What is the land area of Japan?

Hello, let me tell you about the land area of Japan, aiming to give you a very intuitive impression.

Japan's officially announced land area is approximately 378,000 square kilometers.

How big is this area?

Just looking at the number might not give you a clear picture, so let's compare it with places we are familiar with:

• Compared to Chinese provinces:

  • This area is very close to our Yunnan Province (about 394,000 square kilometers), being slightly smaller than Yunnan Province.
  • Alternatively, it's smaller than Gansu Province (about 454,000 square kilometers), but quite a bit larger than the combined area of Hebei Province + Beijing City + Tianjin City (approximately 200,000 square kilometers).

• Compared to other countries:

  • It's slightly larger than Germany (about 357,000 square kilometers) in Europe.
  • It's roughly 1.5 times the size of the United Kingdom (about 244,000 square kilometers).
  • If you have an idea of the size of Taiwan Province, Japan is about 10 and a half Taiwans (about 36,000 square kilometers) in size.

An interesting addition

If you look at a map, you'll notice that Japan is a very long and narrow country.

Its territory spans a great distance from north to south. Hokkaido, in the northernmost part, has a latitude similar to our Heilongjiang Province; while Okinawa Prefecture, in the southernmost part, has a latitude very close to Taiwan Province. This results in huge climatic differences between the north and south, with heavy snow in the north and tropical scenery in the south.

So, to summarize, although we often perceive Japan as a "small country," its actual area, when viewed globally, is not small at all; it's comparable to a medium-sized European country. I hope this explanation gives you a clear concept!