The territory of Japan is located on 6,800 islands of a stratovolcanic archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, its area is 377.9 thousand km². China and Taiwan in the northeast are separated from the Japanese coast by the East China Sea, Korea in the east by the Sea of Japan, and to the north of Japan lies the territory of the Russian Federation.
Economic and geographical position of Japan
The western part of the Pacific Ocean concentrates on a large water area the islands of Honshu, Kyushu, Hokkaido, Shikoku and many other small islands that are part of one state.
The country's coordinates are: 35° 41' 7″ (35° 41' 12) and 139° 45' 11″ (139° 45' 18).
The north of Japan is washed by the Sea of Okhotsk, the south and east by the Pacific Ocean, and the western part is washed by the Sea of Japan.
Despite its own territorial alienation, Japan is located at the crossroads of world trade routes. Having such features of natural location, it carries out mutually beneficial trade with partner countries, including neighboring countries.
Conflict with Korea
Again the territorial question of land ownership. This time the subject of dispute was the Takeshima island group. These lands are called by different names. This is due to the fact that two peoples gave them their names. Now they are under Korean jurisdiction; there are no permanent residents there.
Even today this mysterious power can be called a semi-closed state. Its customs offices have fairly strict entry conditions and a large list of prohibited items. Analyzing the historical experience of land conflicts, it can be assumed that disputes between neighboring states will not end soon, since none of them plans to concede to their rivals.
Capital and cities of Japan
The city of Tokyo, which includes several cities and a number of settlements, is the capital of Japan. But this was not always the case; the older city of Kyoto was the capital of Japan for many years.
The density of cities is high, and the cities themselves are classified into:
- cities defined by government decrees - 20 (the population in which exceeds 500 thousand people);
- central cities – 54;
- special cities - 31;
- cities – 683;
- special areas of Tokyo that have city status - 23.
Language
Most residents of Japan speak the official language - Japanese, which consists of ideography and syllabic phonography.
An unusual property of the language is the presence in it of honoratives, that is, various “forms of politeness” that reflect the hierarchical background of the social structure of the state.
Currency
The identity of the Japanese state includes one more item - currency. The national currency of the country of young rice sprouts is the yen.
The currency is quite cheap, since 100 yen cannot buy even one American dollar. You can change foreign currency at any bank.
Visa
If we touch on the issue of foreigners, it should be noted that Russians cannot enter Japan without a visa.
However, Japan has simplified visa conditions for Russian citizens compared to 2021.
Time
Time zones between countries have a 6-hour difference, with Russian delay.
Flag
The sun is truly a symbolic sign for the Japanese. The flag fully identifies Japan with the place where people are the first to see the sunrise.
Coat of arms (chrysanthemum) and flag of Japan
On the white canvas there is a red circle, a symbol of the sun's glow.
Religion
Most of the nation are staunch Buddhists and Shintoists. Before World War II, Shinto was the official religion, but after the war, Buddhism returned, making citizens believers of two religions simultaneously.
Japan is in territorial disputes with all of its immediate neighbors, with these competing claims largely dating back to its imperial past a century ago.
Tokyo insists it has no ambitions to conquer new territory and is simply claiming sovereignty over the islands and surrounding waters, which have long been recognized as Japanese.
But this position is disputed by the governments of China, Russia, Taiwan, and North and South Korea.
What are these disputes about?
China: Beijing claims the Diaoyudao Islands in the East China Sea, currently under the control of Japan, which calls them the Senkakus. China claims to have discovered the islands in the 14th century, while Japan claims they were uninhabited and used only as nautical navigational markers and were therefore terra NULLius. lane) before they were settled by Japanese fishermen in the late 1890s.
Tokyo says Beijing began to lay claim to the islands only after exploration in the 1960s showed the possibility of oil and gas deposits near the islands. With tensions rising over competing claims, the Japanese government purchased three of the five islands from their owners, the Kurihara family, in September 2012 for 2.05 billion yen ($19.5 million).
NHK 02/07/2021 Nihon Keizai 12/08/2020 Foreign Media 11/26/2020 Foreign Media 02/24/2021 JB Press 07/25/2019
Taiwan: Taipei also claims islands, which it calls the Diaoyutai Islands, and says they have been part of Chinese territory since at least 1534.
South Korea: The sovereign dispute over territory between Seoul and Tokyo involves a separate series of rocky outcroppings known in Korean as Dokdo. To bolster its claim to sovereignty, South Korea stationed a police force on the islets in the Sea of Japan that Tokyo calls Takeshima after Japan was defeated in World War II and the Korean Peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonial rule.
However, Japan says sovereignty over the outlying islands off the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula was not detailed in post-war treaties and therefore the islands should be placed under Japanese control.
Some in South Korea also argue that the Japanese island of Tsushima - halfway between the Korean Peninsula and Nagasaki Prefecture on the Japanese mainland - is historically Korean territory known as Daemado and should be returned to the Republic of Korea.
North Korea: Pyongyang repeats Seoul's claims regarding Dokdo, which it calls by the same name.
Russia: Soviet forces captured and annexed the islands of Iturup (known in Japanese as Etorofu), Kunashir, Shikotan and the Habomai islands at the southernmost tip of the Kuril Islands in the final days of World War II. Japan's position is that the islands, which it calls the "Northern Territories", were not part of the Kuril Archipelago, and therefore their sovereignty should not have been part of the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty between the Allies and Japan.
What are the latest developments in these debates?
Diaoyu Islands: Japan does not recognize the territorial dispute as such, as it administers the Senkaku Islands as an "integral part". In recent years, China has stepped up a campaign to weaken Tokyo's claim to control of the islands by sending coast guard vessels into territorial waters around the archipelago that refuse to leave under orders from their Japanese counterparts.
Chinese fishing boats have also been spotted in these waters, and Tokyo suggests a similar trend is happening at Beijing's behest and is similarly aimed at reducing Japan's claims to sovereign control.
Takeshima/Dokdo: Tokyo has been on every February 22nd since 2005 and has repeatedly called for the return of the islands. After each annual event, Japan's diplomatic representative in Seoul is summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to register a formal complaint.
Japan continues its efforts to highlight the issue through the Internet and media, pointing out that it has suggested to South Korea three times since the 1950s that the International Court of Justice rule on the sovereignty issue. Seoul refuses every time.
Tsushima/Taemado: The Korean government's claim to Tsushima in 1948 was rejected by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers the following year. The decision was made by Seoul, although some in the country still want the islands back.
Kuril Islands: Japan has in the past offered financial assistance to the islands' residents in an attempt to win them over to the idea of approving Tokyo's control, although the locals' resolve to remain part of Russia appears to have strengthened in recent years as a result of investment in the region by Moscow.
There had been speculation that Russia might be willing to return Japan's two southernmost islands if it gave up its claims to the rest of the territory, but the proposal was rejected by Tokyo. This issue has become a sticking point in bilateral relations as the two countries are yet to sign a peace treaty after World War II due to this territorial dispute.
Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia's attitude towards the future of the islands has hardened, and the likelihood of the territories being returned has become even less likely.
Is there a risk of clashes in any of these disputes?
China: Of all Japan's territorial disputes, the dispute over the Diaoyu Islands is considered the most dangerous, especially after Beijing earlier this month passed a new law allowing coast guard vessels to use force in waters it considers to be its territory, even if they are disputed.
In response, Japanese officials said the Japanese Coast Guard could fire directly at foreign official vessels seeking to land on the islands.
Analysts also say there is always the possibility that any incident - such as a minor collision between Coast Guard ships - could lead to a rapid escalation of hostilities. Japan, which has a security treaty with the United States, welcomed Washington's assurances that it would defend Japan in the event of a conflict over the islands.
Hokkaido Shimbun 12/05/2020 Foreign Media 01/06/2021 Foreign Media 05/20/2020 Kyodo News 09/03/2019 Guancha 05/25/2020
Taiwan: On rare occasions, Taiwanese fishing boats have been observed near the Diaoyu Islands, but not in large numbers and without any organization. There were no clashes between the coast guard and military vessels sent by Taipei.
South Korea: Despite Japan's strongly worded sovereignty claims and equally strong denials from Seoul, until recently there was no sign that the situation could escalate. However, tensions really rose in December 2021 when Japan said a South Korean warship had aimed its fire control radar at a Japanese maritime patrol aircraft for several minutes in waters near the islands. Tokyo called the incident "extremely dangerous."
North Korea: The islands are off the coast of South Korea and there have been no incidents involving Pyongyang.
Russia : Moscow has stationed significant military assets on the islands, including anti-ship missiles and advanced fighter jets, and there is little chance that Japan will test the Russians' military resolve. The most likely incident is an accidental collision between naval or air units.
What are the chances of resolving these disputes?
Analysts expect constant maneuvering between rival powers over the sovereignty of these disputed territories, but they expect little change in the status quo.
“China has certainly become very provocative on the Senkaku issue, but it is not entirely clear how far Beijing is willing to go given that the United States has clearly reaffirmed its commitment to the security treaty with Japan,” said Akitoshi Miyashita, a professor of international relations at Tokyo International University. “It would take force to change the sovereignty of this territory, and I don’t know if China is willing to go that far.”
Stephen Nagy, an associate professor of international relations at Tokyo International Christian University, said he expects China to "continue its efforts to push its claims to the islands and delegitimize Japan's sovereignty" over Diaoyu.
Both Naji and Miyashita suggested that it was virtually impossible for Russian President Putin to agree to return the "northern territories" to Japan, although he could be persuaded to propose joint development of natural resources in the region. However, Miyashita indicated that Tokyo was unlikely to agree to help develop the islands unless there was a firm commitment to their return. This puts both sides at an impasse.
With bilateral relations between Tokyo and Seoul at their lowest point in 40 years, analysts have suggested that the likelihood of progress on officially recognizing Dokdo as Korean is also slim.
InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.
Administrative-territorial structure
The territory of the Japanese state is divided into 47 prefectures
, that is, the highest level administrative units of the country. Each prefecture has its own legislative and executive bodies.
Prefectures, in turn, are divided into districts and counties. Japan's major cities, of which there are about 15, have a population of more than one and a half million people.
In addition to prefectures, districts and counties, there are also municipal divisions that have autonomy.
Population of Japan
According to the latest census of 2005, the population of Japan was about 127 million 400 thousand people,
given the small area of the country.
At the same time, the national composition and the overwhelming majority, which is 99%, are ethnic Japanese, whose educational level is the highest in the world. Residents of the country came to this in the 19th century, despite the lack of agricultural opportunities, as well as the scarcity of mineral resources.
Plants
The country's fauna is unique due to the state's isolation from other continents.
Of course, many will remember sakura. All residents of the country are waiting for its flowering, as well as tourists who dream of getting here every spring and seeing this magical spectacle with their own eyes. You need to see everything with your own eyes at least once to understand how wonderful this phenomenon is.
Sakura, by the way, is not a specific species, but a generalized name for rosaceous trees, most of which perform only a decorative function.
Japanese cedar is the most common tree in the country.
Bamboo, camphor laurel - known, perhaps, to every inhabitant of the planet.
The national flower of Japan is the azalea, which blooms in November.
Climate of Japan
The variety of landscapes and relief make Japan attractive to tourists, using all recreational resources.
Here foreigners will be able to see: hot springs, waterfalls, gorges and snowy mountain peaks.
The climate is not the same in opposite corners of the country. Moderately maritime in the northern islands and tropical in the south. This feature is explained by the length of the Japanese islands.
Their location at the junction of lithospheric plates leads the islands to constant seismic movement; they often suffer disasters from earthquakes.
Climatic features
Since Japan is characterized by a large extent from north to south, the country's climate, depending on the specific latitude, varies from cool temperate (Hokkaido) to subtropical (Okinawa). The main part of the state's territory is located in warm climatic conditions with fairly large amounts of precipitation throughout the year. At the same time, in mountainous regions the average temperature is lower.
In general, the climate of the Land of the Rising Sun is seriously influenced by monsoons. Summer here is accompanied by frequent showers and typhoons, and in winter - snowfalls. The warm Kuroshio ocean current softens climatic conditions. Most of the precipitation falls in the summer, from June to July.
We can say that the climate of Japan is favorable for agriculture and human life. However, the islands on which the country is located are characterized by high seismic activity, and the economic activities of the state are negatively affected by frequent earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons.
Natural resources
The country demonstrates that rare example when neither the lack of natural resources nor modest agricultural opportunities stand in the way of the economic development of the state.
Japan's resource availability allows only 70% of its population to be supplied with food. Water, plant, fossil, and land resources are insufficient to create 100% self-sufficiency of the country.
Due to the mountainous terrain, forest resources are too limited, so annual artificial planting of vegetation helps to fill the missing potential.
Agriculture
The territory of Japan is penetrated by many rivers and lakes that are not suitable for navigation. But they are skillfully used by the population to irrigate fields.
Fast-flowing rivers and other water resources support the hydroelectric industry, and lakes support the agricultural industry. Farmers mainly grow rice, legumes and tea.
