Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0199/01991.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 36KB | 578 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01991}
$Pretitle{230}
$Title{Japan
Chapter 2B.   Climate}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Emma Louise Young}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{japanese
social
japan
group
areas
individual
population
development
society
higher}
$Date{1981}
$Log{}
Country:     Japan
Book:        Japan, A Country Study
Author:      Emma Louise Young
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1981

Chapter 2B.   Climate

     Lying in the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere, Japan is
generally a rainy country with high humidity. Its climatic range is often
compared to that of the east coast of North America, from Nova Scotia to
Georgia. Tokyo is located at about 36 degrees north latitude, comparable to
Tehran, Athens, and Los Angeles.

     The generally humid, temperate climate exhibits marked seasonal
variations justly celebrated in art and literature, as well as regional
variations ranging from cool in Hokkaido to subtropical in Kyushu. Climate
also varies with altitude and with location on the Pacific or on the Sea of
Japan. Two primary factors influence Japanese climate: location off the Asian
continent and the existence of major oceanic currents.

     Spring and summer are marked by hot, wet weather brought by tropical
airflows originating over the Pacific Ocean and in southeast Asia. These
airflows are full of moisture and deposit substantial amounts of rain when
they reach land. There is a marked rainy season, beginning about the first of
June and continuing for about a month. It is followed by hot, sticky weather.
Five or six typhoons pass over or near Japan every year in August and
September, sometimes resulting in significant damage. Annual precipitation,
which averages between 1,000 and 2,000 millimeters, is concentrated in the
period between June and September. In winter a high-pressure area develops
over Siberia, and a low-pressure area over the northern Pacific Ocean. The
result is a flow of cold air eastward across Japan, which brings freezing
temperatures and heavy snowfalls to areas on the Sea of Japan of the central
mountain ranges, but clear skies to areas fronting on the Pacific.

     Two major ocean currents affect this climatic pattern. The Kuroshio or
Black Current flows northward on the Pacific side of Japan and warms areas as
far north as Tokyo. A small branch, the Tsushima Current, flows up the Sea of
Japan side. The Oyashio Current (Parent Current), which abounds in plankton
beneficial to cold-water fish, flows southward along northern Pacific Japan,
and cools adjacent coastal areas. The meeting point of these currents is a
bountiful fishing ground.

     Japanese flora and fauna are much the same as those of the temperate zone
elsewhere. Maples, Japanese beeches (fagus crenate), and magnolias (magnolia
lilifluer) are common; pines, willows, and bamboo play important roles in myth
and ritual. The variety of natural environments in the country supports many
different species of wildlife, and the seas around Japan abound with fish,
including native cold and warm water migratory species.

Earthquakes

     A tenth of the world's active volcanoes are found in Japan, which lies in
a zone of extreme crustal instability. Many earthquakes also result; more than
1,500 are recorded yearly. Minor tremors occur almost daily in one part of the
country or another, causing a slight shaking of buildings. Major earthquakes
occur infrequently, the most famous in this century being the great Kanto
earthquake of 1923, in which 130,000 people died. Because of the danger they
pose, Japan has become a world leader in research on causes and prediction of
earthquakes. The development of advanced technology has permitted the
construction of skyscrapers even in earthquake-prone areas. Extensive civil
defense efforts focus on training in protection against earthquakes, in
particular against accompanying fire, which represents the greatest danger.
Undersea earthquakes also expose the Japanese coastline to danger from tidal
waves.

Pollution

     In recent decades much of Japan's natural beauty has been destroyed or
defaced as a result of overcrowding and concentration on industrial
development at the expense of the environment. Individual health has sometimes
been adversely affected by environmental pollution. For example, in the 1960s,
many inhabitants of a small town on Minamata Bay were found to be suffering
from degeneration of the central nervous system after eating mercury-poisoned
seafood taken from the bay. Other examples included photochemical smog from
automobile exhaust, noise from trains and airplanes, and debris left on
mountainsides and in national forests. In Japan sunlight plays an important
role in heating homes in the winter, drying clothes, and powering solar water
heaters, but in many neighborhoods tall buildings close off the sun from much
of the area.

     Opposed to those Japanese who are apathetic on environmental matters are
others who have organized themselves into pressure groups in local areas
concentrating on single environmental issues. Pollution and other defacement
of the environment is viewed as a public injury (kogai) (see Consumers' and
Citizens' Movements, ch. 6). The principle has been established in court that
the industry that has created the pollution must pay for its effects. The
national government has been slow to respond to environmental issues, but once
it has responded, it has been effective. Strict auto emission standards have
reduced photochemical smog, and Tokyo residents can now enjoy views of Mount
Fuji that were obscured in recent years. Electronic billboards report sound
levels and proportions of common air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide.
Environmental pollution will continue to be an issue in coming years, and
efforts to control it will result in the further development of new
technology.

Population

     Having a population of 118 million persons in 1981, small and mountainous
Japan was the most densely populated of the world's leading industrial
nations. Its population had more than tripled between 1872 and 1975, rising
from 34.8 million to 111.9 million, although since World War II its growth
rate has been declining. The annual rate of growth averaged 1.3 percent in the
1970-76 period, as compared with 0.6 for Europe and 2.2 percent for all
countries combined in the same period.

     Two aspects of the country's population structure are likely to continue
to exert significant influence on future social and economic development. The
first is its density; the second its age structure.

     Density for the country as a whole was more than 300 persons per square
kilometer in 1981. Actual density in many populated areas was actually
considerably higher. The population per square kilometer of arable land in
1980 was 2,256 persons, compared to 1,019 in Indonesia, 820 in the Federal
Republic of Germany (West Germany), 103 in the United States, and thirty
persons per square kilometer of arable land in Australia.

     Three-quarters of the population lived in urban areas in 1981,
particularly on the eastern and southern coast between Tokyo and Osaka.
Population density in some areas of Tokyo has exceeded 20,000 persons per
square kilometer. Consequently urban dwellers have been confronted with high
prices for crowded housing, residential land far from urban centers, long
commutes, and a lack of parks and other natural green spaces. In 1981, more
than one-fifth of the commuters in Tokyo lived more than an hour from their
work place. Japan's largest cities average one-tenth the ratio of parkland to
inhabitants that is found in major cities in Europe and the United States.

     The adverse effects of such conditions on family life are
counter-balanced in densely populated urban areas, however, by efficient
transportation systems and an active urban life-style. As people come to
demand social amenities in return for the sacrifices they have made to
economic development, plans for reduction of overcrowding are likely to be