JAPANTRAVEL GUIDE PROJECT

Megan Raymond

LOCATIONJapan is an island country

located off the Pacific coast of the Asian mainland. The Sea of Okhotsk is to the north, the Pacific Ocean is to the south and east, the Sea of Japan is

to the west, and the East China Sea is to the southwest. The country consists of four

main islands: Shikoku, Kyushu, Hokkaido, and

Honshu; along with over a thousand minor islands. The

total land mass of the Japanese islands is about

142,000 square miles.

ClimateThe majority of the Japanese islands are located in the temperate zones

which means there is usually a month long rainy season followed by a hot

summer. The latitude and longitude of the Japanese islands are almost similar to east coast of the United States from 45 degrees in the north and 20 degrees

in the south. Ocean currents, like Kuroshio and Tsushima from the south, also affect climate by warming up the Pacific side of the islands and also the ones near the Korean strait. The Kurile current, on the other hand, is cold and

comes southwestward towards Hokkaido. Cold winds from northern Asia blow east over the Sea of Japan and cause heavy snowfall over the

northwestern coasts of Japan. On the eastern shores, Japan has heavy

rainfall because the seasonal winds carry moisture from the surrounding

waters.

POPULATIONBy 1999, the Japanese population

was estimated to be around 127,000,000. Around 65 of the

population, about 81 million people, live in urban areas. Because of the surge in industrialization the past

century, the population has continued to grow rapidly, nearly

tripling itself. The increase in population is mainly contributed to

the decrease in infant mortality, increase in longevity, increase in the

use of contraceptives, and the change from larger,

multigenerational families to smaller, nuclear ones. Japan has one of the highest life expectancy rates in the

world but the birthrate has been decreasing within the last decade.

Because the population is aging rapidly and less people are being

born, the population is expected to peak during the 21st century then

drop.

CITIESTokyo, which means, ‘eastern capital,’ is Japan’s capital city and has the largest population

with nearly nine million people. The number of people living in

Tokyo is larger than the combined population of the

next three largest cities: Yokohama, Osaka, and Nagoya. In fact the number of residents

in the Japanese capital is greater than the combined population of the next three

largest cities Yokohama, Osaka and Nagoya. Yokohama, which

is south of Tokyo, has a population of approximately 3.7

million. Yokohama also hosts the country’s largest port and is

a manufacturing and ship building center.

WARNINGSTravelers should be aware of

entertainment areas that cater specifically to tourists and

foreigners living in the country like Roppongi and Kabuki-cho. Areas like this are known for their high rates of drink spiking, credit card theft and general misuse of credit

card information. Also, even though Japan is considered one of the safest countries in the world, it

does suffer from its fair share of natural disasters, primarily

earthquakes, floods and tsunamis. The northeast is more earthquake prone and areas more southeast

tend to suffer from typhoons. Japan also has a few active

volcanoes, Mt. Fuji being the most famous and prominent of these.

Culture - FOOD

Agriculture is not a large market in Japan. A great majority of the land cannot be used to grow crops so

the Japanese diet consists mainly of seafood, rice, soup, and pickled vegetables. Rice is a staple in

every Japanese meal and is usually accompanied by some sort of

noodle, like Udon, or some species of fish or other aquatic animal like

squid, octopus, eel, and even pufferfish. Because the Japanese diet consists mainly of fish, the

heart disease rate is very low. If a traveler is the kind of person that enjoys a wide variety of seafood

then they will enjoy Japanese cuisine. If they enjoy more Western foods, Japan has started to include

more meat in the standard diet such as yakitori (grilled chicken), yakiniku (Korean barbeque), and

gyudon (beef bowl).

Culture – HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALSIn Japan, on Valentine’s Day, women give their male counterparts Giri-choko, which is obligation chocolate, and they also give out tomo-choko and honmei-choko to their respective friends, boyfriends and husbands. White Day, which takes place on March 14, is a holiday in which men give women presents like they would on Valentine’s Day except they are supposed to give women twice or three times the amount of gifts then the women give on Valentine’s Day. Shichigosan is a festival that is used as a rite of passage for boys aged 3 to 5 and girls aged 3 to 7. The children, who are dressed in colorful kimonos, are blessed at their nearest Shinto shrine and they give thanks for their good health and pray for future blessings..

Culture - RELIGION

Japan has freedom of religion but Shintoism and Buddhism are two of

the more prominent religions. Shintoism is a system of gods and

beliefs about the relationship between people, the environment, and the state. Shintoism teaches that Japan is the land of the gods

but it doesn’t have a formal doctrine or scriptures; in modern times, it now mainly exists as a

nationalist ideology than an actual religion. The sects of Buddhism

that have been more popular and successful in Japan have placed emphasis on the accessibility of

salvation and the enlightenment of ordinary people. These branches teach that devotion and prayer to

the Buddhist saints can mean salvation and Zen, which teaches

that enlightenment can be achieved through meditation.

PHYSICAL - LANDSCAPE

Japan is a heavily urbanized country and the areas that

have been urbanized include high amounts of the population.

Rapid industrialization has caused a major shift in more people moving from rural to urban areas. Approximately

four-fifths of Japan consists of either hills or mountains while a

good fifth of the landscape is plains and flat areas which mainly appear around the

coast. Japan rests in an area called the, ‘Ring of Fire,’ which

borders the majority of the Pacific Basin. Over fifty of

Japan’s volcanoes are active but they seldom ever erupt.

PHYSICAL – BEAUTIFUL PLACES

Kenrokuen Garden is considered one of Japan’s most beautiful landscape

gardens. The garden has a large, artificial pond, walking trails, bridges, and trees, like cherry blossoms and plums,

flowers like azaleas and irises, teahouses, and a large stone

lantern in the shape of a Japanese harp. Mount Koya is considered to be the spiritual home of Shingon Buddhism and is usually topped with

snow during the cold months. The mountaintop is covered in

a lush forest and there are over 100 temples that offer visitors a chance to live the

life of a monk during an overnight stay.