The geography of Japan

It is said that each country’s national characteristics are different depending on its geographical conditions.

Let’s see it and discover something interesting from Japanese geography today.

Japan is an island country, surrounded by the sea on all sides, and apart from the continents.  

Its unique geographical shape gives a big influence on Japanese people’s characteristics.

Geographical elements influence on the life of the people 

The Japanese Archipelago places on the Asia-Pacific Volcanic zone, and thus Japan has continuously suffered natural disasters, such as typhoon, earthquake, and flood.  And therefore, Japanese people have been frequently confronted and overwhelmed by the force of nature from the ancient times.

They have been exposed to the threat of the nature and feeling anxious all the time. However, at the same time, they have learned the concept of co-existence with the nature.       

With this historical and geographical background, Japanese people tend to have the sense of “solidarity” and to cooperate together to overcome the difficulties at disasters.

In Japan, under this kind of environment in which people are more likely be cooperative with others, Japanese people have naturally developed 

the skill of cooperation, rather than self assertion.    

Because of this, the Japanese are very good at cooperating with others, but apparently not good at expressing their ideas or demonstrating their originality.       

For centuries, the sea surrounded Japan protects Japan

Apart from the continent, Japan could not interact with other counties easily especially in the ancient times.   

This is why Japan had been keeping the distance from other countries, and relatively speaking keeping its isolation.    

But on the other hand, the sea surrounded Japan functions as the wall between Japan and other countries, and it can be said that sea is protecting Japan from the foreigner’s invasion.

And therefore, historically Japanese people have received the big mercy that they have been living peacefully, 

compared with other countries locates in the continents.

Above all, there are a certain distance between Japan and the other continents. 

And thus, migration or the invasion by other ethnic groups rarely occur in Japan.

Therefore, it might be the one of the reasons to make Japanese people feel more united as one. 

What kind of geographical specialty do you have in your country?🌳🏔🌊

And then, how does that influence on each national characteristic?

Let’s stat to research about that, and discover something new. ((´∀｀))