Geography of Japan　

Japan is an island country. About 73% of its territory is occupied by mountains, so Japan is also a mountain country. Due to it the incline of Japan rivers` riverbeds is prominent, if compare to the continental`s ones, they seem to be waterfalls. Besides, Japan is heavy rain area. That’s why Japan`s deep V-shaped gorges, basins and plains are full of river deltas. Besides, thick sedimentary layers near at mouth of the rivers form plains. There are a lot of river terraces from the central part of Japan upto north-eastern part.

 

Latitude/longitude

Sapporo　　　　E141° 14'　　 N43° 10'
Tokyo　　 　　　E139° 45'　　 N35° 41'
Fukuoka　　 　 E130° 29'　 　N33° 31'

 

Japan is an island country situated in the East of Asia (Eurasia continent) and consists of 4 big islands and a lot of smaller islands. The 4 big islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Sikoku and Kyushu, they are called Japan`s mainland. Japan`s area is 377,929.99 km2 (According to Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Japan, 2007)

 

Seas close to Japan

Japan is washed by different seas: by Pacific Ocean in the south and in the east, sea of Japan in the north-west, East China sea in the west and Okhotsk sea in the north-east. Honshu and Shikoku are divided by Inland sea, which is full of islands. What concerns the sea currents, there is a warm current Kurosio in the south of Japan islands and Oyashio current in the north. The Kuroshio Current flows northward on the Pacific side of Japan; a small branch, the Tsushima Current, flows up the Sea of Japan side.

 

Climate of Japan

The climate of Japan differs greatly from Pacific Ocean coast to Sea of Japan coast, divided by mountainous central part. Hokkaido and highlands of Honshu have subarctic climate, one part of south archipelago has tropical climate, the other parts of the country belong to temperate zone climate. There is a big difference between temperatures in the north and in the south.
In winter strong cold north-western winds blow, there is a lot of snow at Sea of Japan coast. At the same time there are plenty of dry sunny days at Pacific Ocean coast. The temperatures difference between seasons is obvious. Summer is divided into 2 periods: rainy season and and a period of sunny days with high temperature. At the end of August begins a period of autumn rains and typhoons.

 

Japan

More than 50% of Japan`s population is concentrated in plains, especially in cities of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya (so called tree cities` belt)

The highest and the lowest points of Japan:

・The lowest point: Hachinohe mines: -160m (open-cut mining)
・The highest point: Mt. Fuji (Kengamine peak): 3776m.

 

Rivers and Lakes:

・The longest river: Shinanogawa ? 367 km
・The largest area of basin: Tonegawa - 16,829 km2 km2
・The biggest lake: Biwa - 670.33 km2
・The lake with the longest shore line: Kasumigaura - 249.5 km
・The deepest lake: Tazawa ? 423 m
・The lake at the highest elevation: Chuzenji ? 1269 m (among lakes bigger than 4 km2, not including artificial lakes)

 

Total area

Total area of 377,854.64 km2 is occupied by:
・Forests : 66.4%
・Agricultural areas: 13.2%
・Residential areas: 4.7%
・Roads : 3.3%
・Lakes, rivers, channels : 3.5%
・other : 8.9%
（According to 1998 year`s statistics:）
・ Privatelly owned lands: 162,549km2
- Residencial areas : 15,858km2 (9.76%)
- Fiealds : 27,276km2 (16.72%)
- Vegetable gardens: 24,962km2 (15.36%)
- Gardens : 78,777km2 (48.46%)
・ Natural parks : 53,692.32km2
・ Municipal parks : 998.41km2
（According to 2003 year`s statistics:）

 

Climate of Japan

Japan`s area stretches from north to south, due to it its climate varies greatly from subarctical to tropical. Most of Honshu`s area, Kyushu, Shikoku, Nansei Islands belong to temperate zone. Hokkaido and highlands of Honshu belong to subactic zone; Kazan Islands, Minamitori Island, Okinotori Island, Yaeyama Islands, Tarama Island, Okidaito Island belong to tropic zone. Due to warm Kuroshio Current and movement of air masses, the diference between four seasons is clear at the most area of Japan, except the southern islands. The climate of Japan Sea coast and Pacific Ocean coast, which are divided by mountain ranges in the middle of the Japan archipelago, also differs greatly.

 

Winter

In winter cold seasonal winds blow, they are caused by cold air masses from Siberia. Due to influence of these winds and Tsushima current, climate of Japan Sea`s cost is snowy and clowdy. In the regions of Hokuriku and Niigata the thickness of snow can reach 2-3 meters, these regions are famous all over the world for tremendous snowfalls. At Pacific regions periods of rain take turns with long periods of sunny weather. Sometimes stormy weather takes place, it is caused by cyclons.

 

Sping and autumn

In spring and autumn the influence of seasonal winds is not so strong, the weather changes due to cyclons and anticyclons. Especially, weather gets warmer and warmer along the movement of cyclon`n front line.
Rainy season lasts from the end of May untill the end of July, it is called “Tsuyu”. After this period is over, the Pacific anticyclon brings a range of sunny, very hot days, and a sultry summer begins. During the summer in Japan mainland the tempereture usually goes over 30℃ and humidity is over 70%, and such heat is much harder than the same temperatures in comparatevilly dry India and Middle East. Due to such climate cultivation of rice is possible even in northern Japan, high humidity often causes sudden showers, which allow to make wet-land rice cultivation, which also makes influence on culture.

 

Rain season, called “Autumn rains” usually starts in September in northern and eastern Japan, at the same time typhoons occur at mainland (at Nansei Islands typhoon season starts in June).
Due to hot humid climate and also typhoons, the inner space in traditional Japanese house is not divided by walls, that makes good ventilation, so it is rather cool inside. Space can be divided by fusuma and shoji- removable sliding wooden doors. The floor is covered by tatami ? the material suitable for this kind of climate. But from 1960s the quantity of such houses began to decrease. Modern mansions and office buildings, made of steel and concrete, are equipped with coolers and heaters. Of cause such situation causes ecological problems, especially in big cities with high dencity of population, the problem of overheating of cities is known as urban heat island phenomena.

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