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Japan
Japan (Nippon/Nihon 日 (sun) 本 (root/origin), literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia located between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean peninsula. Its name, often translated as "The Land of the Rising Sun," comes from China and refers to Japan's eastward position relative to the Asian continent. Before Japan had relations with China, it was known as Wa (倭) or Yamato (大和).
Japan comprises a chain of islands, the largest of which are, from south to north, Kyushu (九州), Shikoku (四国), Honshu (本州, the largest island), and Hokkaido (北海道).
The Japanese name Nippon is used for most official purposes, including money, stamps, and international sporting events. Nihon is also a popular term within Japan. It is from the Chinese version of the name that the English Japan was derived. The early Mandarin Chinese word for Japan was recorded by Marco Polo as Cipangu. In Malay the Chinese word became Japang and was thus encountered by Portuguese traders in Moluccas in the 16th century. It is thought the Portuguese traders were the first to bring the word to Europe. It was first recorded in English in 1577 spelled Giapan.
In English, the official title of the country is simply "Japan". The official Japanese title is Nihon-koku (日本国), literally "State of Japan."
Nippon (Nihon-koku) 日本国
Japan still has no national coat of arms
(In Detail)
National motto: None
Official language Japanese
Capital Tokyo1
Largest City Tokyo
Emperor Akihito
Prime minister Koizumi Junichiro
Area - Total - % water Ranked 60th 377,835 km² 0.8%
Population - Total (2003) - Density Ranked 10th 127,214,499 335/km²
GDP (base PPP) - Total (2002) - GDP/head
Ranked 3rd (among countries) Ranked 4th (among economies) $3.55 trillion $28,000
GNP - Total (2000) - GNP/head
Ranked 2nd $4.85 trillion $38,000
Currency Yen
Time zone UTC +9
National anthem Kimi Ga Yo
Internet TLD .JP
Calling Code 81
1 Some argue that Kyoto has this status: see Capital of Japan debate.
Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide")
1 History
2 Politics
3 Prefectures
4 Geography
5 Economy
6 Demographics
7 Culture
8 Further Reading
9 Miscellaneous topics
10 External Links
10.1 Official
10.2 Other
History
Main article: History of Japan
Archeological research indicates that Japan had already been occupied by early humans at least 500,000 years ago, during the Lower Paleolithic period. Over repeated ice-ages during the last million years, Japan was regularly connected by land bridges to the Asian mainland (by Sakhalin to the North, and probably Kyushu to the South), facilitating migrations of humans, animals and plants to the Japanese archipelago from the area that is now China and Korea.
With the end of the last ice-age and general warming, the Jomon culture emerged around 11,000 BC, characterized by a mesolithic to neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer lifestyle and the manufacture of the earliest known pottery in the World. It is thought that Jomon populations were the ancestors of the Proto-Japanese and today's Ainu.
The start of the Yayoi period around 300 BC marked the influx from the Asian mainland of new technologies such as rice-farming, as well as rather massive migrations from various part of Asia like Korea and China, especially around Beijing and Shanghai, and from the South by marine route. However, several recent studies have pointed out that Yayoi period is 500 to 600 longer than previously believed making massive immigrations uneeded to explain the increase in population.
According to traditional Japanese mythology, Japan was founded in the 7th century BC by the ancestral Emperor Jimmu. During the 5th and 6th centuries, the Chinese writing system and Buddhism were introduced with other Chinese cultures first via the Korean peninsula and later directly from China. The emperors were the nominal rulers, but actual power was usually held by powerful court nobles, regents, or shoguns (military governors).
Ancient political structure held that, once battles between rivals were finished, the victorious Shogun would migrate to the capital Heian (fully Heian-kyo-to, 'kyo-to' meaning capital city, and the full name now shortened to the suffix, 'Kyoto') to rule under the grace of the Emperor. However, in the year 1185, general Minamoto no Yoritomo was the first to break this tradition, refusing to relocate and subsequently holding power in Kamakura, just south of present-day Yokohama. While this Kamakura Shogunate was somewhat stable, Japan soon fell into warring factions and suffered through what became known as the Warring States or Sengoku Period. In the year 1600, at the Battle of Sekigahara, Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu either co-opted or defeated his enemies and formed the Tokugawa Shogunate in the small fishing village of Edo (formerly transcribed as 'Yeddo'), what is now known as Tokyo (eastern capital).
During the 16th century, traders from Portugal, the Netherlands, England, and Spain arrived, as did Christian missionaries. During the early part of the 17th century, Japan's shogunate suspected that they were actually forerunners of a military conquest by European powers and ultimately barred all relations with the outside world except for severely restricted contacts with Dutch and Chinese merchants at Nagasaki (Dejima) with occasional Korean envoys. This isolation lasted for 251 years, until Commodore Matthew Perry forced the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854.
Within several years, renewed contact with the West profoundly altered Japanese society. Following the 1867-1868 Boshin War the shogunate was forced to resign, and the emperor was restored to power. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 initiated many reforms. The feudal system was abolished and numerous Western institutions were adopted, including a Western legal system and government, along with other economic, social and military reforms that transformed the Empire of Japan (大日本帝国 Dai Nippon Teikoku) into a world power. As results of Sino-Japanese war and Russo-Japanese war, Japan acquired Taiwan, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands, and later annexed Korea in 1910.
The early 20th century saw Japan come under increasing influence of an expansionist military, leading to the invasion of Manchuria, a second Sino-Japanese War (1937). Japanese leaders felt it was necessary to attack the US naval base in Pearl Harbor (1941) to ensure Japanese supremacy in the Pacific. However, the entry of the United States into World War II would slowly tilt the balance in the Pacific against the Japanese. After a long Pacific campaign, Japan lost Okinawa in the Ryukyu islands and was pushed back to the four main islands. The United States made fierce attacks on Tokyo, Osaka, and other cities by strategic bombing, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki with two atomic bombs. Japan eventually agreed to an unconditional surrender to the United States on August 15, 1945.
A defeated post-war Japan remained under US occupation until 1952, whereafter it embarked on a remarkable economic recovery that returned prosperity to the islands. The Ryukyu islands remained under US occupation until 1972 to stabilize East Asia, and a major military presence remains there to this day. The Soviet Union seized the Kuril islands north of Hokkaido at the end of WWII, and despite the collapse of the Soviet state and friendly relations between countries, Russia has refused to return these islands.
Politics
Main article: Politics of Japan
Strictly speaking, Japan is considered a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliament, the Kokkai or Diet but most Japanese feel that the term monarchy seems strange, and quite a few scholars argue Japan is a republic. Japan has a royal family led by an Emperor, but under the current constitution he holds no power at all, not even emergency reserve powers. The executive branch is responsible to the Diet, consisting of a Cabinet composed of a Prime Minister and ministers of state, all of whom must be civilians. The Prime Minister must be a member of the Diet and is designated by his colleagues. The Prime Minister has the power to appoint and remove ministers, a majority of whom must be Diet members. Sovereignty, previously embodied in the Emperor, is vested in the Japanese people by the Constitution, and the Emperor is defined as the symbol of the state.
The legislative branch consists of a House of Representatives (Shugi-in) of 480 seats, elected by popular vote every four years, and a House of Councillors (Sangi-in) of 247 seats, whose popularly elected members serve six-year terms. Each house contains officials elected either directly or proportionally by party. There is universal adult suffrage with a secret ballot for all elective offices.
Prefectures
Main article: Prefectures of Japan
Japan is subdivided into 47 prefectures (ordered by ISO 3166-2):
The order of this list is from the north to the south, which is commonly accepted in Japan.
Geography
Main article: Geography of Japan
Japan, a country of islands, extends along the eastern or Pacific coast of Asia. The main islands, running from north to south, are Karafuto (Japanese: 1679-1875), Hokkaido, Honshu (or the mainland), Shikoku, and Kyushu. Mairuppo in the disputed Kuril Islands (Japanese: Chishima Rettō 千島列島) is over 800km to the northeast of Hokkaido; Naha on Okinawa in the Ryukyu archipelago is over 600 km to the southwest of Kyushu. In addition, about 3,000 smaller islands may be counted in the full extent of the archipelago that comprises greater Japan. About 73% of the country is mountainous, with a chain running through each of the main islands. Japan's highest mountain is the famous Mount Fuji at 3,776 m. Oyakobayama, at the northern end of the Kuril Islands, is a snow-clad peak (2337 m) rising directly out of the sea.
Since so little flat area exists, many hills and mountainsides are cultivated all the way to the summits. As Japan is situated in a volcanic zone along the Pacific deeps, frequent low intensity earth tremors and occasional volcanic activity are felt throughout the islands. Destructive earthquakes occur several times a century, often resulting in tsunamis. Hot springs are numerous and have been developed as resorts.
The Japanese Archipelago extends from north to south along the eastern coast of the Eurasian Continent, the western shore of the Pacific Ocean. Japan is a temperate region with four distinct seasons, but because of its great length from north to south, its climate varies from region to region: the far north is very cold in the winter, while the far south is subtropical. The climate is also affected by the seasonal winds blown from the continent to the ocean in winters and vice versa in summers.
Late June and early July are a rainy season (except in Hokkaido and islands to the north), as a seasonal rain front or baiu zensen (梅雨前線) stays above Japan. In the late summer and early autumn, typhoons develop from tropical depressions generated near the equator, and track from the southwest to the northeast, often bringing heavy rain.
Japan's varied geographical features divide it into six principal climatic zones.
- Hokkaido: Belonging to the cool temperate zone, Hokkaido has long, cold winters and cool summers. The Kuril Islands are fogbound. Precipitation is not heavy, but the islands usually develop deep snowbanks in the winter.
- Sea of Japan: The northwest wind in the wintertime brings heavy snowfall. In summers, the region is less hot than the Pacific area, but it sometimes experiences extremely hot temperatures due to the Foehn wind phenomenon.
- Central Highland (Chuo-kochi): A typical inland climate, with large temperature differences between summers and winters and between days and nights. Precipitation is not large throughout a year.
- Seto Inland Sea (Setonaikai): The mountains in Chugoku and Shikoku regions block the seasonal winds and bring mild climate and many fine days throughout a year.
- Pacific Ocean: Experiences cold winters with little snowfall and hot, humid summers due to the southeast seasonal wind.
- Nansei-shoto (Ryukyu) or Southwest Islands: Has a subtropical climate with warm winters and hot summers. Precipitation is very heavy, especially during the rainy season, and also due to typhoons.
Politically and culturally, Japan is commonly divided into ten regions. From north to south, these are Karafuto, Hokkaido and Chishima, Tohoku region, Hokuriku region, Kanto region, Chubu region, Kinki region (commonly called Kansai), Chugoku region, Shikoku region, Kyushu region, and Okinawa, the main island in the Ryukyu Islands.
Japan has outstanding territorial disputes over the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin or Karafuto, occupied by Russia, as well as the Liancourt Rocks (Jp. Takeshima), claimed by Korea. The Senkaku Islands are claimed by China and Taiwan as "Diaoyutai".
Economy
Main article: Economy of Japan
Government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery of high technology, emphasis on education and a comparatively small defense allocation (1% of GDP) have helped Japan advance with extraordinary speed to become one of the largest economic powers in the world along with the US and EU.
Notable characteristics of the economy include the working together of manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors in closely-knit groups called keiretsu; the powerful enterprise unions and shunto; and the guarantee of lifetime employment for a substantial portion of the urban labour force. Most of the these features are now eroding, however, and the economy is currently characterized by stagnation.
Industry, the most important sector of the economy, is heavily dependent on imported raw materials and fuels. The much smaller agricultural sector is highly subsidised and protected, with crop yields among the highest in the world. Considerable efforts are expended on developing a better tasting fruits and vegetables and while pricey even by high cost of living in Japan, best products are really the best (unless, of course you don't mind dishing out $20 for a single piece of Japanese pear). Usually self-sufficient in rice, Japan must import about 50% of its requirements of other grain and fodder crops. Japan maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly 15% of the global catch. For three decades overall real economic growth had been spectacular: a 10% average in the 1960s, a 5% average in the 1970s, and a 4% average in the 1980s. Growth slowed markedly in the 1990s largely because of the after effects of overinvestment during the late 1980s and contractionary domestic policies intended to wring speculative excesses from the stock and real estate markets. Government efforts to revive economic growth have met with little success and were further hampered in 2000-2001 by the slowing of the US and Asian economies.
The crowding of habitable land area and the aging of the population are two major long-run problems as is rising cost of the health care. Robotics constitutes a key long-term economic strength, with Japan possessing 410,000 of the world's 720,000 "working robots". Recently, the focus has also been on the Anime and other contemporary arts.
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Japan
Japanese society is known to be ethnically and linguistically very homogeneous, with small populations of primarily North and South Koreans (1 million), Okinawan (1.5 million), Chinese and Taiwanese (0.5 million), Filipinos (0.5 million), Brazillians (250,000), and as well as the indigenous Ainu minority in Hokkaido. 99% of the population speaks Japanese as their first language.
The Japanese population is one of the most rapidly aging on Earth. Fertility rates dropped in the wake of World War II, and dropped again in the mid-1970's, as more women remained in the workplace and refused to get married. Japan now also has the highest life expectancy in the world. By 2007, when Japan's population growth is expected to stop completely, over 20% of the population will be over the age of 65. Japanese government planners are currently in a heated debate over how to cope with this problem. [1]
Most Japanese people profess to not believe in any particular religion. Many people, especially those in younger generations, claim to feel that religions as something to stay clear from pointing out historical reason mainly of the role that the nation enforced Shinto played in the World War II and most recently of the Aum and its actions. However, Shinto and Buddhism teachings are deeply entangled in a everyday life of Japanese. Often, it is so deep that it takes someone from outside to point that out.
See also: Religions of Japan
Culture
Main article: Culture of Japan
Japanese culture consists of the interaction between a strong original Jomon culture and subsequent influences from the rest of the world. China and Korea were first mostly influential, starting with the development of the Yayoi culture from around 300BC. Classical Greek and Indian cultural traditions, combined into Greco-Buddhism, influenced the arts and religions of Japan from the 6th century AD, culminating with the introduction of Mahayana Buddhism. From the 16th century onward, European influence prevailed, with American influences becoming predominant following the end of WWII.
Japan thus developed a unique original culture, in its arts (ikebana, origami, ukiyo-e), crafts (dolls, lacquerware, pottery), performances (dance, kabuki, noh, raku-go), and traditions (games, onsen, sento, tea ceremony), as well as a unique cuisine.
Today, Japan is one of the world's largest exporters of popular culture. Japanese cartoons, comic books, films, literature, and music have gained popularity around the world, especially in the other countries of Asia.
See also: Katana, Japanese clothing, Japanese Festivals, Japanese New Year, Japanese Sports, Japanese television programs, Tourism in Japan
Further Reading
- Conrad Totman, 2000. 'A History of Modern Japan. Blackwell Publishers.'
- C.H. Kwan. 2001. 'Yen Bloc: Toward Economic Integration in Asia.' Brookings Institution Press.
- Bernson, Mary Hammond and Elaine Magnusson, eds. MODERN JAPAN: AN IDEA BOOK FOR K-12 TEACHERS. MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION RESOURCE SERIES. Olympia, WA: Office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1984. ED 252 486.
- Cogan, John J. and Donald O. Schneider, eds. PERSPECTIVES ON JAPAN: A GUIDE FOR TEACHERS. Washington, DC: National Council for the Social Studies, 1983. ED 236 090.
- EAST MEETS WEST: MUTUAL IMAGES. Stanford, CA: California Center for Research in International Studies, l980. ED 196 765.
- Kaderabeck, Leslie. THE JAPANESE AUTOMOBILE WORKER: A MICROCOSM OF JAPAN'S SUCCESS. 1985. ED 263 041.
- Murphy, Carole. A STEP BY STEP GUIDE FOR PLANNING A JAPANESE CULTURAL FESTIVAL. 1983. ED 238 748.
- Wojtan, Linda S. FREE RESOURCES FOR TEACHING ABOUT JAPAN. Bloomington, IN: Midwest Program for Teaching about Japan, Indiana University, 1986. ED 270 381.
Miscellaneous topics
External Links
Official
Other
East Asia
China | Japan | North Korea | South Korea | Mongolia | Taiwan
Dependencies
Hong Kong | Macau
Japan is also the name of a band.
The above article is adapted from from Wikipedia All Wikipedia article text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
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