This special issue, entitled "Japan's Continental Shelf Survey and Its Contributions to Ocean Floor Geoscience, introduces scientific results obtained from Japan's activities to delineate its extended continental shelf under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Continental shelf, as used in this issue, is a concept of international law defined in Article 76 of UNCLOS (see Appendix 1),which providesthe limits of sovereignty of a coastal state. In summary, Article 76 of UNCLOS states that a coastal state can claim its continental shelfbeyond 200 nautical miles from territorial sea baselines to the point where the natural prolongation of its landmass extends beyond 200 nautical miles. A coastal state has sovereign rights to explore and exploit natural resources on and beneath the ocean floor of its continental shelf once its extended continental shelf is established. Therefore, coastal states, including Japan, have onducted continental shelf surveys to verify their sovereignty over natural prolongations of landmasses beyond 200 nautical miles from their territorial sea baselines. Japan's continental shelf survey project was started in October 1983 by the Hydrographic Department of the Japan Coast Guard, and was completed in June 2008. The thorough 25-year survey does not compare with those of other coastal states, and provides new geoscientific knowledge on the vast ocean floor of the southern ocean of Japan.
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