The largest of the main islands of Japan, on which Tokyo is located, is:

Honshu is the largest and most populous island of Japan, with an area of about 2.28 lakh square km. It is the seventh largest island in the world.

The four main islands of Japan (from north to south):

• Hokkaido: the second largest, in the north; cold, with heavy snowfall; capital Sapporo.
• Honshu: the largest and central island.
• Shikoku: the smallest of the four main islands.
• Kyushu: in the south-west; cities include Fukuoka and Nagasaki.

Japan also has many smaller islands, including Okinawa in the far south-west. In total, Japan has about 14,000 islands.

Importance of Honshu:

• It is home to about 80 percent of Japan's population.
• Major cities include Tokyo (the capital), Yokohama, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Kobe and Hiroshima.
• Mount Fuji, Japan's highest mountain (3,776 metres) and a dormant volcano, is on Honshu.
• Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake, is also on Honshu.
• The islands are connected by tunnels and bridges; for example, the Seikan Tunnel links Honshu with Hokkaido, and bridges link Honshu with Shikoku.

Japan's geography:

• Japan lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, where several plates meet, so it has many volcanoes and frequent earthquakes and tsunamis.
• About 70 to 80 percent of Japan is mountainous, so most people live on the narrow coastal plains.

Japan is called the "Land of the Rising Sun". Its name in Japanese, Nihon or Nippon, means "origin of the Sun".

India and Japan:

• India and Japan have a "Special Strategic and Global Partnership".
• The Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail (bullet train) project is being built with Japanese technology and loans.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Hokkaido is the second largest island, in the north.
• ✗Kyushu is the third largest, in the south-west.
• ✗Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands.