The number of official islands in Japan is expected to double from 6,852 to 14,125 after the government conducted the first survey since 1987 of its territorial waters, according to Kyodo News. The discovery of more than 7,000 new islands that Japan did not know existed was a result of using advanced mapping technology in the first geographical study of the archipelago in 35 years. The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan is expected to release a report on its updated map of the nation in March. The previous estimate was the result of a study by the Japan Coast Guard in 1987, but that list of islands only included those with a circumference of at least 100 metres, or 328 feet. As a result, thousands of islands – including many in lakes or rivers – were omitted from the list. Volcanic activity has also led to the formation of more islands. The revised tally will also include large sandbanks as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea defines an island as “a naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide”. The rudimentary technology used in the 1987 study was also unable to distinguish between groups of small islands and in many cases identified them as a single territory. The greatest number of new islands was identified off Nagasaki Prefecture, in south-west Japan, with 1,479 additions to the nation’s maps. All of the islands are close to Japan’s four main islands and will have no impact on the nation’s territorial waters or exclusive economic zone, but it is likely that the government will formalise their existence as part of the nation by naming them. In recent years, Tokyo has encouraged local governments to identify islands that do not have an official name to reinforce Japan’s control over the territory. Japan is locked in a dispute with China over the sovereignty of a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. The Senkaku Islands are administered by Tokyo, but Beijing has in recent years stepped up its claims to sovereignty, intruding into territorial waters around the islands with coast guard vessels.
