Japan Geography Project
Japan has 4 distinct seasons. Climate ranges from subartic in the North to subtropical further South. Due to the wide berth of its latitude, and the length of its longitude, Japan climate can vary from North, East, South, and West. Both North and Eastern Japan have cold winters with heavy snow but Northern Japan has a warm summer while Eastern Japan's summer is very hot and humid. Both Western and Southern Japan expirience tropical summers with mild and moderate winters. Temperatures rarely drop below 0 degrees. Japan is generally a humid and wet country due to the fact that it is surrounded by oceanic currents. When the rainy season or monsoon season hits, Japan recives twice the amount of the world average precipitation.Japan also has three annual wet periods. These tropical currents originating from the Pacific Ocean contain alot of moisture making Japan a mild, wet, and humid place.
Japanese settements are typically located in hot and warm places.So most of the settlements in Japan are around the South Eastern side of Japan near the coastline due to its warm currents and climate.
As you can see, northern Japan expieriences a very cold winter, with heavy snow, unlike Southern Japan (below), which is still at a mild, lukewarm temperature.
Climate
Japan's Landforms are very unique. Japan itself is composed of islands ( more than 6800 islands!!). The four major islands that make up "Japan" are Hokkaido, Kyushu, Honshu, and Shikoku. Japan is a very mountainous country with about 70% of its land made up of mountains . This is due to the fact that its frequent earthquakes and tectonic plate shifting constantly creates/destroy mountains. One of the most popular mountains is Mt.Fuji, also the tallest mountain of Japan. Japan also has an abundance of forests, with 68% of Japan covered in forests*. Japan does not have alot of flat lands or plains. Only about 15-20% of japan is reletivly flat. Japan does have many rivers and most of them are short, but they do have alot of bays.
This affects where people live due to a number of reasons. Most poeple will not live in mountains because it is hard for supplies to be delivered, it is cold and harsh, and there is no argricultural land. This makes Japanese settlements clustered in plains and mountain basins. These basins and plains are also along the coastline of Japan and are ideal for farming due to the flatness and the rich, volcanic rock ( if they live near a volcano). Japan settlements are also located along the coastline of rivers and bays such as Kobe and Tokyo. Cities are also ina linear formation along longer rivers such as te Shinano River and Niigata. This is due to the fact that living beside a water body comes with major advantages such as water transportation, major seaports, and a fresh water supply if you live near rivers.
* The percentage is higher because the forests will also grow on the mountains.
as you can see most major cities are situated near or on plains or flatlands
Japan has little or none natural resources. Japan mostly takes in imports and manufactures them into great products. In fact, Japan is the worlds largest importer of coal and liquefied gas. It also is the second largest importer of oil. What little of natural resources Japan does have includes seafood, neglible minerals ( iron, copper,lead, zinc), timber, and rice/wheat. The main problem is that the demand of reosurces are very high. Even with an abundance of forest and seafood, the demand exceeds the production. However, Japan's crop production per land area sown are among the highest in the world, and it produces around 60% of its own food.
This will affect the settlements too. Most of the rice crop fields are located along the coast of Japan. More people would want to live there so they would be able to get rice easier and quicker than settlemnets living far away from rice fields.
Japan recieves heavy rainfall due to the fact that it is literally surrounded by the ocean. This means that the mounains would be thickly covered in forests . To the South of Japan lies a subtropical forests filled with broad leafed evergreens (chinquapins and evergreen oaks). Temperate forests like those of Canada's are located to the North. These trees include pines ( Japenese red pine), nonevergreen oaks, conifers, spruces, and beeches. The costal dunes of Japan are full of Japanese pines and cedar which can grow in high atitudes. Towards the middle Honshu and Shikkoku lies a mix of both broad leaf trees and coniferous trees. Alpine plants and ferns grow along and on the mountainous areas. One of the most iconic trees of Japan is of course, the Cherry Blossom Tree. This tree blooms in late spring and sprouts all over Japan.
This affect Japanese settlement due to the fact that lvivng near forests have alot of unknown benefits. The settlements are probably very near the forests for quick logging, fresh air, less chance of landslids due to its roots, and a breathtaking view. Alot of settlements would also live near forests because good big forest indicates good soil and precipatation. This means the soil near forests would be fertile and rich. But there is one particular problem, Al most all the forests are located at the bottom of moutains, and on top mountains. Since no one wants to live in a forest, most of the cities are located at least a few kilometeres away from the forests and mountains.
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Due to Japan's precipitation and mild and warm climate, the soil in some places are generally wet and swampy. Most of Japans soils however, are grainy and poor because of the huge space mountains take up. Only around 12-15% of the land is actually arable and used for agricultural uses.
Once again, people would definitly want to live near the scarce arable land. This means the settlements near the arable land are very dense because they all want to live nearby this land, but there isnt enough space. This makes the communities clustered and dense near arable land to preserve what little arable land they have.