Land of the Rising Sun- Part 2

Hello and Welcome back, you guys!

Yesterday, I started a multi-day introduction to the Land of Japan. In that post, I went over the racial and religious demographics of Japan and the immense size of its population for such a small area of land.  Today, I will be picking up the discussion with info about Japan's geography.

As I said yesterday, the size of Japan is smaller than the state of California. It is considered an archipelago because it is made up of a chain of islands that begins near the most Southeastern point of Russia and continues down south past South Korea. Mind you, the Koreas are actually west of the main Japanese islands and are on the same land mass as Russia (to the north-east) and China (directly to the north). I have linked a map of Japan that also shows Russia, China and the Koreas so that you can better understand my explanation. :)

The archipelago of Japan is made up of four main islands and 6 smaller chains of islands. The most Northern main island is Hokkaido, which means "Northern Seaway". This island is very snowy and mountainous, making inhabiting it difficult. As a result, it is not as heavily populated as the rest of the main Japanese islands. This is also the home of Japan's first agricultural university, Sapporo Agricultural College. This college, which has since been become part of Hokkaido University, was first founded in 1875. I chose to mention this university because it is the home to the Japanese beer Sapporo and is located in the City of Sapporo, which is known internationally as the host city of the 1972 Winter Olympics. Interestingly enough, Sapporo is not a Japanese word. It is a word from Hokkaido's indigenous people called the ainu. Sadly, this indigenous group lost its last full-blooded aborigine during the 20th century.

The next main island is Honshu. Honshu is the home to Japan's capital, Tokyo, and to the Tohoku region, which was devastated by the 9.0 earthquake and the tsunami it triggered last March. As a side note, please do not forget to continually pray for the people of this region. There is still so much clean-up that needs to be done and so much loss that they are still dealing with.

Honshu, meaning "Main Island", is the longest of the four main island. Its most north-eastern portion is the Tohoku region. To the eastern coast and close the middle "axis" of Honshu is the Prefecture of Tokyo. Now, a prefecture is a political sub-body of Japan that is similar to the US states. Typically, the capital of a prefecture shares its name with its prefecture. Now, Tokyo is even more confusing because it is not only the name of both a prefecture and the capital city of Japan, it is also the name of the metropolis surrounding the capital. This is something that still confuses me. O_O?

Honshu is also home to the ancient capitals of Kyoto and Nara, as well  as Hiroshima, which was bombed by the US during World War II.

The last two of Japan's main islands are Shikoku and Kyushu. Shikoku, meaning "Four Countries" is tucked neatly next to Honshu's south-eastern coast like a cat curled up in the crook of one's knees. The people of this island played an extremely important role in the re-opening Japanese borders after the country's isolation period that began in 1600 and lasted until 1868.

Lastly is Kyushu, which means "Nine Provinces". It is the southern-most island of Japan's four main islands. Off of its western coast is a small island which is also the Prefecture of Nagasaki, whose capital was also bombed by the US in World War II.

Well, this post is also fairly long, so I'll end it for now. I will have one more part to this multi-day overview of Japan. So, if there is anything you want to know about Japan, drop a line in the comment box. I can't promise that it will be included into the final part of this overview, but I will review for future blog topics.

'Til then, Later Peeps!


JAPANESE NAMES AND NEW VOCAB:

Hokkaido- meaning "Northern Seaway" , the northern-most island of Japan's 4 main islands

Sapporo- a word from Hokkaido's indigenous people, it is the name of Japan's first agricultural college and world famous beer. It is also the name of the city where the agricultural college (now Hokkaido University) is located and the site of the 1972 Winter Olympics

Ainu-The name of Hokkaido's indigenous people, the last full-blooded member passed away during the 20th century

Honshu- meaning "Main Island",One of Japan's main islands, it is home to Japan's current and ancient capitals and the region of Tohoku

Tohoku- Honshu's north-eastern area, the site of the devastating Tohoku 2011 earthquake, which was magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale and caused a massive tsunami

Tokyo- The name of one of Japan's prefecture, Japan's largest metropolis, and the nation's Capital (so confusing!!!)

Prefecture- a political sub-body of Japan, it is similar to the US states


Kyoto and Nara- Two of Japan's ancient capitals.

Hiroshima- A city on Honshu, one of the sites of the Atomic Bombing during World War II and home to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum, which includes the closest surviving building to the bomb's detonation

Shikoku- "Four Countries", One of Japan's main islands, it is tucked in close to the southeastern coast of Honshu, the people of this island helped lead Japan out of its isolation period which ended in 1868

Kyushu -" Nine Provinces", Southern-most islands of Japan's main islands, One of its prefectures is the Nagasaki Prefecture

Nagasaki- One of the prefectures of Kyushu, its capital city which is also known as Nagasaki was the site of the second Atomic Bomb dropped by the US during World War II, it has historically been the home to one of Japan's largest Christian community since the 16th Century

The Land of the Rising Sun- Part 1

Welp, seeing that I plan on posting every weekend while I am in Japan, I guess I need to get into the rhythm by posting this weekend as well, right?

Anyway, today's post is all about Japan. Who is this "Japan"? What is she like? What are her specs and her beliefs? These are some of the questions I will try to answer coherently in this post. For those who haven't had the pleasure of talking to me about anything Japanese, let me warn you...I can be a bit of a motor-mouth. So I will try to keep that attribute of mine in check, 'Kay? So let's get this post started with the basics of Japan- the Demographics of Japan.

Japan is made up of over 127 million people in the geographical space of roughly 378,000 sq km. This info, by the way, is coming from the CIA World Factbook website. For those who have trouble imagining or computing statistical facts, try taking the population of the US Western States* and shoving it into an area smaller than California. It's kind of like that, but with even more Japanese people.

Now, the percentage of racially Japanese people amongst the country's 127 million+ population is about 98.5%. The next two largest racial groups are Koreans and Chinese, making up approx 0.5% of the population each. Every other race is categorized together as "others".

Just as the population is heavily dominated by racially Japanese, the religious demographics are heavily one-sided. The main religions are Buddhist and Shinto. Shinto, which was established by at least A.D. 712, is Japan's traditional religion. It is a polytheistic religion that contains stories of the Creation of Japanese gods and land. This religion seems to dictate one's way of life, but not one's afterlife. Hence, Shinto means "The Way of the Gods".  Buddhism, on the other hand, teaches its followers how they can achieve their desired afterlife. Note: I still have much to learn about the teachings of both Shinto and Buddhism. The Buddhist beliefs entered Japan through cross-cultural exchanges with the Chinese in A.D. 522.

Let me take a moment here to explain a discrepancy between the dates of establishments between Buddhism and Shintoism. The official date for the arrival of Buddhism is known and recorded firmly in the history books. The date of formation for Shintoism, however, is unknown. The earliest writings of Shinto mythology were first compiled in A.D. 712. The actual founding of the Shinto beliefs may have been around the 3rd century A.D. and  were known to have been influential on the formation of Early Japanese government. However, there is no official date for its formation. One thing is for certain, it was formed and secured in the heart of Japanese culture before the arrival of Buddhism.

Currently, Shintoism makes up 83.9% of the population with Buddhism making up 71.4%, Christianity at 2%, and "Others" at 7.8%. This means that the percentage of the population being represented in this statistics is...165.1%!? Yep, these are the most accurate religious demographics that the CIA offers. Notice the high percentages of Shinto followers and Buddhist followers. Both are way over 50%, right? Remember how I said Shinto dictates one's way of life and Buddhism explains how to achieve the afterlife? Well, because the religions gives the believers guidance over separate areas of the life cycle, most Japanese follow the teachings both Shinto AND Buddhism....at least they identity themselves as believers of both religions. There is actually a saying in Japan that says one is born Shinto, marries Christian, and dies Buddhist. To "marry Christian", by the way, only means that one chooses to have a Western-style marriage ceremony in a Christian church, as opposed to having a Traditional Japanese wedding ceremony. The Japanese saying I just mentioned exemplifies is why these two religions have followers that account for over half the population each.

Another note, according to the CIA World Factbook, Christianity includes any believer of Catholicism, Protestant Christianity, Orthodox Christianity, Mormonism, and Jehovah's Witness. For those unfamiliar with any of these religions, here's the break down. Catholicism, Protestant Christianity, and Orthodox Christianity all share the same basic Biblical doctrines (religious teachings) of who God is, who Jesus is, and how one can be a follower. So, by theological definition, they are inherently "Christian". Mormonism and Jehovah's Witness are doctrinally different, especially in defining who Jesus as a religious figure. So in a theological regard, Mormonism and Jehovah's Witness are separate belief systems from Christianity. Taking this theological difference to mind, the actual percentage of people who identify themselves as either Catholic or Christian is less than 1%, with less than 0.5% of the population actively pursuing the teachings of the Bible.

Well, seeing that this post is already very long, I will end it here and pick up again tomorrow. Tomorrow's post, by the way, will include the geographical specs of Japan.

'Til then, Later peeps!

NEW VOCAB
Shinto- "Way of the Gods", Japan's oldest and most traditional religion, it gives guidance on how to live one's life

NOTES
* The Western States start from Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico and continues west to the Pacific Ocean.