Japan…the land of rising

sun…

Introduction. The modern world. It’s too difficult to keep your individuality and to change with a progress at the same time. Nowadays there is no many countries where past and future are able to get along in harmony.

Japan is a unique phenomenon. Journalists often call it “a pearl of Asia”. It is a striking combination of developed economics, technical progress and rich culture, keeping carefully by many generations of people.

General information

Name: Japan (self name – Nippon)Language: JapaneseCapital: TokyoCurrency: Yena (¥) Population: 127 433 494 Territory: 377 835 sqr cmWay of government: constitutional monarchyLargest cities: Tokyo, Shibuya, Sapporo, Osaka, YokogamaImperor: AkihitoPremier-minister: Taro Aso

Contents:

Part 1. Geography and Nature

Part 2. Tokyo Part 3. Religion

Part 4. Culture and traditions

Part 1. Geography and Nature

Japan is an island state in the East Asia.

It covers 4 big islands: Honshu, Hokkaido, Shikoku and Kyushu, and several smaller ones like Okinawa.

Japan has a sea border with North Korea in the west and with Russia in the north-west.

Japanese islands were formed on a cross of several volcanic arches, what explains mountainous relief of Japan.

Earth movements are

connected with intensive volcanic activity. There is more than 200 volcanoes on the territory of Japan, 40 of them are active.

Seismic conditions of the country are not stable. That’s why Japan has a permanent danger of earthquakes and tsunami.

Japan is a mountainous land with prevalence of low and medium-attitude mountains.

The landscapes have angular and pointed forms of a relief, but in the south of Honshu and Kyushu the relief is smoothed, coastal areas of Hokkaido have smoother outlines too.

Because of big length of Japan from the north on the south, there are big climatic distinctions within its territory . As a whole a climate of Japan is damp, naval.

Snowfalls happen on all of territory of Japan, but in the south only for some days, and in the northwest of country – for 95 days long.

The flora of Japan differs of the big specific variety and includes 2750 kinds species. On the Japanese islands there are plants, which are typical for the tropical, subtropical and moderated zones.

Japanese peach blossom

Japanese maple

Blooming sakura

the lake Sohara

Waterfall in the North of Japan

Coast of Okinawa

Bamboo forest

Part 2. Tokyo

Tokyo is a capital of Japan. More than 12 000 000

persons lives in Tokyo , i.e. almost every tenth Japanese.

It is a city, where the cicadas, sung in verses of national poets, ring at night , and in the morning deafening words of a greeting and morning exercises' command reach from amplifiers .

Edo is a former name of Tokyo, which means "river gate“, because once there was a fishing village on this place .

Tokyo became a great city thanks to talented historical figures and their passion to reforms and town-planning

Tokyo consists of several parts. Most interesting of then are Asakusa, Kanda and Gindza.

It would be possible to consider as city’s centre the hill surrounded with a helicoids ditch with the remained ancient stone walls and a ferro-concrete imperial palace.

Imperial Palace

Imperial Palace

Asakusa.

This area has kept unique aroma of old Japan

more than any another. The area was generated round a Buddhist temple of Asakusa Kannon based, under the legend, in 628 year.

Asakusa Kanon

Judges of traditions of "great Edo" love lying to the north from the centre area Asakusa.

Almost in each Asakusa’s quarter there is a temple, and in it - a portable chapel "mikoshi". It includes the group of porters - dancers, who put on by special suits with colour of their area for the holiday "matsuri" . Speak, this show is comparable with a carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

KandaKanda is the centre of

universities, institutes, schools, bookshops, student's hostels, shops, discos, clubs.

Earlier Kanda was area of handicraftsmen and dealers; names of quarters tell about employment of former inhabitants, where people lodged by trades: "kandzi"- smiths,"konja"- dyers.

Streets of Kanda

Gindza

Gindza not always was a world famous business street, a symbol of Tokyo.

Magic transformation has taken place thanks to the well-known fire of 1872. For this time 200 years of self-isolation of Japan have ended.

After visiting London the mayor of Tokyo has decided to create on a place of burnt Gindza exemplary street. The English architect has built up half of street of 1200 m two-storeyed houses.

Streets of Gindza

The life in Gindza was inhaled by the first railway in Japan, which have connected port Yokohama and station Simbasi, near to Gindza. Soon there appeared the shops trading in overseas wonders.

Gindza

Tokyo is, perhaps, the most unusual city in the world, where ancient constructions adjoin to modern skyscrapers in the western style.

Part 3. Religion

In modern Japan basically two religions are extended: the Synthoism and the Buddhism.

Synthoism is the most ancient Japanese religion.

Its name occurs from a word «syntho» — «a way of gods».

At the its heart lies worship to every possible kami — to supernatural beings.

Principal views of kami are:

• spirits of the nature (kami of mountains, the rivers, a wind, a rain etc.);

• uncommon persons declared kami;

• forces and the abilities concluded in people and the nature (kami of growth or a reproduction);

• spirits of the died.

In Japan people worship to uncountable quantity kami. In each village and district there is a local kami-patron.

There is no especial division between kami and usual people — there is a set of myths and legends about marriages of people and kami.

The child is considered an embodiment of the kami-ancestor (udjigami), therefore in Japan people concern to small children with the big respect.

The Synthoistic temple consists of two premises — a hall (haiden) and room (honden), where is situated the thing connected with kami.

The important part of a temple is tori — the П-shaped gate, which is a symbolical border between the world of people and the world of kami.

Tori

Unlike synthoism, the Japanese Buddhism breaks into set of doctrines and schools.

The basis of the Japanese Buddhism is the Mahajana doctrine («the Big chariot») or northern Buddhism, opposed to the Hinajana doctrine («the Small chariot») or to the southern Buddhism.

Inari-sama, the kami of richful

The talisman against bad spirits

The temple

Part 4. Culture and traditions

The culture of Japan has developed as a result of the historical process which has begun with resettlement of ancestors of the Japanese people on the Japanese archipelago from continent and origin of culture of the period of Dzyomon.

The modern Japanese culture was strongly influenced by the countries of Asia (in particular China and Korea), Europe and the North America.

One of features of the Japanese culture is its long development in full isolation of the country from all other world in board of Tokugava lasting to the middle of a XIX-th century — the beginnings of the period of Mejdzi.

The great influence on culture and mentality of Japanese has rendered the isolated territorial position of the country, geographical and climatic features, and also the special natural phenomena, what was expressed in the original relation of Japanese to the nature as to the alive thing.

Ability to admire of momentary beauty of the nature as feature of national character of the Japanese has found its expression in many forms of art in Japan.

The Japanese language always was the important part of Japanese culture. The prevailing part of the population of the country speaks Japanese.

Japanese is agglutative language and it is characterized by the difficult system of a writing consisting of three various types of signs — the Chinese symbols kanji, syllabic alphabets hiragana and katakana. “Nippon” (Japan)

The Japanese painting is one of the most ancient Japanese arts, it is characterised by a wide variety of genres and styles.

Assignment of a leading place to the nature is typical characteristic of the Japanese painting.

Since X century in the Japanese painting a direction jamato-e is allocated, its pictures represent horizontal rolls, which illustrated literary works.

In XIV century style sumi-e (a monochrome water colour) develops, and in first half of XVII-th century artists start to print ukiyo-e — engravings on a tree, representing the geishas, popular actors of theatre kabuki and landscapes.

Sumi-e

Ukiyo-e

Suzuki Harunobu

Red Fuji southern wind clear morning

One of the earliest kind of Japanese art was theatre “no”, appeared in XIV-XV centuries, actors played in masks and luxurious suits.

In the XVII century was formed one of the famous kinds of Japanese traditional theatre - kabuto. Actors were only men, grimed by special way.

Vabi-sabi («Modest simplicity») represents an extensive part of the Japanese aesthetic outlook. Some kinds of arts can be an example of aesthetics of vabi-sabi. They are bonsai, ikebana, tea ceremony, haiku and other.

Bonsai

Ikebana

Tea ceremony

Today is very popular Japanese traditional cookery. Its basic component is rice. Except its main function, in ancient Japan rice was a currency, it used for paying impositions.

Japanese use rice for cooking a lot of different food and even drinks (sake, shouchu, bakuchu). Other important product is fish. It is often used in a raw view (sushi).

O-nigiri sushi Sake barrels

World-known parts in a modern Japanese culture are J-Rock and J-Pop. This is a modern Japanese music.

The best-known J-Rock-groups are “Maximum the Hormone”, “The Pillows”, “Malice Miser”, “Nightmare”, “Mucc” and other.

“The Pillows”

“Maximum the Hormone”

Another modern wave of Japanese culture is anime (Japanese animation). Attractive and unusual graphic and conceptuality make anime popular all over the world. Auditory of anime-fans is rather serious, and today it became a subculture…

…but it is already an another story ^_^

Instead of conclusion…Japan is a land of paradoxes. It’s unusual and

individual country with its own time and space. Past and future, traditional and modern - all that is combinated in this wonderful country.

In Japan, the land of rising sun.

Owari desu ^___^

Работу выполнила Нечаева Мария, 10 МБ.При работе использовались материалы сайтов:ru.wikipedia.orgjaponia.rutvtokio.ru и т.д.