Japan

By: Wyatt Tyndall

LocationJapan consists of several thousands of

islands, but Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku are the four largest. Japan’s closest neighbours are Korea, Russia, and China. The sea separates the Asian continent from the Japanese archipelago.

Longitude, Latitude, and Elevation

• In the Capital City of Japan (Tokyo) the Longitude is 139º 30' E and the Latitude is 35º 45' N. The elevation of Tokyo, Japan is 116 ft.

Japan has many Geographic Features including: Tokyo Tower - The Tokyo Tower was made in in 1958

and stands at an impressive 333 metres / 1,093 feet, 13 metres / 43 feet higher than the Eiffel Tower.

Belfry- Belfry is a tiny hill is home to a shrine to the goddess of good fortune. The bell once told the hours for the people of the district and it is said that it could be heard for a radius of no less than 6 km / 4 miles.Hanazono Jinja, Kaminarimon, Asakusa Shrine, Meiji Jingu Shrine are also interesting landmarks.

GEOGRAPHIC FEATURES

Major cities in Japan are Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kobe, Kyoto, and Fukuoka. Rikuchu, Rikuzen, Sado, Sagami, Satsuma, Settsu, Sanuki, Shima, Shimossa, Shimotsuke, Shinano, Suo, Suruga, Suwa, Tajima, Toyo, Totomi, Tango, Tamba, Tsushima, Yamato, Nagato, Owari are all Provinces of Japan.

Provinces and Major Cities

• Japan is 9 hours ahead of UTC/GMT• If it was 2:00pm here it would be 5:00am in

Tokyo, Japan• UTC is an abbreviation for Coordinated

Universal Time and GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time.

Time Zones

Japanese food offers a very large variety of dishes. Some popular dishes include: Domburi, Gomaae, Gyoza, Gyudon, Korokke, Nikujaga, Okonomiyaki, Ramen, Rice, Sashimi, Seaweed, Soba, Soya Bean, Sushi, Tempura, Udon, Yakitori, and Wasabi.

Food

The vegetation consists of lush green forests to desert plants. From north to south, different forests include broadleaf evergreen, broadleaf deciduous, and coniferous evergreen woodlands. Cherry Blossoms are indigenous to many Asian states including Japan, Korea, China. Japan has a wide variety of cherry blossoms. Bonsai Trees are very popular in Japan.

Vegetation

ResourcesJapan’s natural resources are

negligible mineral resources and fish. Japan has no natural energy resources and is the world’s largest importer of coal and liquefied natural gas. Japan is also the second largest importer of oil.

TechnologyJapan is well known for its automotive and electronic industries throughout the world. Japanese electronic products account for a large share in the world market, compared to the majority of other countries. With the third largest budget for research and development at $130 billion and over 677,000 researchers Japan is one of the leading countries in the fields of scientific research, technology, machinery and medical research. Japan leads the world in robotics, possessing more than half (402,200 of 742,500) of the world's industrial robots used for manufacturing. Sony, Panasonic, Canon, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Sharp, NEC, Epson, and Toshiba are well known electronics companies all over the world. Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nintendo, and Subaru are also very well-known companies in the world.

CultureJapanese culture includes:

• Architecture - Originally heavily influenced by Chinese architecture, it also develops many differences and aspects which are indigenous to India.

• Gardens - Garden architecture is as important as building architecture and very much influenced by the same historical and religious background.

• Painting - Painting has been an art in Japan for a very long time.• Sculptures - Traditional Japanese sculptures mainly consisted of

Buddhist images, such as Tathagata, Bodhisattva and Myō-ō.

Climate and Weather

Except for the Hokkaido area and the subtropical Okinawa region, the weather is mostly temperate, with four seasons. Winters are cool and sunny in the south, cold and sunny around Tokyo (which occasionally has snow), and very cold around Hokkaido, which is covered in snow for up to four months a year. Summer, between June and September, ranges from warm to very hot, while spring and autumn are generally mild throughout the country. Rain falls throughout the year but June and early July is the main rainy season. Hokkaido, however, is much drier than the Tokyo area. Rainfall is intermittent with sunshine. Typhoons are only likely to occur in September or October but rarely last more than a day.

Important Dates in History

16th Century• 1560 - Oda Nobunaga emerged victorious from the Battle of Okehazama.

17th Century• Dec. 17 1637 - Shimabara Rebellion: A rebellion began against the daimyo Matsukura

Katsuie over his persecution of Christianity and onerous tax code.18th Century

• Feb.19 1709 - Tsunayoshi died. His nephew Tokugaw Ienobu succeeded him as shogun.19th Century

• July 2 1863 - Representatives of the Satsuma Province refused to turn over Richardson's killers or pay an indemnity for his death.20th Century

• Feb. 8 1904 - Russo-Japanese War: Japan launched a surprise torpedo attack on the Russian navy at Port Arthur.21st Century

• Aug. 8 2005 - The House of Councillors voted down a bill to break up and privatize Japan Post.

Sports

• Sumo• Baseball• Soccer • Golf• Ski and Snowboard• Martial Arts• Car Racing• Hanetsuki – Japanese Badminton

Interesting Facts

• There are 176 airports in Japan, 144 of which are paved.

• There are 15 heliports in Japan.• There are 1,196,999 Km of highways in Japan.• There are 1,770 Km of waterways in Japan.• There are 23,506 Km of railways in Japan.

Reference List• http://www.fecielo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/japan-flag.png -

February 5th, 2010 • http://www.phpclasses.org/browse/country/jp/ - February 8th, 2010• http://www.japan-guide.com/list/e1000.html - February 8th, 2010• http://z.about.com/d/archaeology/1/0/b/-/1/japan_map.gif - February

8th, 2010• http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/jp.htm - February

9th, 2010 • http://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/userpics/10004/japan_map.gif -

February 23rd, 2010• http://www.tokyo.world-guides.com/tokyo_landmarks.html - February

23rd, 2010• http://www.japan-guide.com/list/e1003.html - February 23rd, 2010

Reference List • http://www.japan-101.com/geography/index4.htm - February 26th, 2010• http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=248 – March 5th,

2010• http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e620.html - March 8th, 2010• http://www.expressentree.com/Images/cuisine/Japanese-food-delivery.jp

g - March 8th, 2010

• http://blog.hotelclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/japanese-cuisine.jpg - March 8th, 2010

• http://lordofdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/japanese-food2.jpg - March 8th , 2010

• http://www.indexmundi.com/japan/natural_resources.html - March 8th, 2010

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_technology_in_Japan - March 8th, 2010

Reference List• http://www.toons4biz.com/v/vspfiles/photos/computer_cartoon_02X018.jpg

- March 9th, 2010• http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_main_vegetation_in_Japan - March

9th, 2010• http://www.env.go.jp/en/nature/npr/wetland/vegetation.html - March 9th,

2010• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_blossom - March 9th, 2010• http://utellit.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/miniature-bonsai-tree.jpg - March

9th, 2010• http://www.worldtravelguide.net/country/131/climate/Far-East-Asia/Japan.ht

ml - March 9th, 2010

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Japanese_history - March 9th , 2010• http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e633.html - March 9th, 2010