Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands. In the past, it has been known as Kyūkoku , Chinzei and Tsukushi-no-shima . The historical regional name Saikaidō referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands. Kyushu has a land area of 36,782 square kilometres (14,202 sq mi) and a population of 14,311,224 in 2018.
October 2009 NASA satellite image of Kyushu
M-V rocket launch rehearsal at USC
JMSDF District Forces, including the Sasebo District Force
Japan is an island country in East Asia. It is in the northwest Pacific Ocean and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans an archipelago of 14,125 islands, with the five main islands being Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Tokyo is the country's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto.
Legendary Emperor Jimmu (神武天皇, Jinmu-tennō)
Japanese samurai boarding a Mongol vessel during the Mongol invasions of Japan, depicted in the Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba, 1293
Three unifiers of Japan. Left to right: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Emperor Meiji (明治天皇, Meiji-tennō); 1852–1912