Japanese archipelago

American  

[jap-uh-neez ahr-kuh-pel-uh-goh, jap-uh-nees] / ˈdʒæp əˌniz ˌɑr kəˈpɛl əˌgoʊ, ˈdʒæp əˌnis /

noun

1. the nearly 2,000-mile (3,220-kilometer) chain of more than 6,850 islands in the North Pacific Ocean that form the country of Japan and the Russian island of Sakhalin, with the Sea of Japan to the west and the Sea of Okhotsk to the northeast.

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Etymology

Origin of Japanese archipelago

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

Solo Travel Japan took me on long ferry trips up and down the Japanese archipelago.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026

China has been the biggest source of tourists to the Japanese archipelago, with almost 7.5 million visitors in the first nine months of 2025 -- a quarter of all foreign tourists, according to official figures.

From Barron's • Jan. 20, 2026

Early hominids likely made their way to the Japanese archipelago when it was still connected to the Asian continent, perhaps over 100,000 years ago.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

They found 142 exotic animal cafes across the Japanese archipelago and made a list of all the species they observed in photos posted on the cafes’ websites and social media accounts, excluding insects.

From New York Times • Mar. 17, 2023

With time, a few dozen regional styles developed over the 1,500-mile length of the Japanese archipelago.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond