Japan Essay -- Geography Geographical Japan Essays

lacquerGeographical SettingJapan is an is overthrow country in the North Pacific Ocean. It lies off the northeastcoast of brinyland Asia and faces Russia,Korea, and China. Four large islands andthousands of smaller ones make up Japan. The four major islands-Hokkaido,Honshu,Kyushu and Shikoku form a curve that extends for about 1,900kilometres.TopographyJapan is a land of great natural beauty. mountains and hills cover about 70% ofthe country. IN fact, Japanese islands consist of the rugged upper part of agreat mountain roam that rises from the floor of the North Pacific Ocean.Jagged peaks, rocky gorges, and thundering mountain waterfalls provide some ofthe countrys most spectacular scenery. Thick forests thrive on mountansides,adding to the scenic beauty of the Japanese islands. Forests cover about 68% ofthe countrys land.Japan lies on an extremely unstable part of the earths crust. As a result, theland is constantly switching. This shifting causes twain of Japans most strikingf eatures-- earthquakes and volcanoes. The Japanese islands have about 1500earthquakes a year. Most of them are minor tremors that cause little damage, butsevere earthqaukes draw every few years. Underseaquakes sometimes cause huge,destructive tidal waves, called tsunami, along Japans Pacific coast. TheJapanese islands have more than 150 major volcanoes. Over 60 of these volcanoesare active.Numerous short, swift rivers cross Japans rugged surface. most of the riversare too shallow and steep to be navigated. Their waters are used to irrigatefarmland, and their rapids and falls supply power for hydroelectric plants. Manylakes nestle among the Japanese mountains. Some lie in the craters of extinctvolcanoes. A large number of baking hot springs gush from the ground throughout thecountry. The Japanese islands have a total land area of about 337,708 sqkm. Theislands , in order of size, are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. The sea ofJapan washes the countrys west coast and the Pacific ocean lies to the east.ClimateRegional climates in Japan can be compared to those of the East Coast of theUnited States. Kyushu and Shikoku have a climate much like that of Perth. Theyhave long hot summers and mild winters. The island Honshus generally haswarm,humid summers. Winters are mild in the south and cold and snowy in then... ...ies of the language for use in different social contexts these varietiesare called social styles of speech. A large number of dialects are spokenthroughout Japans four main islands (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu), aswell as on the smaller islands, such as the Ryukyu Islands. Some dialects-forinstance, those spoken in the southern parts of Japan, notably on the islands ofKyushu and Okinawa-are nigh incomprehensible to the speakers of otherdialects. As a result of this diversity of dialects, the Japanese use a standard,or common, dialect to facilitate communication throughout the country. The twodialect families with the largest number of sp eakers are the dialect spoken inand around Tokyo, which is the common dialect, and the dialects of the Kansairegion in western Japan, spoken in cities such as Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. Due tothe spread of the common dialect through television and radio, most peopleoutside the Tokyo region speak the common dialect as well as a local dialect.RefrencesWorld Book Encyclopedia (Cd Rom) Grolier Encyclopedia (Cd Rom) Encarta 96Encyclopedia (Cd Rom) JETRO (Internet Site) CIA World Factbook (Internet Site)