Why is Japan considered to be an archipelago?

1 Answer
MeneerNask
Apr 7, 2017

We speak of an archipelago if a group of islands belong together, according to some definition or other.

Explanation:

This can be by being the same nation, but that's considered to be only historically or politically correct, and thus subject to change.

A better definition of "belonging together" would be by considering its geological history. Is the island group is formed by the same series of events (hot spots, plate tectonics, etc.)?
Japan and the thousands of islands of Indonesia (just another example) belong to this category.

By geological 'rights' Japan could then claim a lot of the Siberian islands (or vice versa).

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