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Introduction

japan Nippon-koku (help•info) or Nihon-koku) is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of China, Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The characters that make up Japan’s name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes identified as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
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Japan comprises over three thousand islands,[1] the largest of which are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for 97% of land area. Most of the islands are mountainous, many volcanic; for example, Japan’s highest peak, Mount Fuji, is a volcano. Japan has the world’s tenth largest population, with about 128 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents
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Archaeological research indicates that people were living on the islands of Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan begins with brief appearances in Chinese history texts from the first century AD.Influence from the outside world followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan’s history. Since adopting its constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament, the Diet
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A major economic power,[2] Japan has the world’s second largest economy by nominal GDP. It is a member of the United Nations, G8, G4 and APEC, with the world’s fifth largest defense budget. It is also the world’s fourth largest exporter and sixth largest importer and a world leader in technology and machinery.

Subject

History

The first signs of occupation on the Japanese archipelago appeared with a Paleolithic culture around 30,000 BC, followed from around 14,000 BC by the Jōmon period, a Mesolithic to Neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer culture of pit dwelling and a rudimentary form of agriculture. Decorated clay vessels from this period, often with plaited patterns, are some of the oldest surviving examples of pottery in the world. [3]
The Yayoi period, starting around the third century BC, introduced new practices, such as wet-rice farming, iron and bronze-making and a new style of pottery, brought by migrants from China or Korea. With the development of Yayoi culture, a predominantly agricultural society emerged in Japan.[4][5][6][7]
The Japanese first appear in written history in China’s Book of Han. According to the Chinese Records of the Three Kingdoms, the most powerful kingdom on the archipelago during the third century was called Yamataikoku.

Japan was first introduced to Buddhism from Korea, but the subsequent development of Japanese Buddhism and Buddhist sculptures were primarily influenced by China.[8] Despite early resistance, Buddhism was promoted by the ruling class and eventually gained growing acceptance since the Asuka period.[9]
The Nara period of the eighth century marked the first emergence of a strong central Japanese state, centered around an imperial court in the city of Heijō-kyō, or modern day Nara. In addition to the continuing adoption of Chinese administrative practices, the Nara period is characterized by the appearance of a nascent written literature with the completion of the massive chronicles Kojiki (712) and Nihonshoki (720).[10]
In 784, Emperor Kammu moved the capital to Nagaokakyō for a brief ten-year period, before relocating it to Heian-kyō (modern day Kyoto) in 794, where it remained for more than a millennium.[11] This marked the beginning of the Heian period, during which time a distinctly indigenous Japanese culture emerged, noted for its art, poetry and literature. Lady Murasaki’s The Tale of Genji and the lyrics of modern Japan’s national anthem, Kimi ga Yo were written during this time.[12]

Japan’s feudal era was characterized by the emergence of a ruling class of warriors, the samurai. In 1185, following the defeat of the rival Taira clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo was appointed Shogun and established a base of power in Kamakura. After Yoritomo’s death, the Hōjō clan came to rule as regents for the shoguns. Zen Buddhism was introduced from China in the Kamakura period (1185–1333) and became popular among the samurai class. The Kamakura shogunate managed to repel Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281, aided by a storm that the Japanese interpreted as a kamikaze, or Divine Wind. The Kamakura shogunate was eventually overthrown by Emperor Go-Daigo, who was soon himself defeated by Ashikaga Takauji in 1336.[13] The succeeding Ashikaga shogunate failed to control the feudal warlords (daimyo), and a civil war erupted (the Ōnin War).[14]During the sixteenth century, traders and missionaries from Portugal reached Japan for the first time, initiating the Nanban ("southern barbarian") period of active commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West.

Geography and climate
Japan is a country of over three thousand islands extending along the Pacific coast of Asia. The main islands, running from north to south, are Hokkaidō, Honshū (the main island), Shikoku and Kyūshū. The Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa, are a chain of islands south of Kyushū. Together they are often known as the Japanese Archipelago.
About 70% to 80% of the country is forested, mountainous, and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial, or residential use. This is because of the generally steep elevations, climate and risk of landslides caused by earthquakes, soft ground and heavy rain. This has resulted in an extremely high population density in the habitable zones that are mainly located in coastal areas. Japan is the thirtieth most densely populated country in the world .Its ******** on the Pacific Ring of Fire, at the juncture of three tectonic plates, gives Japan frequent low-intensity tremors and occasional volcanic activity. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunamis, occur several times each century. The most recent major quakes are the 2022 Chūetsu earthquake and the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. Hot springs are numerous and have been developed as resorts.]
The climate of Japan is predominantly temperate, but varies greatly from north to south. Japan’s geographical features divide it into six principal climatic zones:
Hokkaidō: The northernmost zone has a temperate climate with long, cold winters and cool summers. Precipitation is not heavy, but the islands usually develop deep snow banks in the winter.
Sea of Japan: On Honshū’s west coast, the northwest wind in the wintertime brings heavy snowfall. In the summer, the region is cooler than the Pacific area, though it sometimes experiences extremely hot temperatures, because of the Föhn wind phenomenon.
Central Highland: A typical inland climate, with large temperature differences between summer and winter, and between day and night. Precipitation is light.
Seto Inland Sea: The mountains of the Chūgoku and Shikoku regions ****ter the region from the seasonal winds, bringing mild weather throughout the year.
Pacific Ocean: The east coast experiences cold winters with little snowfall and hot, humid summers because of the southeast seasonal wind.
South-west Islands: The Ryukyu Islands have a subtropical climate, with warm winters and hot summers. Precipitation is very heavy, especially during the rainy season. Typhoons are common.
The hottest temperature ever measured in Japan – 40.9 degrees Celsius – was recorded on August 16, 2022.
The main rainy season begins in early May in Okinawa, and the stationary rain front responsible for this gradually works its way north until it dissipates in northern Japan before reaching Hokkaidō in late July. In most of Honshū, the rainy season begins before the middle of June and lasts about six weeks. In late summer and early autumn, typhoons often bring heavy rain.]
Japan is home to nine forest ecoregions which reflect the climate and geography of the islands. They range from subtropical moist broadleaf forests in the Ryūkyū and Bonin islands, to temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the mild climate regions of the main islands, to temperate coniferous forests in the cold, winter portions of the northern islands.

Science and technology
Japan is a leading nation in the fields of scientific research, technology, machinery and medical research. Nearly 700,000 researchers share a US$130 billion research and development budget, the third largest in the world.
Some of Japan’s more important technological contributions are found in the fields of electronics, automobiles, machinery, industrial robotics, optics, chemicals, semiconductors and ****ls. Japan leads the world in robotics, possessing more than half (402,200 of 742,500) of the world’s industrial robots used for manufacturing. It also produced QRIO, ASIMO and Aibo. Japan is the world’s largest producer of automobiles and home to six of the world’s fifteen largest automobile manufacturers and seven of the world’s twenty largest semiconductor sales leaders.

Japan has significant plans in space exploration, including building a moonbase by 2030 The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) conducts space and planetary research, aviation research, and development of rockets and satellites. It also built the Japanese Experiment Module, which is slated to be launched and added to the International Space Station during Space Shuttle assembly flights in 2022 and 2022

Sports

Traditionally, sumo is considered Japan’s national sport and it is one of the most popular spectator sports in Japan Martial arts such as judo, karate and kendō are also widely practiced and enjoyed by spectators in the country. After the Meiji Restoration, many Western sports were introduced in Japan and began to spread through the education system

The professional baseball league in Japan was established in 1936 Today baseball is the most popular spectator sport in the country. One of the most famous Japanese baseball players is Ichiro Suzuki, who, having won Japan’s Most Valuable Player award in 1994, 1995 and 1996, now plays in North American major league baseball.

Since the establishment of the Japan Professional Football League in 1992, association football (soccer) has also gained a wide following. Japan was a venue of the Intercontinental Cup from 1981 to 2022 and co-hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup with South Korea. Japan is one of the most successful soccer teams in Asia, winning the Asian Cup the most number of times (3).

Golf is also popular in Japan as is auto racing, the Super GT sports car series and Formula Nippon formula racing]

Reference

^ Nihon Rettō. Daijirin / ***** Japan dictionary. Retrieved on 2022-05-07. 1)
^ a b World Factbook; Japan. CIA (2007-03-15). Retrieved on 2022-03-27.2)
^ Habu Jinko, "Ancient Jomon of Japan", Cambridge Press, 2022.[1][2] 3)
^ The Yayoi period (c.250 BC – c.AD 250). Encyclopædia Britannica (2006). Retrieved on 2022-12-28. 4)
^ Diamond, Jared (June 1998). "Japanese Roots". Discover Magazine Vol. 19 No. 6. 5)
^ Pottery. MSN Encarta. Retrieved on 2022-12-28.6)
^ 7) De Bary, William Theodore (2005). Sources of Japanese Tradition. Columbia University Press, 1304. ISBN 023112984X. Retrieved on 2022-01-29.
in Delmer M. Brown (ed.): The Cambridge History of Japan. Cambridge University Press, 8) (1993)
140–149.
^ 9) William Gerald Beasley (1999). The Japanese Experience: A Short History of Japan. University of California Press, 42. ISBN 0520225600. Retrieved on 2022-03-27.
^ Conrad Totman (2002). A History of Japan. Blackwell, 64–79 10)
^ Conrad Totman (2002). A History of Japan. Blackwell, 79–87.11)
^ Conrad Totman (2002). A History of Japan. Blackwell, 122–123. 12)
^ George Sansom (1961). A History of Japan: 1334–1615. Stanford, 42.13)
^ George Sansom (1961). A History of Japan: 1334–1615. Stanford, 217. 14)

Further reading.

1) Christopher, Robert C., The Japanese Mind: the Goliath Explained, Linden Press/Simon and Schuster, 1983 (ISBN 0330284193)
De Mente, The Japanese Have a Word For It, McGraw-Hill, 1997 (ISBN 0-8442-8316-9)2)
Henshall, A History of Japan, Palgrave Macmillan, 2001 (ISBN 0-312-23370-1) 3)
Jansen, The Making of Modern Japan, Belknap, 2000 (ISBN 0-674-00334-9)4)
Johnson, Japan: Who Governs?, W.W. Norton, 1996 (ISBN 0-393-31450-2)5)
Reischauer, Japan: The Story of a Nation, McGraw-Hill, 1989 (ISBN 0-07-557074-2)6)
7) Sugimoto et al., An Introduction to Japanese Society, Cambridge University Press, 2022 (ISBN 0-521-52925-5)
8(Van Wolferen, The Enigma of Japanese Power, Vintage, 1990 (ISBN 0-679-72802-3

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