Japan Essay -- Geography Geographical Japan Essays

japanGeographical SettingJapan is an island country in the North peace-loving Ocean. It lies off the northeastcoast of principal(prenominal)land Asia and faces Russia,Korea, and China. Four large islands andthousands of smaller ones provoke up Japan. The four major islands-Hokkaido,Honshu,Kyushu and Shikoku form a curve that extends for to the highest degree 1,900kilometres.TopographyJapan is a land of great natural beauty. mountains and hills cover or so 70% ofthe country. IN fact, Nipponese islands consist of the rugged upper theatrical role of agreat mountain range that rises from the floor of the North peace-loving Ocean.Jagged peaks, rocky gorges, and thundering mountain waterfalls provide some ofthe countrys about spectacular scenery. Thick forests thrive on mountansides,adding to the scenic beauty of the Nipponese islands. Forests cover about 68% ofthe countrys land.Japan lies on an extremely unsettled part of the earths crust. As a result, theland is constantly shi fting. This shifting causes deuce of Japans virtually strikingfeatures-- earthquakes and volcanoes. The Japanese islands have about 1500earthquakes a year. intimately of them argon minor tremors that cause little damage, butsevere earthqaukes derive every few years. Underseaquakes sometimes cause huge,destructive tidal waves, called tsunami, on Japans peaceable coast. TheJapanese islands have more than 150 major volcanoes. all over 60 of these volcanoes atomic number 18 active.Numerous short, swift rivers cross Japans rugged surface. most of the riversare too shallow and steep to be navigated. Their waters are used to irrigatefarmland, and their rapids and falls supply power for hydroelectric plants. many a(prenominal)lakes nestle among the Japanese mountains. Some lie in the craters of extinctvolcanoes. A large number of hot springs gush from the ground throughout thecountry. The Japanese islands have a total land area of about 337,708 sqkm. Theislands , in order of size, are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. The sea ofJapan washes the countrys west coast and the Pacific ocean lies to the east.ClimateRegional climates in Japan can be compared to those of the East Coast of theUnited States. Kyushu and Shikoku have a climate much(prenominal) like that of Perth. Theyhave long hot summers and mild winters. The island Honshus generally haswarm,humid summers. Winters are mild in the south and cold and snowy in then... ...ies of the expression for use in different social contexts these varietiesare called social styles of speech. A large number of vernaculars are speakthroughout Japans four main islands (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu), aswell as on the smaller islands, such as the Ryukyu Islands. Some dialects-forinstance, those verbalize in the southern parts of Japan, notably on the islands ofKyushu and Okinawa-are virtually incomprehensible to the speakers of otherdialects. As a result of this variation of dialects, the Japanese use a sta ndard,or common, dialect to facilitate discourse throughout the country. The twodialect families with the largest number of speakers are the dialect spoken inand around Tokyo, which is the common dialect, and the dialects of the Kansai area in western Japan, spoken in cities such as Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. Due tothe spread of the common dialect through television and radio, most peopleoutside the Tokyo region speak the common dialect as well as a local dialect.RefrencesWorld Book cyclopedia (Cd Rom) Grolier Encyclopedia (Cd Rom) Encarta 96Encyclopedia (Cd Rom) JETRO (Internet Site) CIA World Factbook (Internet Site)