The is the largest plain in Japan located in the
Kanto RegionThe is a geographical area of Honshū, the largest island of Japan. The region encompasses seven prefectures which overlaps the Greater Tokyo Area: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain...
of central
Honshūor Honshu is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Strait...
. The total area 17,000 sq km covers more than half of the Region extending over
Tokyo, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
,
Saitama Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Saitama.This prefecture is part of the Greater Tokyo Area, and most of Saitama's cities can be described as suburbs of Tokyo, to which floods of residents commute each day....
,
Kanagawa Prefectureis a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Honshū, Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.- History :The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
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Chiba Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Greater Tokyo Area. Its capital is Chiba City.- History :Chiba Prefecture was established on June 15, 1873 with the merger of Kisarazu Prefecture and Inba Prefecture...
,
Gunma Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the northwest corner of the Kantō region on Honshū island. Its capital is Maebashi.- History :The remains of a Paleolithic man were found at Iwajuku, Gunma Prefecture, in the early 20th century and there is a public museum there.Japan was without horses until...
, and
Tochigi Prefectureis a prefecture located in the Kantō region on the island of Honshū, Japan. The capital is the city of Utsunomiya. Utsunomiya is famous for its many gyoza specialist shops...
.
The northern limit borders on the Abukuma Highlands, Yamizo Mountain Range, Ashio Mountain Range, and a volcanic field associated with the Nasu Volcanic Belt. The western coincides with the Kantō Mountain Range and the southern edge is defined by the
Bōsō Peninsulathumb|Locationthumb|Landsat image with high-resolution data from Space ShuttleBōsō Peninsula is a peninsula in Chiba prefecture on Honshū, the largest island of Japan. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean.Most of the peninsula is hilly, with some points as...
, the
Miura HillsThe Miura Peninsula is a peninsula located in Kanagawa, Japan. It lies south of Yokohama and Tokyo and divides Tokyo Bay, to the east, from Sagami Bay, to the west. Cities and towns on the Miura Peninsula include Yokosuka, Miura, Hayama, Zushi, and Kamakura.- Cape Tsurugi :Cape Tsurugi has...
,
Tokyo Bayis a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Boso Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
, and
Sagami BaySagami Bay , also known as the Sagami Gulf or Sagami Sea, lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshū, central Japan, contained within the scope of the Miura Peninsula, in Kanagawa, to the east, the Izu Peninsula, in Shizuoka Prefecture, to the west, and the Shonan coastline to the north, while...
.
The is the largest plain in Japan located in the
Kanto RegionThe is a geographical area of Honshū, the largest island of Japan. The region encompasses seven prefectures which overlaps the Greater Tokyo Area: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain...
of central
Honshūor Honshu is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Strait...
. The total area 17,000 sq km covers more than half of the Region extending over
Tokyo, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
,
Saitama Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Saitama.This prefecture is part of the Greater Tokyo Area, and most of Saitama's cities can be described as suburbs of Tokyo, to which floods of residents commute each day....
,
Kanagawa Prefectureis a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Honshū, Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.- History :The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
,
Chiba Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Greater Tokyo Area. Its capital is Chiba City.- History :Chiba Prefecture was established on June 15, 1873 with the merger of Kisarazu Prefecture and Inba Prefecture...
,
Gunma Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the northwest corner of the Kantō region on Honshū island. Its capital is Maebashi.- History :The remains of a Paleolithic man were found at Iwajuku, Gunma Prefecture, in the early 20th century and there is a public museum there.Japan was without horses until...
, and
Tochigi Prefectureis a prefecture located in the Kantō region on the island of Honshū, Japan. The capital is the city of Utsunomiya. Utsunomiya is famous for its many gyoza specialist shops...
.
The northern limit borders on the Abukuma Highlands, Yamizo Mountain Range, Ashio Mountain Range, and a volcanic field associated with the Nasu Volcanic Belt. The western coincides with the Kantō Mountain Range and the southern edge is defined by the
Bōsō Peninsulathumb|Locationthumb|Landsat image with high-resolution data from Space ShuttleBōsō Peninsula is a peninsula in Chiba prefecture on Honshū, the largest island of Japan. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean.Most of the peninsula is hilly, with some points as...
, the
Miura HillsThe Miura Peninsula is a peninsula located in Kanagawa, Japan. It lies south of Yokohama and Tokyo and divides Tokyo Bay, to the east, from Sagami Bay, to the west. Cities and towns on the Miura Peninsula include Yokosuka, Miura, Hayama, Zushi, and Kamakura.- Cape Tsurugi :Cape Tsurugi has...
,
Tokyo Bayis a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Boso Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
, and
Sagami BaySagami Bay , also known as the Sagami Gulf or Sagami Sea, lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshū, central Japan, contained within the scope of the Miura Peninsula, in Kanagawa, to the east, the Izu Peninsula, in Shizuoka Prefecture, to the west, and the Shonan coastline to the north, while...
. The Kashima Sea and Kujūkuri Beach define the eastern end of the plain. Most of the rivers originate in the northern or western mountain ranges and flow east or southeast into the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
, Tokyo Bay, or Sagami Bay. In the central part of the plain is the
Tone RiverThe is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length and has a drainage area of...
; in the northern part the
Watarase RiverThe is a major river in the northern Kantō region of Japan. A tributary of the Tone River, it is 106.7 km in length and drains an area of 2,621 km². Its source is at Mount Sukai on the boundary of the city of Nikkō in Tochigi Prefecture and it empties into the Tone at the boundary of the...
, Kinu River, Kokai River, Naka River, and Kuji River; and in the southern part the
Arakawa RiverThe Arakawa River is one of the principal rivers flowing through Tokyo, the capital city of Japan. The point of origin is on Mount Kobushi in Saitama Prefecture, and the Arakawa empties into Tokyo Bay, spanning 173 kilometers...
,
Tama RiverThe is a major river in Yamanashi, Kanagawa and Tokyo Prefectures on Honshū, Japan. It is officially classified as a Class 1 river by the Japanese government....
, and
Sagami RiverThe is a river in Kanagawa and Yamanashi Prefectures on the island of Honshū, Japan.The upper reaches of the river in Yamanashi prefecture are also sometimes known as the , and the portion near the river mouth as the...
. Of these rivers, the Tone River encompasses a large area of floodplain, for it has the largest drainage area in Japan of 16,840 sq km. The drainage areas covered by these rivers account for the alluvial lowland of the Kanto Plain.
A collection of plateaus constitute a large part of the plain. Among them are the Ōmiya,
MusashinoThe Musashino Terrace , also translated as Musashino Platform, is a large platform of land, known as a river terrace, in the Kantō region of Honshū, Japan....
, Sagamino, and Jōsō Plateaus. These large plateaus are divided into smaller ones by shallow river valleys. One of the common features of the plateaus is that their surfaces are covered with a thick layer of
loamLoam is soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration , considered ideal for gardening and agricultural uses...
of volcanic origin. Volcanic ashes from surrounding volcanoes, Mounts
Asamais an active complex volcano in central Honshū, the main island of Japan. The volcano is the most active on Honshū. The Japan Meteorological Agency classifies Mount Asama as rank A. It stands above sea level on the border of Gunma and Nagano prefectures...
,
Harunais a dormant stratovolcano in Gunma, eastern Honshū, Japan.- Outline :Mount Haruna has many peaks and the tallest one, Mount Kamonga is 1,449 m high. It appeared about 300,000 years ago and the last known eruption was c. 550. The volcano has a summit caldera containing the symmetrical cone of...
, and
Akagiis a mountain in Gunma Prefecture, Japan.The broad, low dominantly andesitic stratovolcano rises above the northern end of the Kanto Plain. It contains an elliptical, 3 x 4 km summit caldera with post-caldera lava domes arranged along a NW-SE line. Lake Ono is located at the NE end of the caldera...
to the north and Mounts Hakone and
Fujiis the highest mountain in Japan at . Along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku, it is one of Japan's "Three Holy Mountains" . An active volcano that last erupted in 1707–08, Mount Fuji is just west of Tokyo, and can be seen on a clear day...
to the south, are thought to have been deposited on these plateaus.
Among the plateaus, the Musashino Plateaus has the largest stretch of land, extending from the western edge of
Ōme-Business-related:* Office of Manpower Economics, a body of the United Kingdom government* Osaka Mercantile Exchange-Other uses:* -ome, a suffix used to indicate a collection of the specified units...
to the eastern edge of Yamanote which borders alluvial plains of the Arakawa and
SumidaThe Sumida River is a river which flows through Tokyo, Japan. It branches from the Arakawa River at Iwabuchi and flows into Tokyo Bay...
Rivers. Its elevation gradually declines from west to east, measuring 190 m at Ōme and 20 m at Yamanote.
Hills in the Kantō Plain stand on Tertiary strata and rise higher than surrounding plateaus, exemplified by the Sayama Hills and
Tama Hillsis an area of hills stretching across southwest Tokyo and northeast Kanagawa Prefecture in the Kantō Plain on Honshū, Japan. Its total area is approximately 300km2...
, typically, undulating between 100 and 200 m above sea level. Hills located at the western edge of the Kantō Plain, the Hiki Hills, Koma Hills, Kusahana Hills, and Kaji Hills, also reach approximately 200 m above sea level.
What is noteworthy is the overall tilt of the plateaus and hills. In general, the whole area is slightly bent and forming a basin centered in the Tone River and Tokyo Bay. The ongoing process of tectonic extension continues as the plain’s central region gradually sinks.