Geography of Japan questions

The six Ryukyuan languages are the indigenous languages of the Ryukyu Islands, the southernmost part of the Japanese archipelago (including Okinawa). They are not mutually intelligible with Japanese or even with each other. Today, these languages are becoming endangered, and a new mixed language, based on Japanese and Okinawan, has developed, known as "Okinawan Japanese".

The English word Japan is derived from the Chinese pronunciation of the Japanese name.

Nippon, the native name of Japan, means "sun-origin". The nomenclature "Land of the Rising Sun" comes from Japanese missions to Imperial China and refers to Japan's eastward position relative to China.

All of the islands are under the Russian jurisdiction, but Japan claims the two southernmost large islands (Iturup and Kunashir) as part of its territory, as well as Shikotan and the Habomai islets, which has led to the ongoing Kuril Islands dispute.

Tokyo has numerous outlying islands, which extend as far as 1850 km from central Tokyo. Because of the islands' distance from the administrative headquarters of the metropolitan government in Shinjuku, local offices administer them.

Japan has a total of 6,852 islands extending along the Pacific coast of East Asia. Honshu is by far the largest and the most populous: 103 of 127 million Japanese live there.