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        <div class="chapter_number">Chapter 4: Cultural Notes</div>
        <div class="chapter_name">Geography</div>
        <div class="blurb">Let&rsquo;s take a brief pause while the first 25 hiragana characters
        sink in. When learning a language and culture, it&rsquo;s useful to have a general
        understanding of the way the country is laid out. In this chapter, we&rsquo;ll take a
        brief look at Japan
        and learn some of the major features and cities.</div>
        <div><img src="divider@2x.png" class="divider" /></div>

<p class="bodycopy">As a brief housekeeping note, most of the place
        names we&rsquo;ll be seeing here are spelled differently in English than they are in
        Japanese. For example, the city we know as Tokyo is actually <i>Toukyou</i> in Japanese. In this chapter, I&rsquo;ll use the Japanese names 
        in the main text and put the English names, when they differ, in parentheses.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">Like Hawaii, Japan
        was formed as a result of volcanic activity. Japan doesn&rsquo;t just <i>have</i> mountains. It would be more
        accurate to say Japan
        <i>is</i> mountains. From virtually any
        point in Japan,
        you can see mountains in just about any direction you have an unobstructed view
        of the skyline. This is one thing I love about the way the country looks.
        Seeing those hazy, low-lying mountains in the distance always reminds you
        you&rsquo;re in Japan.</p>
 
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<p class="bodycopy">Obviously, mountains are much more difficult to settle than
        plains, so the large population centers are all in the valleys between the
        mountains. The result is that even though the area of Japan is roughly the same as the state of California, something
        like 80% of the population lives on something like 20% of the land.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">The population of Japan is about 127 million. To put
        this into perspective, imagine taking about 40% of the US
        population and crowding them all into California,
        and then further scrunching most of them into about 20% of that state. This
        gives you an idea for the space issues that the Japanese face. It also helps one to
        understand the cultural importance of cooperation and harmony.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">For example, one very strong concept in Japan is avoiding <i>meiwaku</i> &mdash; being a nuisance to others.
        You can think of it as the reverse of the Golden Rule. Instead of doing unto
        others as you would have them do to you, the Japanese rule is <i>not</i> to do to others 
        what you would <i>not</i> want done to you. So Japanese tend
        to be very conscious to avoid things like playing music too loud in apartments
        or letting one&rsquo;s children run wild in the supermarket. 
        It&rsquo;s easy to see how living with a view to avoiding <i>meiwaku</i>
        is important in cramped quarters.</p>

         <div class="illustration_box illustration_floating_right">
            <div class="illustration_stroke_withcaption"><img id="figures_japan_honshuu" src="figures_japan_honshuu@2x.png" class="illustration_image_withcaption" /></div>
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                <div class="illustration_caption">The island <i>Honshuu</i>.</div>
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        <p class="bodycopy">Japan
        is made up of hundreds of islands, but most of the population lives on four
        main ones. <i>Honshuu</i> (Honshu),
        meaning &ldquo;main state,&rdquo; is the largest and central of the four. With about 100
        million people, it&rsquo;s also where the majority of Japan lives. <i>Honshuu</i> is the location of the major cities
        <i>Toukyou</i> (Tokyo), <i>Oosaka</i> (Osaka),
        <i>Kyouto</i> (Kyoto), <i>Hiroshima</i>, and <i>Nagoya</i>.</p>


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    <title>Geography 3</title>

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            <div class="illustration_stroke_withcaption"><img id="figures_japan_hokkaidou" src="figures_japan_hokkaidou@2x.png" class="illustration_image_withcaption" /></div>
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                <div class="illustration_caption">The island <i>Hokkaidou</i>.</div>
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<p class="bodycopy">To the north lies <i>Hokkaidou</i>
        (Hokkaido), famous for its ice festival held each year in the capital, <i>Sapporo</i>. 

        The name of the island literally
        means &ldquo;north sea route,&rdquo; and with wide open pastures and plains, 
        <i>Hokkaidou</i> is an exception to the normal
        rule of mountains and valleys in Japan. 
</p>
<p class="bodycopy">

        <i>Hokkaidou</i> has fully one quarter of the arable land in Japan, so it leads the nation
        in the production of milk, beef, and many other agricultural products.       

        With its beautiful, open landscape and cool weather, <i>Hokkaidou</i> is
        a popular vacation spot for people looking to escape from the hot and humid summers further south.
</p>

        <div class="illustration_box illustration_floating_right">
            <div class="illustration_stroke_withcaption"><img id="figures_japan_kyuushuu" src="figures_japan_kyuushuu@2x.png" class="illustration_image_withcaption" /></div>
            <div>
                <div class="illustration_caption">The island <i>Kyuushuu</i>.</div>
            </div>
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<p class="bodycopy">
        To the south of <i>Honshuu</i> lie two islands, <i>Kyuushuu</i> (Kyushu) and <i>Shikoku</i>. 
        <i>Kyuushuu</i> means &ldquo;nine states&rdquo; and in ancient times
        had nine prefectures (the Japanese version of a state or province), though today it contains only seven. 
</p>
<p class="bodycopy">
        <i>Kyuushuu</i> is also home to Mt. Aso, Japan&rsquo;s most active volcano, which you can 
        ascend and look into its sulpheric, other-worldly caldera&mdash;a fun day trip if you find yourself in the area.

        One of the largest cities in <i>Kyuushuu</i> is <i>Fukuoka</i>,
        at the northern end of the island. <i>Fukuoka</i> is a
        large city of 1.4 million with an international airport and amazingly good pork
        ramen. (Seriously.)
</p>

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            <div class="illustration_stroke_withcaption"><img id="figures_japan_shikoku" src="figures_japan_shikoku@2x.png" class="illustration_image_withcaption" /></div>
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                <div class="illustration_caption">The island <i>Shikoku</i>.</div>
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<p class="bodycopy"><i>Shikoku</i>
        means &ldquo;four countries,&rdquo; which again refers to the fact that it contains four
        prefectures. It is the smallest and least populous of the four main islands
        with around 4.5 million inhabitants.</p>

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<p class="bodycopy">Another important chain of islands is <i>Okinawa</i>, located far to the
        south of the main four, about midway between Japan
        and Taiwan.
        Historically, <i>Okinawa</i> was not part of Japan
        but a separate independent nation called the Ryuukyuu Kingdom.
        In 1879, the island was forcibly made a part of Japan, so many native residents
        consider themselves Okinawans first, Japanese second.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">The climate can differ dramatically throughout Japan. <i>Okinawa</i>
        has a tropical, Hawaii-like climate, but the rest of Japan gets four distinct seasons.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">Summers in Japan
        are hot and can be brutally humid. The humidity lingers through fall, holding
        the heat of the day in the air during the night, often making it possible to
        walk around long after sunset in sandals and short-sleeved shirts.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">But by the time winter rolls around, Japan shows off another side. Even
        on the southern main island of <i>Kyuushuu</i>,
        winters can be quite cold, and snow is not unheard of. On the eastern side of Japan, the sky
        is almost always clear, making winters crisp and beautiful. This makes <i>Toukyou</i> a good place for
        sightseeing even in the winter, as long as you bundle up tight!</p>

<p class="bodycopy">Japan is
        a beautiful country that offers four distinct seasons, ubiquitous mountains and
        valleys, and a variety of climates, from the cold of <i>Hokkaidou</i> to the tropical weather of <i>Okinawa</i>.
        But no matter where you visit, you&rsquo;re sure to enjoy the uniquely Japanese
        geography.</p>

    
          
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