Japan lies just east of the Asian continent and is made up of five major islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Okinawa, and Shikoku. Japan's capital, Tokyo, is located on the island of Honshu. Get more on this island country!
Japan - Where is It?
Japan is about 144,000 square miles (373,000 square km), which is just a tiny bit smaller than the state of California. Would you believe though, that 126 million people live in Japan, while only 34 million people live in California? Japan is smack-dab in the middle of what seismologists (the guys who study earthquakes) call the Ring of Fire. It's an area well-known for frequent earthquakes. Japan has experienced 20 serious earthquakes in the past 100 years, including a quake in 1995 in Kyoto that killed thousands of people!
Japan - Technology Capital
Japan is the birthplace of numerous technological advances, including the Sony Walkman in 1979, the JVC VCR in 1976, Sega and Nintendo. Also, the next time you go to zip up your pants, look for the YKK symbol... yes, even the zipper was invented in Japan.
Japan - Did U Know?
- The first televised sporting event was a Japanese elementary school baseball game, broadcast in September 1931.
- Japanese eat a lot of rice dishes, vegetables and seafood. One dish you may have already tried is sushi, which is a roll of rice, seaweed, vegetables (like avocado or cucumber) and fish (which is usually raw!)
- The average Japanese person will consume almost 2 gallons (7 liters) of soy sauce each year.
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