Japan: The Largest Metropolitan Area in the World

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Japan[a] is an island country in East Asia. Japan is located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland. It is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan. The country extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south.

The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. It also includes thousands of smaller islands. The total area covers 377,975 square kilometres (145,937 sq mi). Japan has a population of over 123 million as of 2025, making it the eleventh-most populous country. Tokyo is both the capital of Japan and its largest city. The Greater Tokyo Area is the largest metropolitan area in the world. It has more than 37 million inhabitants as of 2024. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions. About three-quarters of the country’s terrain is mountainous. It is also heavily forested. This geography concentrates its agriculture and highly urbanized population along its eastern coastal plains. The country sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, making its islands prone to destructive earthquakes and tsunamis.