National Name: Nippon
Emperor: Akihito (1989)
Prime Minister: Junichiro Koizumi(2001)
Area:145,882 sq mi (377,835 sq km)
Population (2005 est.): 127,417,244 (growth rate: 0.1%)
Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Tokyo 31,139,900 (metro. area) 8,240,100(city proper)
Other large cities: Yokohama, 3,494,900 (part of Tokyo metro. area); Osaka, 2,597,000; Nagoya, 2,189,700; Sapporo, 1,848,000; Kobe, 1,529,900(part of Osaka metro. area);Kyoto, 1,470,600 (part of Osaka metro. area); Fukuoka,1,368,900; Kawasaki,1,276,200(part of Tokyo metro. area); Hiroshima,1,132,700
Monetary unit: Yen
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Language: Japanese
Ethnicity/race: Japanese 99%,other 1%(mostly Korean)
Religions: Shintoist and Buddhist 84%,other 16%(including Christian 0.7%)
Geography
Japan is an archipelago in the Pacific. It 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. which was occupied from 1945 to 1972, when it reverted to Japanese control, and the Kurils to the northeast are Russian-occupied.
Government
Japan's government is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government.
History
According to legend, Japan was created by the sun goddess from whom the emperors were descended. The first emperor was Jimmu, who supposedly ascended the throne in 660 B.C., a tradition that constituted official doctrine until 1945.
History of Japan began being recorded 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.
Despite Japan's agreement to respect Chinese national integrity at the Washington Conference of 1921�1922, it invaded Manchuria in 1931. The following year, Japan set up this area as a puppet state, �Manchukuo�, under Emperor Henry Pu-Yi, the last of China's Manchu dynasty. On Nov. 25, 1936, Japan joined the Axis. The invasion of China came the next year, followed by the Pearl Harbor attack on the U.S. on Dec. 7, 1941. Japan won its first military engagements during the war, extending its power over a vast area of the Pacific. Yet, after 1942, the Japanese were forced to retreat, island by island, to their own country. The dropping of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 by the United States finally brought the government to admit defeat. Japan surrendered formally on Sept. 2, 1945, aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands reverted to the USSR, and Formosa (Taiwan) and Manchuria to China. The Pacific islands remained under U.S. occupation.
Today Japan is a country with many large and thriving cities as well as very advanced technology. However, Japan also has a more quiet, and peaceful scenery in the south away from all the commotion of life in the city.
Landmarks
This is the Imperial Palace located in Tokyo. The bridge in front of it is called Niju-bashi, one of the access bridges across the moat of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. The palace is only open to the public on the Emperor's birthday (December 23rd) and January 2nd.
This is Todaiji temple's Daibutsuden, which houses Japan's largest bronze Buddha and is the largest wooden structure in the world.
This is Nijo-jo Castle, a residential castle located in Kyoto.
For more information about Japan and its culture, please visit these sites:
Japan
Japan Gallery
Jpop
Anime
Japan News