Japan (in Japanese, the name sounds like Nihon, which literally means “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 archipelago's area is comprised of four large islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. To the south of Kyushu and northeast of Taiwan is a group of Ryukyu islands (pronounced lioukyou in Japanese), including Okinawa, which, during the surrender of Japan (August 15, 1945), was transferred under American control. Status remained until 1972, and then the island was returned to Japan.
Geography and extreme points
The land of the rising sun is located on the stratovolcanic archipelago, which belongs to the Pacific volcanic ring of fire system. The Russian Far East is located north of the country, on the mainland. The location of Japan leads to constant seismic activity. It’s no joke, but the country's territory is 108 active volcanoes. The coastline is 19,240 km. The southernmost point of Japan is the picturesque Okinotori Atoll, which rises 1m above sea level, the northern is Bentejima Island, the western is the cape on Yonaguni Island, and the eastern is the small island of Minamitori. The highest point of the country (3776 m) is known all over the world - the active stratovolcano on Honshu, Fuji.
Relief features
About 75% of the territory of the country are low and medium-altitude mountains, elevations. There are also lowlands, but not many, they are located along the coast. The largest of them - Kanto - occupies about 17,000 km 2 . The main ranges of Hokkaido Island 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 mountain ones. The largest of them are: Tone, Shinano, Ishikari, Kitakami.
Square and cities
The total area of Japan is 377,944 km², which is three times larger than the area of Portugal. The Japanese islands extend approximately 2500 km in length, 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. Administratively, the territory of Japan is divided into eight regions: Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kinki, Tyugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu. Each prefecture is governed by an elected governor and local assembly. Municipalities have a council consisting of representatives elected by universal suffrage. 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 Act of 1947, which allowed cities and prefectures to obtain powers previously owned only by 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 general interpretation of a nation that wants to stand out among others. The location of Japan also greatly influenced the mentality. This vision was cultivated by Japanese authorities and the scientific community. Indeed, Japan is one of the most linguistically homogeneous countries in the world, at least to the extent that this applies to different communities. In fact, 95.8% of the citizens of this country speak Japanese. The Ryukyu languages are closest to it; distant genetic connections 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. Its isolation contributed to the preservation of original traditions, writing.
Interestingly, the Ainu language is mainly spoken in Hokkaido, although most of the island's inhabitants speak Japanese. Ainu is called a dysfunctional language, only old-timers in Hokkaido speak it.
From the functional point of view, the Ryukyu languages consider the dialects of Japanese, they are common on the Ryukyu archipelago. The main native speakers, as in the case of Ainu, are the elderly.
Minorities and residents
At present (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. From the point of view of culture and linguistics, the country's population is homogeneous and there are only insignificant 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 very interesting. Such “purity” of the nation was promoted not only by the isolated geographical location of Japan, but also by unique traditions and life. The indigenous minorities include the Ryukyus, whose number is about 1.5 million people, as well as Ainu. The social minority - the descendants of the caste of "unclean" - beetroot. Japan has a very high life expectancy (about 80 years), low infant mortality rate, but at the same time low birth rate. So, in 2005, about 65% of the country's population was over 65 years old.