values of freedom and democracy so that they can confidently play a proper leading role in crafting a peaceful world society.
Boat on the Katsura River, Arashiyama, Kyoto.
The Japanese archipelago stretches from approximately the 20th to the 45th parallels, comparable to the distance from Cuba to Nova Scotia. With the completion of the 34-mile Seikan Tunnel between Hokkaido and Honshu in 1985 and the 5.6-mile Seto-Ohashi Bridge between Shikoku and Honshu in 1988, the four main islands of Japan became linked by surface transportation.
Largest of these islands is Honshu. With the most temperate climate and the most arable land, Honshu provides three-quarters of Japan's annual rice yield. Honshu has long been the stage for Japan's historical and cultural development, being the site of the ancient capitals of Nara, Kyoto, and Kamakura, as well as Tokyo, the present center of government and business.
With its frigid climate, the northern island of Hok-kaido was the last to be settled, although it was, and remains, home to the indigenous Caucasoid people called Ainu. The Japanese seriously began to colonize Hokkaido only after Russia appeared as a threat in 1860 when Vladivostok was settled. Hokkaido today remains far less populated than the other main islands, and is the only part of Japan with broad vistas of pastureland. As well as scenic beauty, the island is rich in minerals, containing all of Japan's mercury and chrome, three-quarters of its natural gas, and half of its coal.
The westernmost main island of Kyushu has historically been the conduit for influences from abroad, in ancient times from China and Korea, more recently from the West. Mongol armadas attempting to invade Kyushu in the 13th century were blown back by fierce winds that the Japanese called kamikaze, literally "divine winds." During a period of self-imposed isolation, from the mid-17th to the mid-19th centuries, Japan restricted foreign traders to Nagasaki, which became the country's window on the outside world. Known for its beautiful coastline and abundant natural hot springs, Kyushu is also the location of Mount Aso, one of Japan's most active volcanoes.
The smallest of the main islands, Shikoku, lies south of western Honshu, across the Inland Sea. This broad waterway, actually five separate seas linked by channels, stretches more than 300 miles and contains more than 600 small islands. Shikoku is noted for its pilgrimage route to 88 temples associated with Kukai, founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism. Over 100,000 people visit Shikoku annually to make this pilgrimage.
To the southwest of Kyushu lie the tropical Ryukyu Islands, of which Okinawa is best known. Another group of islands, the Ogasawara Islands, extends due south of central Honshu and includes the southernmost point of Japan, the island of Okinotorishima.
Japan's nearly 17,000 miles of coastline include navigable gulfs and bays as well as rugged and majestic stretches, such as Iwate Prefecture's Rikuchu coast.
LIVES SHAPED BY MOUNTAINS AND SEAS
MOST PEOPLE who have read anything at all about Japan are familiar with the basic facts: Japan is a small, island nation, mountainous and poor in natural resources, populated by a racially homogenous people who speak a common language. These superficially factual notions have been set forth by both Japanese and non-Japanese, and have become widely disseminated and accepted. The problem with such conventional thinking, as with all stereotypes, is that it obscures a reality much more complex and far more interesting.
Japan is indeed a small country. With an area of 145,800 square miles, Japan is smaller than California and a bit larger than Germany. However, its islands extend nearly 2,000 miles from north to south, comparable to the distance from the Canadian border to the tip of Florida. This geographic spread gives Japan a climatic diversity unmatched in countries of comparable size. Although their precise origins remain unclear, the Japanese have developed a rich and diverse culture that is clearly a blend of East Asian, Polynesian, and now Western influences. While it is true that the Japanese for the most part are ethnically and linguistically homogenous, geographical and climatic diversity, together with the twin barriers of mountains and seas, have divided the country into distinct regions with differing lifestyles, foods, dialects, and craft traditions.
A mythological account of the creation of the Japanese islands is recorded in Japan's oldest existing chronicle, the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters), completed in A.D. 712. According to this source, the deities Izanagi and Izanami stood upon the Floating Bridge of Heaven and dipped a jeweled spear into the ocean that covered the world below. Brine dripping from the spear created an island to which the gods descended and made love; their offspring became the other major islands.
The geological account of the formation of the Japanese islands is less romantic, although no less interesting. It is generally agreed that in geological terms they have not long been islands, but at one time formed a mountain range on the eastern rim of the Asian continent, joined at the north to Siberia and at the south to Korea, with the Sea of Japan a huge inland lake. Up-thrusting mountains and subsiding seabeds separated this range from the mainland and the individual islands from each other, perhaps as recently as 20,000 years ago.
This cataclysmic geological rearrangement attests to Japan's precarious location on what is colorfully termed the Pacific Fire Ring, a line of intense seismic activity that circles the Pacific Ocean. Japan has more than 40 active volcanoes, and several hundred more have been active in recent history. No one is more aware than the Japanese of the fragility of the cool crust that covers our earth's molten interior. Natural thermal springs abound, and scores of tourist spots feature bubbling pools or jets of sulfurous steam shooting from the ground. Earthquakes, from minor tremors to prolonged, window-rattling shakes, are common occurrences; nearly a tenth of the energy released in the world each year by earthquakes is concentrated in or around Japan.
Located in the temperate monsoon zone of East Asia, Japan is also strongly influenced by seasonal weather patterns. In winter, cold winds blow eastward off the Asian continent, dropping heavy snowfalls on the Sea of Japan side of the islands, while the Pacific coastal side, protected by the high central mountains, enjoys clear skies and moderate temperatures. In summer, warm winds blowing northward from the South Pacific bring typhoons and heavy rains, especially to the southern regions of the country. The transitions between summer and winter also bring rain, especially the long wet season in late spring known as tsuyu, literally "plum rains."
Together these geological and environmental factors played a large part in shaping the society, culture, and beliefs or the Japanese. The desirability and necessity of harmony with nature permeated every aspect of Japanese life, and these attitudes are clearly manifested in the rituals and beliefs of the indigenous religion of Shinto. Literally the
