Explore Japan
Guide to Japan
Japan-Geographic Outline
Japan is situated in northeastern Asia between the North Pacific and the Sea of Japan. The area of Japan is 377.873 square kilometers. Japan consists of four major islands, surrounded by more than 4.000 smaller islands.
Administratively, Japan consists of 47 prefectures: Aichi, Akita, Aomori, Chiba, Ehime, Fukui, Fukuoka, Fukushima, Gifu, Gumma, Hiroshima, Hokkaido, Hyogo, Ibaraki, Ishikawa, Iwate, Kagawa, Kagoshima, Kanagawa, Kochi, Kumamoto, Kyoto, Mie, Miyagi, Miyazaki, Nagano, Nagasaki, Nara, Niigata, Oita, Okayama, Okinawa, Osaka, Saga, Saitama, Shiga, Shimane, Shizuoka, Tochigi, Tokushima, Tokyo, Tottori, Toyama, Wakayama, Yamagata, Yamaguchi, and Yamanashi.
Capital:
Tokyo
Japan-History
As the traditional Japanese legend goes, the Empire of Japan was founded in 600 BC by Emperor Jimmu, a direct descendant of the sun goddess and ancestor of the present ruling imperial family.The first named culture was the Jomon (800 - 300 BC).
Over a long period small states and cities came together by alliances until one strong central power was established, with the capital at Nara. This capital moved to the new city of Kyoto in 794 and remained there for over a thousand years.
Japan was ruled by Emperors from the seventh century but from 1192 onwards the real power lay with the Shogun, the military commander.
During the 16th century, traders from Portugal, the Netherlands, England, and Spain arrived, as did Christian missionaries. During the early part of the 17th century, Japan's Shogunate suspected that they were actually forerunners of a military conquest by European powers and barred all relations with the outside world. This isolation lasted for 251 years, until Commodore Matthew Perry forced the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854.
The feudal system was abolished, and numerous Western institutions were adopted. Japan's ambitions led to invasion wars that exploited and killed thousands of people in mainland China (1895) and Russia (1905) and led to the annexation by Japan of Korea, Taiwan and other territories.
The early 20th century saw Japan come under increasing influence of an expansionist military, leading to the invasion of Manchuria, a second Sino-Japanese War (1937), and an attack on the US naval base in Pearl Harbor (1941). The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to lost of all overseas Japan's possessions.
The history of Japan of present times is the history of a hi-tech country, preserving its traditions and possessing respect of the influential countries of the world.
