Every inhabited island in Japan

Japan counts over 14,000 islands. Only a few hundred have people living on them, and that list is the useful one: an island with residents has a boat, somewhere to stay or at least somewhere to eat, and a reason to exist that is not just a rock with a name.

The roster here is the inhabited-island list from SHIMADAS (シマダス), the reference the Japan Islands Center publishes — the book Japanese island travellers actually use, and one that has never been translated. There is no equivalent in English: the English Wikipedia's list of Japanese islands gives names and little else, and every "hidden islands of Japan" article is one writer's shortlist of the same dozen places.

So this is the plain thing nobody has put online in English — all 370 inhabited islands, with the population and area printed beside each one, sortable, with the prefecture guide and, where one exists, the English Wikipedia article one click away.

Sort by population or size, filter by region, or type a name. "Read more" links to the English Wikipedia article where we could verify one; a blank means we could not match it confidently, not that none exists.

128 of the 370 have fewer than a hundred residents. These are the smallest — places with a dozen people, a pier and a boat a few times a day. Nobody writes travel guides to islands this size in any language, which is most of what makes them worth knowing about.

If you have never taken a ferry to a small Japanese island, do not start with the ones at the bottom of the table. Start with an island that has a published timetable in English, somewhere to sleep, and a boat that runs more than twice a day — then go smaller next time.

An island with 40 residents is not an attraction. It is 40 people's home, and you will meet most of them.

• Greet people. On an island this small, walking past someone in silence is the odd thing to do. Konnichiwa is enough.
• Ask before photographing houses, boats or people. The village is somebody's front garden.
• Take your rubbish back with you. Small islands ship their waste out by boat and pay for it by weight.
• Book lodging and meals ahead. Many islands have one minshuku and no shop; turning up unannounced at dinner time is a real problem for someone.
• Watch the last ferry. It is earlier than you think, and it does not wait.