LOTE

LOTE

(culture, language, festivals and geography of other places)

Japan

In Japan they speak Japanese. The Japanese language is the official language of Japan. Its precise family descent is unclear, though it may be one of the Altaic languages. Japanese is written with three different scripts: modified Chinese characters and two syllabic scripts, hiragana and katakana, used respectively for phonetic rendering of ordinary Japanese words and for emphasis and foreign words. Despite the extreme complexity of this writing system, Japan has achieved almost universal literacy. Many Japanese also know some English.

Japan is a group of islands east of Korea. Temperatures range from about 5° C (41° F) in Nemuro (Hokkaido) to about 16° C (61° F) on Okinawa.

The earliest surviving records of Japanese history, aside from Chinese accounts, are contained in two semi-mythical chronicles, the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters) and the Nihon shoki or Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan), the former compiled in AD 712 and the latter in ad 720. These chronicles purport to concern events from about the 7th century BC to the 7th century ad. The chronicles and other collections of legends were the basis of the traditional accounts of the history of Japan. The Nihon shoki gives 660 BC as the year in which Jimmu, descendant of the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu and the first Emperor of Japan, ascended the throne, thereby founding the Japanese Empire.

Junichiro Koizumi - The popular and maverick, nationalist politician Junichiro Koizumi became prime minister of Japan in 2001.

The famous Mount Fuji

This dormant volcano is Japan’s highest mountain, as well as its most famous national symbol. The 3,776-m (12,387-ft) high peak is on southern Honshu, near Tokyo, and is a popular site for tourism and pilgrimages. Many shrines and temples are located on Mount Fuji’s slopes, and it is a frequent subject in Japanese art and literature.

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Mainichi Newspaper Co., Ltd.

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