Book reviews: The national atlas of Japan

This review assesses the 1977 English edition of The National Atlas of Japan, the country’s first national atlas, produced by the Geographical Survey Institute after five years of preparation. It examines the atlas’s conception, cartographic methods, thematic organization, supporting texts, indexes, and practical value. The atlas covers physical geography, climate, environmental protection, population, primary industries, manufacturing, transport, trade, finance, social conditions, education, and culture. Its strengths include clear organization, generally effective cartography, administrative overlays, a useful place-name index, and distinctive maps of natural disasters, infrastructure, and recreation. Introductory pages containing diagrams and historical indicators effectively complement maps depicting mainly post-1970 conditions. However, prefecture-level aggregation often permits only broad economic interpretation, while inconsistent reference dates weaken comparability. Important topics—including commuting, industrial location by production value, and analytical settlement typologies—are missing. Supporting data are sometimes incomplete, and page space is inefficiently used. Despite these limitations and minor translation issues, the reviewer concludes that the atlas is a successful, diverse, and authoritative reference work that substantially surpasses earlier atlases of Japan and significantly enriches the information available to geographers.