Browse Information / Places /

Japan

Japan is a mountainous island empire lying off the northeastern coast of mainland Asia. The largest and most important of Japan's many islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. Only one-sixth of Japan's land can be cultivated to feed its many people. Little space is available for Japan's cities to expand. Tokyo, with its port of Yokohama, claimed to be the world's largest city in the late 1960's.

Japan was an isolated, medieval state in the 1850's. In the following 100 years it has become one of the world's most technologically advanced countries. It conquered vast areas between 1941 and 1944, but met defeat in 1945. The speed of Japan's transformation is one of the most remarkable occurrences in history.

Japan is really one long mountain range, broken only where sea divides the islands. Some of the mountains are active volcanoes. Japan's most famous volcano, Mt. Fujiyama, has not erupted since 1707. Earthquakes are common in Japan, but seldom do much damage. But an earthquake followed by fire destroyed much of Tokyo and Yokohama in 1923. Japan has no long rivers, but thousands of swift-flowing streams. Southern Japan is warmed by the north-flowing Japan current, Western Japan is cooled by the south-flowing Oyashio current from the icy north. All of Japan has a heavy rainfall, and much snow falls in the north.

The Japanese are a remarkably unmixed people compared with other nations. This results from their very long isolation in their island home. About 15,000 Ainu people live on Hokkaido. Their ancestors lived there before the Japanese arrived, from mainland Asia. The white-skinned, hairy Ainu people look quite different from other Japanese.

Although Japan's city-dwellers seem almost completely westernized in many aspects of their lives, many of them preserve old customs. They obey family wishes and wear colorful robes called kimonos, But many young city-dwellers are abandoning these customs. Almost all Japanese follow the Shinto religion and practice other religions too. But religion is becoming less important. About a third of Japan's workers are farmers, and half of the land is used for growing rice. Fishing is very important. Rice and fish form Japan's main diet, which is now more varied. Manufacturing industries employ nearly a quarter of Japan's workers. Japan's new buildings and excellent road and rail transport contrast oddly with its many serene temples.

The Emperor of Japan has no power. The country is governed by a prime minister, cabinet and an elected parliament. The Emperor claims descent from Jim mu Tenno who it is said founded the empire in 660 B.C. But the real foundation for the Japanese state was laid in the fifth century A.D. by the Yamato clan whose priest-chief later assumed the role of emperor.

The Japanese emperors survived because they had no real power. They were gods rather than rulers. The strongest feudal family ruled for the Emperor. From A.D. 794 to 1185, the Heian period, the Fujiwara ruled as kampaku (dictator). Japan derived her civilization from China. Skilled Chinese metal-workers and silkworm farmers taught the Japanese their arts; Chinese signs were adopted for writing Japanese; and the Buddhist religion was imported and grafted onto the native Shintoism.

In 1185 the Minamoto family won a great sea battle. They set up a military government called Bakufu, which means “camp office”. The ruler was the Shogun (barbarian-subduing great general). A warrior caste, the samurai, held power. Shoguns ruled Japan until 1867. European sailors and traders visited Japan for about a century from the 1540's, but then the Tokugawa Shoguns expelled Europeans and kept Japanese from traveling abroad. In 1853-5, the United States and European powers forced their way into Japan. This led to a revolt by young Samurai. A new government under the Emperor Meiji determined to learn from the West and modernize Japan.

There were favorable conditions for an industrial revolution in Japan at this time: surplus farm products, skilled workmen and merchants. When the Emperor Meiji died in 1912, Japan was becoming a modern state. She had defeated China and Russia in wars and occupied Korea. Between the world wars Japanese manufactures began to compete with those of the West. But her rulers became increasingly aggressive and militaristic. In World War II, Japanese planes attacked the Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. The following day the United States and Japan were at war. During the war, Japan conquered much of Asia. Finally, after two atomic bombs had been dropped on Japan in 1945, she surrendered. After the American conquest, a democratic constitution was introduced and the Emperor resigned his divine claims. Japan is now one of the richest countries in the world.