News Desk
TOKYO: The number of Japanese islands is expected to more than double the previously recognized number after the government recounted them for the first time in 35 years, according to the Kyodo news agency.
In the first survey of its kind for 35 years, Japan’s Geospatial Information Authority used digital mapping technology to tot up a total of 14,125 islands – 7,273 more than previously accepted figure.
The government body, which is expected to release the new data within the upcoming weeks, said the increased number of islands was unlikely to change the size of the country’s territory or its territorial waters, Kyodo news reported citing an official source.
The authority launched the new study after criticism that the previous data was out of date, and that the actual number of islands could be much higher.
An MP from the ruling Liberal Democratic party had demanded a recount, telling parliament in 2021 that “an accurate understanding of the number of islands … was in the national interest”.
Previously accepted number of Islands was issued in 1987
The previously accepted figure of 6,852 was released in 1987 by the coast guard, which used paper maps to count islands – defined as land masses having a circumference of at least 100 metres.
The same size criterion was used in the most recent study; however, this time, officials conducted the count using digitised maps and cross-referenced the data with past aerial photographs and other information to exclude artificially reclaimed land, Kyodo said.
Some of Japan’s 47 prefectures are comprised of a large number of islands, with the northern prefecture of Hokkaido – one of the four major islands, along with Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu – having 1,473, as per the new survey, while Nagasaki in the south-west having 1,479.
