The digital mapping was carried out by AIG (Geospatial Information Authority).
- The country noted that there are 14,125 islands in Japanese territory, more than double the 6,852 officially listed in a 1987 report by the country’s Coast Guard.
- According to news channel CNN, authorities stressed this week that the new number reflects advances in the technology used for geographic indications.
- Despite the discovery, the total land area held by Japan remains the same.
- According to AIG, while there is no international agreement on how to count islands, the agency used the same size criteria as in previous surveys.
- All natural land areas with a circumference of at least 100 meters were counted.
- The new number does not include artificially degraded areas.
In a report on the subject, CNN recalled that the islands surrounding Japan were at the center of several territorial disputes. Japan claims the Russiancontrolled southern Kuril Islands, which Tokyo calls the Northern Territories, a dispute that dates back to the end of World War II.
Japan also claims the uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the China Sea. East. Japan currently manages the site but does not own it as it is owned by China.
Additionally, Japan and South Korea are locked in a more than 70year dispute over the sovereignty of a group of islands called Dokdo (for Seoul) and Takeshima (for Tokyo) in the Sea of Japan, which Korea called the East Sea.