Japan is a country in Asia.  It is smaller than a lot of countries including America.  The capital of Japan is Tokyo.  The two major religions of Japan are Shinto and Buddhism.  The population of Japan is nearly 128 million people. 

There are four large islands in Japan plus about 2000 small islands. All of them stretch 1,200 miles from northeast to southwest. Hokkaido is the northernmost island and has the city Sapporo.  The next one is Honshu, the largest island, and home of the capital city Tokyo plus other large cities like Osaka-Kyoto.  Honshu is the seventh largest island in the world.  Kyushu is farthest southwest and the fourth main (but smaller) island, Shikoku, is to its east.

The main cities of Japan are Sapporo, Kobe, Kawasaki, Kyoto, Shikoku Kyushu, Honshu, Hokkaido, Kitakushu, Hiroshima, Osaka and Saitama.  The capitol of Japan is Tokyo.  The biggest cities are Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kobe, and Kyoto.  Tokyo has 8,163,573 people. Yokohama has 3,220,331 people. Osaka has 2,623,801 people.  Nagoya has 2,154,793 people.  Sapporo has 1,671,742 people.  Kobe has 1,477,410 people. Last Kyoto has 1,461,103 people 

The two major religions of Japan are Shinto and Buddhism.  People pay courteous visits to Shinto shrines on New Years day and people visit their ancestor’s graveyards during Obon.  Shinto means the “way of the gods.”  It is the native religion of Japan and dates from prehistoric times.  Shintoists believe in many gods called the Kami.  They’re found in mountains, rivers, rocks, trees and other parts of nature.  Buddhism came to Japan from India via China in the 500’s.  More Japanese people today believe in Buddhism than Shintoism.  Buddhists believe that a person can obtain perfect peace and happiness by leading a life of virtue and wisdom.                                                                                                                             

There are a lot of holidays in Japan. White day is similar to our Valentine’s Day.  Doll’s Festival is a girl’s festival when Japan celebrates girls. National Foundation Day is when Japan celebrates the day when the first emperor (Emperor Jimnu) was crowned.  Constitution Day is when the new constitution went into the effect after World War II.  Green Day is Emperor Showa’s birthday.  Coming of Age day is when Japan celebrates people who are getting old.  Spring Equinox Day is when the spirits of those who have died visit their family who are still alive. New Years in Japan lasts for about three days. Health and Sports Day is when the Olympic sports of Tokyo were opened.  The Star Festival is not a national holiday, but Ocean Day is and that’s when people celebrate the ocean.  Christmas is not a national holiday and only a few people celebrate it because most of the people in Japan have religions other than Christianity.

There are three different character sets in writing of Japan.  Their names are Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. Kanji is pretty easy, Hiragana is harder, and Katakana is the hardest to write. 

Today the prime minister of Japan is Junichiro Koizumi. He was born in Yokosuka on January 18, 1942.  The emperor is Emperor Akihito.  His wife’s name is Empress Michiko.  The minimum age of voting is 22.
    
The main exports of Japan are cars, electronic devices, and computers.   The main imports of Japan are raw materials including oil and wood. Japan has the second highest GNP. The only country that has a higher GNP is the United States.

  The periods of Japanese history have names.  Here are the dates of those periods. Early Japan lasted until the 710’s. The Nara and Heian period lasted from 710’s-1192’s. The Muramachi period lasted from 1192-1333. The Azuchi period lasted from 1338-1573. The Edo period lasted from 1603-1868. The Meiji period lasted from 1868-1912. The Taisho and Early Showa period lasted from 1912-1945.  Last the Postwar period has lasted since 1945.

The recreations of Japan are martial arts, like Judo, origami, Asian music, lacquerware,  Japanese print, painting, flying kites, and making sculptures.

In Japan eating while walking in public is considered bad manners even though a lot of people do it.  Sushi (raw fish) is very popular in Japan and even people who don’t live in Japan like it.  Rice is traditional food in Japan and is sticky unlike American rice.  Young Japanese people don’t eat very much rice since 1990 but older Japanese people still eat rice with every meal. 

Chihuahua’s are very popular in Japan at the present.  Their popularity exploded in Japan after a commercial featured Chihuahua’s.  The ad was about a man who was crying because he lost his Chihuahua.  He’s looking at the Chihuahua’s photo when he heard whimpering at the door so he ran to the door and saw his missing dog with the dog’s wife and their puppies.  The man was really happy after that.  That’s how Chihuahuas became popular.

Who I Interviewed And What I Learned On December 19, 2004 I interviewed Masao Wada at the Wapato Buddhist Temple.  He was an excellent interview because he is actually Japanese and he’s been in the Japanese community for all his life except for the evacuation.  The evacuation happened during World War II.  The evacuation happened when Mr. Wada was just out of high school.  He also said that the evacuation happened about four or five months after World War 2 started.  He said that he got separated from his family because he didn’t go to camp but his family did.  They went to a camp in Hart Mountain, Wyoming. Mr. Wada went to work in Oregon.  When Mr. Wada had to leave his home he was sad because he didn’t want to.  His house got destroyed.  His parents were released from camp about four and a half years later.  The evacuation started in 1941, when President Roosevelt declared the Japanese had to evacuate.  Mr. Wada’s parents were Japanese and from Japan so they got blamed for the bombing, not him. He said that his job is to help with the church but he used to be a farmer.  He also grew up in the church atmosphere.  Then he told me about the history of the Japanese community in the Yakima Valley. He said when people came to the United States they couldn’t speak English and they didn’t have the Christian religion so they formed a Buddhist group, where they could speak Japanese and be part of their own community.  The death of pioneers and language barriers have changed the most.  There are 100 or less people in the Japanese community today because most of the people didn’t come back from the evacuation.  The major problems of the Japanese community are that people go somewhere else because of their work and they almost never come back except they visit sometimes on holidays.  Mr. Wada said that the most important people of the Japanese community were the leaders in church.

Bibliography Debrah, Kent. Tokyo.  Damburg, Connecticut:  Children’s Press, 1996. pp. 43-4. Explore Japan. Tokyo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2004. pp. 1-24. Shelley, Rex. Cultures Of The World-Japan.  New York: Marshall Cavendish. 1994.  pp. 7, 49. Wada, Masao. Personal Interview.  December 19, 2004. Whyte, Harlinah. Countries Of The World.  North America:  Gareth Stevens Publishing, 1998. pp. 31-32.

Menu of 2005 SOAR Projects

Back to the Selah Homepage