Japan

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Sem 6: History of Modern Asia from1900AD to 1985 AD DzsÀĤPÀ EwºÁ¸À

SESSION-29

Japan –Geographical And Historical Background

Japan –Geographical And Historical Background

• Japan is an archipelago, or string of islands, on the eastern edge of Asia.

• FAST FACTS

• OFFICIAL NAME: Japan

• FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Parliamentary government with a constitutional monarchy

• CAPITAL: Tokyo

• POPULATION: 126,168,156

• OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Japanese

• MONEY: Japanese yen

• AREA: 145,883 square miles (377,835 square kilometers)

• MAJOR MOUNTAIN RANGES: Japanese Alps

• MAJOR RIVERS: Biwa, Inawashiro, Kasumigaura

Brief Introduction to Japan & Japanese

• Located outside of the east coast of Asian continent, Japan is an island country in Pacific.

• Its territory consists of Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu these four large islands and over
3900 small islands.

• As a single nation-state, a constitutional monarchy is enforced, known as “the country of


rising sun”.

• Since the late 1960s, Japan has been recognized to be the second strongest(presently third)
worldwide capitalist economic country.

• Its ability of scientific research is the third largest in the world, but also the fourth largest
exporter and fourth largest importer in the world.

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• Japan is the developed countries where people have very high quality of life.

• It is the world’s richest and most economically developed and one of the countries with the
highest standard of living

GEOGRAPHY

• Japan is an archipelago, or string of islands, on the eastern edge of Asia.

• There are four main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. There are also nearly
4,000 smaller islands!

• Japan's nearest mainland neighbors are the Siberian region of Russia in the north and Korea
and China farther south.

• Almost four-fifths of Japan is covered with mountains. The Japanese Alps run down the
center of the largest island, Honshu.

• The highest peak is Mount Fuji, a cone-shaped volcano considered sacred by many Japanese.

• Japan can be a dangerous place. Three of the tectonic plates that form Earth's crust meet
nearby and often move against each other, causing earthquakes.

• More than a thousand earthquakes hit Japan every year. Japan also has about 200
volcanoes, 60 of which are active.

NATURE

• The Japanese people have a deep affection for the beauty of the landscape.

• The ancient Shinto religion says natural features like mountains, waterfalls, and forests have
their own spirits, like souls.

• Most of Japan is covered by countryside. But with more than 100 million people living in
such a small place, wildlife has suffered.

• Pollution is now tightly controlled, but road building and other human activities have
harmed natural habitats.

• About 136 species in Japan are listed as endangered.

• The warm Tsushima Current flows from the south into the Sea of Japan, where it meets a
colder current from the north.

• The mixing of waters makes the seas around Japan very rich in fish and other sea life.

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• PEOPLE & CULTURE

• The Japanese are famous for their willingness to work very hard. Children are taught to show
respect for others, especially parents and bosses. They learn to do what's best for their
family or company and worry less about their own needs.

• Japanese food is very different from food in Western countries. There is lots of rice, fish, and
vegetables, but little meat. With little fat or dairy, this diet is very healthy, which helps
Japanese people live, on average, longer than any other people in the world.

• HISTORY

• People first came to Japan about 30,000 years ago. At the time, the main islands were
connected to Siberia and Korea by bridges of dry land, so people crossed on foot. The first
society, called the Jomon culture, arose about 12,000 years ago. Around the same time, the
Ainu people arrived by boat from Siberia.

• The Jomon and Ainu survived for thousands of years, hunting, fishing, and gathering plants.
In 300 B.C., the Yayoi people came to Honshu Island from Korea and China. They were skilled
weavers, tool makers, and farmers who began cultivating rice in flooded paddy fields.

• In 660 B.C., Japan's first emperor, Jimmu Tenno, came to power. Emperors controlled Japan
until the 12th century A.D., when military rulers, called shoguns, took control and ruled by
might.

• Europeans first arrived in Japan in 1543, bringing guns and Christianity. In 1635, the ruling
shogun closed Japan to foreigners and forbade Japanese to travel abroad. This isolation
lasted more than 200 years. In 1868, the shoguns were overthrown and emperors returned.
This was a time of great change and modernization for Japan.

• During World War I (1914-1917), Japan fought on the side of the U.S. But on December 7,
1941, Japan bombed the United States navy fleet at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii and the U.S.
entered World War II. From 1941-1945, Japan's military leaders fought against the U.S. and
the allied forces. In August 1945, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing about 115,000 people. Japan surrendered a few days later.

• GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY

• Japan is the only country in the world with a reigning emperor. Emperors have no real
power, but they are still revered as a symbol of the country's traditions and unity.

• World War II devastated Japan's economy. But the Japanese people's hard work and clever
innovation turned it around, making it the second largest economy in the world. Japan's
high-tech industry makes some of the most popular electronic products in the world.

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Conclusion:
• The "Land of the Rising Sun," a nation that occupies a chain of islands in East Asia in the
North Pacific Ocean roughly parallel with the eastern coast of Asia's mainland.

• The archipelago stretches from south of the Russian Sakhalin Island in the north to near
Taiwan in the southwest. Japan's main islands are (from north to south) Hokkaido, Honshu,
Shikoku, and Kyushu.

• The country shares maritime borders with China, North Korea, South Korea, the Philippines,
Russia, and Taiwan.

• The country has a slowly shrinking population, and the proportion of older people is rising. In
2021, 125 million people live in Japan.

References:
• Khurana.K.L:Modern Europe,Lakshmi Narain Agarwal educational publishers.2011

• . . . : , -2014.

• I PUC Text Book:World History,2014-15,Department of Pre University


Education,Government of Karanataka

• Dr.Krishna Reddy: World History,Mc Graw Hill Education Publication,2018

• Text Book In Political Science for Class XII:Contemporary World Politics,NCERT,2007

• History of Asia,WikipediaA-2021

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