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.

---

Etymology

Origin of Japanese archipelago

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

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

The strategy says that the U.S. will seek to deny aggression anywhere in the First Island Chain, a string of territory from the Japanese archipelago through Taiwan and the Philippines to the South China Sea.

From The Wall Street Journal

A fascinating blend of cultural and historical influences, the Japanese archipelago feels a world apart from Tokyo, Kyoto and other tourist hot spots in the country.

From The Wall Street Journal

The first edition of the graphic novel, published in 1999, referenced a “massive disaster” in March 2011 and contained lines like: “I dreamed of a great disaster. The waters of the Pacific Ocean south of the Japanese archipelago will rise.”

From Los Angeles Times

In contrast, beginning about 10,000 years ago, hunter-gatherer societies in coastal areas around the world, including the Korean peninsula, the Japanese archipelago, and later Scandinavia, drew on marine resources to support large settlements.

From Science Magazine