How did the geography of Japan influence people's lives in society?
In the medieval era Japan was a unique and beautiful country filled knowledge and power. The geography affected many aspects of Japanese society, from religion to the Shogunate to the people's daily lives.
The terrain was very mountainous and the people were constantly surrounded by nature, this affected their religion such as Shinto and as these are located close to China and Korea they attained Zen Buddhism.
|
The geographical make-up of the country also affected the people’s way of life as only 15% of it could be used for farming purposes so they had to rely on the sources found at sea. Japan is surrounded by water meaning that reaching the
country was a lot more difficult and the “Sakoku”
much easier to enforce as shown by the law standing for over 200 years.
|
Introduction
Japan is situated in the North Pacific Ocean off the east coast of Korea and China. Japan is part of the continent Asia. Japan is made up of over 1000 islands it consists of 4 main ones: Hokkaido,
Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. Japan's area is comparable to that of Germany or California. Japan's northernmost islands are located on a similar geographical latitude as Milan or Portland, while he southernmost islands are on a similar latitude as the Bahamas.
Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. Japan's area is comparable to that of Germany or California. Japan's northernmost islands are located on a similar geographical latitude as Milan or Portland, while he southernmost islands are on a similar latitude as the Bahamas.
AreaAt this time in Japanese history Japan was not separated into any regions, it simply constisted of the 4 islands and was ruled from one city; Edo.
Terrain
Japan covers 377 900 square kilometres and is 40 000 kilometers in length. Majority of the land is very mountainous which provides an issue for those argriculture works as well as well as everyone else. Due to Japan's location only 15-17% of its land can be used for farming, as Japan was cut off from trade with the rest of the world, the people had to rely on fishing for food. Japan throughout history had little resources; no coal, oil or precious metals, they had to make do with what they could find to sustain their lives. More than 50% of Japan's land mass is mountainous and is covered by forests.
|
Climate
Due to the large North South extension of the country, the climate varies strongly in different regions of Japan. The climate in most of the major cities, including Tokyo, is temperate to subtropic and consists of four seasons. The winter is mild and the summer is hot and humid. There is a rainy season in early summer, and typhoons hit parts of the country every year during late summer. The climate of the northern island of Hokkaido and the Sea of Japan coast is colder, and snow falls in large amounts. In Okinawa, on the other hand, the mean temperature of January is a warm 17 degrees Celsius.
|