History of nations, Volume 7

Japan: From the Japanese Government History

The Empire of Japan consists to-day of a group of islands marshaled in the northwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, off the eastern coast of the Asiatic continent. These islandsincluding Formosa and the Pescadores ceded by China in 1895, and the southern half of Sakhalin, acquired from Russia in 1905lie between the parallels of 50 56' and 21 48' north latitude, and the longitude of their extreme eastern and western points are 156 32' and 119 20', respectively, east of Greenwich. The empire thus covers 29 8' of latitude and 37 12' of longitude. On the east it faces the Pacific; on the southwest it looks across the waters of the China Sea to the mainland of China; on the northwest the Sea of Japan and Gulf of Tartary separate it from Korea and Siberia. The fiftieth parallel divides the Japanese half of Sakhalin from the northern or Russian half, and the Kurile Strait intercepts the Chishima or Kurile group of islands on the north from the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka. The whole group includes five and one-half large islands and nearly six hundred islets. The large island lying in the center constitutes the mainland; the island directly to the north is Hokkaid (Yezo or Ezo), and that to the south, Kiush; on the southwest of the mainland and east of Kiush is Shikoku; and stretching in a northwesterly direction from Hokkaid are the Chishima or Kuriles, while the chain of the Riuki (Loochoo) Archipelago leads to Formosa. Floating, as it were, in the Sea of Japan are the islets of Sado, Oki, and Tsushima, the last lying only about fifty miles from the southern coast of Korea. Scattered in the Pacific Ocean, at a distance of nearly 500 miles from the southwest coast of the mainland, lies the Ogasawara group (Bonins). To these must now be added the recently ceded southern half of the Island of Sakhalin. Owing to the insular nature of the country, the area of the empire, exclusive of the half of Sakhalin, which is perhaps as much as 12,000 square miles, little exceeds 161,000 square miles, or[xii] slightly larger than the area of the British Isles. More than half of this superficies is comprised in the main island. The coastline of the fourteen larger islands and archipelagoes, again excepting Sakhalin, stretches to a length of 13,500 miles. Little indented, the coast along the Sea of Japan offers few bays or promontories; but the Pacific and the China Sea coasts are broken into innumerable capes and inlets, and abound in good harbors. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 45645
Author: Asakawa, Kan'ichi
Release Date: May 14, 2014
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Asakawa, Kan'ichi, 1873-1948