Japan

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Government

The Constitution stipulates the independence of three branches -

legislative (the Diet), executive (the cabinet), and judicial (the courts). The Diet holds 480 people in the House of Representatives (lower house) and seats 242 people in the House of Councillors (upper house). Every Japanese citizen can vote when they are at least 20 years of age.

The Diet

(House of Councillors)

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The National Diet Building (House of Councillors)

Culture

Traditional performing art is still continued today in Japan they include Kabuki, Noh, Kyogen, and Bunraku. Kabuki is a form of classical theater in the early seventeenth century. The lines are spoken by actors, with outstanding makeup (Kumadori), and stylish costumes.

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The makeup shows personality and the type of mood the character is in. Noh is one of Japans’ oldest musical theater forms. The story is not told by dialogue, but it’s also told through utai (singing), hayashi (musical accompaniment), and dance. The lead actor dresses in colorful costumes of embroidered silk, and wears wooden mask. Kyogen is a classical comic theater. It is performed in stylized actions and lines. Bunraku became popular around the late sixteenth century. It is a puppet theater of narrative singing and music

played on the shamisen (a three-stringed instrument).

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This is a Noh play.This

actor is wearing makeup (Kumadori).

School

Elementary school lasts for six years, middle school last for three years, high school last for three years, and university (college) last for four years. About 99% of the students go to high school. They usually have to take exams to enter high schools and universities. There are

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around 30 to 40 students in a typical elementary school class. The subjects they study include Japanese, mathematics, science, social studies, music, crafts, physical education, and home economics (to learn simple cooking and sewing skills). Students also learn traditional Japanese arts like shodo (calligraphy) and haiku. Shodo involves dipping a brush in ink and using it to write kanji (characters that are used in several East Asian countries and have their own meanings) and kana (phonetic characters derived from kanji) in an artistic style.

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Haiku is a form of poetry developed in Japan about 400 years ago. A haiku is a short of 17 syllables, divided into units of five, seven, and five syllables. Haiku uses simple expressions to convey deep emotions to readers.

A Japanese high school

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Clothing

A traditional dress in Japan is the kimono. Kimonos are made of silk, and have long sleeves from their shoulders down to their heels. The kimono is tied with a belt called an obi. Kimonos are worn on special occasions such as festivals, weddings, and graduation ceremonies. A lightweight kimono worn is the summer is called a yukata worn by children and young adults at festivals, fireworks displays, and other special occasions.

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Girls wearing a yukataFood A word for “meal” in Japanese is gohan. A traditional meal consist of white rice with a main dish, fish or meat, with a side dish, cooked vegetables, and soup, often miso soup.

In Japan they eat different foods from around the world mostly from Europe, North America and Asia. Sushi, tempura, sukiyaki are famous Japanese foods across Japan. In particular in some cities they have many fast-food restaurants that offer hamburgers and fried chicken.

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Tempura

Before eating Japanese people say “itadakimasu," a phrase meaning “I receive this food.” This means that they thank whoever made this meal. After eating they say “gochiso sama deshita” which means “It was quite a feast.”

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Location

Japan is located in Eastern Asia, an island between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean Peninsula.

Geographic Coordinates: 36 degrees North 138 degrees East

Japan in slightly smaller than California. There coastline is 29,751 km.

The climate in the south of Japan they have tropical climate. And in the north of Japan they have cool climates.

Population

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The population in Japan is 126,926,224. The population growth of Japan increases 0.05%. The birth rate in Japan is 9.47. The death rate population is 8.95. People in Japan with HIV/AIDS are less than 0.01%. The population of people who are living with HIV/AIDS there is about 12,000. There are about 500 deaths from HIV/AIDS.

Money

In Japan they call their money yen. There are four types of bills (10,000 yen, 5,000 yen, 2,000 yen, and 1,000 yen),

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and they have six types of coins (500 yen, 100 yen, 50 yen, 10 yen, 5 yen, 1 yen)

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