Country

Japan: 8 ecoregions. Each with its climate now and toward 2050, and its conservation tier.

Japan's eight ecoregions sort neatly by latitude and slope. Hokkaido carries cold-winter deciduous and montane conifer forests; Honshu splits along its spine into the snowy Nihonkai montane deciduous and evergreen forests facing the Sea of Japan and the milder Taiheiyo evergreen and montane deciduous forests on the Pacific side, with Honshu alpine conifer forests on the highest ridges. Far to the south, the Nansei Islands subtropical evergreen forests are the one Indomalayan-realm unit, nearly frost-free. So the country runs from boreal-edge conifer country to subtropics, everywhere humid with ample year-round precipitation. Gardeners get a broadleaf-evergreen palette in the Pacific lowlands, deep-snow-adapted deciduous species on the Japan Sea side, and true cold-climate plants in Hokkaido and the mountains.