Japan (in Japanese, the name sounds like Nihon, which can literally be translated as "the place where the sun rises") is an East Asian country. Location of Japan - East Asia. The state is located on the Japanese archipelago, which consists of 6852 islands and is located east of the Sea of Japan in the Pacific Ocean. About 97% of the area of the archipelago are four large islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. South of Kyushu and northeast of Taiwan is the Ryukyu group of islands (pronounced lioukyou in Japanese), among which is Okinawa, which was placed under American control during the surrender of Japan (August 15, 1945). The status was preserved until 1972, and then the island was returned to Japan.
Geography and extreme points
The Land of the Rising Sun is located on a stratovolcano archipelago that belongs to the Pacific volcanicfire ring. The Russian Far East is located to the north of the country, on the mainland. The location of Japan causes constant seismic activity. It's no joke, but the country has 108 active volcanoes. The length of the coastline is 19,240 km. The southernmost point of Japan is the picturesque Okinotori Atoll, rising 1m above sea level, the northern one is Bentejima Island, the western one is the cape on Yonaguni Island, the eastern one is the small island of Minamitori. The highest point in the country (3776 m) is known to the whole world - an active stratovolcano on Honshu, Fujiyama.
Relief features
About 75% of the country's territory is low and medium- altitude mountains, highlands. There are also lowlands, but few, they are located along the coast. The largest of them - Kanto - covers about 17,000 km2. The main ranges of the island of Hokkaido are a continuation of the mountain ranges of the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. The territory of the country is covered by a dense network of full-flowing short rivers, usually mountainous. The largest of them: Tone, Shinano, Ishikari, Kitakami.
Square and cities
The total area of Japan is 377,944 km², three times the size of Portugal. The Japanese islands stretch for approximately 2,500 km, from the Russian island of Sakhalin in the north to Taiwan in the south.
The city of Tokyo, located on the island of Honshu, is the capital of the country. The administrative territory of Japan is divided into eight regions: Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku andKyushu. Each of the prefectures is governed by an elected governor and a local assembly. The municipalities have a council composed of representatives elected by popular vote. Municipalities in Japan have expanded powers to control public education and raise their own taxes. The territorial organization of Japan is defined by the Local Government Law of 1947, which allowed cities and prefectures to acquire powers previously vested only in the central government.
Language and dialects
Japan has long established itself as the "land of the gods", that is, a unique country inhabited by a "clean" and homogeneous population. This is a common interpretation of a nation that wants to stand out from others. The location of Japan also greatly influenced the mentality. This vision was cultivated by the Japanese authorities and the scientific community. Indeed, Japan is one of the most linguistically homogeneous countries in the world, at least as far as different communities are concerned. In fact, 95.8% of the citizens of this country speak Japanese. The Ryukyuan languages are closest to it, distant genetic links have not been elucidated.
Japanese is characterized by a unique script that combines syllabic phonography and ideography. It consists of three parts: two syllabic alphabets - hiragana and katakana, kanji (hieroglyphs borrowed from the Chinese). Of course, the geographical location of Japan had a huge impact on the development of the language. Her isolation helpedpreservation of primordial traditions, writing.
Interestingly, the Ainu language is spoken mainly in Hokkaido, although most of the inhabitants of the island speak Japanese. Ainu is called a dysfunctional language, only the old-timers of Hokkaido speak it.
Dialects of Japanese from a functional point of view are considered Ryukyuan languages, they are common in the Ryukyu archipelago. The main speakers of the language, as in the case of Ainu, are the elderly.
Minorities and residents
Currently (according to the 2015 census), about 126,910,000 people live in Japan, and the population is steadily declining due to natural decline. About 89.07% of Japanese people live in cities. In terms of culture and linguistics, the country's population is homogeneous and there are only minor inclusions of foreign workers.
The national minorities of the country are represented by Chinese, Koreans, Japanese Brazilians and Peruvians, Ryukyus and Filipinos. About 98% of the population are ethnic Japanese, which is quite interesting. This “purity” of the nation was facilitated not only by the isolated geographical location of Japan, but also by unique traditions and way of life. The indigenous minorities include the Ryukyus, whose number is about 1.5 million people, as well as the Ainu. The social minority is the descendants of the "unclean" caste - the burakumins. Japan has a very high life expectancy (about 80 years), a low infant mortality rate, but at the same time a low birth rate. Thus, in 2005, approximately 20% of the country's population was over 65.
