Nature in Japan

Akiyoshidai limestone landform

Above left : What looks like flocks of grazing sheep is actually a group of limestone outcroppings. Japan's largest karst tableland, Akiyoshidai in Yamaguchi Prefecture, is now quite far from the sea. Long ago, however, it was a huge, underwater coral reef, as proven by the fossils of marine creatures found here. Under the surface is a large cavern called Akiyoshido.

(Photo: Toyotaka Ryuzo)

Ago Bay

Above right : The more than 60 small islands in the bay jut out in all directions, each a different shape from the other. We are above Ago Bay on the Shima Peninsula in Mie Prefecture. This is a typical Rias coastline, where uplands have sunk into the sea.

The white rafts are used for pearl farming. The bay was once a site for harvesting natural pearls, but in the early 20th century Mikimoto Kokichi's experiments in pearl cultivation succeeded and production grew quickly here, making the bay famous worldwide.

(Photo: Watanabe Manabu)

Kisakata

The hills dotting this rice-farming area in southwestern Akita Prefecture used to be islands in an inlet of the sea. About 300 years ago, the famous haiku poet Matsuo Basho praised the beautiful green of the islands and the blue of the sea here, in the travelogue he wrote while trekking through the Tohoku region. But one night in 1804, a major earthquake raised the islands and the floor of the bay out of the water.

(Photo: Watanabe Manabu)

Japan's Northern Alps

Panoramic view of the Hakuba Range and Aoki Lake, northern Nagano Prefecture. Called the "Roof of Japan" and the "Northern Alps," the Hida Mountains extend through four prefectures in central Honshu: Nagano, Toyama, Gifu and Niigata. Mounts Tateyama, Hakubadake, Yarigatake and Hodakadake are among a string of peaks higher than 3,000 meters. Some of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic events took place at Happo Ridge on Mount Hakubadake, right.

(Photo: Toyotaka Ryuzo)