Komesu, Japan

Komesu, Japan: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Komesu is a submarine cable landing point located in Japan, positioned along the country's coastal infrastructure that connects it to the broader Asia-Pacific telecommunications network. One submarine cable lands at Komesu, linking Japan to a corridor spanning multiple major economies across Southeast and East Asia. That cable, the Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE)/Cahaya Malaysia, ties Komesu into a regional network that reaches China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore.

Japan hosts 38 submarine cables across 46 landing points, making it one of the most connected countries in the Asia-Pacific submarine cable landscape. Within that national network, Komesu represents a focused, single-cable terminus rather than a multi-cable hub, contributing a specific intercontinental and intra-regional link to Japan's overall submarine connectivity.

Cables Landing at Komesu

The Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE)/Cahaya Malaysia is the sole submarine cable landing at Komesu. The cable spans 8,148 kilometres and reached ready-for-service (RFS) status in 2012. It connects Japan to China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore, forming a multi-country corridor across East and Southeast Asia. The cable's route through Komesu positions this landing point as Japan's access node on a system that links some of the region's most significant telecommunications markets.

Regional Context

Among Japan's 46 submarine cable landing points, Komesu ranks in the upper 72 percent by cable count, hosting one cable compared to larger hubs such as Shima, which lands 11 cables, Maruyama with 9, and Chikura with 8. Nearby Naha, also located in the southern Japanese island chain, hosts 3 cables, giving that area a somewhat denser concentration of submarine connectivity relative to Komesu. Komesu's single-cable profile places it among the more specialised landing points in Japan's national submarine cable geography.

Network Role

Komesu functions as a single-cable terminus, serving as Japan's landing point for the Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE)/Cahaya Malaysia system. Through this cable, Komesu enables direct submarine connectivity between Japan and four other countries — China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore — across a route of more than 8,000 kilometres. This gives the landing point a clearly defined intercontinental and intra-regional role within the East and Southeast Asian submarine cable corridor.

Rather than aggregating multiple cable systems, Komesu contributes one specific international link to Japan's overall submarine cable network. In the regional submarine cable graph, this matters because it provides a geographically distinct Japanese termination point for a major multi-country Southeast Asian cable system, diversifying the national network beyond the more concentrated hubs on Japan's Pacific-facing coastline.