Japan Research Paper

For my paper, I chose to research about Japan. In this paper I will talk about Japan’s physical geography, economic system, political system, historical overview, and the current events of Japan. First I will talk about Japan’s physical geography. Japan consists of many thousands of islands. Although there is thousands of islands, there are four main islands, 8 regions, and 47 prefectures. The first island is Honshu, which is the mainland. Honshu is the second most populated island in Japan. For a better visual of how big it is, Honshu is larger than the island of Great Britain. This mainland makes up 60% of the whole country of Japan. The next major island is Hokkaido which is the second largest island of Japan. Hokkaido is known as the
largest prefecture and is located in the Northern part. Hokkaido is a part of Honshu but separated by the water feature, Tsugaru Strait, that is why it is classified as another island. However these islands are connected by an underwater tunnel. The third main island is called Kyushu, which is also the third largest island in Japan. It has a population of 12,970,479 people. Finally the fourth mainland is Shikoku. This is the smallest island of the four and is also the least populated of the mainlands. All of these islands are very mountainous, have many frequently active volcanoes, and have earthquakes that occur often. There are also some hot springs in these areas. More than 50% of Japan is mountainous because it has many forests. The population of Japan all together is around 125,000,000, of this population, about 2 million of these are foreign residents. Osaka is the largest city in Japan and has a population of 2.665 million. ( Geography ) Due to political and social stability Japan has a well run economic system.
They have what is called a Rule of Law which is “the provisions of the Constitution of 1947 are inviolable even by legislative means, and is fundamental to Japan’s written legal system.” (LexisNexis) This rule of law gains the respect and is backed up by a judicial framework. Japan is classified as a free market economy. A free market economy means that many businesses go up against each other for profit. The prices of the products depends strictly on supply and demand in the area. You could say that Japan’s economic system can be compared to how our’s is in the United States. However Japan did not always have a successful economy, it was only after Westerners taught the Japanese people in the categories such as; Math, Science, and Western Technology. Japan also came up with a policy of low interest rates that would go on to help them with their debt problem. Japan has worked hard to make an efficient economic system for their
country. What would be a country without some sort of Political System?
Japan has a political system they based off of their constitution that was drafted when World War II came to an end. The constitution created a democracy that would be comparable to a constitutional monarchy. Government power in Japan is split between three different branches. The first branch is the National Diet. The National Debt is the bicameral legislature which is composed of two houses. The first house is the upper house, or also known as the House of Representatives, and the second house is the lower house, also known as the House of Councillors. Like all government powers, they are in charge of passing laws, and choosing the Prime Minister. This judicial branch was first summoned in 1889 after the Meiji Constitution. The second branch is the Cabinet. The Cabinet has the prime minister, and also consists of 19 other members that are referred to as Ministers of State. The 19 members are chosen by the prime minister and the prime minister can relieve them of their duties at any time. Finally, the third branch is the judiciary section. The judiciary section states that every judge must be independent in their studies and are bound by the laws and constitution of Japan. This branch is made of the Supreme Court, with one chief judge, and 14 Supreme Court judges, and 4 lower classes of courts.” (Japan Industry News) The lower courts have a lot of different courts that make them up. There are 438 summary
courts, 50 family courts, 50 district courts, and 8 high courts. In current days, the courts operate with a lay judge system. This means that everyday citizens are put on a case and have to work with the other judges working for the court. These branches allow for Japan to have a well run political system for the country. Japan has lots of historical events, here are some of them. The japanese used to be hunters, gatherers, and fishers. This country was secluded to any foreigners until the 1500s, which was around the period that missionaries and people trading would start to populate Europe. During this time, Japan had a shogun, or warlord that honored the Emperor. The shogun was in charge of everything and made people leave if they didn’t disassociate religion from trade. When Tokugawa put this into action, no one was left except for the Dutch. Not all negatives came from this period, as this was the time that Daimyo strengthened their knowledge in martial arts, philosophy, literature, and arts. This is also the time when the social structure of status came into effect. Samurai were at the top of the pyramid, then the peasants, followed by the artisans and merchants. The social status was based on the importance the people served to the country. Japan had wars started against the country's next to them, such as China, and Russia. Japan was on joined forces with the Allies for WWI however they were shown disrespect at the Treaty of Versailles. In 1941, Japan went to war with the United States after bombing Pearl Harbor. This created a ricochet of events, so in response the U.S. had intense air raids that completely destroyed 80% of some of their cities, the raids also destroyed more than half of Tokyo. 1945 was the whole game changer of Japanese History, and would be the time that caused Japan’s economy to excel and become a strong country again. ( Japanese History ) Like any other country Japan has many current events happening now. Some of the main stories include Japan’s school lunches. Japan is said to have world famous school lunches that are not only healthy but also surprisingly enjoyable to eat. Also recently, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake devastatingly hit Honshu island. Not only was the earthquake destroying, but it also caused tsunami waves. 71,000 chickens were killed on two poultry farms in the marking of the 10th bird flu case this winter. There is an interesting story of university students that teamed up with the Kyoto cops to stop and cease future crimes. Japan has the similar current events happen that occur everywhere else in other countries. ( CNN News)