ResourcesOverview
The islands of Japan stretch from the edge of the tropics to the mid-temperate regions, and in so doing provide one of the clearest examples of the latitudinal limits to coral growth and reef development. The southernmost islands are a long chain, the Nansei Shoto, which clearly subdivides into a series of smaller archipelagos, with the Yaeyama Islands, including the important islands of Iriomote and Ishigaki in the south, followed by the Ryukyu Islands, including the island of Okinawa. Closest to the large island of Kyushu is a final group of small islands, the Tokara Islands. Following on from these the main islands of Japan, including Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu in the south continue, with numerous offshore islands. One critical factor for reef development in these islands is the Kuroshio Current, which flows northwards along the edge of the continental shelf of the East China Sea, bringing relatively warm waters across the southern islands before passing out into the Pacific Ocean just south of Kyushu.
Away from these islands Japan also has a number of more isolated islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Daito Islands are a small group of three islands some 300 kilometers east of Okinawa. Two are raised atolls, the third a raised platform reef. Coral growth is apparently not well developed on the steeply shelving sides of these islands. South of these there is also reported to be reef development on the isolated reef of Okino Tori-shima lying on the Kyushu-Palau Ridge. Leading southwards from Tokyo there is a sequence of small island groups which follow the volcanic South Honshu Ridge. The Izu Shoto are a widely spaced group of high volcanic islands, lying relatively far north. Further south again the Ogasawara (Bonin) and Kanzan (Volcano) Islands form two groups along a volcanic arc linking Japan and the Mariana Islands to the south. Volcanic activity and a lack of suitable substrates precludes the development of reefs on many of these islands, although rich fringing communities occur in some areas. One of the most isolated reefs, even by Pacific standards, is that of Minami-Torishima (Marcus Island) an atoll lying halfway between the Ogaswara Islands and Wake Island (USA).
Geography
Area: 377,864 sq. km. (145,902 sq. mi.); slightly smaller than California.
Cities: Capital--Tokyo. Other cities--Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kobe, Kyoto, Fukuoka.
Terrain: Rugged, mountainous islands.
Climate: Varies from subtropical to temperate.
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Japanese.
Population (2001): 126.8 million.
Population growth rate (2000): 0.18%.
Ethnic groups: Japanese; Korean (0.6%).
Religions: Shinto and Buddhist; Christian (about 0.7%).
Language: Japanese.
Education: Literacy--99%.
Health (2000): Infant mortality rate--3.9/1,000. Life expectancy--males 77 yrs., females 84 yrs.
Work force (64 million, 2001): Services--23%; trade, manufacturing, mining, and construction--56%; agriculture, forestry, fisheries--6%; government--3%.
Economy
GDP (2001): $4.2 trillion.
Real growth rate (2001est.): -0.4%.
Per capita GDP (2000): $24,900 Purchasing Power Parity Basis.
Natural resources: Negligible mineral resources, fish.
Agriculture: Products--rice, vegetables, fruit, milk, meat, silk.
Industry: Types--machinery and equipment, metals and metal products, textiles, autos, chemicals, electrical and electronic equipment.
Profile
Japan's population, currently some 126 million, has experienced a phenomenal growth rate during the past 100 years as a result of scientific, industrial, and sociological changes, but this has recently slowed because of falling birth rates. High sanitary and health standards produce a life expectancy exceeding that of the U.S.
Japan is an urban society with only about 6% of the labor force engaged in agriculture. Many farmers supplement their income with part-time jobs in nearby towns and cities. About 80 million of the urban population is heavily concentrated on the Pacific shore of Honshu and in northern Kyushu.
Metropolitan Tokyo with approximately 14 million; Yokohama with 3.3 million; Osaka 2.6 million; Nagoya 2.1 million; Kyoto 1.5 million; Sapporo 1.6 million; Kobe 1.4 million; and Kitakyushu, Kawasaki, and Fukuoka with 1.2 million each account for part of this population. Japan faces the same problems that confront urban industrialized societies throughout the world: overcrowded cities, congested highways, air pollution, and rising juvenile delinquency.
Shintoism and Buddhism are Japan's two principal religions. Shintoism is founded on myths and legends emanating from the early animistic worship of natural phenomena. Since it was unconcerned with problems of afterlife which dominate Buddhist thought, and since Buddhism easily accommodated itself to local faiths, the two religions comfortably coexisted, and Shinto shrines and Buddhist monasteries often became administratively linked. Today many Japanese are adherents of both faiths. From the 16th to the 19th century Shintoism flourished, eventually seeking unity under a symbolic imperial rule.
History
Traditional Japanese legend maintains that Japan was founded in 600 BC by the Emperor Jimmu, a direct descendant of the sun goddess and ancestor of the present ruling imperial family. About AD 405, the Japanese court officially adopted the Chinese writing system. During the sixth century, Buddhism was introduced. These two events revolutionized Japanese culture and marked the beginning of a long period of Chinese cultural influence. From the establishment of the first fixed capital at Nara in 710 until 1867, the emperors of the Yamato dynasty were the nominal rulers, but actual power was usually held by powerful court nobles, regents, or "shoguns" (military governors).
Contact With the West
The first contact with the West occurred about 1542, when a Portuguese ship, blown off its course to China, landed in Japan. During the next century, traders from Portugal, the Netherlands, England, and Spain arrived, as did Jesuit, Dominican, and Franciscan missionaries. During the early part of the 17th century, Japan's shogunate suspected that the traders and missionaries were actually forerunners of a military conquest by European powers. This caused the shogunate to place foreigners under progressively tighter restrictions. Ultimately, Japan forced all foreigners to leave and barred all relations with the outside world except for severely restricted commercial contacts with Dutch and Chinese merchants at Nagasaki. This isolation lasted for 200 years, until Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy forced the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854.
Within several years, renewed contact with the West profoundly altered Japanese society. The shogunate was forced to resign, and the emperor was restored to power. The "Meiji restoration" of 1868 initiated many reforms. The feudal system was abolished, and numerous Western institutions were adopted, including a Western legal system and constitutional government along quasi-parliamentary lines.
In 1898, the last of the "unequal treaties" with Western powers was removed, signaling Japan's new status among the nations of the world. In a few decades, by creating modern social, educational, economic, military, and industrial systems, the Emperor Meiji's "controlled revolution" had transformed a feudal and isolated state into a world power.
Information provided by CIA Worldfactbook, US Department of State, Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN). ReefBase: Oliver, J. and M. Noordeloos. Editors. 2002, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Center,
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