In the last survey released in 1987, geographers counted islands with a coastline of 100 meters or longer on paper maps, according to the Japan Coast Guard, the author of the survey. The previous ...

The Ofunato wildfire, in Iwate prefecture, has more than doubled in size in the past three days to become Japan’s largest for 33 years, and as of Sunday covered about 1,800 hectares (4,500 acres).