Chapter 14: Japan And

Chapter 14: Japan and …

Hobbs, J.and Salter, C. 2007, Essentials of World Regional Geography, 5th edition. Pp. 380-394 plus 400-401.

In addition to looking at these study notes be sure you use the resources at the end of the chapter, the summary, key terms, review and study questions. By knowing the answers to the study questions provided here you should be able to easily address the ones at the end of the chapter.

To answer these questions you will need to refer both to the chapter and the powerpoint slides from class.

Background

Currently where does the Japanese economy rank worldwide? What is the estimated population? Divide this by the current population of the USA (around 300million) and what % would you get?

14. 1 Homeland

On the attached map and with the assistance of Fig 14.1 and powerpoint slides from class be able to locate (or draw in) and name:

the four main islands and the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa).

The water bodies that surround to the east, west, north and south (the latter two are better seen on class slides)

The InlandsSea

The three main tectonic plates that converge at Japan

Based on the chapter and class lectures what geophysical activities created Japan?
What kind of mountain is Mt.Fuji and what does this name mean?
From class lecture notes, what % of the worlds active volcanoes are in Japan?

Climate and Resources

Japan is at similar latitudes to what east coast US states? What state in the US is about the same size as Japan?
What three climate types exist in Japan, and where are they (be able to divide Japan on a map into the three zones)?
How much of Japan is mountains and how much lowlands? Where is the population concentrated between these two? How does this compare to China?
What is the average amount of precipitation in Japan? How does this compare with the northern part of Humid China?
Where is the precipitation concentrated from the Summer Monsoon as opposed to the Winter monsoon in Japan? What air mass is associated with each of these monsoons?
What is the major path or route of typhoons in Japan (these usually in late summer – just as I’m visiting Japan)? What current do they tend to follow?
What was the population at the mid 19th century when Perry arrived? How many times has it increased since then?
What stimulated this rapid population growth?
What is happening to population today?
What % of raw materials are imported into Japan? What about food?
What % of Japan is covered by forest? How does this compare with China? What do most Japanese forests look like and why? Where does Japan get most of its wood from and why?
Slight error here in regards to Kerosene – most cooking is now done with imported gas but heating is still heavily dependent on kerosene.
What are the current uses of streams? Are they navigable?
What is the % of arable land? How does this compare with China? Topographically where does most of agricultural cultivation occur?
Why is Japan usually able to produce a surplus of rice?
Where does double cropping occur?
What has enabled Japan to greatly increase agricultural output since the mid 19th century?
How productive is Japanese agriculture compared to other countries of the world?
What is the inner space program? What does it seek?
What percent of the world’s catch does Japan take?
How does Japan get around the whaling ban?
What is imported mainly from the USA to produce more meat in Japan?
How does Japan rank on the world stage as an importer of food? What percent of its food needs does Japan import? Which country is the largest supplier?

Natural Hazards inset – Living on the Ring of Fire

What is subduction? What two plates are causing this subduction zone? In what direction do they move?
Besides local earthquakes, what other places can cause Tsunamis in Japan?
What kind of risk from a Tsunami does Tokyo face?
What did the Great Hanshin Earthquake demonstrate about the Japanese national government? Does this sound a bit similar to what occurred in Katrina?
Can scientists predict earthquakes?
Note there is much talk here about relocating the capital outside of Tokyo, but for the moment that move is pretty much dead.

Japan’s Core Area

What is the Core Area? About how long is it? Where is it?
How many people live in the Tokyo-Yokohama part of the core?
What is Kyoto?
Tokyo’s major seaport is Yokohama, what is Osaka’s?
Are there any major cities north of Tokyo? If so which one(s) and how big?

14.2 Historical Background

About how many Ainu are there today? Are they the same or different from the Japanese?
Are the origins of the Japanese people well understood and agreed upon?
When does the written history start in Japan? Is this before or after the establishment of the first Chinese emperor? In comparison when might the Emperor Jimmu have reigned? Are we certain about this? Why might it be a mythe?
Historically what was the kamakazi? Why was it important?
What are the following: shoguns, daimyo, and samurai? What kind of political-economic structure similar to one in Europe was used to rule Japan during the period of the shoguns?
Approximately when did the first Europeans arrive in Japan and from where? What two activities did these and other Europeans then participate in?
After 1603 what happened in Japan? How did it effect Europeans?
How long did the Tokugawa rule last in Japan (from when to when)? During this time …”Japan settled into two centuries of…. (what three things)?
Why was Perry able to force Japan open in 1853? What advantage did he have? Why is this called gunboat diplomacy?
What happened in 1863 and 1864? What was the result on the Japanese government? Was democracy established? Does this seem to be similar to 20th century events in China?
After the Meiji restoration did Japan look outward or inward? Explain.
How did Japan manage to get Taiwan?
What happened in 1904? And then in 1910? And then in 1937? What was the “rape of Nanking”? Might this explain the continued strained or at least not completely warm relations betweenJapan and three of its neighbors – China, Korea, and Russia?
What reasons are given for Japanese expansion before 1945? How do environmental resources play into this?
Economically how bad were things in Japan and Tokyo by the end of 1945 (my father was on a ship in TokyoBay at this time and his description of his one excursion into Tokyo pretty much confirms what is stated here. My mother-in-law was lucky she was a high school student and had been evacuated to a farming area. But others I have talked to dwell on how they were always hungry until the early 1950s).

14.3 Japan’s Postwar Miracle

What was the miracle? Three reasons are suggested for its success, the first one dwells on the fact the Japan was never colonized. What are the other two?
When was American occupation? What happened to the emperor? Who wrote the Japanese constitution?
How did the US assist in this miracle?
When did Japan become the world’s second largest economy?
What unique factors of Japanese management and employment helped spur the miracle? Are there environmental consequences of some of these choices? What is crony capitalism?
Does it appear that Japan was a one party state? Explain. Might this be a warning to China?
The miracle economy was quite strong until the late 1980s, at that time a speculative “bubble” occurred and finally burst in late 1989. During the 1990s and into the 2000s what kind of growth did Japan have? Might this be a potential warning for China? What about the US?
What does Hobbs think about the subsidies that occurred at the end of the bubble economy?

14.4 Japanese Industry

What resource attracted Iron and Steel development in Japan during the beginning of the Meiji era in the late 19th century? What site factor in particular was important in factory location? What was the output of these factories used for in particular?
Where are most Japanese petroleum products from? Does this effect its foreign policy?
What percent of electricity in Japan comes from Nukes?
Does Hobbs think the future for Japanese industry is good or bad? Why?

14.5 The Industrious People

Historically what minorities have existed in Japan? What new minorities have been arriving during the last couple of decades?
What percent of Japanese consider themselves middle class? However recently what seems to be happening? (I have been in UenoPark – sort of Tokyo’s central park -- when the police and city sanitation workers make their periodic sweeps to clear the park).
What results from workaholism? What is karoshi? What about family time? How well developed are social services? Do we want to follow in Japan’s footsteps?
What is the situation for women?
How does Hobbs describe the quality of life in a modern Japanese city? Give some examples.
What do you think is meant by opposition political leader Ichiro Ozawa’s remark that Japan is “an ostensibly high-income society with a meager lifestyle”?
Look at figure 14.13 – what does this indicate about the demographic future of Japan?

Be able to locate the following by building a map (interactive study maps available for use on-campus only in Arntzen Hall labs -- J:\Saldata\ENVS-333\In-CLass-GIS\Japan )

JAPAN

ISLANDS & REGIONS

1. The four major islands

2. The nine regions of Japan (see powerpoint slides)

CITIES

Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya, Sapporo

OCEANS AND SEAS

Pacific and Sea of Japan, East China Sea, and Sea of Okhost

TECTONIC PLATES

The three around Japan

PERCIPITATION

High precipitation areas for Summer Monsoon

High precipitation areas for Winter Monsoon

VOLCANIC ARCS

Major Arcs on 4 main islands

Hobbs and Slater – Japan Study Notes 2009page 1 of 7