Japan: An Island Country

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Japan is an island country located in eastern Asia. It is a small country compared to the other countries in the mainland. Despite its size and location, it is a very developed country. Japan is known for its geography, climate, religion, food and mostly for its popular culture that has influenced other parts of the world.
As stated before, Japan is a shimaguni, in other words, an island country. It lies in the Pacific Ocean to the east of continent of Asia. The geographic setting of Japan is an archipelago, island chain, which consists of many islands with four main islands (Japan’s Geography). From north to south, the four main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu which comprises 98% of the total land area of Japan (Module One: Geography). The East China Sea and the Sea of Japan acts as a rift that separates Japan from the inland and to the east is the Pacific Ocean. The total land area equates to 377, 915 square kilometers (The World Factbook). Compared to Germany, Finland, Vietnam, and Malaysia, it is about the same size. It is also 1/25 the size of the United States and even smaller than the large state of California (Geography and Climate, Web Japan).
The coastline of Japan has many variances. Long sandy beaches cover the coastline for as long as 60 kilometers in areas such as Kujurihama in the Chiba Prefecture. In the coast of Nagasaki Prefecture which includes the Goto archipelago and the islands of Tsuhima and Iki, there are many peninsulas and inlets. Changes in the Earth’s crust (shift of plate tectonics) also shape the inlets and steep cliffs of the uneven areas of the coast (Geography and Climate, Web Japan).
Japan is also known as the land of hot springs and for its alluring scenery. If one word could...

... middle of paper ...

...Transport and Tourism. MLIT Japan, n.d. Web. .
"Module One: Geography." Yale Center for International and Area Studies. Yale University, n.d. Web. .
"Popular Culture." Web Japan. Japan Fact Sheet, n.d. Web. .
"Religion - Native Roots and Foreign Influence." Web Japan. Japan Fact Sheet, n.d. Web. .
Watt, Paul. "Japanese Religions." Japan Digest. Indiana University, Oct. 2003. Web. .
"The World Factbook - EAST & SOUTHEAST ASIA: JAPAN." Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, n.d. Web. .

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