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28-590: Once separated from Honshu , Tsunoshima is now accessible via the 1,780 metres (5,840 ft) long Tsunoshima Bridge , which was completed in the year 2000. At the time it was the longest toll free bridge in the country, though the completion of the Kouri Bridge in Okinawa prefecture pushed it into second place. On the north west of the island is the Tsunoshima Lighthouse , which has come to be

56-535: A local administrative unit, under the 1889 municipal system Tsunoshima Village was a part of the Toyoura district and under a 1955 unification it became part of Hōhoku Town . In 2005, as the four towns which made up the Toyoura district ( Hōhoku , Kikugawa , Toyoura and Toyota ) merged with the city of Shimonoseki , Tsunoshima became a part of the city. Tsunoshima is home to many spider lily flowers. Following

84-714: A quarter of all paddy fields in Japan. Chiba Prefecture is famous for its peanuts, also being the largest producer in Japan. Rare species of the lichen genus Menegazzia are found only in Honshu. Most of Japan's tea and silk is from Honshu. Japan's three largest industrial regions are all located on Honshu: the Keihin region , the Hanshin Industrial Region , and the Chūkyō Industrial Area . Honshu

112-472: Is home to a large portion of Japan's minimal mineral reserves, including small oil and coal deposits. Several coal deposits are located in the northern part of the island, concentrated in Fukushima Prefecture and Niigata Prefecture , though Honshu's coal production is negligible in comparison to Hokkaido and Kyushu . Most of Japan's oil reserves are also located in northern Honshu, along

140-513: Is roughly 1,300 km (810 mi) long and ranges from 50 to 230 km (31 to 143 mi) wide, and its total area is 227,960 km (88,020 sq mi), making it slightly larger than the island of Great Britain . Its land area has been increasing with land reclamation and coastal uplift in the north due to plate tectonics with a convergent boundary . Honshu has 10,084 kilometres (6,266 mi) of coastline. Mountainous and volcanic, Honshu experiences frequent earthquakes (such as

168-412: Is seismically active, and is home to 40 active volcanoes. In 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 9.0–9.1 occurred off the coast of Honshu, generating tsunami waves up to 40.5 meters (133 ft) high and killing 19,747. It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan , and the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world since modern record-keeping began in 1900. The tsunami subsequently led to

196-701: Is the largest and most populous island of Japan . It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait , north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea , and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits . The island separates the Sea of Japan , which lies to its north and west, from the North Pacific Ocean to the south and east. It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and

224-543: The Great Kantō earthquake , which heavily damaged Tokyo in September 1923; and the earthquake of March 2011 , which moved the northeastern part of the island by varying amounts of as much as 5.3 m (17 ft) while causing devastating tsunamis). The highest peak is the active volcano Mount Fuji at 3,776 m (12,388 ft), which makes Honshu the world's 7th highest island . There are many rivers, including

252-728: The Kurushima Kaikyō Bridge ; Shimotsui-Seto Bridge , Hitsuishijima Bridge , Iwakurojima Bridge , Yoshima Bridge , Kita Bisan-Seto Bridge , and the Minami Bisan-Seto Bridge ), the Seikan Tunnel connects Honshu with Hokkaidō, and the Kanmonkyo Bridge and Kanmon Tunnel connect Honshu with Kyūshū . These are notable flora and fauna of Honshu. Being on the Ring of Fire , the island of Honshu

280-545: The Ogasawara Islands , Sado Island , Izu Ōshima , and Awaji Island . The regions and their prefectures are: Japanese archipelago The Japanese archipelago ( Japanese : 日本列島 , Nihon Rettō ) is an archipelago of 14,125 islands that form the country of Japan . It extends over 3,000 km (1,900 mi) from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East China and Philippine seas in

308-533: The Shinano River , Japan's longest. The Japanese Alps span the width of Honshu, from the 'Sea of Japan' coast to the Pacific shore. The climate is generally humid subtropical in western Japan and humid continental in the north. Honshu has a total population of 104 million people, according to a 2017 estimate, 81.3% of the entire population of Japan. The largest city is Tokyo (population: 13,988,129),

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336-582: The second-most populous after the Indonesian island of Java . Honshu had a population of 104 million as of 2017 , constituting 81.3% of the entire population of Japan, and mostly concentrated in the coastal areas and plains. Approximately 30% of the total population resides in the Greater Tokyo Area on the Kantō Plain . As the historical center of Japanese cultural and political power,

364-677: The Tsunoshima Bridge. Tsunoshima is serviced by a bus which is available from Kottoi Station and Takibe Station , both of which are located on the San'in Main Line . 34°21′N 130°52′E  /  34.350°N 130.867°E  / 34.350; 130.867 Honshu Honshu ( 本州 , Honshū , pronounced [hoꜜɰ̃ɕɯː] ; lit.   ' main island ' ) , historically called Akitsushima ( 秋津島 , lit.   ' Dragonfly island ' ) ,

392-540: The capital of Japan and part of the Greater Tokyo Area , the most populous metropolitan area in the world. Honshu is connected to the islands of Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku by tunnels and bridges. Three bridge systems have been built across the islands of the Inland Sea between Honshu and Shikoku ( Akashi Kaikyo Bridge and the Ōnaruto Bridge ; Shin-Onomichi Bridge , Innoshima Bridge , Ikuchi Bridge , Tatara Bridge , Ōmishima Bridge , Hakata–Ōshima Bridge , and

420-719: The economy along the northwestern Sea of Japan coast is largely based on fishing and agriculture. The island is linked to the other three major Japanese islands by a number of bridges and tunnels. The island primarily shares two climates, with Northern Honshu having a mainly humid continental climate while the south has a humid subtropical climate . The name of the island, Honshū ( 本州 ) , directly translates to "main province" or "original land" in English. Humans first arrived in Honshu approximately 37,000 years ago, and likely earlier. The first humans to arrive in Honshu were Stone Age hunter-gatherers from Northeast Asia, likely following

448-597: The island includes several past Japanese capitals, including Kyōto , Nara , and Kamakura . Much of the island's southern shore forms part of the Taiheiyō Belt , a megalopolis that spans several of the Japanese islands. Honshu contains Japan's highest mountain, Mount Fuji, and its largest lake, Lake Biwa . Most of Japan's industry is located in a belt running along Honshu's southern coast, from Tokyo to Nagoya , Kyōto , Osaka , Kobe , and Hiroshima ; by contrast,

476-668: The island, which was then part of Nagato Province . Over time the island was developed for agriculture, as well as supporting a fishing village. In the Edo period (1603 – 1868) the island became part of the Chōfu Domain , but was transferred to the Chōshū Domain in 1718. After five years the island returned to the Chōfu Domain. The island was noted for the production of materials to make tatami matting, sesame seeds, and beef . As

504-617: The meltdown of 3 nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant , leading to the Fukushima nuclear disaster . Honshu island generates around US$ 3.5 trillion or more than 80% of Japan's GDP . Fruit, vegetables, grains, rice and cotton make up the main produce grown in Honshu. The Tohoku region, spanning the north-eastern part of the island, is notable for its rice production, with 65% of cultivated land being rice paddy fields – almost

532-786: The migration of ice age megafauna . Surviving artifacts from this period include finely-crafted stone blades, similar to those found in Siberia . Honshu was the target of devastating air raids during the Pacific War of World War II . The first air raid to strike Honshu and the other home islands was the Doolittle Raid . With the introduction of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress , the firebombing of Tokyo culminated in Operation Meetinghouse ,

560-640: The most destructive air raid in human history, which destroyed 16 square miles (41 km ; 10,000 acres) of central Tokyo , leaving an estimated 100,000 civilians dead, and over one million homeless. The war ended with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki shortly before Japan's surrender and signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on September 2, 1945, on board the USS ; Missouri  (BB-63) in Tokyo Bay . The island

588-741: The most heavily used. The San'yō Shinkansen , connects the two largest cities in western Japan, Shin-Osaka in Osaka with Hakata Station in Fukuoka . Both the Tokaido Shinkansen and the Sanyo Shinkansen help form a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt megalopolis. The island is divided into five nominal regions and contains 34 prefectures, including metropolitan Tokyo. Administratively, some smaller islands are included within these prefectures, notably including

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616-577: The opening of Tsunoshima Bridge, the area has frequently been used as a location for films and television shows. The 2005 movie Miracle in Four Days ( 四日間の奇跡 yokkakan no kiseki ) was set across almost the entire island. In 2006, Tsunoshima became the location for a special episode of Fuji Television's popular drama, Hero . The island is also a popular are for camping and sport fishing. From National Route 191 turn onto Yamaguchi Route 275 towards Shimado, then turn onto Yamaguchi Route 276, crossing

644-552: The site of the Heijō Palace in Nara . The mokkan is dated March 29, 746, and was attached to a tribute of seaweed to the imperial court. A reference to the island also appears in a poem in the sixteenth part of the Man'yōshū , the oldest existing collection of Japanese poetry, completed in 759. The Engishiki , a Japanese book of laws and regulations compiled in 927, refers to a ranch on

672-994: The southwest along the Pacific coast of the Eurasian continent, and consists of three island arcs from north to south: the Northeastern Japan Arc , the Southwestern Japan Arc, and the Ryukyu Island Arc . The Daitō Islands , the Izu–Bonin–Mariana Arc , the Kuril Islands , and the Nanpō Islands neighbor the archipelago . Japan is the largest island country in East Asia and the fourth-largest island country in

700-408: The symbol of Tsunoshima. Before the war, Tsunoshima contained a military site of the former Imperial Japanese Army . To this day a part of this still remains. The whale species Balaenoptera omurai ( Omura's whale ) was first identified here. Tsunoshima first appears in the written record in the Nara period (710 – 794). The name of the island appears on a mokkan wooden slip excavated at

728-404: The west coast, spanning Niigata, Yamagata , and Akita Prefectures. Most of Japan's copper, lead, zinc and chromite is located on Honshu, along with smaller, scattered deposits of gold, silver, arsenic, sulfur and pyrite . The Tokaido Shinkansen , opened in 1964 between Tokyo and Shin-Ōsaka , is Japan's first high-speed rail line. It is the world's oldest high-speed rail line and one of

756-455: The world with 377,975.24 km (145,937.06 sq mi). It has an exclusive economic zone of 4,470,000 km (1,730,000 sq mi). The term " Mainland Japan " is used to distinguish the large islands of the Japanese archipelago from the remote, smaller islands; it refers to the main islands of Hokkaido , Honshu , Kyushu , and Shikoku . From 1943 until the end of the Pacific War , Karafuto Prefecture (south Sakhalin )

784-413: Was designated part of the mainland. Geographically speaking the term "mainland" is somewhat inaccurate, as this refers to an expanse of territory that is attached to a continental landmass. The term "home islands" was used at the end of World War II to define the area where Japanese sovereignty and constitutional rule of its emperor would be restricted. The term is also commonly used today to distinguish

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