沿海拥挤 · COASTAL CROWDS

平地稀少的群岛

An Island Chain With Little Flat Land — Japan · Mountain Spine

日本大部分为山地，平原与盆地通常只占国土约四分之一。这样的地势把聚落、铁路与工业挤向狭窄海岸低地。

山地把群岛切成短河与窄谷。东京、大阪、名古屋并不是空地上的偶然大城，而是陡峭国土中少数低地例外。

• ~73% 山地比例｜常见官方引用值 (mountainous land, )
• ~27% 平原盆地｜人口集中之处 (plains/basins, where people concentrate)
• 3 太平洋沿岸带｜关东、中部、近畿 (Pacific belts, Kanto, Chubu, Kinki)

Japan is mostly mountainous; common estimates put plains and basins at only about a quarter of the land. That relief helped crowd settlement, railways and industry onto narrow coastal lowlands.

The mountains split the archipelago into short rivers and tight valleys. Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya are not accidents on empty land; they are the large lowland exceptions in a steep country.

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