The nation of Japan, known in Japanese as Nihon or Nippon (日本), occupies an archipelago off the east coast of Asia. The four main islands are Hokkaidō in the north, Honshū (the largest), Shikoku in the south, and Kyūshū in the southwest. The country includes thousands of other islands of all sizes; among them the Ryūkyū (Nansei) Islands are a long chain extending to the southwest and including the large island of Okinawa, and the Nanpō Islands are another long chain extending south into the Pacific Ocean. Much of Japan is mountainous but the coastal regions are densely populated and urbanized; the country's population is about 126 million. Smallest of the Japanese main islands, Shikoku is divided into four prefectures. This page includes lighthouses of Tokushima Prefecture, occupying the eastern end of the island. Tokushima faces mostly east on the Kii Strait, which connects the Seto Inland Sea to the Pacific Ocean. The southernmost part of the prefecture faces the open Pacific Ocean. In Japanese the word for a lighthouse is tōdai or toudai (灯台). The words saki and misaki are for capes and headlands, hana ("nose") is a promontory, hantō is a peninsula, shima (also spelled sima or jima) is an island, bae is a reef, iwa or shi is a rocky reef, amase or se is a shoal, wan is a bay, nada is a sound or basin, kaikyō is a strait, kawa is a river, and kō or minato is a harbor. Lighthouses in Japan are operated and maintained by the Japanese Coast Guard's Maritime Safety Agency. There is at least one Coast Guard Section Office in each prefecture, often two or more. Tokushima Prefecture has a single office at Tokushima city. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. JCG numbers are the Japanese Coast Guard's light list numbers. Admiralty numbers are from volume M of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 112.
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Naruto and Kii Strait Lighthouses
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![]() Naka Se Light, Naruto Japanese Coast Guard Tokushima Office photo (no longer online) |
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![]() Outer Breakwater East Head Light, Tokushima Japanese Coast Guard Tokushima Office photo (no longer online) |
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![]() Komatsushima Breakwater North End Light, Komatsushima Japanese Coast Guard Fifth Region photo |
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![]() Ao Shima Light, Anan Japanese Coast Guard Fifth Region photo |
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![]() Karimata Saki Light, Anan Japanese Coast Guard Tokushima Office photo (no longer online) |
Pacific Coast Lighthouses
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![]() Deba Shima (Tebashima) Light, Mugi, May 2013 ex-Google Plus photo by ごんごん |
Information available on lost lighthouses: Notable faux lighthouses: |
Adjoining pages: North: Awaji Shima | East: Wakayama | South: Northern Kōchi | West: Kagama
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted April 23, 2007. Checked and revised January 25, 2024. Lighthouses: 36. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.