IMAGE DESCRIPTION:
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JAPAN: A National Biopic
(By SimoTheFinlandized
Written In © 2022 CE)
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Japan (Japanese: 日本;
Romanised as nihon or nippon)
is a country in East Asia. It is a
group of many islands close to
the east coast of Korea, China
and Russia. The Pacific Ocean
is to the east of Japan and the
Sea of Japan is to the west.
Most people in Japan live on
one of four of the islands. The
biggest of these islands,
Honshu, has the most people.
Honshu is the 7th largest island
in the world. Tokyo is the
capital of Japan and its biggest
city. The Japanese people call
their country "Nihon" or
"Nippon", which means "the
origin of the Sun" in Japanese.
Japan is a monarchy whose
head of state is called the
Emperor.
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HISTORY OF JAPAN:
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The first people in Japan were
the Ainu people and other
Jōmon people. They were
closer related to Europeans or
Arabs. They were later
conquered and replaced by the
Yayoi people (early Japanese
and Ryukyuans). The Yayoi
were an ancient ethnic group
that migrated to the Japanese
archipelago mainly from
southeastern China during the
Yayoi period (300 BCE–300 CE).
Modern Japanese people have
primarily Yayoi ancestry at an
average of 97%. The
indigenous Ryukyuan and Ainu
peoples have more Jōmon
ancestry on the other hand.
The earliest records on Japan
are from Chinese documents.
One of those records said there
were many small countries (in
Japan) which had wars between
them and later a country, ruled
by a queen, became the
strongest, unified others, and
brought peace. The Japanese
began to write their own
history after the 5th and 6th
centuries, when people from
Korea and China taught Japan
about the Chinese writing
system. Japan's neighbours
also taught them Buddhism.
The Japanese changed
Buddhism in many ways. For
example, Japanese Buddhists
used ideas such as Zen more
than other Buddhists. Japan
had some contact with the
Europeans in the 16th century.
The Portuguese were the first
Europeans to visit Japan. Later,
the Spanish and Dutch came to
Japan to trade. Also, they
brought Christianity. Japan's
leaders welcomed them at first,
but because Europeans had
conquered many places in the
world, the Japanese were
scared they would conquer
Japan too. So the Japanese did
not let the Europeans come
into Japan anymore, except in a
small area in Nagasaki city.
Many Christians were killed.
Only the Chinese, Korean and
Dutch people were allowed to
visit Japan, in the end, and they
were under careful control of
the Japanese government.
Japan was opened for visitors
again in 1854 by Commodore
Matthew Perry, when the
Americans wanted to use
Japanese ports for American
whale boats. Perry brought
steamships with guns, which
scared the Japanese into
making an agreement with
him. This new contact with
Europeans and Americans
changed the Japanese culture.
The Meiji Restoration of 1868
stopped some old ways and
added many new ones. The
Empire of Japan was created,
and it became a very powerful
nation and tried to invade the
countries next to it. It invaded
and annexed the Ryukyu
Kingdom, Taiwan, and Korea. It
had wars with China and
Russia: the First Sino-Japanese
War, the Boxer Rebellion, the
Russo-Japanese War, and the
Second Sino-Japanese War,
which grew to become a part of
World War II when Japan
became allies with Nazi
Germany and Fascist Italy. In
1941, Japan attacked Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii, a water base
of the United States, and
destroyed or damaged many
ships and airplanes. This
started the United States'
involvement in World War II.
American and Japanese forces
fought each other in the Pacific.
Once airbases were established
within range of the Japanese
mainland, America began to
win, and started dropping
bombs on Japanese cities.
America was able to bomb
most of the important cities
and quickly brought Japan
close to defeat. To make Japan
surrender, the United States
dropped two atomic bombs on
the cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, killing 150,000
Japanese citizens. Soon after
this the Soviet Union began to
fight against Japan, and the
Japanese army in Manchuria
lost. Japan surrendered and
gave up all the places it took
from other countries, accepting
the Potsdam Proclamation. The
United States occupied Japan
and forced it to write a new
constitution, in which it
promised to never go to war
again.
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GEOGRAPHY OF JAPAN:
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Japan is a group of islands in
the Western Pacific, off the
coast of China. The four biggest
islands are Honshu, Hokkaido,
Shikoku, and Kyushu, and there
are about 6,000 smaller islands
there. Japan is separated from
the Asian continent by the Sea
of Japan and the East China
Sea. Honshu, which means
'Mainland' in the Japanese
language, is the biggest island.
Hokkaido is the island north of
Honshu. Kyushu is the island
west of Honshu. Shikoku is the
island to the south-west of
Honshu. In the middle of Japan
there are mountains. They
cover the middle of the islands
and leave a very narrow strip of
flat land on most coasts. Many
of the mountains are extinct
volcanoes, but some are still
active. The highest of these
mountains is the beautiful,
volcano-shaped Mt Fuji (3,776
metres or 12,389 feet high).
Japan has many earthquakes,
in fact there are about 1500 of
these every year. The biggest
earthquake recorded in Japan
was in 2011 - called '2011
Tohoku Earthquake'. It caused
great damage to several power
plants forcing Japan to shut
down all its nuclear plants.
There was a nuclear core
meltdown which caused a
serious health risk to nearby
villages and cities. 90% of the
people living in Japan live in
just 10% of the land, near the
coast. The other 10% of the
people in Japan live away from
the coast. Over 10 cities have
more than a million people in
them. The biggest city in Japan
is Tokyo, which is the capital.
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POLITICS OF JAPAN:
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The Government of Japan is a
constitutional monarchy, like
the United Kingdom. The head
of state is the Emperor of
Japan, Emperor Naruhito, while
most executive power rests
with the Prime Minister of
Japan, currently (2013) Shinzo
Abe, and his Cabinet. The Diet
of Japan is the legislative
branch or Parliament, made up
of two houses. The upper
house, the House of
Councillors, is the subject of a
national election every three
years; the last election was in
July 2013, when half of the
seats for six year terms were
voted on.
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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
OF JAPAN:
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In the past, the Japanese
learned science by way of
China or from Europe in the
Meiji Era. However, in recent
decades Japan has been a
leading innovator in several
fields, including chemical
engineering, nanotechnology,
and robotics. There are many
technological companies in
Japan, and these companies
make products for export. The
robot Asimo was made and
introduced in 2000. It was
manufactured by Honda.
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CULTURE IN JAPAN:
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Many things in Japanese culture
originated in China, like Go and
bonsai. Japan's traditional food
is seafood, rice, miso soup, and
vegetables. Noodles and tofu
are also common. Sushi, a
Japanese food made of cooked
rice with vinegar with other
ingredients such as raw fish, is
popular around the world. The
religion in Japan is mostly
Shinto and Buddhist. Due to
the tolerant nature of the two
main Japanese religions, and
the resulting intermixing of the
two, many Japanese identify as
both Shinto and Buddhist at
the same time. There are small
numbers of Christians and
Muslims, and a few Jews. When
it comes to popular culture,
Japan is famous for making
video games. Many of the
biggest companies that make
games, like Nintendo, Namco,
and Sega, are Japanese. Other
well-known parts of Japanese
arts are comics, called manga,
and digital animation, or
anime. Many people get to
know Japanese or how life in
Japan is like by reading manga
or watching anime on
television. The Ryukyuans and
the Ainu both have their own
separate cultures, languages
and religion.
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MILITARY IN JAPAN:
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The Imperial Japanese Army,
also known as the IJA, was the
army of Imperial Japan from
1871 to 1945. The IJA was
started after the Meiji
Restoration and dissolved at
the end of World War II. Article
9 of the Constitution of Japan
prohibits the use of aggressive
force as a means for settling
international disputes. In order
to defend Japan, if necessary,
the Japan Self-Defense Forces
(JSDF) was formed. The
ground-reach of JSDF is the
Japan Ground Self-Defense
Force (JGSDF). Japan also has a
navy.
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EDUCATION IN JAPAN:
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As of 2008, there were 87
national universities, 89 public
universities, and 580 private
universities in Japan. National
universities tend to have a
good reputation in higher
education in Japan. They are
often more difficult to get into
than private or public
universities. In 2004, the
national university system
changed. National universities
were no longer completely
public public and more of a
private. Since 2004, every
national university has become
a special type of corporation.
They are called "national
university corporations". They
now have more freedom and
less control from the
government. Faculty and staff
are no longer government
employees, and they do not
work for the Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology.
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TRANSPORTATION IN JAPAN:
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There are several important
international airports in Japan.
Narita is the major
international airport in the
Tokyo area. Kansai
International Airport serves as
the main airport for Osaka,
Kobe, and Kyoto. Chūbu
Centrair International Airport
near Nagoya is the newest of
the three. Haneda Airport is
close to central Tokyo and is
the largest domestic airport in
the country. The Shinkansen is
one of the fastest trains in the
world and connects cities in
Honshu and Kyushu. Networks
of public and private railways
are almost all over the country.
People mostly travel between
cities in buses.
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SPORTS IN JAPAN:
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Japan has many traditional
sports such as sumo, judo,
karate, kyudo, aikido, iaido and
kendo. Also, there are sports
which were imported from the
West such as baseball, soccer,
rugby, golf and skiing. Japan
has taken part in the Olympic
Games since 1912. It hosted
the Olympic Games in 1964,
1972 and 1998. From 1912
until now, Japanese
sportspeople have won 398
medals in total. Professional
sports are also popular and
many sports such as baseball,
soccer, sumo, American
football, basketball and
volleyball, are played
professionally.
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