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In Japan 78% of the 127.4 million people in Japan live in urban areas. Over half of the population live in cities with a population with over 200,000 people. With Tokyo being the capital city, a third of Japan’s population lives in and around this city. The old capital, it is well-liked by visitors for it’s historical sites. An example of these are all of Kyoto’s temples.

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Due to Japan being an island country, it is a very big fishing country. It also has many mountains. Japan also has volcanoes, such as Mt. Fuji. Mt. Fuji is a sacred mountain of Japan, with the last time it erupted  being in 1707-1708. In the area surrounding this highest point in Japan is warmer than northern Japan.

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Katakana and Hiragana are two other types of Japanese language and writing. Katakana and Hiragana are used to represent syllables, not letters. While they have this in common, they do have one, looming difference. Katakana are used for words and names from other languages. Hiragana are used for Japanese words and names.

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Kanji are a Japanese form of writing adopted from China. There are many, many more kanji characters than we could find in our English alphabet. These kanji represent words, not letters. In other words, the are logograms.

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The Japanese tea ceremony is a traditional ceremony of making tea. People do this by making tea in a calm and serene way. This used to be practiced by nobles and priests, but now many people may practice it. You can even see characters practicing it in Japanese anime and manga. A big part of modern pop culture around many parts of the world is anime and manga. Anime is like a Japanese version of our cartoons and manga are like  a Japanese version of our comic books, but you are meant to be read backwards. Many anime are award winners, and some fan favorites include Doraemon and Sailor Moon. Many anime are based off of manga, and there are many great manga out there!

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Japanese plays and Japanese instruments. Some types of traditional Japanese plays are kabuki, noh, kyogen and bunraku. Kabuki plays make use of extravagant costumes and makeup and rhythmic lines. Noh plays use masks and music to tell the story. Kyogen are comical performances that are their own plays, but used to be in between Noh. Bunraku is a puppet play which uses the shamisen for music. The shamisen is a traditional japanese instrument that looks a little like a square banjo. Another japanese instrument is the koto, the national instrument. It is played on the ground and is another string-plucking instrument with 13 strings, 10 more than the shamisen.

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Due to the country’s geography, Japan grows a lot of rice more than other crops. Rice is used in many dishes, sushi, sashimi,and other dishes too. Another popular Japanese dish is miso soup and noodles. Fish is such a big part of Japanese diet because Japan is an island country. Sushi and sashimi are two examples of Japanese dishes with raw fish. Sushi is raw fish and rice wrapped in seaweed, while sashimi is the same, but without seaweed and can be served with or without rice.

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People in Japan have a higher life expectancy. The reason for this is because their diet is healthier, and they do more exercise, you can find people walking and riding bikes all over Japan! The average life expectancy is 85 years. For men the life expectancy is 81.7 and for women it is 88.5.

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Japan adopted Buddhism from India and China. Buddhism worships the idea that peace comes from virtue and wisdom. Buddhism focuses heavily on ancestor worship, Buddhist funerals are more common than other types, and families will remember their ancestors with memorial services on the equinoxes. On New Year’s eve the bells of Buddhist temples are rung, and the next day people will come to pray for the new year.

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The Shinto religion worships kami, gods who can be found and associated with nature. State Shinto(different from Shinto) was made in 1868 and worshipped the emperor like a god. After World War II however, it was abolished. Nowadays people will give offerings to kami in return for something wanted. The Japanese often hold Shinto style weddings. Other customs include Shinto festivals and shrines. The shrines can almost always be found with some sort of nature. On New Year's day people come to these shrines to pray for the year ahead of them.

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The Daimyo were regional lords that fought each other for military supremacy. Saint Francis Xavier tried and failed to convert the Japanese to Christianity. With him he brought guns. Oda Nobunaga used these to capture Kyoto, with his successor (Toyotomi Hideyoshi)  capturing the country. The United States cut off its exports with Japan. In 1941 Hideki Tojo(General) became the prime minister of Japan, and Japan began preparing for war against the US. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Guam, Wake Island and the Philippines the US went to war against Japan. Japan suffered setbacks with a couple of battles against the US. This caused political discontent and Tojo’s cabinet fell. August 6 we dropped a bomb on Hiroshima, then on August 9 we dropped a bomb on Nagasaki. August 14 was Japan’s surrender. Japan lost mainland Asia territory.

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In the 1100s the Taira and Minamoto clan clashed in battles. The Minamoto clan won and established a military government, with shogun being a high military place. The shogun began to give private estates to the nobles who had said they would be loyal to Yoritomo. Then the Minamoto began to lose power to many other clans. Hirohito  was the emperor of Japan during World War II, he was against militarism, but was told it would be good for his country. In 1945 he took part in the surrender, and afterwards he did many things a Japanese emperor hadn’t done, like go outside of his country.

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1  Japanese yen is equal to .009 of a US dollar, with 110 yen being equal to about 1 dollar. However, 1 yen is more like 1 cent. So things in Japan will often cost over a thousand yen. Japan has $4.939 trillion, or about $5 trillion, in GDP. The richest 10% of people in japan get 24.8% of this, or about 25%. This would mean that the total household income of the 10% would be about $1.25 trillion. The poorest 10% of people in Japan would get 2.7% of the 5 trillion, or about three percent. Together the poorest 10% household income would be $150 billion. Compared to the richest ten percent, this is tiny.

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Fish and technology are Japan’s biggest exports. One of Japan’s biggest food sources is fish, so it would make sense that fish would be one of their biggest exports. Japan is also very advanced when it comes to technology. Some industries are machinery, metals engineering and electronics. You may have already heard of some Japanese companies like Toyota, Panasonic and Sony. Japan is one of the leading countries in robotics. Some of their robots can detect human emotions, using body language.

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Prime Minister Abe is the current leader of Japan. Although Emperor Akihito, the current emperor of Japan, holds the title of ‘Emperor’, he does not have any political power, instead the Prime Minister(Shinzo Abe) gets this power. One of the goals of Prime Minister Abe is improving Japan’s economy.

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The Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy of Japan has some similarities to our government in the United States, but also has some differences. The Diet is like the legislative branch of the USA, it is the law making branch of government of Japan. The cabinet and Prime Minister of Japan are like the executive branch of the USA, they enforce laws. The courts are like the judicial branch. However unlike the American people voting for the president, the Japanese people vote for the Diet, and the Diet decides the Prime Minister.