Official language

Japanese is the official and primary language of Japan. Japanese is relatively small but has a
lexically distinct pitch-accent system. Early Japanese is known largely on the basis of its state in the
8th century, when the three major works of Old Japanese were compiled. The earliest attestation of
the Japanese language is in a Chinese document from 252 AD.

Spoken versus written languages

Japanese is written with a combination of three scripts: hiragana, derived from the Chinese cursive
script, katakana, derived as a shorthand from Chinese characters, and kanji, imported from China.
The Latin alphabet, rmaji, is also often used in modern Japanese, especially for company names
and logos, advertising, and when inputting Japanese into a computer. The Hindu-Arabic
numerals are generally used for numbers, but traditional Sino-Japanese numeralsare also common.

Music
The music of Japan includes a wide array of performers in distinct styles both traditional andmodern.
The word for music in Japanese is (ongaku), combining the kanji "on" (sound) with the kanji
"gaku" (enjoyment).[1] Japan is the second largest music market in the world, behind the United
States, and the largest in Asia,[2] and most of the market is dominated byJapanese artists.
Local music often appears at karaoke venues, which is on lease from the record labels.Traditional
Japanese music is quite different from Western Music and is based on the intervals of human
breathing rather than mathematical timing.[3] In 1873, a British traveler claimed that Japanese music,
"exasperates beyond all endurance the European breast."[4]

Performing arts
The four traditional theatres from Japan are noh (or n), kygen, kabuki, and bunraku. Noh had its
origins in the union of thesarugaku, with music and dance made by Kanami and Zeami
Motokiyo.[6] Among the characteristic aspects of it are the masks, costumes, and the stylized
gestures, sometimes accompanied by a fan that can represent other objects. The nohprograms are
presented in alternation with the ones of kygen, traditionally in number of five, but currently in
groups of three.
The kygen, of humorous character, had older origin, in 8th century entertainment brought from
China, developing itself insarugaku. In kygen, masks are rarely used and even if the plays can be
associated with the ones of noh, currently many are not.[6]

Kabuki appears in the beginning of the Edo period from the representations and dances of Izumo no
Okuni in Kyoto.[7] Due to prostitution of actresses of kabuki, the participation of women in the plays
was forbidden by the government in 1629, and the feminine characters had passed to be
represented only by men (onnagata). Recent attempts to reintroduce actresses inkabuki had not
been well accepted.[7] Another characteristic of kabuki is the use of makeup for the actors in historical
plays (kumadori).
Japanese puppet theater bunraku developed in the same period, that kabuki in a competition and
contribution relation involving actors and authors. The origin ofbunraku, however is older, lies back in
the Heian period.[8] In 1914, appeared the Takarazuka Revue a company solely composed by
women who introduced therevue in Japan.[9]

Visual arts
Painting
Painting has been an art in Japan for a very long time: the brush is a traditional writing and painting
tool, and the extension of that to its use as an artist's tool was probably natural.
Chinese papermaking was introduced to Japan around the 7th century by Damjing and several
monks of Goguryeo,[5] later washi was developed from it. Native Japanese painting techniques are
still in use today, as well as techniques adopted from continental Asia and from the West.

Calligraphy
The flowing, brush-drawn Japanese rendering of text itself is seen as a traditional art form as well as
a means of conveying written information. The written work can consist of phrases, poems, stories,
or even single characters. The style and format of the writing can mimic the subject matter, even to
the point of texture and stroke speed. In some cases it can take over one hundred attempts to
produce the desired effect of a single character but the process of creating the work is considered as
much an art as the end product itself.
This calligraphy form is known as shod () which literally means the way of writing or
calligraphy or more commonly known as shji () learning how to write characters.
Commonly confused with Calligraphy is the art form known as sumi-e () literally means ink
painting which is the art of the paintings a scene or object.

Sculpture
Traditional Japanese sculptures mainly consisted of Buddhist images, such
as Tathagata, Bodhisattva, and My-. The oldest sculpture in Japan is a wooden statue
of Amitbha at the Zenk-ji temple. In the Nara period, Buddhist statues were made by the national
government to boost its prestige. These examples are seen in present-day Nara and Kyoto, most
notably a colossal bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana in the Tdai-ji temple.
Wood has traditionally been used as the chief material in Japan, along with traditional Japanese
architecture. Statues are often lacquered, gilded, or brightly painted, although there are little traces
on the surfaces. Bronze and other metals are also used. Other materials, such as stone and pottery,
have had extremely important roles in the plebeian beliefs.

Ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e, literally "pictures of the floating world", is a genre of woodblock prints that exemplifies the
characteristics of pre-MeijiJapanese art. Because these prints could be mass-produced, they were
available to a wide cross-section of the Japanese populace those not wealthy enough to afford
original paintings during their heyday, from the 17th to 20th century.

Ikebana
Ikebana (, , or ?) is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. It has gained widespread
international fame for its focus on harmony, color use, rhythm, and elegantly simple design. It is an
art centered greatly on expressing the seasons, and is meant to act as a symbol to something
greater than the flower itself.

Climate
The climate of Japan is predominantly temperate, but varies greatly from north to south. Japan's
geographical features divide it into six principal climatic zones: Hokkaido, Sea of Japan, Central
Highland, Seto Inland Sea, Pacific Ocean, and Ryky Islands. The northernmost zone, Hokkaido,
has a humid continental climate with long, cold winters and very warm to cool
summers. Precipitation is not heavy, but the islands usually develop deep snowbanks in the winter.[82]
The average winter temperature in Japan is 5.1 C (41.2 F) and the average summer temperature
is 25.2 C (77.4 F).[83]The highest temperature ever measured in Japan40.9 C (105.6 F)was

recorded on August 16, 2007.[84] The mainrainy season begins in early May in Okinawa, and the rain
front gradually moves north until reaching Hokkaido in late July. In most of Honshu, the rainy season
begins before the middle of June and lasts about six weeks. In late summer and early
autumn, typhoons often bring heavy rain.[85]

Languages
More than 99 percent of the population speaks Japanese as their first language.[2] Japanese is
an agglutinative language distinguished by a system of honorificsreflecting the hierarchical nature of
Japanese society, with verb forms and particular vocabulary indicating the relative status of speaker
and listener. Japanese writing uses kanji (Chinese characters) and two sets
of kana (syllabaries based on simplified Chinese characters), as well as the Latin
alphabet and Arabic numerals.[179]
Besides Japanese, the Ryukyuan
languages (Amami, Kunigami, Okinawan, Miyako, Yaeyama, Yonaguni), also part of the Japonic
language family, are spoken in theRyukyu Islands chain. Few children learn these languages,[180] but
in recent years the local governments have sought to increase awareness of the traditional
languages. The Okinawan Japanese dialect is also spoken in the region. The Ainu language, which
has no proven relationship to Japanese or any other language, ismoribund, with only a few elderly
native speakers remaining in Hokkaido.[181] Most public and private schools require students to take
courses in both Japanese andEnglish.[182][183]

LOCATION
Japan, an island nation in east Asia, is an archipelago (large group of islands) located east of the
Korean peninsula. It has an area of 377,835 square kilometers (145,882 square miles), which
makes it slightly smaller than the state of California. Japan is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on
the north and east, by the Philippine Sea and the East China Sea to the south, and by the Sea of
Japan / East Sea on the west. It has a coastline of 29,751 kilometers (18,487 miles). Japan's
major cities, including Tokyo, its capital, and Yokohama, its major port, are located in the
southeastern part of the country, on the main island of Honshu. Kyoto, Nagoya, and Osaka are
in the southern part of Honshu. Sapporo is located on the northern island of Hokkaido. The
other 2 main islands in the Japanese archipelago are Kyushu and Shikoku, to the southwest.

EXTENDED FAMILY
Like many Asian family systems, the Japanese family system was an extended family
which included distant relatives as well as the dead. In the earliest times, and certainly
with the influence of China, ancestor worship was a strong and vibrant belief which
made deceased real, active members of the family. Noble families, and families of the
warrior class, placed great value and importance on their ancestors. One of the
problems of newly arisen aristocratic families was to find sufficiently impressive
ancestors who would justify contemporary importance.
Ancestors continue to have significance today, a reflection of the importance of the
family system itself. Buddhist belief holds that ancestors are able to exert influence over
affairs in this world. The spirits of ancestors return to this world at Obon, a summertime
festival of the dead. The spirits are fed and treated well to ensure their aid in the future
and so that they do not linger after the three-day period and cause damage to the living.
Obon is one of the two yearly festivals which bring distant relatives together, the other
being New Year.

History:
Japan likely was settled about 35,000 years ago by Paleolithic people from the Asian
mainland. At the end of the last Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago, a culture called
the Jomondeveloped. Jomon hunter-gatherers fashioned fur clothing, wooden houses,
and elaborate clay vessels. According to DNA analysis, the Ainu people may be
descendents of the Jomon.
A second wave of settlement around 400 B.C. by the Yayoi people introduced metalworking, rice cultivation, and weaving to Japan. DNA evidence suggests that these
settlers came from Korea.
The first era of recorded history in Japan is the Kofun (250-538 A.D.), characterized by
large burial mounds or tumuli. The Kofun were headed by a class of aristocratic
warlords; they adopted many Chinese customs and innovations.
Buddhism came to Japan during the Asuka Period, 538-710, as did the Chinese writing
system. Society was divided into clans, ruled from Yamato Province. The first strong

central government developed in Nara (710-794); the aristocratic class practiced

Buddhism and Chinese calligraphy, while agricultural villagers followed Shintoism.
Japan's unique culture developed rapidly in the Heian era, 794-1185. The imperial court
turned out enduring art, poetry and prose. The samurai warrior class developed at this
time, as well.
Samurai lords, called "shoguns," took over governmental power in 1185, and ruled
Japan in the name of the emperor until 1868. The Kamakura Shogunate (1185-1333)
ruled much of Japan from Kyoto.

Climate:
Stretching 3500 km (2174 miles) from north to south, Japan includes a number of
different climate zones. It has a temperate climate overall, with four seasons.
Heavy snowfall is the rule in the winter on the northern island of Hokkaido; in 1970, the
town of Kutchan received 312 cm (over 10 feet) of snow in a single day! The total
snowfall for that winter was more than 20 meters (66 feet).
The southern island of Okinawa, in contrast, has a semi-tropical climate with an average
annual temperate of 20 Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit). The island receives about 200
cm (80 inches) of rain per year.

NUCLEAR FAMILY
The number of nuclear family households doubled during the postwar years of
spectacular economic growth (1955-75), because of the marriage boom among the young
people who were born in the 1930s and the 1940s and had many siblings (an average of 5 to
6) under the demographic condition of high fertility and low mortality. Based on the typical
traditional Japanese stem family system, the first born son lives together with their parents at
marriage and inherits his father's house and land sooner or later. But the other sons must leave
parental home and achieve economic independence to get married and make a new home on
their own. A large quantity of second or third sons and daughters born in the 1930s and the

1940s had migrated from ancestral home village to the city in accordance with the practice of
the stem family. The steep economic growth made it possible for them to get married and
establish neo-local households easily. Consequently, census data show that about two-thirds of
Japanese households have been categorized as the nuclear family type since then.
Many sociologists and demographers have regarded the proliferation of nuclear
households as the nuclearization of the family. That is, the Japanese family system changes
from the traditional stem family into the conjugal family type (Morioka 1993). But the
numerical predominance of nuclear family households presented in the cross-sectional data
does not necessarily mean the system change of family formation. Because second or third
sons seldom co-reside with their own parents under the stem family principle as mentioned
above. It is natural that the marriage boom should bring about a large amount of nuclear
family households. Indeed, many of first born sons have formed stem family households, the
number of which is almost constant during years of economic growth, however, the
proportion has declined from about 35% to 20%. Therefore, we have to observe family
formation behavior (e.g. co-residence with parents) of the younger generation born in the
1950s and the 1960s, and compare it with the one of the parental generation born in the 1930s
and the 1940s to confirm whether the Japanese family system has changed or not.