Japan just found 7,000 islands it didn’t know it had

Japan has conducted a recount of its islands and found that it has 7,000 more islands than it had previously estimated.

According to the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI), a recent digital mapping exercise has revealed that there are 14,125 islands within Japanese territory. This number is more than twice the official figure of 6,852, which has been in use since a 1987 report by Japan’s Coast Guard. However, it is important to note that the GSI has emphasized that this new count is a result of advances in surveying technology and map detail, and does not alter the total land area under Japan’s jurisdiction.

The GSI has stated that there is no international agreement on how to count islands, and it had used the same size criterion as the previous survey conducted 35 years ago. This method involved counting all naturally occurring land masses with a circumference of at least 100 meters (330 feet). It is important to note that the new figure does not include any artificially reclaimed land, and only encompasses naturally occurring islands.

Japan lays claim to the Russian-held southern Kuril islands, which Tokyo calls the Northern Territories, a dispute that dates to the end of World War II, when Soviet troops seized them from Japan.

Japan also says it has a historical claim to the uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which it currently administers, but China has repeatedly challenged that claim.

Meanwhile, Japan and South Korea remain locked in a more than 70-year dispute over the sovereignty of a group of islets known as Dokdo by Seoul and Takeshima by Tokyo in the Sea of Japan, which Korea calls the East Sea.

Source: https://cnn.it/3z8NG7I