9781422283547

1 Exploring Japan

Japan—A Nation Apart? J apan stands apart, in the physical sense, as a group of islands. The country’s borders are set by the sea. Japan’s nearest neighbor, Korea, is more than 120 miles (190 km) away. The Japanese as a people also stand apart. Most countries in the world have minorities who differ from the majority population by reason of their race, religion or language. Japan has a population of over 127,000,000. Adding up all the minorities of every kind accounts for only about 2% of the population. Christians are the largest religious minority, and the largest ethnic minority are the 700,000 Koreans; but 90% of them were born in Japan and many have never been to Korea or learned to speak Korean. Only since World War II have the Japanese begun to travel overseas in large numbers or had the chance to meet foreigners, especially westerners, in Japan. For most of their history the Japanese have thought of themselves as a separate—and special—people. A Language Apart The Japanese language also helps to make the Japanese feel special because it is quite different from any other. Pronunciation is not difficult for speakers of European languages, but the grammar is extremely complicated. So is the system of writing. Before the Japanese made contact with China they had no way of writing their language. They took over the Chinese way of writing with characters ( kanji ) but also had to develop two additional syllabaries ( kana ) , because Chinese and Japanese are very different languages, both in grammar

T he seasons in Japan are clearly marked and their changes have always been important subjects for Japanese poets and painters. The climate ranges from sub-tropical in Okinawa to sub-arctic in the Kuril Islands. J apan is an archipelago of four main islands and over 6,800 small ones. About four-fifths of the country is mountainous, so most of the population is squeezed on to the coastal plains. Japan’s rivers are mostly short and too shallow, swift or rock-filled to be of much use for transport. Coastal shipping was very important in linking major cities

and pronunciation. A syllabary is like an alphabet, but the symbols stand for syllables instead of separate single sounds. To be able to read a Japanese newspaper you need to know both kana and at least 3,000 characters. In this book Japanese names are given in the Japanese order—surname first.

before railways were built in the 1870s.

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