and merges with the waters of the cold Oyashio Current to form the North Pacific Current. Dense fogs develop along the boundary between the Japan and Oyashio currents. Air moving over the warm Japan Current becomes more temperate and acts to moderate the climate of Taiwan and Japan.
Japan is an island nation in East Asia comprising a large stratovolcanic archipelago extending along the Pacific coast of Asia. Measured from the geographic coordinate system, Japan is 36° north of the equator and 138° east of the Prime Meridian. The country is north-northeast of China and Taiwan (separated by the East China Sea) and slightly east of Korea (separated by the Sea of Japan). The country is south of Siberia in Russia.

The main islands, sometimes called the "Home Islands", are (from north to south) Hokkaidō, Honshū (the "mainland"), Shikoku and Kyūshū. There are also about 3,000 smaller islands, including Okinawa, and islets, some inhabited and others uninhabited. In total, as of 2006, Japan's territory is 377,923.1 km², of which 374,834 km² is land and 3,091 km² water. This makes Japan's total area slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Montana. Japan is bigger than Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand and the U.K., and is 1.7 times the size of Korea and 10 times the size of Taiwan.



Map references: Asia


Area comparative: slightly smaller than California, USA

Land boundaries: none

Coastline: 29,751 km (18,486 mi)

Maritime claims:

Climate: varies from tropical in south to cool temperate in north

Terrain: mostly rugged and mountainous

Natural resources: negligible coal, oil, iron resources, fish, and mineral resources

Land use:

  • arable land: 11%
  • permanent crops: 1%
  • permanent pastures: 2%
  • forests and woodland: 67%
  • other: 19% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 27,820 km² (1993 est.) 73% of Japan is mountains.

Composition, topography, and drainage

About 73% of Japan is mountainous, with a mountain range running through each of the main islands. Japan's highest mountain is Mt. Fuji, with an elevation of 3,776 m (12,388 ft). Since so very little flat area exists, many hills and mountainsides are cultivated all the way to the top. As Japan is situated in a volcanic zone along the Pacific deeps, frequent low-intensity earth tremors and occasional volcanic activity are felt throughout the islands. Destructive earthquakes occur several times a century. Hot springs are numerous and have been exploited as an economic capital by the leisure industry.

The mountainous islands of the Japanese Archipelago form a crescent off the eastern coast of Asia. They are separated from the mainland by the Sea of Japan, which historically served as a protective barrier. The country consists of four principal islands: Hokkaidō, Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū; more than 3,000 adjacent islands and islets, including Oshima in the Nampo Chain; and more than 200 other smaller islands, including those of the Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima chains of the Ryukyu Islands. The national territory also includes the small Bonin or Ogasawara Islands, which include Iwo Jima and the Volcano Islands (Kazan Retto), stretching some 1,100 kilometers from the main islands. A territorial dispute with Russia, dating from the end of World War II, over the two southernmost of the Kuril Islands, Etorofu (Iturup) and Kunashiri, and the smaller Shikotan and Habomai Islands northeast of Hokkaidō remains a sensitive spot in Japanese-Russian relations as of 2005. Excluding disputed territory, the archipelago covers about 377,000 square kilometers. No point in Japan is more than 150 kilometers from the sea.









Japan belongs to the temperate zone with four distinct seasons, but its climate varies from cool temperate in the north to subtropical in the south. The climate is also affected by the seasonal winds that blow from the continent to the ocean in winters and vice versa in summers.

Japan is generally a rainy country with high humidity. Because of its wide range of latitude, Japan has a variety of climates, with a range often compared to that of the east coast of North America, from Nova Scotia to Georgia. Tokyo is at about 35 north latitude, comparable to that of Tehran, Athens, or Las Vegas. The generally humid, temperate climate exhibits marked seasonal variation celebrated in art and literature, as well as regional variations ranging from cool in Hokkaidō to subtropical in Kyūshū. Climate also varies with altitude and with location on the Pacific Ocean or on the Sea of Japan. Northern Japan has warm summers but long, cold winters with heavy snow. Central Japan has hot, humid summers and short winters, and southwestern Japan has long, hot, humid summers and mild winters.

Two primary factors influence Japan's climate: a location near the Asian continent and the existence of major oceanic currents. The climate from June to September is marked by hot, wet weather brought by tropical airflows from the Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia. These airflows are full of moisture and deposit substantial amounts of rain when they reach land. There is a marked rainy season, beginning in early June and continuing for about a month. It is followed by hot, sticky weather. Five or six typhoons pass over or near Japan every year from early August to early September, sometimes resulting in significant damage. Annual precipitation, which averages between 100 and 200 centimeters (39–78 inches), is concentrated in the period between June and September. In fact, 70 to 80 percent of the annual precipitation falls during this period. In winter, a high-pressure area develops over Siberia, and a low-pressure area develops over the northern Pacific Ocean. The result is a flow of cold air eastward across Japan that brings freezing temperatures and heavy snowfalls to the central mountain ranges facing the Sea of Japan, but clear skies to areas fronting on the Pacific.

Two major ocean currents affect this climatic pattern: the warm Kuroshio Current (Black Current; also known as the Japan Current); and the cold Oyashio Current (Parent Current; also known as the Okhotsk Current). The Kuroshio Current flows northward on the Pacific side of Japan and warms areas as far north as Tokyo; a small branch, the Tsushima Current, flows up the Sea of Japan side. The Oyashio Current, which abounds in plankton beneficial to coldwater fish, flows southward along the northern Pacific, cooling adjacent coastal areas. The meeting point of these currents at 36 north latitude is a bountiful fishing ground.

Late June and early July are a rainy season—except in Hokkaidō—as a seasonal rain front or stays above Japan. In summer and early autumn, typhoons, grown from tropical depressions generated near the equator, attack Japan with furious rainstorms.

Its varied geographical features divide Japan into six principal climatic zones.

  • : Belonging to the cool temperate zone, Hokkaidō has long, cold winters and cool summers. Precipitation is not great.
  • : The northwest seasonal wind in winter gives heavy snowfalls. In summer it is less hot than in the Pacific area but sometimes experiences extreme high temperatures due to the foehn wind phenomenon.
  • : A typical inland climate gives large temperature differences between summers and winters and between days and nights. Precipitation is not large throughout the year.
  • : Winters are cold, with little snowfall, and summers are hot and humid due to the southeast seasonal wind.
  • : This zone has a subtropical climate with warm winters and hot summers. Precipitation is very high, and is especially affected by the rainy season and typhoons.

The warmest winter temperatures are found in the Nampo and Bonin Islands, which enjoy a tropical climate due to the combination of latitude, distance from the Asian mainland, and warming effect of winds from the Kuroshio, as well as the Volcano Islands (at the latitude of the southernmost Ryūkyūs, 24° N.).

As an island nation, Japan has a long coastline. A few prefectures are landlocked: Gunma, Tochigi, Saitama, Nagano, Yamanashi, Gifu, Shiga, and Nara. As Mt. Fuji provides rain shadow effects in Yamanashi it has the least rainfall in Japan, which still excesses 1000 mm annually. The others all have coasts on the Pacific Ocean, Sea of Japan, Seto Inland Sea or have a body of salt water connected to them. Two prefectures—Hokkaidō and Okinawa—are composed entirely of islands.

The hottest temperature ever measured in Japan—40.9 degrees Celsius—occurred in Tajimi, Gifu on August 16, 2007.

Environmental protection

Environment - current issues: In the 2006 environment annual report, the Ministry of Environment reported that current major issues are global warming and preservation of the ozone layer, conservation of the atmospheric environment, water and soil, waste management and recycling, measures for chemical substances, conservation of the natural environment and the participation in the international cooperation.

Environment - international agreements:
signed and ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Natural hazards

Ten percent of the world's active volcanoes—forty in the early 1990s (another 148 were dormant)—are found in Japan, which lies in a zone of extreme crustal instability. As many as 1,500 earthquakes are recorded yearly, and magnitudes of four to six on the Richter scale are not uncommon. Minor tremors occur almost daily in one part of the country or another, causing slight shaking of buildings. Major earthquakes occur infrequently; the most famous in the twentieth century was the great Kantō earthquake of 1923, in which 130,000 people died. Undersea earthquakes also expose the Japanese coastline to danger from , tidal wave.

Japan has become a world leader in research on causes and prediction of earthquakes. The development of advanced technology has permitted the construction of skyscrapers even in earthquake-prone areas. Extensive civil defense efforts focus on training in protection against earthquakes, in particular against accompanying fire, which represents the greatest danger.

Another common hazard are that reach Japan from the Pacific.




Extreme points



Japan (main islands)

Elevation extremes

See also


http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ Japan

All Geography of Japan information taken from:
The World Fact Book

External links

Weather in Japan Japan Weather Association

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