Japan Geography Quiz | Reading Tōhoku and Kantō Borders, Mountains, and Plains, Set 3

Aomori faces the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Sea of Japan to the west, and the Tsugaru Strait to the north. Mutsu Bay lies between the Tsugaru and Shimokita peninsulas. Do not reverse the Pacific and Sea of Japan, or place the Sea of Okhotsk, which lies northeast of Hokkaidō, next to Aomori.

Aomori shares land boundaries only with Iwate and Akita. Hokkaidō faces it across the Tsugaru Strait but does not share a prefectural boundary, while Iwate lies between Aomori and Miyagi, so Aomori does not directly border Miyagi.

The Ōu Mountains lie along Iwate's western border with Akita. East of them is the plain along the Kitakami River, followed by the Kitakami Highlands and then the Pacific Ocean. Reversing the highlands and the Ōu Mountains destroys their actual relationship on either side of the Kitakami River basin.

North of Miyako, an uplifted coast and coastal terraces are well developed. To the south, a ria coast formed where the edge of the Kitakami Highlands was submerged. Treating the entire Sanriku coast as uniformly ria would miss this contrast with the northern section.

Mountains such as Zaō, Funagata, and Kurikoma line western Miyagi. The Sendai Plain spreads between the Ōu Mountains and the coast, and the prefecture faces the Pacific to the east. An order that puts the plain west of the mountains or ends at the Sea of Japan does not fit Miyagi's geography.

Yamagata faces the Sea of Japan in its northwest and borders Akita to the north, Miyagi to the east, Fukushima to the southeast, and Niigata to the southwest. Iwate has no Sea of Japan coast, and neither Aomori nor Gunma borders all four prefectures named in the question.

The Okitama, Murayama, and Mogami basins lie between mountain areas, while the Shōnai Plain spreads along the Sea of Japan. The Mogami River links these landscapes and flows through the Shōnai Plain into the Sea of Japan. The Tsugaru Plain is in Aomori, not on Yamagata's coast.

Traveling east from Aizu, one crosses the Ōu Mountains into Nakadōri, then crosses the Abukuma Highlands to reach Hamadori and the Pacific coast. Nakadōri lies between the Ōu Mountains and the Abukuma Highlands, so the two mountain areas cannot be reversed.

Gunma is landlocked. Mountains line its western and northern areas, while the Kantō Plain opens in the southeast. Only this description matches both the lack of a coastline and the directions of the mountainous and lowland areas.

In broad terms, Chiba's landforms are divided from south to north into hills, upland, and plain. The Bōsō Hills occupy the south, the Shimōsa Upland lies farther north, and plains include the lower Tone River area. The Bōsō Peninsula is not one uniformly flat landform.