Tsushima Island

is an island of the Japanese archipelago situated in-between the Tsushima Strait and Korea Strait, approximately halfway between Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula. The main island of Tsushima, once a single island, was divided into two in 1671 by the Ōfunakoshiseto canal and into three in 1900 by the Manzekiseto canal. These canals were driven through isthmuses in the center of the island, forming "North Tsushima Island" ( Kamino-shima) and "South Tsushima Island" (Shimono-shima). Tsushima also incorporates over 100 smaller islands, many tiny. The name ''Tsushima'' generally refers to all the islands of the Tsushima archipelago collectively. Administratively, Tsushima Island is in Nagasaki Prefecture.

The island group measures about by and had a population of about 34,000 . The main islands (that is, the "North" and "South" islands, and the thin island that connects them) are the largest coherent satellite island group of Nagasaki Prefecture and the eighth-largest in Japan. The city of Tsushima, Nagasaki lies on Tsushima Island and is divided into six boroughs.

Geography

Tsushima Island is located west of the Kanmon Strait at a latitude between Honshu and Kyushu of the Japanese mainland. The Korea Strait splits at the Tsushima Island Archipelago into two channels; the wider channel, closer to the mainland of Japan, is the Tsushima Strait. Ōfunakoshi-Seto and Manzeki-Seto, the two canals built in 1671 and 1900 respectively, connect the deep indentation of Asō Bay (浅茅湾) to the east side of the island. The archipelago comprises over 100 smaller islets in addition to the main island.

Tsushima is the closest Japanese territory to the Korean Peninsula, lying approximately 50 km from Busan. On a clear day, the hills and mountains of the Korean peninsula are visible from the higher elevations on the two northern mountains. The nearest Japanese port, Iki, situated on Iki Island within the Tsushima Basin, is also 50 km away. Tsushima Island and Iki Island are collectively within the borders of the Iki–Tsushima Quasi-National Park, designated as a nature preserve and protected from further development. Much of Tsushima (89%) is covered by natural vegetation and mountains. Tsushima Island has many mountains such as the Mt. Ohira, Mt. Yatate, Mt. Hokogatake, Mt. Koyasan, Mt. Ontake, Mt. Gogen.

The Government of Japan administers Tsushima Island as a single entity despite the artificial waterways that have separated it into two islands. The northern area is known as Kamino-shima (上島), and the southern island as Shimono-shima (下島). Both sub-islands have a pair of mountains. Shimo-no-shima has Mount Yatate (矢立山), standing high,国土交通省国土地理院 九州地方測量部「長崎県山岳標高」
- Kyushu Regional Survey Department, Geographical Survey Institute, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in Japan and Ariake-yama (有明山), at high. Kami-no-shima has Mi-take (御嶽), . The two main sections of the island are now joined by a combination bridge and causeway.Water level view of the junction between the two islands of Tsushima Island
/ref> The island has a total area of .

File:Aso_Bay_viewed_from_Mount_Jo-2.jpg, Asō Bay from Shiroyama
File:Top-Mount-Shiroyama-and-Aso-Bay-Tsushima.jpg, Top of Mount Shiroyama and Asō Bay in Tsushima
File:Asou-Bay_ria_coast_aerial_photograph.JPG, Aerial photo of Asō Bay and around Ochikiri Island (1977)
File:Tsushima island en.png, Tsushima Island, located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan

Climate

Tsushima has a marine humid subtropical climate strongly influenced by monsoon winds. The average temperature is ,Meteorologic data in Izuhara (厳原), Tsushima by Japan Meteorological Agency
/ref> and the average yearly precipitation is 2,132.6 mm. The highest temperature ever recorded on the island is , on 20 August 2013, and the lowest , in 1895.Meteorologic data in Izuhara (厳原), Tsushima by Japan Meteorological Agency
- most ~ 10th largest value on record Throughout most of the year, Tsushima is 1–2 °C cooler than the city of Nagasaki.Meteorologic data in Nagasaki (長崎) by Japan Meteorological Agency
/ref> The island's rainfall is generally higher than that of the main islands of Japan; this is attributed to the difference in their size. Because Tsushima is small and isolated, it is exposed on all sides to moist marine air, which releases precipitation as it ascends the island's steep slopes. Continental monsoon winds carry loess, a dust which is a highly fertile mix of clay and sand, from China in the spring and cool the island in the winter.

Ecology

Fauna

The island's fauna include leopard cat, Japanese marten, Siberian weasel, and rodents. Otters were discovered to be living on Tsushima in February 2017. Migrating birds that stop over on the island include hawks, harriers, eagles, and black-throated loons. Forests, covering 90% of the island, consist of broad-leafed evergreens, conifers, and deciduous trees including cypress. Honey bees are common, with many used to produce commercial honey. The Tsushima Island pitviper (''Gloydius tsushimaensis'') is a venomous snake endemic to the Tsushima Island. The islands have been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because they support populations of Japanese wood pigeons and Pleske's grasshopper warblers.

Tsushima Reef, located in the bay between Tsushima and Iki Island, is the northernmost coral reef in the world, surpassing the Iki Island reef discovered in 2001. It is dominated by cool-tolerant stony or Scleractinian '' Favia'' corals but the observed settling of tropical ''Acropora'' coral is expected to provide an ongoing indicator for continuing global warming.

Flora

The whole island is covered in forest and there are few plains. There are Yoshino cherry and ''Chionanthus retusus''.

File:Tsushima Cat 001.jpg, Tsushima leopard cat
File:Someiyoshino.jpg, Yoshino cherry
File:Chionanthus_retusus_flower.jpg, ''Chionanthus retusus''

Economy

Industry

According to a 2000 census, 23.9% of the local population is employed in primary industries while 19.7% and 56.4% of the population are employed in secondary and tertiary industries, respectively. Of these economic activities, fishing amounts to 82.6% of the primary industry, with much of it dedicated to catching squid on the eastern coast of the island. The number of employees in the primary industries has been decreasing, while employee growth in the secondary and tertiary industries has been increasing.

Tourism

Tourism, targeting mainly South Koreans, has recently made a great contribution to the islands' economy. The number of Korean tourists to the island increased greatly after the launching of a high-speed ferry service from Busan to the island in 1999. In 2008, 72,349 Koreans visited the island. Due to a drop in the value of the won, the number fell to 45,266 in 2009. Korean tourists generate an estimated ¥2.1 billion in revenue for the local economy and generate about 260 jobs on the island.Kaneko, Maya, (Kyodo News)
Tsushima's S. Koreans: guests or guerrillas?
, ''Japan Times'', 5 March 2010, p. 3.

The island expected around 200,000 visitors from Korea in 2013, surpassing the number of visitors from within Japan for the first time. However, a summer pageant focused on a historical event involving Korean emissaries was cancelled that same year. In 2018, 90% of visitors to Tsushima were from South Korea; however, diplomatic issues between Japan and South Korea led to an 88% decrease (1.7 million fewer visitors) in Korean visitors in 2019. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has further reduced and limited tourism.

Tsushima has been gaining popularity as a tourist destination thanks in large part to the samurai action-adventure stealth game ''Ghost of Tsushima'' that was released in 2020, with visitors keen to see some of the places featured in the game, as well as discover what the island is like in "real life". This includes trying local culinary specialties such as rokube noodles, ishiyaki, tonchan and anago conger eel.

Tsushima city

Tsushima city was established on 1 March 2004, from the merger of six towns on Tsushima Island: Izuhara, Mitsushima, and Toyotama (all from Shimoagata District), and Mine, Kamiagata, and Kamitsushima (all from Kamiagata District). It is the only city of Tsushima Subprefecture and encompasses the whole island.

Transportation

Tsushima Airport has flights to Fukuoka Airport (on All Nippon Airways and Oriental Air Bridge) and Nagasaki Airport (Oriental Air Bridge only).

There are ferries to Izuhara port, such as Iki via Hakata port in Fukuoka.

History

Ancient and classical period

In Japanese mythology, Tsushima was one of the eight original islands created by the Shinto deities Izanagi and Izanami. Archaeological evidence suggests that Tsushima was already inhabited by settlers from the Japanese archipelago and Korean Peninsula from the Jōmon period to the Kofun period. The ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', a Chinese historical text, describes a country called ''Duì hǎi guó'' () with a population of more than one thousand households, which is commonly identified with Tsushima. It was one of the about 30 that composed the Yamatai union countries.zhulang.com
These families exerted control over Iki Island, and established trading links with Yayoi Japan. Since Tsushima had almost no land to cultivate, islanders earned their living by fishing and trading.

Since the beginning of the early sixth century, Tsushima has been an official province of Japan, known as Tsushima Province (today Tsushima, Nagasaki.)

Under the Ritsuryō