Japan - Wikitravel. Japan. Location. Flag. Quick Facts. Capital. Tokyo. Government parliamentary democracy with constitutional emperor. Currency Yen (. Ten days' worth of rice in my bag; a bundle of twigs in my fireplace. Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment?

Listening to the night rain on my roof, I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out. Japanese culture stretches back millennia, yet has also been quick to adopt and created the latest modern fashions and trends. It can seem full of contradictions. Many Japanese corporations dominate their industries, yet if you read the financial news it seems like Japan is practically bankrupt. Cities are as modern and high tech as anywhere else, but tumbledown wooden shacks can still be spotted next to glass fronted designer condominiums. On an average subway ride, you might see childishly cute character toys and incredibly violent pornography - sometimes enjoyed by the same passenger, at the same time!

Japan has beautiful temples and gardens which are often surrounded by garish signs and ugly buildings. The most acclaimed restaurant in the country, which costs hundreds of dollars for dinner, is a small shop located in a subway station seating less than a dozen people. In the middle of modern skyscrapers you’ll discover sliding wooden doors which lead to traditional chambers with tatami mats, shoji screens, and calligraphy, suitable for traditional tea ceremonies.

These juxtapositions can seem perplexing or jarring to those used to the more uniform nature of European and North American cities, but if you let go, and accept the layered aesthetics, you’ll find interesting and surprising places throughout the country. Japan was the first Asian country to independently modernize, and the country continues to embrace new technologies and aesthetics, but unlike in many countries, Japan does not feel a particular need to attack or remove older technologies, structures, or practices. New things are mostly just layered beside old things.

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Information on visiting or relocating to Japan - visas, accommodations, transportation, survival, driving, banking, shopping, customs, tips, and links.

That’s not to say that Japan embraces the large scale preservation of historical structures or that people generally practice traditional ceremonies, but people generally believe that if a small number of people want to continue on a tradition or preserve a building that they own, they should be allowed to do that. In this way, development mostly happens in a piecemeal fashion, one building at a time, rather than in large redevelopment projects. Many urban blocks evolve to line up dozens of narrow buildings spanning fifty or more years of design history. Clothing styles evolve along a dozen paths at the same time rather than singular mass fashion trends. An individual that embraces a particular subculture and its fashions may alternately conform to vary different norms when working or at home, but there is little sense of conflict between these roles. Just close enough to mainland Asia, yet far enough to keep itself separate, much of Japanese history has seen alternating periods of closure and openness. Until recently, Japan has been able to turn on or off its connection to the rest of the world, accepting foreign cultural influences in fits and starts.

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It is comparable with the relationship between Britain and the rest of Europe, but with a much wider channel. Archaeological evidence, however, has only managed to trace the Imperial line back to the Kofun Period during the 3rd to 7th centuries CE, which was also when the Japanese first had significant contact with China and Korea. Japan then gradually became a centralized state during the Asuka Period, during which Japan extensively absorbed many aspects of Chinese culture, and saw the introduction of Mahayana Buddhism and Confucianism. The popular board game of Go is also believed to have been introduced to Japan during this period. This period, dubbed the Nara Period was the last time the emperor actually held political power, with power eventually falling into the hands of the court nobles during the Heian Period, when the capital was moved to Kyoto, then known as Heian- Kyo, which remained the Japanese imperial residence until the 1. Chinese influence also reached its peak during the early Heian Period, which saw Buddhism become a popular religion among the masses. This was then followed by the Kamakura Period, when the samurai managed to gain political power.

Minamoto no Yoritomo, the most powerful of them, was dubbed shogun by the emperor and ruled from his base in Kamakura. The Muromachi Period then saw the Ashikaga shogunate come to power, ruling from their base in Ashikaga. Japan then descended into the anarchy of the Warring States period in the 1. Tokugawa Ieyasu finally reunified the country in 1. Tokugawa shogunate, a feudal state ruled from Edo, or modern- day Tokyo. A strict caste system was imposed, with the Shogun and his samurai warriors at the top of the heap and no social mobility permitted.

US Commodore Matthew Perry's Black Ships arrived in Yokohama in 1. West, resulting in the signing of unequal treaties and the collapse of the shogunate in the Meiji Restoration of 1. Kyoto to Edo, now re- named Tokyo. After observing Western colonization in Southeast Asia and the division and weakening of China, which the Japanese had for so long considered to be the world's greatest superpower, Japan vowed not to be overtaken by the West, launching itself headlong into a drive to industrialize and modernize at frantic speed.

Adopting Western technology and culture wholesale, Japan's cities soon sprouted railways, brick buildings and factories, and even the disastrous Great Kanto Earthquake of 1. Tokyo and killed over 1. In 1. 94. 1, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, destroying a large portion of the US Pacific fleet but drawing America into the war, whose tide soon started to turn against Japan. By the time it was forced to surrender in 1.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1. Japanese civilians and military personnel had died, well over 1. Chinese and other Asians had been killed, many in atrocities committed by the Japanese military machine, and Japan was occupied for the first time in its history. The Emperor kept his throne but lost his god- like position in the imposed constitution. Converted to pacifism and . The economy has yet to fully recover from its doldrums, with deflation driving down prices, an increasingly unsupportable burden of government debt (nearing 2.

GDP) and an increasing polarization of Japanese society into . All In One Keygen Generator Software. This has resulted in Japan losing its position as the world's second largest economy to its larger neighbour, China. The Japanese have one of the highest standards of living in the world. Almost 9. 9% of the population is of Japanese ethnicity. The largest minority are Koreans, around 1 million strong, many in their 3rd or 4th generation. There are also sizable populations of Chinese, Filipinos and Brazilians, although many are of Japanese descent.

Though largely assimilated, the resident Chinese population maintains a presence in Japan's three Chinatowns in Kobe, Nagasaki and Yokohama. Indigenous ethnic minorities include the Ainu on Hokkaido, gradually driven north during the centuries and now numbering around 5. Ryukyuan people of Okinawa. Many Japanese are thrilled to have visitors to their country and are incredibly helpful to lost and bewildered- looking foreigners. Younger Japanese people are often extremely interested in meeting and becoming friends with foreigners as well. Do not be surprised if a Japanese person (usually of the opposite gender) approaches you in a public place and tries to initiate a conversation with you in somewhat coherent English.

On the other hand, many are not used to dealing with foreigners (. Don't take this as racism or other xenophobia: they're just afraid that you'll try to address them in English and they'll be embarrassed because they can't understand or reply. A smile and a Konnichiwa (.