"uninhabited. The first recorded sighting by Europeans was in October 1543 by Spanish navigator Bernardo de la Torre on board of carrack ""San Juan de Letrán"" when trying to return from Sarangani to New Spain. Iwo Jima was charted as Sufre, the old Spanish term for sulphur. The islands were uninhabited until 1889, when the two northern islands were settled by Japanese settlers from the Izu Islands. They were annexed by Japan in 1891. The population was about 1,100 in 1939, distributed among five settlements: Higashi, Minami, Nishi, Kita and Motoyama (meaning ""East"", ""South"", ""West"", ""North"" and ""Mountain of Origin"","
"The largest of them is Izu Oshima (8,346 inhabitants, ), the smallest Toshima (292 inhabitants, .) Of the inhabited islands, seven are traditionally referred to as the ""Izu Seven"": Oshima, Toshima, Niijima, Kozujima, Miyakejima, Hachijojima, and Mikurajima, though Shikinejima and Aogashima are sometimes included as well. Each of the islands has its unique character: Oshima is noted for its active volcano Mt Mihara and camellias, Hachijojima for its former penal colony, Mikurajima for dolphin watching, Niijima for its numerous beaches, Kozujima for its white sandy shores, Hachijojima for its well-preserved unique culture, and Miyakejima for the 2001 volcanic eruption. During"
"Nakanoshima (Kagoshima) , is a volcanic island located in the Tokara Islands, part of the Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. It is the largest and most populous island of the islands in Toshima village. The island, 34.47 km² in area, had 167 inhabitants . The island has no airport, and access is normally by ferry to the city of Kagoshima on the mainland, seven hours away. The islanders are dependent mainly on agriculture, fishing and seasonal tourism. The island's attractions include hot springs, a lighthouse, an observatory and a museum of local history and folklore. Nakanoshima is the largest island in the"
"Iwo Jima , known in English as Iwo Jima (, ), is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. Although south of the metropolis of Tokyo on the mainland, this island of 21 km (8 square miles) is administered as part of the Ogasawara Subprefecture of Tokyo and since July 1944, when the civilian population was forcibly evacuated, has been only populated by military forces. The island of Iwo Jima was the location of"
"Oki Islands The Oki Islands are volcanic in origin, and are the exposed eroded summits of two massive stratovolcanoes dating approximately 5 million years ago to the Tertiary and Quaternary periods. The oldest rocks in Japan have been found on the Oki Islands. Dōgo to the east is the largest island in area, and has the highest elevation, Mount Daimanji, at above sea level. The Dōzen group of islands to the west are all portions of single ancient volcanic caldera which collapsed, leaving three large islands (Nishinoshima, Nakanoshima and Chiburijima) and numerous smaller islands and rocks in a ring formation"
"largest on record, according to US Geological Survey data. Undersea earthquakes also expose the Japanese coastline to danger from tsunamis. Mount Bandai, one of Japan's most noted volcanoes, rises above the north shore of Lake Inawashiro. Mount Bandai is formed of several overlapping stratovolcanoes, the largest of which is O-Bandai forming a complex volcano. O-Bandai volcano was constructed within a horseshoe-shaped caldera that formed about 40,000 years when an earlier volcano collapsed, forming the Okinajima debris avalanche, which traveled to the southwest and was accompanied by a plinian eruption. Four major phreatic eruptions have occurred during the past 5,000 years,"
"Izu Islands The are a group of volcanic islands stretching south and east from the Izu Peninsula of Honshū, Japan. Administratively, they form two towns and six villages; all part of Tokyo Prefecture. The largest is Izu Ōshima, usually called simply Ōshima. Although traditionally referred to as the , there are in fact more than a dozen islands and islets. Nine among them are currently inhabited. The Izu islands stretch south-east from the Izu Peninsula on Honshu and cover an area of approximately . There are nine populated islands with a total population of 24,645 people () spread over ."
"Oshima (Hokkaido) At , Ōshima is the largest uninhabited island under Japanese sovereignty. The island is a double caldera with a scoria hill rising in the middle. It is the peak of two overlapping stratovolcanoes and their associated calderas, Mount Higashi and Mount Nishi. The highest peak, at , is part of a triple volcano. The peak rises close to from the sea floor. The island consists of mafic alkali and non-alkali volcanic rock, less than 18,000 years old. On the south side of the island at , there are a lighthouse and a heliport operated by Japan Coast Guard."
"them. The Izu Islands are a group of volcanic islands and form part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. The islands in order from closest to Tokyo are Izu Ōshima, Toshima, Nii-jima, Shikine-jima, Kōzu-shima, Miyake-jima, Mikurajima, Hachijō-jima, and Aogashima. The Izu Islands are grouped into three subprefectures. Izu Ōshima and Hachijojima are towns. The remaining islands are six villages, with Niijima and Shikinejima forming one village. The Ogasawara Islands include, from north to south, Chichi-jima, Nishinoshima, Haha-jima, Kita Iwo Jima, Iwo Jima, and Minami Iwo Jima. Ogasawara also administers two tiny outlying islands: Minami Torishima, the easternmost point in Japan and"
"Mount Ontake , also referred to as , is the 14th highest mountain and second highest volcano in Japan (after Mount Fuji) at . Mt. Ontake is located around northeast of Nagoya, and around 200 km (125 mi) west of Tokyo, at the borders of Kiso and Ōtaki, Nagano Prefecture, and Gero, Gifu Prefecture. The volcano has five crater lakes, with at being the highest mountain lake in Japan. Ontake is a major sacred mountain, and following older shamanistic practices, actors and artists have gone to the mountain to put themselves into trances in order to get divine inspiration for"
"Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes The Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes is a World Heritage Site in South Korea. Jeju, also known as Jejudo, is a volcanic island, 130 kilometers from the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula. The largest island and smallest province in South Korea, the island has a surface area of 1,846 square kilometers. A central feature of Jeju is Hallasan, the tallest mountain in South Korea and a dormant volcano, which rises 1,950 meters above sea level. The main volcano includes 360 satellite volcanoes. Volcanic activity on Jeju began approximately in the Cretaceous and"
"suggestion that it could be a single volcano would make the Tamu Massif the largest known volcano on Earth, dwarfing the current record-holder, Mauna Loa on the Hawaiian Islands. Tamu's rounded dome extends over an area of , totaling more than , many times larger than Mauna Loa, which has an area of , and about half the area of the Martian volcano Olympus Mons. The entire mass of Tamu consists of basalt. Its slopes are very gradual, ranging from less than half a degree to one degree near its summit. While the Shatsky Rise oceanic plateau is comparable in"
"Japan Japan (; ""Nippon"" or ""Nihon"" ; formally """" or ""Nihon-koku"", lit. ""State of Japan"") is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea in the south. The kanji that make up Japan's name mean ""sun origin"", and it is often called the ""Land of the Rising Sun"". Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, which"
"a single event. Similarly, the ""Euhadra"" snails, endemic to Japan, populated the islands in a single event and all individuals on inhabited islands possess an identical haplotype. The ""Apodemus"" mice, on the other hand, colonized the islands from the mainland in two independent events. Izu Islands The are a group of volcanic islands stretching south and east from the Izu Peninsula of Honshū, Japan. Administratively, they form two towns and six villages; all part of Tokyo Prefecture. The largest is Izu Ōshima, usually called simply Ōshima. Although traditionally referred to as the , there are in fact more than a"
"part of Dōgo and provides air service to Osaka International Airport (Itami, ""ITM"") and Izumo Airport (""IZO""). The Oki islands can be reached by ferries from harbours like Sakaiminato, Shichirui and Kaga on the mainland. There are also frequent ferries operating between the Dōzen islands throughout the year. Oki Islands The Oki Islands are volcanic in origin, and are the exposed eroded summits of two massive stratovolcanoes dating approximately 5 million years ago to the Tertiary and Quaternary periods. The oldest rocks in Japan have been found on the Oki Islands. Dōgo to the east is the largest island in"
"and Security Group in Tokyo, an IAEA expert warned that a strong earthquake with a magnitude above could pose a ""serious problem"" for Japan's nuclear power stations. The region had experienced three earthquakes of magnitude greater than 8, including the 869 Sanriku earthquake, the 1896 Sanriku earthquake, and the 1933 Sanriku earthquake. The 9.0 M Tōhoku earthquake occurred at 14:46 on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter near Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It produced maximum ground g-forces of 0.56, 0.52, 0.56 () at units 2, 3, and 5 respectively. This exceeded the earthquake tolerances of 0.45, 0.45,"
"island. Kōzu-shima Kōzushima is administratively part of Kōzushima Village under Ōshima Subprefecture of Tokyo Metropolis. , the island's population was 1,952. Kōzushima is also within the boundaries of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. Kōzu-shima is a compound volcanic island 6 km in length with a maximum width of 4 km. The island is formed from a cluster of eighteen lava domes, with rhyolite and pyroclastic ash deposits. The highest of these lava domes, , has a height of , and was last active in 838 AD per the ancient Japanese history Shoku Nihon Kōki. Compared with most of the other islands"
"off the Bayonnaise Rocks in the Pacific. The 1914 Sakurajima eruption produced lava flows which connected the former island with the Osumi Peninsula in Kyushu. It is the most active volcano in Japan. The subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the Philippine Sea Plate created the Izu Islands and Bonin Islands on the Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc system. During the 2013 eruption southeast of Nishinoshima, a new unnamed volcanic island emerged from the sea. Due to erosion and shifting sands, the new island merged with Nishinoshima and ceased to be a separate entity. A 1911 survey determined the caldera was at its"
"and 270,000 years ago. The largest of these was the fourth, which reached as far as nearby Yamaguchi Prefecture 160 kilometers away. The fourth eruption left a massive pyroclastic plateau which is what remains even today. In 1985 it was discovered that volcanic ash from the fourth eruption covered much of the Japanese islands. The extent of the fourth eruption is estimate to be approximately 200 km3. Aso caldera has often been called the largest in the world, but actually Indonesia's Danau Toba, measuring 100 km by 30 km, is the world's largest. Furthermore, in Japan, Kussharo caldera, which measures"
"for a volcanic island. Suribachi is the only obvious volcanic feature, as it is only the resurgent dome (raised centre) of a larger submerged volcanic caldera. 80 km (43 nautical miles, 50 mi) north of the island is and south is ; these three islands make up the Volcano Islands group of the Ogasawara Islands. Just south of Minami-Iō-jima are the Mariana Islands. Iwo Jima has a history of minor volcanic activity a few times per year (fumaroles, and their resultant discolored patches of seawater nearby), but no evidence of an impending major eruption has been observed. Iwo Jima has"
"Mount Fuji , located on Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft), 2nd-highest peak of an island (volcanic) in Asia, and 7th-highest peak of an island in the world. It is a dormant stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–1708. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometers (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped for about 5 months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers"
"boutonii nigropunctatus"", ""Apeltonotus dorsalis"", and ""Takydromus toyamai"". Subspecies of the Chinese box turtle and the yellow pond turtle are native to the islands, as is the Ryukyu black-breasted leaf turtle. Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni the westernmost. The larger are mostly high islands and the smaller mostly coral. The largest is Okinawa Island. The climate of the islands ranges from humid subtropical climate"
"Shatsky Rise The Shatsky Rise is Earth's third largest oceanic plateau, (after Ontong Java and Kerguelen) located in the north-west Pacific Ocean east of Japan. It is one of a series of Pacific Cretaceous large igneous provinces (LIPs) together with Hess Rise, Magellan Rise, and Ontong Java-Manihiki-Hikurangi. It was named for Nikolay Shatsky (1895-1960), a Soviet geologist, expert in tectonics of ancient platforms. The rise consists of three large volcanic massifs, Tamu, Ori, and Shirshov, but, in contrast, there are few traces of magmatism on the surrounding ocean floor. The Tamu Massif may be the largest volcano yet discovered on"
"Mauna Loa Mauna Loa ( or ; Hawaiian: ; ) is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi in the Pacific Ocean. The largest subaerial volcano in both mass and volume, Mauna Loa has historically been considered the largest volcano on Earth, dwarfed only by Tamu Massif. It is an active shield volcano with relatively gentle slopes, with a volume estimated at approximately , although its peak is about lower than that of its neighbor, Mauna Kea. Lava eruptions from Mauna Loa are silica-poor and very fluid, and they tend to"
"Kōzu-shima Kōzushima is administratively part of Kōzushima Village under Ōshima Subprefecture of Tokyo Metropolis. , the island's population was 1,952. Kōzushima is also within the boundaries of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. Kōzu-shima is a compound volcanic island 6 km in length with a maximum width of 4 km. The island is formed from a cluster of eighteen lava domes, with rhyolite and pyroclastic ash deposits. The highest of these lava domes, , has a height of , and was last active in 838 AD per the ancient Japanese history Shoku Nihon Kōki. Compared with most of the other islands in"
"Mt. Fuji would be considered stage I. Magma is at a considerable depth and no emissions of gasses can be observed regularly. Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami much attention was given to the volcanic reaction of Mt. Fuji. Experts have found that the internal pressure of the Mt. Fuji magma chamber has increased to an estimated 1.6 megapascals, raising speculation over the possibility of an eruption. The estimated damage to Japan from a Fuji eruption is at ¥2.5 trillion ($25 billion). Historic eruptions of Mount Fuji Mount Fuji is the tallest volcano in Japan, and also the highest"
"Geography of Japan Japan is an island nation comprising a stratovolcanic archipelago over along East Asia's Pacific coast. It consists of 6,852 islands. The main islands are Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido. The Ryukyu Islands and Nanpō Islands are south of the main islands. The territory extends . It is the largest island country in East Asia and fourth largest island country in the world. Japan has the sixth longest coastline and the eight largest Exclusive Economic Zone of in the world. The terrain is mostly rugged and mountainous with 66% forest. The population is clustered in urban areas on"
"eruptions have been centered on ""Minami-dake"". Since 2006, activity has centred on Showa crater, to the east of the summit of Minami-dake. The 1914 eruption began on January 11. It was the most powerful in twentieth-century Japan. The volcano had been dormant for over a century until 1914. Almost all residents had left the island in the previous days, in response to several large earthquakes that warned them that an eruption was imminent. Initially, the eruption was very explosive, generating eruption columns and pyroclastic flows, but after a very large earthquake on January 13, 1914 which killed 35 people, it"
"Sakurajima Sakurajima (, literally ""Cherry blossom Island"") is an active composite volcano and a former island in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. The lava flows of the 1914 eruption connected it with the Osumi Peninsula. It is the most active volcano in Japan. The volcanic activity still continues, dropping volcanic ash on the surroundings. Earlier eruptions built the white sand highlands in the region. The most recent eruption started on May 2, 2017. On September 13, 2016 a team of experts from Bristol University and the Sakurajima Volcano Research Centre in Japan suggested that the volcano could have a major"
"Kyushu In the 8th century Taihō Code reforms, Dazaifu was established as a special administrative term for the region. , Kyushu has a population of 12,970,479 and covers . The island is mountainous, and Japan's most active volcano, Mt Aso at , is on Kyushu. There are many other signs of tectonic activity, including numerous areas of hot springs. The most famous of these are in Beppu, on the east shore, and around Mt. Aso, in central Kyushu. The island is separated from Honshu by the Kanmon Straits. The name ""Kyūshū"" comes from the nine ancient provinces of Saikaidō situated"
"in the south of the island were identified as a distinct breed, named the Tokara pony. This species only occurs on Nakanoshima and is believed to have been brought to the island around 1890 from Kikaijima, an island near Amami Ōshima. After World War II, the species almost became extinct, and survivors were removed to a ranch operated by Kagoshima University on mainland Kagoshima for protection . Today, some have been reintroduced to Nakanoshima. Nakanoshima (Kagoshima) , is a volcanic island located in the Tokara Islands, part of the Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. It is the largest and most populous island"
"contains at least 43 major volcanoes, and Meiji Seamount at its terminus near the Kuril–Kamchatka Trench is 85 million years old. The volcanoes follow a distinct evolutionary pattern of growth and death. The chain includes the second largest volcano on Earth, Mauna Loa, which stands above sea level and reaches a further below the waterline and into the crust, approximately of rock. Kīlauea, meanwhile, is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, with the current ongoing eruption having begun in January 1983. The Galápagos Islands are an isolated set of volcanoes, consisting of shield volcanoes and lava plateaus, located"
"Honshu experiences frequent earthquakes (the Great Kantō earthquake heavily damaged Tokyo in September 1923, and the earthquake of March 2011 moved the northeastern part of the island by varying amounts of as much as while causing devastating tsunamis). The highest peak is the active volcano Mount Fuji at , which makes Honshu the world's 7th highest island. There are many rivers, including the Shinano River, Japan's longest. The Japanese Alps run the length of Honshu, dividing the northwestern (Sea of Japan) shore from the southeastern (Pacific or Inland Sea) shore; the climate is generally humid subtropical in the southern and"