Japan consists of islands.
Eastern Asia (WGSRPD) . It consists of the Korean peninsula , Japan ( Hokkaido , Honshu , Kyushu and Shikoku , plus associated offshore islands -- the Volcano Islands ( Kazan-retto ) , the Ryukyu Islands ( Nansei-shoto ) and the Bonin Islands ( Ogasawara-shoto ) ) , and Taiwan . Japan ( 日本 Nippon [ ɲip̚poɴ ] or Nihon [ ɲihoɴ ] formally or Nihon-koku , meaning `` State of Japan '' ) is a sovereign island nation in East Asia . Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands . The four largest are Honshu , Hokkaido , Kyushu and Shikoku , which make up about ninety-seven percent of Japan 's land area and often are referred to as home islands . The country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions ; Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one .