Japanese Culture

Japan is an eastern Asian island nation that has a unique cultural identity. Japan is host to four main islands, the largest is the home to the central economic, cultural and governing hub, Tokyo. The people of Japan value arduous work and customary traditions still today, keeping intact their ties to the history of their country. Samurai values, the wearing of the Kimono, Noh theater, woodblock art, and Sumo wrestling are all easily identifiable and well-known aspects of Japanese culture. The long-standing effects of these traditions and arts is still seen in Japanese culture today. Despite the country’s militant past, the twentieth century has seen a boom in the spread of Japanese influence from an artistic and economic standpoint.

Honshu is the largest island and accounts for sixty percent of the total land area and eighty percent of the total population (as cited in Deal, 2007). To the south lie the Ryukyu Islands, and Okinawa. Japan’s neighbors and maritime bordering countries are Russia, China, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines. One of the most impressive features of Japan is the famous Mt. Fuji, located on the main island and visible from Tokyo. Standing at 3,776 meters tall (as cited in Encyclopedia Britannica Online, 2011 ), the mountain has long been revered for its beauty and represented in poetry and art. The lowlands that lie to the eastern and southern sides of Honshu were once agricultural sites, but now host the location for Japan’s major

The winds shift between seasons, either coming from the mainland of Asia to the east or the Pacific Ocean to the west. Beginning in the spring and lasting until the fall, warm rain moves west over Japan, falling mainly in the eastern shores. During the winter, monsoon winds from the Sea of Japan are much cooler and bring snowfall and cooler rain that typically falls on the west rather than the east. Since Japan is latitudinally 2,400 km, the weather is affected normally. In the north during winter, heavy snow and subfreezing temperatures are common. Vice versa, the south is generally warmer and has a subtropical zone in the Ryukyu