Kyushu island Japan Tours – Kyūshū (九州, Nine Provinces?)[2] or Kyushu is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include Kyūkoku (九国 Nine States), Chinzei (鎮西 West of the Pacified Area), and Tsukushi-no-shima (筑紫島 Island of Tsukushi). The historical regional name Saikaidō (西海道 West Sea Circuit) referred to Kyūshū and its surrounding islands.
Kyūshū has a population of 13,231,995 (2006) and covers 35,640 square kilometres (13,760 sq miGeography
The island is mountainous, and Japans most active volcano, Mt Aso at 1,591 metres (5,220 ft), is on Kyūshū. There are many other signs of tectonic activity, including numerous areas of hot springs. The most famous of these are in Beppu, on the east shore, and around Mt. Aso, in central Kyūshū.
The name Kyūshū comes from the nine ancient provinces of Saikaidō situated on the island: Chikuzen, Chikugo, Hizen, Higo, Buzen, Bungo, Hyūga, Osumi, and Satsuma.
Todays Kyūshū Region (九州地方 kyūshū-chihō) is a politically defined region that consists of the seven prefectures on the island of Kyūshū and also Okinawa Prefecture to the south:
Northern Kyushu o Fukuoka Prefecture o Saga Prefecture o Kumamoto Prefecture o Nagasaki Prefecture o Ōita Prefecture
Kagoshima Prefecture
Miyazaki Prefecture
Okinawa Prefecture
The worlds 37th largest island by area, Kyūshū is smaller than Spitsbergen but larger than New Britain and Taiwan. By population, it ranks 13th, having fewer inhabitants than Borneo or Sulawesi, but more than Salsette or Cuba.
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