B.

Geographical Information

1.

An archipelago in the Pacific, Japan is separated from the east coast of Asia by the Sea of Japan. It is
approximately the size of Montana. Japan's four main islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and
Shikoku. The Ryukyu chain to the southwest was U.S.-occupied from 1945 to 1972, when it reverted to
Japanese control, and the Kurils to the northeast are Russian-occupied.

2. Japan is an island nation in East Asia comprising a stratovolcanic archipelago extending along the
continent's Pacific coast. It lies between 24 to 46 north latitude and from 123 to 146 east
longitude. Japan is southeast of the Russian Far East, separated by the Sea of Okhotsk; slightly
east of Korea, separated by the Sea of Japan; and east-northeast of China and Taiwan, separated
by the East China Sea. The closest neighboring country to Japan is the Russian Federation.[1]
The major islands, sometimes called the "Home Islands", are (from north to
south) Hokkaid, Honsh (the "mainland"), Shikoku and Kysh. There are 6,852 islands in total,
[2]
including the Nansei Islands, the Nanpo Islands and islets, with 430 islands being inhabited and
others uninhabited. In total, as of 2006, Japan's territory is 377,923.1 km2 (145,916.9 sq mi), of which
374,834 km2(144,724 sq mi) is land and 3,091 km2 (1,193 sq mi) water.

3.The mountainous Japanese archipelago stretches 3,000 km north to south off the east of the Asian
continent at the convergence of four tectonic plates; it has about forty active volcanoes and
experiences about 1,000 earthquakes a year. The steep, craggy mountains that cover two-thirds of
its surface are prone to quick erosion from fast-flowing rivers and to mudslides. They thus have
hampered internal travel and communication and driven the population to rely on transportation
along coastal waters. There is great variety to its regions' geographical features and weather
patterns, with a rainy season in most parts in early summer. Volcanic soil that washes along the 13%
of the area that makes up the coastal plains provides fertile land and the mainly temperate climate
allows long growing seasons, which with the diversity of flora and fauna provide rich resources able
to support the density of the population.

B. Simple Historical Back ground

1. History
Legend attributes the creation of Japan to the sun goddess, from whom the emperors were descended.
The first of them was Jimmu, supposed to have ascended the throne in 660 B.C. , a tradition that
constituted official doctrine until 1945.
Recorded Japanese history begins in approximately A.D. 400, when the Yamato clan, eventually based in
Kyoto, managed to gain control of other family groups in central and western Japan. Contact with Korea
introduced Buddhism to Japan at about this time. Through the 700s Japan was much influenced by
China, and the Yamato clan set up an imperial court similar to that of China. In the ensuing centuries, the
authority of the imperial court was undermined as powerful gentry families vied for control.
At the same time, warrior clans were rising to prominence as a distinct class known as samurai. In 1192,
the Minamoto clan set up a military government under their leader, Yoritomo. He was designated shogun
(military dictator). For the following 700 years, shoguns from a succession of clans ruled in Japan, while
the imperial court existed in relative obscurity.
First contact with the West came in about 1542, when a Portuguese ship off course arrived in Japanese
waters. Portuguese traders, Jesuit missionaries, and Spanish, Dutch, and English traders followed.
Suspicious of Christianity and of Portuguese support of a local Japanese revolt, the shoguns of the
Tokugawa period (16031867) prohibited all trade with foreign countries; only a Dutch trading post at
Nagasaki was permitted. Western attempts to renew trading relations failed until 1853, when Commodore
Matthew Perry sailed an American fleet into Tokyo Bay. Trade with the West was forced upon Japan
under terms less than favorable to the Japanese. Strife caused by these actions brought down the feudal
world of the shoguns. In 1868, the emperor Meiji came to the throne, and the shogun system was
abolished.

2. Japan: Historical Background

Much of Japan's early culture, including art, language, Buddhism andConfucianism was
derived from China and, over the years, has become Japanese.
During a period of civil wars in the fifteenth and sixteenth a feudal system, much like
that of medieval Europe, developed. Each lord had his knights, or samurai, who were

bound to them by oaths of fealty. But it wasn't until the middle of the sixteenth century
that the western world became interested in this island nation.
In 1542 a Portuguese mariner, Fernando Mendez Pinto was wrecked there and brought
back such glowing reports of the country that Portugal established a trading mission at
Nagasaki. Soon Dutch merchants and European missionaries followed. In 1600
Tokugawa Ieyasu won a victory over the western lords and in 1603 became the Shogus,
founding a dynasty which effectively ruled Japan until 1867. An Englishman, William
Adams, who had served under Sir Francis Drake and had been a pilot for the Barbary
merchants, joined a Dutch fleet which sailed for Japan. After a troubled beginning there,
the Shogun, Tokugawa, took a liking to him, and he was given a house. Jesuits and
Japanese missionaries Christians acted as interpreters. The emperor sent for him and
asked him to build a ship. Although Adams knew nothing about shipbuilding, he was so
successful that the Emperor gave him two swords (the mark of a samurai). He also
taught the emperor some mathematics. Although Adams had a wife in England, the
emperor declared that William Adams was dead and reborn as Miura Anjin, free to
marry again. He married a high-born Japanese woman, but eventually wished to go
home. Permissioin was refused, he built another, larger ship and had over 80 retainers.
He died in Japan in 1620. James Clavell's novel Shogun based on his experiences.
Soon the Exclusion Decrees were published and Japan was closed to the West. After it
was reopened in 1854, the Western world became fascinated with all things Japanese.
Commodore Perry had opened to view a society and culture which had been hidden for
hundreds of years. Soon exhibitions of Japanese art opened throughout the United
States and Europe and japonisme became the rage as chinoiserie had been a century
before. Japanese motifs such as bridges, fans, cranes, butterflies, and bamboo were
incorporated into Western art and furnishings. Literature also responded to the influx of
new themes. Poets such as Whitman, Longfellow and Yeats incorporated Japanese
images into their works. Stories set in Japanese locals were written and several of these
merged into the one depicted in Puccini's Madama Butterfly.