#1 Describe the effects of Japan's geography on its culture and economy
Japan is a Shimaguni which means country of islands. There are four main islands namely Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. There are about 3000 smaller islands scattered around these four main islands. Its closest neighbors are Korea and China. It is separated from the Asian continent by the Sea of Japan.
Japan's geography greatly affected its economy and culture. Japan had many mountains but it had very little flat farmland, the farmland only made up 15% of Japan's land. Many people fought for this land because of its scarcity. Even though the farmland was generally small they had a great climate for growing rice. Usually the Japanese had a surplus of rice and traded it with each other. Japan is also surrounded by water. This gave them easy access to an abundant source of fish and they could easily trade with neighboring countries.
Being so close to China affected many aspects of their culture. The Chinese gave Japan their name Nippon which means rising sun. When the Japanese first met the Chinese they had no written language. So the Japanese adopted the Chinese written language. That is why the Japanese written language resembles Chinese language so much. Many beliefs were passed from the Chinese to the Japanese such as Confucianism and Buddhism.
Japan also had many beautiful geographical features such as Mount Fuji, the hot springs, and its lakes.They worshiped these features in a religion called Shinto. Shinto was the main religion of Japan. It was believed that their deities or “kami” created the islands of Japan. These deities were represented by different elements of nature.
Even though Japans geography was very beneficial to its culture and to its economy they had many natural disasters. They have many frequent earthquakes because it lies on many tectonic plates. Because the earthquakes usually occur in water it creates a tidal wave. The Islands of Japan also were formed by volcanic action. So they have many frequent eruptions and ash falling from the sky.
