<text> GENERAL: Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan (1983); Livingston, Jon, et al., eds., Matsubaru, H., The Japanese (1987); Mouer, R., and Sugimoto, Y., Images of Japanese Society (1987); The Japan Reader, 2 vols. (1973, 1974); Reischauer, Edwin O., The Japanese Today (1988); Reichauer, Edwin O., and Craig, A. M., Japan: Tradition and Transformation (1978); Richie, Donald, Introducing Japan (1978); Shiratori, Rei, ed., Japan in The Nineteen Eighties (1982); Statler, O., Japanese Pilgrimage (1983); Tiedemann, Arthur E., ed., An Introduction to Japanese Civilization (1974); Trewartha, Glenn T., Japan (1965); Wiley, Peter B., and Ichiro, Korogi, Yankees in the Land of the Gods: Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan (1990). PEOPLE, CULTURE AND SOCIETY: Benedict, Ruth, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword (1946; repr. 1967); Christopher, R. C., The Japanese Mind (1983); Fukutake, Tadashi, Japanese Social Structure, 1870-1980, trans. by R. P. Dore (1984); Ishida, Takeshi, Japanese Society (1971; repr. 1981); Kornhauser, David H., Urban Japan (1976); Lebra, Takie S. and William P., eds., Japanese Culture and Behavior (1974); Varley, H. P., Japanese Culture, 3d ed. (1984); Wheatley, Paul, and See, Thomas, From Court to Capital: A Tentative Interpretation of the Origins of the Japanese Urban Tradition (1978); Whiting, Robert, The Chrysanthemum and the Bat (1977). ECONOMICS: Allen, G. C., A Short Economic History of Modern Japan, 4th ed. (1980); Clark, Rodney, The Japanese Company (1979); Kahn, Herman, and Pepper, Thomas, The Japanese Challenge (1979); Nakamura, T., The Postwar Japanese Economy (1981; repr. 1984); Prestowitz, Clyde, Jr., Trading Places: How We Allowed Japan to Take the Lead (1988); Vogel, Ezra F., Japan as Number One: Lessons for America (1979; repr. 1980); Yamamuro, K., and Yasuba, Y., eds., The Political Economy of Japan, vol. 1 (1987). POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT: Baerwald, H. H., Japan's Parliament: An Introduction (1974); Bingman, C. F., Japanese Government Leadership and Management (1988); Brzezinski, Zbigniew, The Fragile Blossom (1972); Curtis, G. R., Japanese Way of Politics (1988); Gibney, Frank, Japan, rev. ed. (1980); Ishida, T., Japanese Political Culture (1983); McNelly, Theodore, Politics and Government in Japan, 3d ed. (1985); Richardson, Bradley M., The Political Culture of Japan (1974); Stockwin, J.A., Divided Politics in a Growth Economy (1982); von Wolferen, K., The Enigma of Japanese Power (1989); Ward, Robert E., Japan's Political System, 2d ed. (1978).</text>
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<text><span class="style1">apan is a constitutional monarchy, with a hereditary emperor and a parliamentary system of government. The present constitution was adopted on Oct. 7, 1946, and became effective on May 3, 1947. The emperor is ceremonial head of state with little governmental power; Emperor </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">HIROHITO</a></span><span class="style1"> reigned from 1926 until his death in 1989; he was succeeded by his son </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">AKIHITO</a></span><span class="style1">. Legislative power is vested in the Diet, a bicameral body composed of a House of Representatives, with 512 members elected to 4-year terms, and a House of Councillors, whose 252 members serve 6-year terms. Executive power rests with the cabinet, which is headed by a prime minister, who heads the majority party in the Diet. Since 1955 the majority political party has been the Liberal Democratic party, a generally conservative organization with strong agrarian roots. </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">NAKASONE YASUHIRO</a></span><span class="style1"> succeeded </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">SUZUKI ZENKO</a></span><span class="style1"> as LDP leader and prime minister in 1982; he was succeeded by </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">TAKESHITA NOBORU</a></span><span class="style1"> in October 1987. Takeshita was replaced by Uno Sosuki in June 1989 after scandals and unpopular LDP policies on agriculture and tax reform threatened the party's dominance. In July the LDP lost its majority in the upper house of the Diet--the first time it had not controlled both houses since 1955. </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">KAIFU TOSHIKI</a></span><span class="style1">, who replaced Uno as party leader and prime minister in August, sought to restore the LDP's reputation. In February 1990 elections for the lower house of the Diet, the LDP made a strong showing, capturing 275 seats of 512 seats. The principal opposition party, the Socialist party, captured 136 seats, mostly at the expense of smaller opposition parties such as the Clean Government (Komeito), Japan Communist, and Democratic Socialist parties. Judicial powers rest with the supreme court, consisting of a chief justice and 14 other justices who are appointed by the government but who are subject to review in public referendums. Local government is by the 47 prefectures, each with its own elected governor and assembly and wielding a large measure of local autonomy. All citizens over the age of 20 are eligible to vote.</span></text>
<text>From the 13th to 16th century the Japanese became known as skillful navigators, traders, and pirates. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Japanese conducted lively trade with Asia and the West, exporting manufactured goods and importing coinage and other necessities. Steel swords, made of a peerless-quality steel forged by techniques developed as a result of Japan's long martial tradition, were the chief export item. Foreign trade was halted during the Tokugawa period, but small Japanese industries continued to produce clothing, utensils, food products, guns, and other military hardware for the domestic market. At the same time, progress was made in the organization of a national system of marketing, management, trade, and finance. Thus, when seclusion ended, Japan already possessed the necessary infrastructures on which to build a modern system of industry, banking, and commerce. Textiles were developed as the first leading industry, during the Tokugawa era, with some support from other light industries. Heavy industry was slow to develop because of the lack of adequate iron ore and coking coal but was stimulated by Japan's involvement in a series of wars beginning with the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 and culminating in World War II. After the defeat of Japan in World War II, the economy was directed away from military needs, and the economic miracle that is the envy of developed and developing nations alike was accomplished. Japan overcame its deficiency of industrial raw materials and established one of the world's most productive modern economic systems. Despite industrial modernization traditional industries have continued as family enterprises, giving the nation a kind of dual industrial structure; the persistence of traditional forms as viable businesses, however, appears to be slowly weakening in the face of present economic conditions. ManufacturingIndustry expanded rapidly after the 1950s, with a heavy emphasis on export items, and now employs about 25% of the labor force. The major industrial area is concentrated in Japan's urban core and stretches from Tokyo in the east through the coastal areas along the Inland Sea in the west to northern Kyushu. Japan ranks high as a world producer of manufactured goods and commands a large share of the world market for ships; iron and steel; automobiles, bicycles, mopeds, and other transportation equipment; machinery; chemicals; ceramics; cameras, precision goods, and optical equipment; and televisions, radios, and other electronic items. Much of manufacturing is concentrated in the hands of a relatively small number of large diversified concerns--including the giant Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, Toyota, and Nissan groups. PowerIn 1987, 698.97 billion kW h of electricity were produced in Japan. Imported petroleum--nearly 100% of the total--and coal, most of which is also imported, account for 70% of all electricity generated. Waterpower accounts for 5% and nuclear plants for 29%. In 1988, 36 nuclear power plants were in operation; another 13 were planned. AgricultureMost Japanese farms consist of a number of small and scattered fields that add up to an average size of less than 1.2 ha (3 acres). Most farms are operated as family enterprises, and many are so small that they are run on a part-time basis, and by women and children, while the men in the family commute to other jobs in nearby urban areas. The growing season ranges from more than 250 days in the southwest to fewer than 120 days on Hokkaido. Thus three crops a year are possible on lands in the warmer areas of Kyushu, Shikoku, and southwestern Honshu; two crops on most of southern Honshu; but only one on northern Honshu and Hokkaido. Winter cropping, however, now has become very limited or is extinct as it once was practiced. Irrigation, terracing, fertilizers, and other intensive cultivation methods are widely employed and provide Japan with some of the highest crop yields per cultivated area in the world. Rice, whose production is subsidized by the government, is the chief summer crop; wheat, barley, and potatoes were important dry-season and upland crops, but production recently has dwindled radically. Animal husbandry has been of minor importance, and little land is used as pasture. Chief commercial crops are mulberry bushes--the leaves are fed to silkworms--and tea, both of which are grown in upland areas. The silkworm-raising industry, concentrated in southern Honshu, has declined in the face of competition from synthetic textiles. Recently, computer-monitored hydroponic farming of vegetables and fruit has become large scale. Forestry and FishingOnly about one-fourth of Japan's forest cover is accessible for cutting, and production is inadequate to keep pace with the demand for wood, wood pulp, and wood products; Japan now imports more than half of its wood, much of it from Indonesia, India, and the Philippines. Since the 1950s fishing has become a large-scale industry, and Japanese fishing fleets now operate in all the world's oceans. Japan leads the world in total quantity of fish caught and in 1987 landed 12.5 million metric tons (13.8 million U.S. tons) of fish--one-eighth of the world's total fish catch. Coastal fishing is often a family enterprise. TransportationTransportation has been a key to progress since the Tokugawa period, when highways were integrated and seaways improved in order to distribute the rice on which the economy rested. After 1868 railroads became the principal means of transportation. Today railroads link all of Japan's major cities and the four main islands. Most are publicly owned and operated, but some important interurban and intraurban networks are privately owned. A 1,069-km-long (664-mi) high-speed rail line, with trains able to travel at 249 km/h (155 mph), links Tokyo with other cities in the urban core, including Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Okayama, and Hiroshima. It is to be supplemented by an 8,800-km-long (5,500-mi) superexpress rail system now under construction and designed to supplement Japan's older, narrow-gauge rail system. Despite such construction, however, the railroads are continuing to lose traffic to automobiles and trucking; a highway culture threatens to dominate the future landscape of the nation. Japan Air Lines, partially government operated, is the principal airline, and international airports are located at Tokyo, Osaka, and Narita. Japan's merchant fleet is the second largest in the world (after Liberia) and includes the world's second largest fleet of oil tankers and ore carriers. Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagoya are the leading ports. TradeTrade is central to the Japanese economy because of the scarcity of agricultural land and of industrial raw materials and fuel. Japan accounts for about 6.6% of all world imports by value and for 8% of all world exports. The principal imports are metal ores, petroleum, coal, chemicals, machine equipment, and food. Exports include a wide range of machinery, textiles, iron and steel, optical instruments, automobiles, and electronic items. The export trade has become so successful in recent years that balance-of-payments problems have arisen with trading partners with competitive industries. This situation is especially true of the United States, Japan's single largest trading partner, which in 1988 imported 213% more by value from Japan than it exported. Other leading trade areas are East Asia (especially South Korea, Taiwan, and China), which provides more than 16% of all Japanese imports and absorbs about 20% of the exports; Western Europe, which provides about 18% of the imports and takes 23% of Japan's exports; Saudi Arabia; Australia; Canada; and Indonesia. Japan's economy was seriously affected by the increase in petroleum prices during the 1970s, but the country maintains a favorable trade balance and balance of payments.</text>
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<text><span class="style1">he dominant ethnic group is the Japanese, a Mongoloid people. The Japanese have developed a culture that was strongly influenced between the 3d and 10th century by contact with the Chinese and Koreans, contact with the West during the 16th century, isolation during the Tokugawa period (1603-1868), and renewed contact with the West and the rest of the world after 1854. The largest minority group is the approximately 600,000 Koreans, who began settling in Japan mostly during the 1920s and have retained their language and culture. A smaller minority is the </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">AINU</a></span><span class="style1">, who live mostly in Hokkaido; they are the remnant of an indigenous people who were pushed northward through the islands over centuries of Japanese expansion from the Inland Sea region. The Buramkumin (or Eta) are ethnically Japanese but are often considered a separate group because they are descended from an ancient order of social outcasts; although they were given legal parity in 1868, they are often discriminated against, work in low-paying positions if their origins are known, and live in segregated communities. Okinawans, or inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands, consider themselves Japanese, but they have some unique cultural elements, including language. Spoken Japanese was long considered a unique language but is now known to bear a strong association with Korean. Written Japanese is complex, being derived from Chinese. Because the characters, or ideographs, used in written Chinese are inadequate to represent Japanese, parallel Kana (sets of phonetic syllabaries of 48 characters each) were developed during the 9th century. These can effectively transcribe Japanese but are usually used to supplement Chinese characters or to bridge the gap between the two languages. The Kanto dialect, spoken in the Tokyo area, is considered standard spoken Japanese. (See </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">JAPANESE LANGUAGE</a></span><span class="style1">.) </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">BUDDHISM</a></span><span class="style1">, introduced from China during the 6th century, is followed by 75% of the population. </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">SHINTO</a></span><span class="style1">, the ancient Japanese and former state religion, is a parallel faith for most Japanese Buddhists. </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">CONFUCIANISM</a></span><span class="style1">, introduced during the 4th century, is also influential. About 1% of the population is officially listed as Christian, but Christianity may be more important than this figure suggests. DemographyAbout 80% of the total population live on Honshu, 12% on Kyushu, 5% on Hokkaido, and 3% on Shikoku. The population is predominantly urban, with about 76% living in 645 cities mostly with populations of more than 30,000. The largest urban concentration is the Tokaido megalopolis. This urban core on Honshu is an almost continuously inhabited and built-up area along the Pacific corridor from Tokyo in the east to Kobe in the west, with extensions growing westward onto northern Kyushu and along the shores of the Inland Sea and to the east of Tokyo. Only 11 of Japan's 47 prefectures (the largest unit of government below the national level) are located in the urban core, but 45% of the total population live in the region. Japan's 6 largest cities--in order of population </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">TOKYO</a></span><span class="style1">, </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">OSAKA</a></span><span class="style1">, </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">YOKOHAMA</a></span><span class="style1">, </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">NAGOYA</a></span><span class="style1">, </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">KYOTO</a></span><span class="style1">, and </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">KOBE</a></span><span class="style1">--dominate the area. Other large cities include </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">SAPPORO</a></span><span class="style1">, on Hokkaido; </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">FUKUOKA</a></span><span class="style1"> and </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">KITAKYUSHU</a></span><span class="style1">, on Kyushu; and </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">KAWASAKI</a></span><span class="style1">, on Honshu. All of these cities have more than 1 million inhabitants. Most urban growth has occurred since the 1920s, but urbanization has deep roots in Japan's past. Many cities have existed since the early years of the Tokugawa period. Edo (modern Tokyo), the seat of government under the Tokugawa dynasty, had approximately 1 million inhabitants in 1721, Osaka and Kyoto each had about 500,000, and Kanazawa, Nagoya, and others had 100,000 or more. Among Japan's newer cities is </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">TSUKUBA</a></span><span class="style1">, which was founded in 1963 to serve as a center for scientific research. Japan's population is now nearly four times what it was in 1868 (30 million) and nearly twice as large as in 1920 (56 million). Since about 1952, however, the growth rate has slowed dramatically; the current rate, less than 1% (1982), is one of the lowest in Asia and similar to rates in other economically developed nations. The low death rate reflects a high-quality medical system; the low birthrate has been accomplished through a government-sponsored birth-control program and legalized abortion. As a result, the average age of the population is increasing rapidly. Japan has one of the highest population densities in the world. The population is distributed unevenly over the land area, with almost the entire population crowded onto the 16% of land that is level enough for cultivation and settlement. As a result the number of people per cultivated unit is the highest in the world; congestion of living space, highways, railways, and industrial and agricultural space is a characteristic feature of Japanese life. The supply of adequate housing falls far short of demand, despite prodigious building programs by government and industry. Alleviating environmental pollution resulting from such concentrated development will be a source of concern for the Japanese for years to come. Education and HealthVirtually the entire population is literate, and education is free and compulsory for all children between the ages of 6 and 15. Education after the age of 15 is a matter of individual choice, but more than 90% of all students, male and female, continue to high school, and about one-third of all students attend an institution of higher education. The higher-education system includes more than 450 colleges and universities and graduate schools and more than 600 junior colleges and technical schools. The latter provide a wide range of practical training. Admission to most schools is highly competitive and based on performance in entrance examinations; the competition to enter a prestigious university is so severe that a large number of juku (extra-hour schools) operate to prepare students for the entrance examination. (See </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">JAPANESE UNIVERSITIES</a></span><span class="style1">.) Medical facilities and training are highly developed in urban areas but are often limited elsewhere. Life expectancy is among the highest in the world. Tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and dysentery have been virtually eradicated. The principal causes of death today are stroke, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Infant mortality rates have declined dramatically-- from about 124 per 1,000 live births in the 1930s to 7.4 per 1,000 in 1980. The ArtsJapanese pottery, clay statuary, and other Neolithic artifacts reveal an unusual sensitivity to aesthetic form and beauty, but most Japanese arts owe their greatest development to stimulus from China and the West. During the 6th century, when Buddhism was adopted from China, Japanese literature, architecture, painting, sculpture, theater, and other art forms were greatly influenced by contact with that culture. The Chinese impact remained strong, except perhaps in literature, until the end of the 16th century. During the isolated Tokugawa period, distinctly Japanese art forms developed, including the </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">UKIYO-E</a></span><span class="style1"> (wood block print), </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">KABUKI</a></span><span class="style1"> and other theater, and unique forms of architecture and exquisite landscape design. In later years, as art forms from many cultures including the West were adopted, an unmistakably Japanese touch was added to the imports. Japanese artists now excel in many new fields, including Western music, photography, and architecture, but the rich artistic heritage of Japan's past continues to be reflected in modern machine-made ceramics, textiles, and the continuation of such ancient practices as the tea ceremony and Japanese flower-arranging arts. (See </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">JAPANESE ART AND ARCHITECTURE</a></span><span class="style1">; </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">JAPANESE LITERATURE</a></span><span class="style1">; </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">JAPANESE MUSIC</a></span><span class="style1">.)</span></text>
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<text>AINUBUDDHISMCONFUCIANISMFUKUOKAJAPANESE ART AND ARCHITECTUREJAPANESE LANGUAGEJAPANESE LITERATUREJAPANESE MUSICJAPANESE UNIVERSITIESKABUKIKAWASAKIKITAKYUSHUKOBEKYOTONAGOYAOSAKASAPPOROSHINTOTOKYOTSUKUBAUKIYO-EYOKOHAMA</text>
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<text><span class="style1">apan's four main islands, which together constitute 98% of the total area, are </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">HOKKAIDO</a></span><span class="style1">, in the north; </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">HONSHU</a></span><span class="style1">, the largest and most populous, located in the center; and the southern islands of </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">KYUSHU</a></span><span class="style1"> and Shikoku. The two southern islands are separated from the main island of Honshu by the protected waters of the </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">INLAND SEA</a></span><span class="style1">, which has been Japan's core for over 2,000 years. Also integral parts of Japan are more than 3,000 islands and islets, including Iki and Tsushima, located in the narrow Korea Strait; Awaji, located in the Inland Sea between Shikoku and Honshu; and Sado, located off the northwest coast of Honshu. </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">OKINAWA</a></span><span class="style1">, one of the </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">RYUKYU ISLANDS</a></span><span class="style1">, an island chain located southwest of Kyushu, was administered by the United States after World War II but was restored to Japan in 1972. Almost 600 km (375 mi) away in the Pacific Ocean are the Marcus, Bonin, and Volcano (including </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">IWO JIMA</a></span><span class="style1">) island groups, which were placed under U.S. administration after World War II and were returned to Japan in 1968. Japan disputes the claim by the USSR to some of the </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">KURIL ISLANDS</a></span><span class="style1">, which stretch northeastward from Hokkaido, and also the claim by Taiwan to the uninhabited Senkaku Islands located 344 km (213 mi) southwest of Okinawa in an area of rich seafloor petroleum deposits. Japan's islands constitute part of the Circum-Pacific Ring--a tectonically unstable zone of volcanic activity and continuing mountain building that rims the Pacific Ocean. The islands that constitute Japan are actually the peaks of otherwise submerged mountain ranges. About 50 active volcanoes are known in Japan; every year about 1,500 minor earthquakes occur; and hot springs and other features of crustal instability are found. The most famous volcanic area is the Fuji-Hakone-Izu area, located near Tokyo. It is dominated by Mount </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">FUJI</a></span><span class="style1">, a dormant volcano and Japan's highest mountain, rising to 3,776 m (12,388 ft). About 75% of Japan's land is mountainous and too steep for easy cultivation and settlement. The principal mountain ranges follow fault lines of great geologic complexity. Where two or more of these arcs intersect are knots of rugged mountains. One such node occurs in central Hokkaido (the Hokkaido Node), where the north-south arc from Sakhalin intersects a northeast-southwest trending arc that forms the Kuril Islands. A second mountain node (the Chubu Node) occurs in central Honshu and west of this is an east-west arc broken into two parallel faults between which the Inland Sea is located. The northern fault passes through western Honshu, and the southern fault is traceable through the Kii Peninsula of Honshu, the island of Shikoku and into Kyushu. A third (Kyushu) node is located in north-central Kyushu, from which run the Ryukyu Archipelago to the southwest and the aforementioned arcs to the northeast. Faults also line the sides of the Fossa Magna, a great rift valley that cuts across the core of the Chubu Node from northwest to southeast. To the north of the rift valley are the rugged Japan Alps, where several peaks rise to more than 3,050 m (10,000 ft). Lowlands constitute only about 16% of the islands and are generally small, discontinuous, and found mostly in coastal areas. The largest is the Kanto Plain, where Tokyo and surrounding cities are located. Other major cities also grew up on lowlands: Nagoya on the Nobi Plain and Osaka and Kyoto on the lowlands of Kansai. Many small coastal plains surround the Inland Sea. SoilsThe most productive soils are developed on alluvium that has accumulated to considerable depths in all of the lowlands. For nearly 2,000 years these coastal soils have been carefully managed and enriched by the addition of plant, human, and animal wastes, and in recent years by large quantities of chemical fertilizers. The soils in the rest of Japan, as in many mountain areas, tend to be thin. Volcanic material is largely acidic (rather than basic) and supports only poor soils. ClimateJapan has a range of climates typical of middle latitudes and similar to that of the east coast of most of North America. Hokkaido and the interior of northeastern Honshu have a humid continental climate, characterized by short, cool summers and long, cold, and often snowy winters. Summers become warmer and longer, and winters become shorter and milder toward the south, where subtropical conditions prevail. Demonstrating this latitudinal change in climate, Sapporo, on Hokkaido, has a January mean temperature of minus 6 deg C (21 deg F) and a July temperature of only 19 deg C (67 deg F); Niigata, in northern Honshu, has an average of 1 deg C (35 deg F) in January and 24 deg C (75 deg F) in July; Tokyo averages 3 deg C (38 deg F) in January and 26 deg C (76 deg F) in July; and Nagasaki, in the southwest, averages 6 deg C (42 deg F) in January and 26 deg C (79 deg F) in July. Wind and rainfall patterns are primarily influenced by the monsoon system typical of East Asia. In winter, cold winds blow outward from the Asian continent, reaching Japan from the northwest and the Sea of Japan; in summer, warm, moist winds are drawn toward the Asian interior, blowing across Japan from the Pacific Ocean. As a result, coasts facing the Pacific receive the most precipitation from mid-June to mid-July, while the northeast coast receives heavy winter precipitation from the northwest monsoon, much of it in the form of snow. Average annual precipitation for most of Japan is 1,270 mm (50 in), with some mountain areas receiving up to 2,540 mm (100 in). The Inland Sea area is somewhat drier because it is protected by surrounding mountain chains; it receives only 1,016 mm (40 in) to 1,524 mm (60 in). Japan's climate is also strongly influenced by two ocean currents and occasional storms and typhoons. The Japan Current (or Kuro Shio), a warm ocean current, flows northward through the islands; its warm waters moderate winter temperatures along the entire southern coast and, to a lesser extent, the southern coastal areas facing the Sea of Japan. By contrast, the cold Okhotsk Current originates in polar waters and flows southward along Hokkaido, contributing to the harsh climate of that island. Typhoons occur from late August to early October; they are accompanied by high winds and heavy rains often causing devastation, but the storms are also valued because they bring moisture during an otherwise dry season. DrainageJapan's rivers are short, swift, and shallow. Only 10 are more than 200 km (125 mi) long; thus navigation is limited to short stretches, usually near the sea. The longest river, the Shinano-gawa in west central Honshu, has a total length of only 367 km (228 mi). Drainage is mostly toward the Pacific and Inland Sea coastal regions, because of the general eastward tilt of the islands. Lakes fill less than 1% of the land area; only one, Lake Biwa (695 sq km/268 sq mi), is a prominent inland feature. Vegetation and Animal LifeForests cover about 70% of the total land area and more than 60% of each of the four main islands. Conifers, including fir, spruce, and larch, predominate on Hokkaido and the mountainous interior of northern Honshu. Mixed forest, with conifers such as cypress and hemlock and deciduous trees including oak, maple, birch, and ash, predominate in the warmer parts of Honshu. Subtropical evergreen vegetation predominates in the southwest and warmer parts of Kyushu and Shikoku. Natural vegetation is also widely interspersed with exotics (introduced species) including bamboo, giant cryptomeria, and camphor. Reforested areas are mostly planted with conifers, and these forests now account for one-third of the total wooded area. The most common large animals are deer, bears, and boars. Native monkeys are widely found, as are many introduced smaller animals. Reptiles include snakes and lizards. The bird population includes the crown eagle, other birds of prey, and more than 400 additional species, both migratory and domestic. ResourcesJapan produces a wide range of metallic minerals, including chromite, zinc, manganese, copper, lead, molybdenum, and gold. Extensive deposits of low-grade coal are located on northwestern Kyushu and western Hokkaido; the coal is unsuitable for use in the iron and steel industry, however, and since the early 1960s has steadily lost ground to imported petroleum as a primary fuel. Small oil fields are located in Hokkaido and northern Honshu, but domestic production accounts for only 0.3% of total petroleum consumption. Hydroelectric power resources are abundant, because of the mountainous terrain and plentiful rainfall in upland areas. Nonmetallic minerals include clay and large amounts of gypsum.</span></text>
<text><span class="style1">apan is one of the world's leading industrial and trading nations and the first Asian nation to develop a technologically advanced industrial economy. It is a small country compared with such nations as the United States but is significantly larger than the United Kingdom, Germany, and all other major European nations except Sweden, France, and Spain. Before World War II, Japan was the center of an empire that at times included Taiwan, Korea, Manchuria, much of eastern China, southern Sakhalin island, and the Marshall and Mariana islands of the southwests Pacific. Today, following concessions of territory at the end of the war, Japan, greatly reduced in size, consists of four main islands--Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu--and hundreds of lesser islands that stretch in a series of arcs for nearly 3,000 km (1,875 mi) along the eastern edge of the Asian mainland. Japan's closest neighbor is the USSR; Sakhalin island, a Soviet possession, reaches to within 50 km (31 mi) of Hokkaido across the narrow Soya (La Perouse) Strait. The nearest mainland neighbor is South Korea, which lies about 200 km (124 mi) west of Japan across the Korea Strait. To the southwest is Taiwan; and to the north, the mainland of the USSR. The name Japan is the romanized version of the Japanese name Nihon or Nippon, which means "land of the rising sun." The islands were known to European traders during the 15th century, but during the </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">TOKUGAWA</a></span><span class="style1"> period (1603-1867), an era of isolation, Japan developed a highly original and distinctive culture. The country reopened contact with the outside world under the </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">MEIJI RESTORATION</a></span><span class="style1"> (1868-1912). Contact and trade with the West was resumed, and, on the basis of this trade, Japan, which possesses few industrial raw materials, developed into one of the world's leading industrialized nations. Japan waged war against the Allies during World War II but surrendered after the atomic bombing of </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">HIROSHIMA</a></span><span class="style1"> and </span><span class="style3"><a href="#" class="group">NAGASAKI</a></span><span class="style1"> in 1945. The country achieved a rapid recovery and is once again one of the world's leading economic powers. LAND. Area: 377,801 sq km (145,870 sq mi). Capital and largest city: Tokyo (1988 est. pop., 8,155,781). Elevations: highest--Mount Fuji, 3,776 m (12,388 ft); lowest--sea level, along the coast. PEOPLE. Population (1990 est.). 123,600,000; density: 327.2 persons per sq km (847.3 per sq mi). Distribution (1990): 77% urban, 23% rural. Annual growth (1990): 0.4%. Official Language: Japanese. Major religions: Buddhism, Shinto. ECONOMY. GNP (1988): $2,576.5 billion; $21,040 per capita. Labor distribution (1989): commerce and services--54%; manufacturing--24%; construction--9%; agriculture--8%; government and public services--3%. Foreign trade (1988): imports--$187,354 million; exports--$264,917 million; principal trade partners--United States, South Korea, Germany, Taiwan. Currency: 1 yen = 100 sen. GOVERNMENT. Type: constitutional monarchy. Government leaders (1991): Emperor Akihito; Prime Minister Kaifu Toshiki. Legislature: Diet. Political Subdivisions: 47 prefectures. EDUCATION AND HEALTH. Literacy (1990): virtually 100% of adult population. Universities (1990): more than 400. Hospital beds (1987): 1,582,000. Physicians (1987): 183,129. Life expectancy (1989): women--82; men--76. Infant mortality (1990): 4.8 per 1,000 live births. COMMUNICATIONS. Railroads (1988): 27,552 km (17,120 mi) Roads (1987): 1,127,500 km (700,596 mi) total. Major ports: 18. Major airfields. 3. </span></text>
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