The Setting

What’s your image of the Japanese landscape? One of these?

Something like these?

Or something like these?

Or maybe even something like this?

Japan is all those landscapes; A long and varied chain of islands. Where do the Japanese live? How many people can this land support?

How has Japan’s: natural environment, natural resources, and isolation influenced the development of its : n Culture, Economy, Politics n Balance of group orientation, individual expression, and universal values n Processes of change and continuity

The Land n Physical landscape n Climate n Vegetation and wildlife n Natural Hazards n The Japanese and Nature

Physical Landscape n Islands: Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and thousands more n Mountains: 70% n Plains: coastal, floodplain, mountain valleys

Kinki Region: Osaka plain and Kyoto Basin Chubu Region: Nagoya in the Nobi plain

Climate n Sub-arctic to sub-tropical temperatures n Snow on the back, sunshine on the front n Monsoons based precipitation n The typhoons that miss Hong Kong

Vegetation n Mixed natural forests n Monoculture of artificial forests

Natural Hazards n Floods and Landslides n Earthquakes and Tsunamis n Volcanoes n Cold and Snow

The Great Tokyo Earthquake of 1923

The Japanese and Nature n Religious inspiration n Aesthetic appreciation n Economic and political consequences n Environmental destruction and rehabilitation

Religious Inspiration

Aesthetic Appreciation

Environmental Destruction

Environmental Rehabilitation

Agriculture and Natural Resources n Agriculture n Natural Resources n Space

Why do people form groups?

Agriculture n Rice u A basis of the diet u A basis of cooperative organization u A symbol of identity and self-understanding n Other traditional crops n Diversification

A Basis of the Diet An Agricultural Product A Form of Organization

Sharing Land & Cooperating on its Maintenance

Cooperative Organization Built over Centuries

Soil Preparation Mar-Apr. Seedling Preparation Mar-Apr. Edo Period 1700’s1960’sNow

Planting Apr-May Irrigation, weed and pest control May-Sept.

Harvesting

Other Traditional Crops& Diversification

Natural Resources n Water and beauty in quantity n Enough minerals and fuels for beginnings of industry n Wood and stone in sufficient supply n The new recreational resources

The new recreational resources

Space n Centralized political and administrative control of space n Government controlled transport and communication n Industrial concentration Urban congestion

Government Administered Space

Government controlled transport and communication

Symbols of Continuity and Change n Food n Villages in the country and the city

Continuity and Change in Food

Old Villages And New

Isolation n Homogenization: a mix of several peoples n Exclusion u Ainu, Burakumin, Koreans, Okinawans, New Immigrants n Reaching out

Japan’s Geographic Isolation

Summing up n Landscape restrictions on where and how the Japanese could live n Development of strong bonds with natural environment n Development of cooperative groups to make best out of environment n Concentration in plains increased by transportation, economic and political factors n Isolation led to strong, and somewhat exclusive identity, but also need to reach out