一帶一路 | 走進日本之太平洋島國 A Pacific Island Country

太平洋島國

A Pacific Island Country

日本位於亞洲大陸以東，是太平洋上一個呈弧形的島國。其領土由本州、北海道、九州和四國四個大島組成（按從大到小的順序），此外還包括眾多較小的島嶼。太平洋位於日本以東，日本海和東中國海將日本與亞洲大陸分割開來。

Japan is an island country forming an arc in the Pacific Ocean to the east of the Asian continent. The land comprises four large islands named (in decreasing order of size) Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, together with many smaller islands. The Pacific Ocean lies to the east while the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea separate Japan from the Asian continent.

日本與地中海以及北美的洛杉磯市大致處於同一緯度；而巴黎和倫敦的緯度則略高於北海道北端。

In terms of latitude, Japan coincides approximately with the Mediterranean Sea and with the city of Los Angeles in North America. Paris and London have latitudes somewhat to the north of the northern tip of Hokkaido.

日本的總面積約為378,000平方公里，與德國、芬蘭、越南和馬來西亞大致相同。其面積僅相當於美國的1/25，小於加利福尼亞州。

Japan’s total land area is about 378,000 square kilometers. It is thus approximately the same size as Germany, Finland, Vietnam, or Malaysia. It is only 1/25 the size of the United States and is smaller than the state of California.

日本的海岸線各具特色，在一些地方，如千葉縣的九十九裡濱，長長的沙質海灘幾乎呈一條直線，綿延伸展足有60 公里；而長崎縣的海岸則以半島、水灣和近海島嶼為特徵，如五島群島、對馬島和壹岐島，都位於該縣境內。由於地殼的運動，以前的部分海岸線被海水所淹沒，形成眾多的水灣和峭壁，使得這一地區的海岸崎嶇不平。

Japan’s coastline is quite varied. In some places, such as Kujukurihama in Chiba Prefecture, there are long sandy beaches continuing fairly straight and uninterrrupted for 60 kilometers or so, while the coast of Nagasaki Prefecture is an example of an area characterized by peninsulas and inlets and offshore islands (like the Goto archipelago and the islands of Tsushima and Iki, which are part of that prefecture). There are also accidented areas of the coast with many inlets and steep cliffs caused by the submersion of part of the former coastline due to changes in the Earth’s crust.

一股稱為黑潮(Kuroshio)（或日本海流）的暖流沿日本群島南部向東北方向流動，它的支流—對馬海流沿日本西海岸流入日本海。另一股稱為親潮(Oyashio)（或千島海流）的寒流則沿日本東海岸從北向南流動，它的支流—利曼海流從北面流入日本海。暖流和寒流的交匯造就了日本近海水域豐富的漁業資源。

A warm ocean current known as the Kuroshio (or Japan Current) flows northeastward along the southern part of the Japanese archipelago, and a branch of it, known as the Tsushima Current, flows into the Sea of Japan along the west side of the country. From the north, a cold current known as the Oyashio (or Chishima Current) flows south along Japan’s east coast, and a branch of it, called the Liman Current, enters the Sea of Japan from the north. The mixing of these warm and cold currents helps produce abundant fish resources in waters near Japan