The Land of the Rising Sun Japan is an archipelago, or a group of islands, about 100 miles east of the Asian mainland. The ancient Japanese knew about China and Korea, but they did not know of any land east of their islands. They believed theirs was the first land awakened by the rising sun. The Europeans learned of Japan from the Chinese, who mispronounced the name as Zipango. That word eventually evolved into Japan.
Japan consists of thousands of islands, many of which are too small for people to live.
Shikoku and Kyushu are smaller islands south of Honshu, and Hokkaido is north of Honshu. Japan is smaller than California, but because of the shape of the nation, it experiences almost as many climates as the United States. In fact, the northernmost part of Hokkaido is at the same latitude as Montreal, while the southernmost tip of Kyushu is parallel to Pensacola, Florida. Japan is smaller than California, but is home to more than 120 million people, making it more than four times as crowded as California. Additionally, three-quarters of the Japanese people are crowded into the narrow plain on the southeast coast of Honshu between Tokyo and Hiroshima.