
Japan is an East Asian island country in the Pacific, reaching from cold, snowy Hokkaido in the north to the subtropical Okinawa islands in the south.
Its four main islands, Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, are mountainous and volcanic, with Mount Fuji the highest point. The country sets dense modern cities beside older traditions: people visit Tokyo's many districts, the temples, shrines and gardens of Kyoto and Nara, hot-spring towns, and Hiroshima by high-speed train.