JAPAN Essay Research Paper JAPANBy Jonathan AppelGEOGRAPHYJapan

JAPAN Essay, Research Paper

JAPAN

By Jonathan Appel

GEOGRAPHY

Japan is made up of a four main island chain with other small islands in the western Pacific Ocean volcanic mountain range. The main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku. Many of the major cities including Tokyo, the capital, are found on the island of Honshu. Many of the islands of Japan are volcanically active to this day. There are approximately fifty active volcanoes known to the Japanese and about 1,500 minor earthquakes occur each year. Mt. Fuji, probably the most photographed mountain in the world, is found just outside the city of Tokyo, and is a dormant volcano. Mt. Fuji is Japan.s tallest mountain and rises 12,389 ft. above sea level. Seventy five percent of Japan is uninhabitable due to mountainous terrain and is too steep for settlement and farming. The country has a very restricted living area, only 25% of the land. The present population of Japan is more than 125,000,000. Seventy seven percent of the people live in urban areas, leaving only 23% for rural farming communities.

Japan has about ten major cities on the island of Honshu. Many of the cities on Honshu are on the coasts of the Pacific Ocean or the Sea of Japan. Tokyo is built on a protective bay that leads to the pacific. Many of the rural sections of Japan, comprising 75% of the land, lie in northern Honshu and most of Hokkaido. The total area of the country is a little less than the state of California and has four times the population.

Japan lies from approximately 23 degrees to 47 degrees north latitude, and has a variety of climates, that are typical of middle latitude countries. Hokkaido for example has a humid continental climate, which has short, cool summers and long, cold, and snowy winters. As you move further south the climates become much more subtropical. Japan gets a fair amount of rainfall each year; the average is about 50 inches, but some places get 100 inches.

PEOPLE

Japan has approximately 130 million people. Virtually 100% of the population is literate. The dominant ethnic group in Japan is the Japanese, a Mongoloid people. The population density is among the greatest in the world. Japan has approximately 858

people per square mile. Seventy seven percent of the population lives in 645 cities with populations of 30,000. The Tokkaido megalopolis is the largest urban concentration in Japan, and it runs from Tokyo in the northeast to Kobe in the southwest.

RELIGION

The Japanese people practice two major religions, Buddhism and Shinto. Buddhists make up about 75% of the population. Buddhism came to Japan from the Chinese. Buddhism arrived from China in the middle of the sixth century. Buddhists believe in a man named Buddha, which means enlightened one. Buddha.s original was Siddharta Gautama and he was born in the 500.s or 400.s BC. When Siddharta was about thirty years old he realized how many needy people there were in the world and he devoted the rest of his life to religion and prayer. Buddhism is a very complex religion emphasizing cycles of death and rebirth, enlightenment and happiness. Buddhism stresses the immortality of life and reincarnations.

Shinto parallels Buddhism and 96% of the Japanese practice Shinto. Until the mid 1940.s Shinto was the state religion of Japan. People of Japan always believed that their emperor was a god, but on the day of Japan.s surrender in World War II, United States General Douglas MacArthur made emperor Hirohito get on the Japanese national radio and say .I am not a god.. The reason for the Japanese belief in their emperor being a god comes from the Shinto creation myth.

Shinto in Japanese means the way of the gods. Japanese belief in their emperors being gods comes from Shinto mythology, which states that the sun goddess is the ancestor of the imperial family. Shintoists believe in deities of nature call Kami. Shinto is very strict in the lines of ritual and moral standards and ancestral worship.

LANGUAGE

The Japanese language uses forty-eight syllabaries (written characters representing syllables). This type of language was developed during the ninth century. Spoken Japanese is associated with Korean; the written is derived from Chinese. The typical Japanese spoken today is the Kanto dialect, which is spoken in the Tokyo area.

EDUCATION

Basically, the whole population of Japan is literate. Education is compulsory and free to all children from the age of six through fifteen. Before the age of ten, Japanese children are taught simple algebra and reasoning. By age fifteen, they are already doing complex college mathematics. Many people believe Japanese children learn math so well because of the structure of their language.

Approximately 90% of all students above the age of fifteen continue on through high school and graduate. One third of all students continue on to college and graduate schools. There are about 500 universities, colleges and graduate schools. Competition is very great when you are applying to Japanese universities. The universities base acceptance on your entrance examination score. Many juku (extra-hour schools) are set up to help students prepare for these.

ECONOMY

Japan has the second largest gross national product in the world. Japan.s industry expanded quite rapidly after the

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