Extra+Research+on+Japan

Kevin Kim : Climate (general climate, the four seasons) Agriculture (Distinctive qualities of Japan)

__**Climate**__

The climate which your experiencing is predicated upon the region in which u live. Japan has many islands, and within in those islands there are different climates. Generally the weather in Japan is relatively mild maritime, except for Hokkaido and subtropical Okinawa region with usual temperate temperature. There are four main climatic regions in Japan: The Pacific coastal region, which has summer rainfall, the Japan Sea coastal region has heavy winter snows and low temperatures, the inland region is where the rainfall is low, lastly, the subtropical to tropical climate in the Ryukyu Island chain

LIke every country in the world, Japan has four seasons: winter spring summer fall. During the winter there is a lot of snow in Japan but especially in the Island of Hokkaido. The snow fall and the long cold winter days characterizes the winter season in Japan. For example, during winter, in order to celebrate the fabulous know, Japanese people have a Sapporo Snow Festival in which they show ice statues. In the spring time the weather gets warmer with little rainfall. It is the season in which the famous cherry blossom begins to bloom into a beautiful pink flower. Also to celebrate the coming of the cherry blossoms the Japanese people have a festival. During the summer season, instead of the nice cool warm weather, it gets very humid during the summer times. Following with the humidity, the rainy season starts from june to july, then from August to October there is a Typhoon season in Japan.

__**Agriculture**__ Japan has been able to develop intensively on cultivation of agriculture. Agriculture exists in every part of japan, but it especially important on the northern island of Hokkaido which hold 10% of the country's national production. Since World War 2 Japan has been using modern technology and methods such as fertilizers, insecticides, hybrid seeds, and machinery, which helped harvesting increase substantially through the 1970's. Although Japan has a limited amount of space within their country, they had made many progress over the years and cultivated many crops. Therefore, there is a distinctive quality about them that made it possible for Japan to succeed in Agriculture.For example, rice is their main crop. The Japanese soil is not very abundant with nourishment, nor is the land flat. However due to the daily rainy weather, with the planting and growing process. Therefore, the distinctive quality that they had was even thought they didn't have flat, nice nourished soil land, they were still able to grow crops and succeed with rice cultivation.


 * ENVIRONMENT**

General: - Air pollution is serious environmental problem (power plant, automobile) - Water pollution --> increase of acid levels due to industrial pollutants - Many of the nation's forests have been reforested. - Lots of mammal species have become extinct. (The Ryukyu pigeon, Bonin thrush, Japanese sea lion, and Okinawa flying fox)

Main Islands

Honshu - characterized by a highly sophisticated blade and burin technology while the southern zone - Very complex

Hokkaido - severe natural conditions of cold weather and a long period of snowfall - 22% of the nation’s total forest area. - Hokkaido is surrounded by three seas - Shikoku - high mountains and steep slopes limit agriculture and impede communication; there are no volcanoes. - climate is humid subtropical. Kyushu - warm climate - natural environment shows its complexity and remarkable diversity here. Gigantic caldera volcanoes line up one - "Land of Fire" Ryukyu - chain of island - surrounded by water (Sea, Ocean) Kurile Islands - andscape is that of individual volcanoes or volcanic ridges linked by sediment-filled isthmuses

Major Landforms

Mt. Fuji - diversity and richness of its natural environment - include virgin forests Japanese Alps - have rock glaciers that lasted for years Kitakami River - Lots of organisms, especially mitten crab Tone River - have uncontrollable nature - route changed whenever floods occurred Kiso River - a short distance away from the city of Nagoya - upper portion of the river forms the Kiso valley. Ishikari River - Lava from Volcanic Shikotsu mountains damned up the river and moved its mouth to the Sea of Japan.

Lake Biwa - Small rivers drain from the surrounding mountains into Lake Biwa (serves Kyoto & Otsu) - provides drinking water for about 15 million people in the region Sea of Japan - Korea peninsula to the west, and the Japanese islands of Hokkaidõ Top 9 Major Cities

Tokyo - Metropolis (capital of Japan) - Japanese govn't, Imperial Palace, home of Japanse Imperial Family

Yokohama - It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, main of island of Honshu - prominent port city Osaka - Kansai Region of Japan's main island of Honshu - centers for the Japanese economy.

Nagoya - Located on the Pacific coast in the CHubu region Sapporo - located in Ishikari Subprefecture and ordinance-designated city of Japan. Kobe - southern side of the main island of Honshu - metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kyoto. Kyoto - city in the central part of the island of Honshu - imperial capital of Japan Hiroshima - largest city in the Chugoku of western Honshu - first city in history destroyed by nuclear weapon Nagasaki - largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan - last city in the world to be subject to nuclear attack.