Japan is a country made from four major islands.  Though its area is small, each region has different tastes.  The country has the population of 123.6 millions according to the 1990 census, or 2.5 % of the world total, and it is the seventh most populated nation according to The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Japan.(5, p.25).  Japanese political and economical world power has been one of the success stories of the twentieth century. Though small in geographic area, its popularity is the seventh greatest; its inhabitants crowd themselves into an area the size of the state of Montana or California in the United States. Its natural resources are almost non-existent; however, today it ranks only second after the much larger United States as the most affluent and economically productive nation in the world.  Japan was traditionally more self-sustained and semi-isolated in its islands, and it pursued its own historic path on the periphery of a great Chinese civilisation. The Japanese borrowed some cultural ideas from China. (4,p.1-2).  Although the population is largely homogeneous, there is considerable regional diversity. This diversity is reflected in life-styles, dialects and speech differing patterns of historic and economical development.  The four largest islands are Hokkaido(2), Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu.  Honshu, the largest island, is usually divided into five regions; Tohoku (3), Kanto (4),Chubu (5), Kinki(6), and Chugoku (7).
 
According to Cultural Atlas of Japan, Hokkaido is Japan’s northern frontier.(1,p.23 ).  Dominated by the daisetsu mountain range and national park, Hokkaido is an island of forests, rivers, sheer cliffs and rolling pastures.  It's located at roughly the same latitude as New England or southern France.  Hokkaido is bounded by the Sea of Okhotsk to the North and East, the Sea of Japan to the West, and the Pacific Ocean to the South.  It is 83517 square kilometres in area, a little smaller than Ireland.  Its climate is quite different from that of Honshu, with colder temperatures, lower rainfall, no rainy season, few typhoons, and a much shorter growing season of only 120 to 140 days a year.  Hokkaido was outside the rice-growing area in premodern Japan, but modern cold-resistant strains will grow there and it now produces large quantities of rice as well as live stock, dairies produce, fish, potatoes and other crops.  About ninety percent of Japan’s pastureland is found in Hokkaido and nearly as much of its dairy produce comes from there.  With its wooded terrain, pastureland, herds of cattle, large farms and silos Hokkaido has something of the look of New England to it.  Individual farms are larger than those further south and the population are less dense.(1,p.24 ).  Hokkaido also offers delicious seafood, fresh daily produce, and plenty of hot springs.  Its beautiful winter is great for skiing, skating and the annual snow festival with its world-famous ice sculptures.(2).  The coal-mining, forestry and fishing industries is important and industrial development is taking place around Sapporo, the principal city and centre of development of modern Hokkaido.  Hokkaido is also one of the most popular place to visit for thousands of the tourists throughout the year.
 
The island of Honshu, at 231,000 square kilometres, is larger than Great Britain and is very much more densely populated, 404 persons per square kilometre.  It is broken by a spine of mountain arcs into a number of regions with overlapping, but recognisably distinctive, characteristics depending on their latitude and which sea they face.  The coastal plains of Honshu were for centuries the heartland of Japanese rice agriculture.  They have also been the site of dense urban settlement and heavy industrial development.(1,p.25)
The north-eastern  part of Honshu, comprising the prefectures of Aomori, Iwate, Akita, Miyagi, Yamagata, and Fukushima is known as the Tohoku.  Traditionally labelled the granary of Japan, it is still predominantly a farming area, supplying Sendai and the huge Tokyo-Yokohama market with rice and other commodities.  Farms in northern Tohoku, while smaller than some dairy farms in Hokkaido, are larger than the national average.(1,p.25)  From the windows of the Shinkansen Bullet Train, which have just  linked to Aomori from Tokyo for six hours, travellers see acres of rice fields spread in regular grids over the broad valleys.  The region is famous for apples, cherries, and seafood which is gathered from a landscape of rugged coastlines, breathtaking islands, bubbling hot springs, sacred volcanoes, deep ravines, thickly forested mountains, and picture-postcard lakes.  Lake. Towada which is located in Aomori prefecture, is known as a very beautiful lake, and Lake. Tazawa in Akita prefecture is the most deepest lake in Japan.  Tohoku is a winter sports mecca and is also popular destination in the summer for the some of Japan’s most hot-blooded celebrations, including the Tanabata, Kanto and Nabuta Festivals.  Tohoku people are renowned for their warmth and hospitality, and women from the region are reputed to be the most fair-skinned and beautiful in Japan.(3) The major city in Tohoku region is Sendai which grew up around the castle town of the feudal lord Date Masamune (1567-1636).(1, p.25).
 
The Kanto, literally "east of the barrier," comprises the seven prefectures around Tokyo on the broad Kanto Plain.  They are Kanagawa Prefecture, Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture, Saitame, Gumma, Tochigi, Ibaraki and Chiba. The Izu and Bonin Islands are administratively part of metropolitan Tokyo.  The alluvial plain, watered by several rivers rising in the mountains of central Honshu, is surrounded by mountains to the west and north, and hills to the east.  Once the heartland of feudal power, the Kanto has been at the core of modern Japanese development.  The Tokyo-Kawasaki-Yokohama conurbation, with a population centre and industrial zone, its seat of government, and the hub of  its largest cluster of universities and cultural amenities.  Industry is located in the Keihin(Tokyo-Yokohama) belt and in Saitame Prefecture.  Tokyo is located just an hour or two by train to the many locations of scenic, historical and interest that are ideal for day trip of weekends away.(4)
 
Much of the Kanto Plain has been eaten up by residential and commercial or industrial construction, but the reminder of the plain is still intensively farmed and produces rice, tea, beans, vegetables and other crops for the Tokyo metropolitan market. It still produces mulberries, the basis of a small silkworm industry.  The growing season averages about 215 days.(1,p.26).
 
The Chubu, or central, region spans the country from the Sea of Japan to the Pacific coast across the Japan Alps, where some of the country’s highest peaks are to be found.  It includes nine prefectures of Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Nagano, Yamanashi, Gifu, Shizuoka and Aichi.  The first four are also known as the Hokuriku area.  Climate is varied.  The Japan Alps divide the country into two—the sunnier {Pacific side, also known as the front of Japan, Omote-Nippon, and the colder Sea of Japan side, known as Ura-Nippon, or the back of Japan.(1, p.26).  Like the Tohoku region, Hokuriku is a major wet-rice-producing area, with Niigata Prefecture the largest producer.  The region is famous for its oranges and tea, and Yamanashi Prefecture produces grapes and peaches.  The mountain prefecture of Nagano, the "Switzerland of Japan," was famous for sericulture before world war two but now is known mainly for tourism and fruit growing.
 
The largest city and centre of the industrial core of the Pacific side of the Chubu region is Nagoya with a population of over 2 million. Located in the old Tokaido route.(1, p.26).  Nagoya developed from the 17th century as the castle town of Owari domain. In the late 19th century, Nagoya was an important railroad junction between Tokyo and Osaka. Destroyed by bombing during World War two, Nagoya has been completely rebuilt and has flourished as one of the major centres of Japanese automobile production, the home of Toyota.
 
The cities of Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, and Nara form the core of the kansai region, "west of the barrier."  Speech patterns, foods and customs differ from those of the Kanto centring on Tokyo.  Their dialect is called Kansai-ben, and it is  strongly unique and distinguished.
 
Within the Kansai, the prefectures of Shiga, Mie, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Wakayama and Hyogo make up the Kinki district.  The industrial centre of the region is the Hanshin Industrial belt running through Osaka and Kobe cities.  Osaka is built on a delta formed by the Yamato and Yodo rivers.  Osaka has become a commercial port and industrial city second only to Tokyo. Nara and Kyoto were where Buddhism put down its first Japanese roots, and it includes some of Japan’s most sacred Shinto structures.  Majority of Japanese are Shinto, only 1 percent of  the population subscribed to Christianity.(4, p.245).  While examples of the world’s oldest most beautiful and most valuable architecture and artifacts are to be found in Kansai, the region also includes such modern, cosmopolitan communities as Kobe.  Its many other attractions include the largest lake in Japan, Biwa, pearl farms, and mountain groves of apricots, oranges and cherry blossoms.
 
The western part of  Honshu is known as the Chugoku, or central provinces, region.  It comprises the five prefectures of Tottori, Shimane.  Okayama, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi.  The wartime tragedy that befell Hiroshima continues to stir the emotions of thousands of visitors each year, who now find a thriving modern city standing where the devastation was previously so complete.

The island of Shikoku takes its name from the "four provinces" of Sanuki (modern Kagawa Prefecture), Awa (Tkushima), Tosa (Kochi) and Iyo (Ehime).  A mountainous island, except for plains around the Inland Sea and Pacific coasts, Shikoku supports a population of four million people and is about the size of Sardinia.  The northern part of the island around tokushima and in Ehime and Kagawa Prefectures is part of the Seto Inland Sea industrial belt.  The southern part of the island concentrates on citrus production, lumber and fishing.  The growing season is very long, 260 days.(1, p.29).  Many visitors come to Shikoku on a pilgrimage to 88 temples to commemorate the great Buddhist saint Kobo Daishi. Previously accessible mainly by ferry, Shikoku is now firmly connected to the rest of Japan by the world’s longest bridge, Seto Oohashi.
 
Kyushu, meaning "nine provinces" from its ancient administrative structure, is a mountainous island a little larger than Taiwan, divided into and increasingly wealthy, urbanised, industrialised north and a poorer, still mainly agricultural south.  Although the warm climate and long growing season make double cropping easy, arable land is quite scarce.  Kyushu is connected to Honshu by the Kammon Bridge (1500 meters) over the fast flowing Kammon Straits and by three tunnels, including one for the shinkansen.(1, p.29).
 
Throughout the modern period northern Kyushu has been an industrial centre, first for silk and cotton production and then, from around 1900, for steel production at the Yawata Iron and Steel works (now the Yawata Works, Japan Steel Corporation), using coal from Kyushu mines and ore imported from china.  In 1963the five cities of Moji, Kokura, Yahata, Tobata and Wakamatsu merged to form the city of Kitakyushu (North Kyushu). Kitakyushu and Fukuoka each have populations of  over a million.(1, p.30).
 
To the southeast of Fukuoka is the sulphurous barren landscape of the Aso National Park, at the centre of which is the active volcano, Mount Aso, with its huge caldera.  Nakadake, the active crater, is 600 by 1200 meters across and 160 meters deep.(1, p.30).  Its also famous for the crystal clear sea.(8).
 
The Okinawa Islands, located between Japan and China, have traditionally maintained relations with both their powerful neighbours.  From 1609 the Shimazu family of Satsuma controlled Okinawa and exploited it for sugar, which they sold into the Osaka market at a good profit.  After 1868 the new Meiji government took over the Ryukyu kingdom, Japan controlled Okinawa until its reversion to Japan in 1972.(1, p.31).  The cliffs and caves of Okinawa saw some of the most bitter fighting between the Allies and Japanese troops between April and June 1945.  Thousands of Okinawan non-combatants were killed and most of the older buildings on the island were demolished.
 
Okinawa enjoys a measured pace of life that’s far removed from any hectic city routine. Okinawas also has a proud artistic and musical tradition, and is home to many unusual and beautiful species of flora and fauna.(8).
 

Bibliography
1.  Cultural Atlas of Japan. 1988, pages 12-32.     `
2.  "Hokkaido Map" 1994. http://www.jnto.go.jp/02map/hokkaido.html (2-24-1998).
3.  "Tohoku Map" 1994. http://www.jnto.go.jp/02map/tohoku.html (2-24-1998).
4.  "Kanto Map" 1994. http://www.jnto.go.jp/02map/kanto.html (2-24-1998).
5.  "Chubu & Hokuriku Map" 1994. http://www.jnto.go.jp/02map/chubuhokuriku.html (2-24-1998)
6   "Kansai Map" 1994. http://www.jnto.go.jp/02map/kansai.html (2-24-1998)
7.  "Chugoku & Shikoku Map" 1994. http://www.jnto.go.jp/02map/chugokushikoku.html (2-24-1998)
8.  "Kyushu & Okinawa Map" 1994. http://www.jnto.go.jp/02map/kyushuokinawa.html (2-24-1998)
9.  Japan A Concise History. Milton W. Meyer, 1993, pages 1-14, 245.
10.  The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Japan. University of Cambridge, 1993, pages 25-43.

Created April 18, 1998