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Development Team Paper No. : 11 Japanese History and Society Module : 01 Japan’s Geographical Features Development Team Principal Investigator : Prof. Anita Khanna Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Paper Coordinator : Prof. H.S. Prabhakar Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Content Writer : Prof. H.S. Prabhakar & Mr. Arnab Das Gupta Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Content Reviewer : Prof. Konsam Ibo Singh Manipur University, Imphal Japanese History and Society Japanese Japan’s Geographical Features Description of Module Subject Name Japanese Paper Name Japanese History and Society Module title Japan’s Geographical Features Module ID JPN-P11-M01 Quadrant 1 E-Text Japanese History and Society Japanese Japan’s Geographical Features Japan’s Geographical Features Aims of this Module The present module aims to introduce you, the student, to the basic features of Japan’s geography, the prominent geographical characteristics of Japan as a territory and its component regions as well as the impact this has on human geography (i.e. human settlement, distribution and urbanization). By the end of this module you will be able to identify key geographical regions, their distinctive characteristics and the ways in which they influence the Japanese people’s lives, work and ideas. Introduction The archipelago of Japan is a landmass stretching from 24 degrees to 46 degrees latitude and 123 degrees to 146 degrees longitude, encompassing the Tropic of Cancer in the north to the Equator in the south. The Japanese group of islands is surrounded on all sides by water bodies; it is separated from the Asian mainland by the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea, from Oceania and the North American mainland by the Pacific Ocean, and from Russia by the Sea of Okhotsk. The entirety of Japan consists of over 3000 islands of varying size arranged from north to south in a curved scimitar shape, leading to its self-identification as hosonagai shimaguni (long and narrow island nation). Japanese History and Society Japanese Japan’s Geographical Features Map 1: Map of Japan. Source: https://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/fact-map-japan.html The principal Japanese islands, where habitation is very highly densest, are the four islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. The Okinawa island chain, to the south of Kyushu, forms the unofficial ‘fifth’ main island, though the Okinawas (then called the Ryukyus) enjoyed a separate politico-geographic existence until the 19th century when it was amalgamated into the Japanese territorial order. Aside from the five main island groups, Japan also enjoys territorial control over several tiny islets in the Pacific ocean littoral, while its territorial control of the Liancourt Islands (Japanese: Senkaku Islands, Chinese: Diaoyutai, Taiwanese: Tiaoyutai) is challenged by both the ROC (Taiwan) and the PRC (China). Simultaneously, Japan is in the midst of a territorial conflict with South Korea, which maintains an (illegal according to Japan) occupation over the disputed Takeshima / Dokdo island chain in the Sea of Japan. The term Sea of Japan itself is under dispute between ROK and Japan. Other island chains controlled by Japan include the Bonin Islands/Ogasawara Islands (which were acquired by the accession of the Okinawa islands), Awaji, Daitou Islands, Okinotorishima etc. In all, Japan’s total area stands at 377,915 sq.km., of which a major port is land. Japanese History and Society Japanese Japan’s Geographical Features The climate of the Japanese islands varies from sub-zero temperatures in the far north to subtropical weather in Okinawa and points south. Most of Hokkaido and Honshu remains snowbound during the winter, which lasts from late October to March. The other important seasons are: summer (June-September), spring (March-April) and autumn (September-October). As we shall see below, not all areas receive an equal dose of these seasons, which results in significant variation in local temperature and humidity patterns. The general terrain of Japan is rugged and mountainous, which has exerted important effects on the history of human habitation and development of a civilization there. Only 11.26% of Japan’s total terrain is cultivable, which meant that agriculture was never a significant part of Japan’s bounty. In the early ages, before international trade and commerce made the world interconnected and interdependent, most of Japan’s farmers engaged in subsistence agriculture, which means they were engaged in the production of crops that a) were necessary for consumption by human beings, and b) could only be produced in quantities which were enough for domestic consumption by the farmer’s family and surplus for taxes to the government. By contrast, since the sea surrounds Japan on all sides, fisheries were an important occupation of Japanese people. The overwhelming occurrence of fish-based dishes in Japan’s traditional cuisine can be traced back to this fact. The paucity of smooth terrain in the Japanese archipelago has also generated significant impact on the pattern of historical development among the Japanese people. Originally from the Asian mainland, early Japanese migrated into the archipelago when it was still connected to Asia by land bridges at the end of the last Ice Age. Since then, Japanese populations have preferred to occupy the few areas where settlement is feasible. This has historically implied significant overcrowding in certain areas, a fact borne out even now by satellite imagery showing the urban centres of the world. Cities like Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Kyoto and Fukuoka are even today among the most densely populated in the world, with average densities regularly reaching a whopping 11,300 persons per square mile (2012 figures) in the case of Tokyo. Much more surprising is the fact that this density is not followed by increasing size of the city (its area). Unlike South Asian cities, Japan’s cities are relatively stationary in terms of urban sprawl, Japanese History and Society Japanese Japan’s Geographical Features though some cities like Osaka and Yokohama are now aggressively using land filling to create more land. Therefore, almost all of Japan’s major cities qualify as megapolises (i.e. urban areas with populations of more than 10 million persons). Politically, Japan is divided into eight regions: Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kansai, Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu. These regions cover the 47 prefectures (states) of Japan, which are classified in the so-called todofuken system. The todofuken, in order, are: Tokyo-to (Tokyo City Ward, akin to Delhi-NCR); Hokkaido (Northern Sea State), Osaka-fu (Osaka Special Administrative Area) and 44 prefectures (ken). These are further subdivided into municipalities (machi or gun), cities (shi) and wards (ku). In this chapter we will consider the general features of the regional and prefectural topography, since a city-by-city or ward-by-ward study would prove to be exhaustive in the extreme. Hokkaido Map 2. Hokkaido. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Hokkaido.jpg The island of Hokkaido is the northernmost extremity of the Japanese ‘Home Islands’. Surrounded by the Siberian Kamchatka peninsula in the north, Hokkaido (capital: Sapporo) is a Japanese History and Society Japanese Japan’s Geographical Features island of extreme winter, where temperature drop to below zero and stay there for most of the year. In contrast to the rest of Japan, it gets little rain and almost no humidity. The island is mostly riven by mountains and permafrost in the far north near Nemuro. Hokkaido is famous for its great ecological beauty; several species of native and migratory flora and fauna make it an environmental paradise. Several national parks have been set up by the Japanese government to enable protection of this eco-diversity while allowing visitors to enjoy the sight of animals and plants in their native habitation. The most famous of these is Shiretoko National Park (shiretoko kokuritsu kouen), which houses the famous brown bears of Japan along with dense forests of Sakhalin fir, Mongolian oak and Siberian Dwarf Pine. Also famous are Akan and Daisetsuzan National Parks, known for volcanic caldera and hot springs. The human geography of Hokkaido is also the most interesting for students of Japan at large. Hokkaido can be said to be the site of the oldest occupation in Japan by human populations. Ancestors of today’s Ainu settled on Hokkaido around 20,000 years ago, long before so-called ‘pure Japanese’ settled there. It is estimated by some scholars that the Ainu may in fact have occupied much of northern Honshu during the early years of settlement, but were driven north by encroaching bands of proto-Mongoloid populations who came to Japan from the mainland, who called the land Ezochi. Since then the Ainu have been progressively herded deeper and deeper into the island, their population co-opted by the majority Yamato people and their separate identity quashed by successive regimes in the south. It was only in the 1980s that the Japanese Diet passed laws to protect Ainu culture, heritage and racial lineage, accepting them as First People of Japan. The Ainu were hunter-gatherers for most of their existence, settling down to sedentary occupations like farming only after coming under the occupation of the shoguns. Their lives were poor and violent, because the Yamato (i.e. Asian) Japanese oppressed them to a significant extent. Even now, Hokkaido offers little to the Japanese national economy. Light industry exists, but the greatest contribution Hokkaido makes to the rest of Japan is in terms of agricultural produce. Since Hokkaido has one-fourth of Japan’s total reserves of cultivable land, a wide range Japanese History and Society Japanese Japan’s Geographical Features of crops, such as wheat, soybeans, potatoes, beetroot, onions, pumpkins and corn is produced. Raw milk and beef are also a staple item, thanks to extensive dairy husbandry. Timber is also produced in Hokkaido, to the tune of 22% of total stocks.
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