Japan's four large islands are Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Sakhalin. Japan forged a major colonial empire in Asia during the first half of the twentieth century. Japan's territorial dispute with Russia is over four small islands in the Kurile Island chain.
The capital of Taiwan is Taipei. For a half-century after 1895 Taiwan was under Japanese rule. East Asia is encircled by snowcapped mountains, vast deserts, cold climates, and Pacific waters. East Asia was one of the world's earliest culture hearths, and China is one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations.