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Researched by Erika O. |
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Introduction
Japan is a small country in Asia. It is smaller than most countries in
Asia. Japan’s national image is the cherry blossom. Japan’s flag is a
white square with a red circle in the middle. It represents the rising
sun. Tokyo, the capital city, has over 10,000,000 people living in it.
Entertainment
Baseball is Japan’s passion. Little league goes all through the year.
Martial arts like Judo and Kendo are also popular. Japan has a lot of
board games, one is Shogu. It is sort of like the game of chess. Sumo
wrestling is the national sport of Japan. An average Sumo weighs over
300 pounds but are very healthy. There are six major Sumo tournaments a
year. Matches usually last about 10 seconds.
Food
A traditional Japanese meal consists of soup (usually miso soup), white
rice, some kind of pickled vegetable, fish or meat, and a cooked
vegetable. Fish is the main Japanese source of protein. Some popular
foods are sushi, takoyaki, and tofu. Sushi is served many different
ways. Sushi always has rice and seaweed. Sometimes it even has caviar
in it. Takoyaki is a very popular street snack in Japan. It is a mix of
batter, octopus, onion, fish flakes, seaweed, and sauce. Tofu is a
popular food that goes well with a lot of Japanese dishes. Tofu is
really made out of soy bean curds. Before a meal everyone says the word
“itodakimasu”, which means, “I receive this food.” After a meal people
say “gochiso sama deshita” which means “Quite a feast.”
Education
Education is very important in Japan. Usually kids go to school six
days a week including Saturday. They also go to individual classes
after school. They study to about nine or ten at night in these
classes. Teachers are very strict in Japan. After the teachers name the
character Sensei is added. So Mr. Newkirk would be Newkirk Sensei. Your
whole life depends on what college you get into in Japan.
Holidays
All the holidays have festivals in Japan. All the festivals
include parades, kites, costumes, dancing, and fun. New Years has the
biggest festival. Everyone makes their house spotless and they have
huge dinners! Most people also visit the local shrines. In Japan they
have very unique holidays. They even have Girl’s Day to celebrate girls.
Theater
and Plays
There are five different kinds of plays in Japan. The first kind
is Devil plays (Oni-Mono). The second kind is Beautiful Plays
(Katsura-Mono). The third play is God plays (Kami-Mono). The fourth
kind is a battle play (Shura-Mono). The last
kind
is a play about the present day. It is called Genza-Mono.
Clothing
The clothing that almost all Japanese women wear is a kimono. A kimono
is sort of like a long dress. The color and design of the kimono
changes by what season it is. During the winter a girl might have a
kimono with snowflakes on it. In the spring a kimono might have cherry
blossoms on it. In the summer a girl might have a kimono with flowers
on it. In the fall a girl might wear a kimono with leaf prints on it.
Natural
Disasters
In Japan there are three types of natural disasters to worry about. The
first is an earthquake. There are about 2500 earthquakes a year in
Japan. The biggest recent earthquake was the Great Hanshin Earthquake.
It destroyed a lot of homes, and injured thousands of people. Another
natural disaster to worry about is a Typhoon. The worst season is July
through September. A typhoon is basically a hurricane. Fire is the
third natural diaster. Since Japan is so dry, usually brush fires burn
through fields and other places without any trouble.
Religion
There are two types of major religious groups in Japan, Shintoism and
Buddhist. One percent of Japanese are Christian. Most people are Shinto
and Buddhist. Weddings are Shinto religion, and funerals are Buddist
religion. Shinto came from India then spread to China, and then it
finally traveled to Japan. To worship Shinto, every morning you go into
the room where the front door is and there is a shelf above the door.
This shelf is called the “God Shelf”. You leave rice and fruit on the
shelf and offer them to the gods. Kami is the nature god. That is
whom the Shinto worship. To worship as a Buddhist, you go to a shrine
several times a week. Shrines are open twenty-four hours, seven days a
week, and 365 days a year.
Buddha
Buddha was a magical man in Japan. The Japanese believed if you rubbed
his stomach you would have good luck. When Buddha was dying he built a
statue of himself. It had 138 arms. In martial arts every arm has a
kata (a series of moves put together). The 138th kata is declared
the most powerful. It is called Super-Empia.
Geography
In Japan there are four major islands. The biggest is Honshu. Another
island is Hokkaido (it was once used for out-casts to live on). Shikoku
is the smallest of the four islands. The fourth island is Kyushu, it is
the “Sunshine state of Japan” The tallest mountain is Mt.Fuji. Mt. Fuji
is located between Shizuoka Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture (about
twenty miles outside of Tokyo.) It is 12,387 feet tall (3776 meters).
It is declared foolish to climb it twice, but most Japanese want to
climb it once. Tokyo is the capital of Japan. The Shiriano River is the
longest river in Japan.
Population
The population of Japan is about 127 million. One half of the
population lives in big cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, or Nagoya. Nine
tenths of people in Japan are Japanese. The Non-Japanese residents have
to register with the police every year. They also don’t have as many
rights as the Japanese do. Most people who are not Japanese are Chinese
or Korean. Most of those people live on Hokkaido. A lot of Japanese
live on Honshu.
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