If you traveled due west from Tokyo, what country on the mainland of Asia would you hit first?

While a glance at a world map might suggest China, the Korean Peninsula's position is key to understanding this geographical puzzle. If you were to travel due west from Tokyo, you would be following a specific line of latitude (approximately 35.7° North). After crossing the main Japanese island of Honshu and the Sea of Japan, the very first part of the Asian mainland your path would intersect is the Korean Peninsula. This line of latitude makes landfall squarely in the central region of South Korea.

The common misconception that the answer is China often stems from the distortions of flat maps. On many map projections, the world is stretched and flattened, which can obscure the true spatial relationships between landmasses. The Korean Peninsula juts significantly eastward from the rest of the continent, effectively "catching" any direct westward path from central Japan. Your journey would be intercepted by the coast of South Korea long before you could reach China.

This geographic fact highlights the incredible proximity between the two nations. Separated only by a relatively narrow body of water, Japan and South Korea have shared a complex and deeply intertwined history for millennia. Their closeness has fostered everything from cultural exchange and trade to periods of intense conflict, all shaped by the geography that places them as direct neighbors (Review) across the sea.