Japan's Land and Peoples

Geography and Population

Size

A little smaller than France or California

Broken terrain

4 major islands

Hokkaidō

*Honshū

Shikoku

*Kyūshū

Topographic Map

Mountainous

Mount Fuji

Early History

Ice age settlement, 13,000 BCE

Rice agriculture, 3rd c. BCE

Population, 125 million (2020)

France 67.8 million

California 37.2 million

Modern Ethnicities

Japanese

Korean

*Ainu

Siberian origin?

20,000 left

Okinawan

Broken terrain

4 major islands

Mountainous

Social Consequences

Insulated from outside

100 mi. to Korea

500 mi. to China

English channel, 20 mi.

Internal dialectical diversity

Tokyo dialect standard

Natural resources

Scarce supply

16% of land arable

Land utilization map

1/8 of acre/person in modern times

Lack of domesticated animals

Modern imports

98% of oil

95% of iron ore

Abundant supply

Sea

Temperate climate

Plentiful rainfall

Agriculture

Most productive agriculture/acre

Irrigated fields

*Double cropping

Fertilizers

Consequences

70% of food produced domestically (100% in premodern era)

Denser population than Europe

Maps of Japan

*How are land utilization, population distribution, and industrial distribution related to each other?

Population distribution

Industrial distribution