Geography of Japan
Anne K. Petry
Good geography instruction, including the arts, literature, philosophy,
and history, will immeasurably increase student understanding of
Japan in both a personal and academic way. Geograph is an entrance
to lifelong critical thinking, a practical tool for understanding past
and present, and planning for the future. It provides a “spatial
perspective for learning about the world…teaching students to think
in terms of physical and human systems; patterns; movement of
people, goods, and ideas; regions; environment.” (Marran)
Japan in Spatial Terms. Japan, located off the East coast of Asia, is
an archipelago nation comprised of four main islands, from North to
South: Hokkaido, Honshu (the largest and most populous), Kyushu,
Shikoku, and over 3500 smaller islands. The southernmost reach is
the Ryukyu Islands. Japan stretches over 2,360 miles, so the people
enjoy climatic variety. Superimposed on eastern United States, Japan
stretches from central Maine to Florida. The Japanese people define
their country as a “small, resource-poor island country.” Japan has
inferior coal seams, little iron ore, and nonexistent petroleum
resources; it is reliant on imports, and on hydroelectric and nuclear
energy production.
On a world map, Japan seems a small nation, dwarfed by China
and Russia with North America facing over the vast Pacific, but
Japan is larger in land mass (145,869 sq. mi/377,800 sq. km) than
many of the world’s 180 countries, including the United Kingdom
and Italy.
Mountains occupy over 80% of Japan’s landmass. Most of the
mountains, such as the Japan Alps, were “uplifted” by the collision of
the Pacific oceanic crust and continental crust of Asia. Some of
Japan’s mountains are clearly volcanic, such as the iconic Mt. Fuji
(12,385 ft.), which last erupted in 1707. Much of Japan is long,
narrow valleys between tree-covered low mountains, (either natural
or reforested), with strips of agriculture and human habitation along
the valley edges.
Physical Systems. Japan is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, and
has 186 volcanoes, of which about sixty are active. Many towns are
famous for hot springs, or onsen. Japan is seismically active; many
of its great cities are built on fault lines. Tokyo and Yokohama were
largely destroyed by fires resulting from the great Earthquake of 1923
which took 130,000 lives. The city of Kobe experienced a
devastating earthquake in 1995.
Since Japan is in the Northern Hemisphere, seasons are similar
to North America and Europe. Winter can produce heavy snowfall
on the western sides of Hokkaido and Honshu, as the Siberian winds
pick up moisture from the Sea of Japan and deposit it as snow in the
Japan Alps. Winter months are dry on the Eastern side of Japan.
Kyushu, being nearer the equator, is the first to experience
spring’s national treasure, the sakura, or cherry blossoms. Hanami,
cherry blossom viewing, occurs in late March (Hokkaido in May),
and can be compared to the delight some Americans take in viewing
fall foliage. Continuous warm rains follow. The mountains define
the boundaries of moisture received; the Pacific side receives less,
and the Sea of Japan coast gets tropical rains. All Japan experiences a
humid summer. The Japan Current (Kuroshio) provides a balmy
autumn. Around November, typhoons (hurricanes) bearing fierce
winds over water, aim for the southeastern part of the country.
Usually, Japan’s typhoons have exhausted themselves by the time
they reach the Kanto Plain.
Environment and Society. No one lives further than seventy miles
from the coast, so Japanese are oriented to the sea, even though their
land is mountainous. Nearly all the people live on several flat coastal
plains where it has been possible to farm. Only one, the Kanto Plain,
is very extensive, about 120 miles long. This is Tokyo-YokohamaKawasaki,
dominant urban and industrial region of the country. It
has level land, a mild, moist climate suitable for farming, a deep
harbor at Yokohama, and is more or less central to the country. It
holds nearly one-third of the population (largest urban agglomeration
in the world), and produces 20% of Japan’s manufacturing. “Tokyo
area is among the chief producers of steel, using iron ores from the
Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, India and even Africa; most of the
coal is imported from Australia and North America; the petroleum
from Southwest Asia and Indonesia. The Kanto Plain cannot produce
nearly enough food for its massive resident population. Food must be
imported from Canada, the United States, and Australia as well as
from other areas in Japan. Thus Tokyo depends on external trade for
all things ranging from food to energy.” (deBlij, 312-313)
Coastal plains include the Kansai District (Kobe-Kyoto-Osaka
triangle), the Kansai or Tokaido megalopolis, the Nobi plain,
(Nagoya,) and the Toyama district. Farmland can be found among the
housing, public facilities, and general industrial sprawl of these areas.
Farmers are adept at intense cultivation of fruit and vegetables, and
small rice paddies are the norm. There is less population density in
Hokkaido, where cattle and dairy industries are growing, with meat
becoming a much more important part of the Japanese diet, especially
among young people.
Japan is the leading fishing nation in the world, plying the high
seas to feed the largest per capita fish-consuming nation.
Increasingly, aqua-culture technology cultivates shellfish, seafood,
and seaweed in many shallow bays and estuaries. (Reischauer, 24)
The Seto Inland Sea was the axis for much of Japan’s early
history. Seas were once the major means of
communication/transportation, but modern Japan has superb internal
systems, including railway lines, subway systems, enormous bridges
and tunnels to connect this island nation. The tunnel to Hokkaido is
longer than the European “Chunnel”. Airline travel is available, and
the shinkansen trains carry passengers at speeds averaging over one
hundred miles per hour.
Places and Regions. The Jakota Triangle- (Japan, Korea, Taiwan) is
characterized by huge cities, enormous global commerce, high
consumption of raw materials, and rapid development. Japan is also
part of the Pacific Rim, with land facing the Pacific, relatively high
levels of industrialization and urbanization indicating high levels of
economic development, and huge imports/ exports which move
mainly across the Pacific. Japan can be seen as small units of
mountainous terrain; some scholars suggest that this is one reason for
the decentralized pattern of government developed in feudal times.
Today, there are forty-seven prefectures, many still following historic
mountain boundaries. Japan’s regions are: Hokkaido, Tohoku,
Chubu, Kanto, Chugoku, Kinki, Shikoku, and Kyushu-Okinawa.
Japan’s rivers are small, not navigable for any great length, fast
moving and useful for generating some hydroelectric power. Rivers
and plentiful rainfall make possible extensive agriculture and forest
production. Wood is also imported, largely from Southeast Asia.
Human Systems. Japan is a developed nation, indicated by its GNP
per person ($37,126 in 2000), the occupational structure of its work
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JAPAN
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force (7% agriculture, 24% industry, 69% service), energy
consumption, transport and communication levels, amount of metals
required annually, worker productivity, rate of literacy, nutrition, and
savings. Since 1920, full-time agricultural employment fell from
50% of the Japanese labor force to 4% at the turn of the twenty-first
century. The record of Japan’s modernization is a world-famous
success story; it can be traced in geographic terms by examining
resources, economic spatial organization, and international relations.
(deBlij, R14 and New Signet World Atlas, xxii)
Japan has one of the world’s highest physiologic densities, the
number of people per unit of cultivable land. During the 19th century,
when modernization and industrialization were rapid, and Japan was
winning military victories aimed at expansion, the population grew.
As medical services and public health improved post 1945, the birth
rate rose sharply. The population at the time was 70 million, and
with a doubling time of only thirty-five years, a crisis was created. In
1948, the government established the Eugenic Protection Act,
legalizing abortions; there were millions. Contraception was
encouraged. Both policies, by 1985, had lowered the birth rate. The
death rate fell simultaneously, so by the 1990’s, the government was
concerned about a new problem, stagnant population growth.
Immigration does not contribute to population growth in Japan,
which maintains its largely homogeneous population by policy, and
does not encourage large numbers of foreign workers. Emigration has
little effect. With the fertility rate at a new low, the projection is that
Japan’s population will peak at 127 million, then drop to around 113
million by 2025. This means an aging population, a shrinking work
force, and a smaller tax base to support rising pension and welfare
costs. Geographers suggest that more women will enter Japan’s labor
pool, retirement ages may rise, and that robotic technology will
increase to address this problem, but Japan will face “social and
economic adjustments that must accompany less-than-zero, or
negative population growth.” (deBlij 487-488) Many companies
already have excess workers, and graduates have trouble finding jobs
in times of recession.
Japan has a rich, unique cultural history which is related to
her geography; love of natural beauty has influenced all Japanese
culture. Japan’s tea houses and Zen gardens are admired worldwide:
rocks represent mountains, combed gravel evokes the endless sea,
and long vistas are successfully suggested. Garden elements often
represent spiritual beliefs, and there are detailed rules regarding their
placement. Some garden and architectural designs came with
Buddhism from China and Korea during the seventh century;
elements such as hills, ponds, islands, bridges and shrubs are still
found in Japanese gardens. Shinto, an ancient religion, honors
invisible kami spirits in trees, rocks, and water. The rituals observed
in making these gardens were proposed in 12th century Sakutei-ki, or
Secret Book of Gardens. (Delay, 54) Flower arranging, ikebana, and
ink-painting, sumi-e, are also related to contemplation of nature’s
beauty. Textiles celebrate the beauty and meaning of blossoms,
trees, birds, fish, mountains.
For a nation so appreciative of natural beauty, Japan’s modern
environmental protection record is not good. The beautiful Japanese
crane, tancho, is close to extinction, though once numerous in
Hokkaido; salmon and trout have disappeared from polluted rivers;
brown bears have been hunted to endangerment even in Hokkaido;
coral reefs in the far south are being destroyed by scuba diving
tourists. Numbers of the monkey macaca have been reduced, as have
the natural flora and fauna of the plains, home to most of Japan’s
population and industry.
Uses of Geography. The subject of geographic study is space; for
much of Japan, space is a rare commodity. As early as the 1600s, the
people of Tokyo, then Edo, filled in wetlands around the Imperial
Palace. Modern Tokyo has attracted a huge population, demanding
space; land reclamation has resulted in the filling of 20% of the
surface area of Tokyo Bay. Tokyo International Airport, Disneyland,
and Yokohama seaport facilities are on reclaimed land. A Landsat
Image in National Geographic, October, 2002, shows the incredible
extent of this human alteration of natural environment. The impact
on the fishing industry is monumental; the impact on humans living
there is being discovered daily. (Dalby, 42)
Geography for Life: The National Geography Standards
A geographically informed person knows and understands:
The World in Spatial Terms
How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and
technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial
perspective.
1. How to use mental maps to organize information about people,
places, and environments in a spatial context.
2. How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and
environments on Earth’s surface.
Places and Regions
3. The physical and human characteristics of places
4. That people create regions to interpret Earth’s complexity
5. How culture and experience influence people’s perceptions of places
and regions.
Physical Systems
6. The physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth’s surface.
7. The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth’s
surface.
Human Systems
8. The characteristics, distribution, migration of human populations on
Earth’s surface.
9. The characteristics, distribution and complexity of Earth’s cultural
mosaics.
10. The patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth’s
surface.
11. The processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement.
12. How the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence
the division and control of Earth’s surface.
Environment and Society
13. How human actions modify the physical environment.
14. How physical systems affect human systems.
15. The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and
importance of resources.
The Uses of Geography
16. How to apply geography to interpret the past.
17. How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the
future.
References
Craig, Albert M. The Heritage of Japanese Civilization. New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall, 2003. ISBN: 0-13-576612-5
Dahlby, Tracy. “Tokyo Bay” National Geographic. October, 2002,
32-57.
deBlij, H.J. and Alexander B. Murphy Human Geography: Culture,
Society, and Space. New York: John Wiley & Sons, sixth edition,
1999. ISBN: 0-471-35595-X
Delay, Nelly. The Art and Culture of Japan. New York: Harry N.
Abrams, 1999. ISBN: 0-8109-2862-0
Geography for Life: National Geography Standards. Washington, DC:
National Geographic Society, 1994. ISBN: 0-7922-2775-1
Marran, James F. “Geography: An Essential School Subject-Five
Reasons Why” Journal of Geography. Jan/Feb, 2003, 42-43
Reischauer, Edwin O. and Marius B. Jansen. The Japanese Today:
Change and Continuity. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard
University, 1999. ISBN: 0-674-47184-9
Anne K. Petry is a professor in the School of Education at Rhode
Island College. She is a seminar leader and head of the Rhode
Island partner site with the Five College Center for East Asian
Studies, a national coordinating site for the National Consortium
for Teaching about Asia.
The National Clearinghouse for U.S.-Japan Studies is made
possible through the generous support of the Japan Foundation
Center for Global Partnership.