Japan is a country located in East Asia. It is an Island nation located in the Pacific Ocean. It is also known as the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is an archipielago of 6852 islands. The capital of Japan is Tokio.
The national language spoken is japanese.
Flag:
Government: The government in Japan is an Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The emperor is Akihito. Prime Minister is Shinzö Abe. Legislature is National Diet. The upper house is House of councillors and lower house is House of Representatives.
Economy: Currency is Yen. After World War II , Japan entered an era of unprecedented economic growth. This growth did not spring out of nothing; it was built in a solid foundation of industrial technology erected during the Meiji era (1868-1912). Source: www.kahaku.go.jp
Population: 127.6 millions (2012). Japan has the world's tenth largest population with more than 126 million people.
Historical places:
Miyagi Osaki Hachiman-gu Shrine:
Osaki Hachiman-gu is home to the Guardian deity of the Date family. The beautiful building of the shrine is mainly covered in black lacquer and decorated with gold leaf, and is designated a National Treasure.
Ibaraki Kasama Inari-jinja shrine: Enshrined at Kasama Inari Jinja is the deity Ukanomitama-no-Kami. This deity considered the god of the harvest and is also worhipped as the god who makes industry flourish, the god of good fortune, the god of good luck and the god who prevents the outbreak of fire. On the walls are beautiful sculptures of dragons, peonies and lions.
Tokyo Takao-san Yakuo-in Temple: A sightseeing spot awarded three Michelin stars Grand nature about one hour from the heart of Tokyo. The temple on famous, sacred Mount Takao was founded by Venerable Gyoki in 744.
Tokyo Kanda-jinja Shrine: The people of Edo were familiar with this deity as the guardian of the entire city.
Chiba Nihon-ji Temple: The Zen temple on the southern slope of Nokogiri Yama is an important cultural property of Japan. Founded by Emperor Shomu in 725, the temple has accomodated famous monks, including Ryoben, Kukai and Jikaku.
Interesting places:
Kumamoto: It is situated in the center of Kyushu at the western end of Japan. Kumamoto has two national parks namely Asukuju and Unzen-Amakusa and two quasinational parks nameli Mt. Yabahita-hiko-san and the Kyushu central mountains. The Aso district has an active volcano Mt. Aso-san with one of the biggest calderas in the world. The central mountainous area attracts people with its valleys, and beautiful sights.
The Goryokaku Castle with its spectacular view:
Amagi/Kawazu area: This amazing to visit this ancient mountain passage that was once the setting for a famous novel. Seven magnificient, aligned waterfalls.
Iya Valley area / Iya's Kazura Bridge: Vine-made suspension bridge over the Iya-gawa River. A 200 meter high-cliff-created by the river.
Sports & Entertainment:
Main football stars in Japan's team are:
Shinji Kagawa (attacking midfielder who currently plays for english club Manchester United), he is known for his "vision, technique, movement and deft passing", on november 29 2012 he was named Asian Football Confederation, International player of the year.
Shinji Okazaki (he currently plays for FSV Mainz 05 of German Bundesliga). Okazaki finished as top goalscorer in the Asian Section of qualification for the 2014 FIFA World cup with eight goals.
Yasuhito Endo, central midfielder (Japanese player who currently plays for the J. League team Gamba Osaka) he is considered a cult hero at Gamba Osaka and the Japan National football team because he has a formidable passing ability, leadership and goal scoring ability;
and Keisuke Honda, attacking midfield player (who plays for Serie A club Milan) he is also known for his free-kicks, dribbling and ability as a dead ball specialist. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, thesinguardian.com, es.fifa.com.
Historical places:
Miyagi Osaki Hachiman-gu Shrine:
Osaki Hachiman-gu is home to the Guardian deity of the Date family. The beautiful building of the shrine is mainly covered in black lacquer and decorated with gold leaf, and is designated a National Treasure.
Ibaraki Kasama Inari-jinja shrine: Enshrined at Kasama Inari Jinja is the deity Ukanomitama-no-Kami. This deity considered the god of the harvest and is also worhipped as the god who makes industry flourish, the god of good fortune, the god of good luck and the god who prevents the outbreak of fire. On the walls are beautiful sculptures of dragons, peonies and lions.
Tokyo Takao-san Yakuo-in Temple: A sightseeing spot awarded three Michelin stars Grand nature about one hour from the heart of Tokyo. The temple on famous, sacred Mount Takao was founded by Venerable Gyoki in 744.
Tokyo Kanda-jinja Shrine: The people of Edo were familiar with this deity as the guardian of the entire city.
Interesting places:
Kumamoto: It is situated in the center of Kyushu at the western end of Japan. Kumamoto has two national parks namely Asukuju and Unzen-Amakusa and two quasinational parks nameli Mt. Yabahita-hiko-san and the Kyushu central mountains. The Aso district has an active volcano Mt. Aso-san with one of the biggest calderas in the world. The central mountainous area attracts people with its valleys, and beautiful sights.
The Goryokaku Castle with its spectacular view:
Amagi/Kawazu area: This amazing to visit this ancient mountain passage that was once the setting for a famous novel. Seven magnificient, aligned waterfalls.
Iya Valley area / Iya's Kazura Bridge: Vine-made suspension bridge over the Iya-gawa River. A 200 meter high-cliff-created by the river.
Sports & Entertainment:
Japan is in FIFA World Cup Brasil 2014.
Main football stars in Japan's team are:Shinji Kagawa (attacking midfielder who currently plays for english club Manchester United), he is known for his "vision, technique, movement and deft passing", on november 29 2012 he was named Asian Football Confederation, International player of the year.
Shinji Okazaki (he currently plays for FSV Mainz 05 of German Bundesliga). Okazaki finished as top goalscorer in the Asian Section of qualification for the 2014 FIFA World cup with eight goals.Yasuhito Endo, central midfielder (Japanese player who currently plays for the J. League team Gamba Osaka) he is considered a cult hero at Gamba Osaka and the Japan National football team because he has a formidable passing ability, leadership and goal scoring ability; and Keisuke Honda, attacking midfield player (who plays for Serie A club Milan) he is also known for his free-kicks, dribbling and ability as a dead ball specialist. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, thesinguardian.com, es.fifa.com.Also Japan has won the bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games.
The most influential Japanese animes:
Japanese animation or "Anime" is a style of animation known by exaggerated features (such as big eyes, oddly colored hair, etc.) animes portray fantastic stories usually about supernatural powers that is not only beautiful to watch but also entertaining.
Dragon Ball Z is one of the most watched animes that have ever been shown in world television, this is a japanese manga series that was written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama.
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Saint Seiya is a japanese manga series that was adapted into an anime television series from 1986 to 1989. The story revolved aroun mystical warriors called saint who wore sacred armors called cloths. These saints pledged to protect the reincarnation of athena in her fights against the olimpian Gods who sought to gain rule over the Earth.
Naruto is an ongoing japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto, the plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly dreams of becoming the next Hokage (the leader in the ninja village).
Death Note is probably one of the most mind bending anime around; this is a japanese anime series featured a high school student named Light Yagami, who discovered a supernatural notebook that was dropped on earth byt the god of death Ryuk; this notebook granted its user the ability to kill anyone he/she could identify.
Source: www.list25.com
Sailor Moon, known in Japan as Pretty soldier Sailormoon or pretty guardian Sailor Moon is a Japanese multimedia franchise series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. Fred Patten credits Takeuchi with popularizing the concept of a team of magical girls. The story of various metaseries revolves around the rebond defenders of a kingdom that once spanned the solar system and the evil forces that they battle. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, meetup.com
"Candy Candy"(キャンディ・キャンディ) Japanese Cartoon, a collection of Candice White Audrey art drawings is a Japanese novel, manga and anime series. Their first appeared in a prose novel by famed japanese writer Kioko Mizuki (pen name of Keiko Nagita) in April 1975, and illustrated by Kumiko Igarashi. The story was adapted into an anime series with 115 episodes by Toei animation and broadcast in october 1, 1976 to February 2, 1979. There are also several movies which were never released outside of Japan Sources: en.wikipedia.org, animecovers.tmblr.com
Candy Japanese opening theme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YquP9Nsdbxk
Heidi, Girl of the Alps (アルプスの少女ハイジ Arupusu no Shōjo Haiji) is a 1974 japanese anime series based on the swiss novel Heidi's years of wandering and learning by Joanna Spyri (1880). It was directed by Isao Takahata and features contributions by numerous other anime legends. Heidi is one of the masterpiece theater titles produced around the "classical children's literature period (1974-1997) based on classic tales from the Western World. Source: en.wikipedia.org
Heidi Japanese opening theme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hKi1VlE94A
Food:
Japanese cuisine offers a very large variety of dishes and regional specialities.
Japanese curry is a dish that is hugely popular in Japan and it is usually served with rice and the term "curry rice" is mentioned often. The usually ingredients in Japanese curry are potatoes, carrots, onion and meat. The sauce itself is usually made from curry powder or roux which is a blend of basic indian spices.
A common variation of Japanese curry is Katsu Kare (カツカレー),
which is a dish of regular japanese curry rice plus a piece of
deep-fried pork cutlet put on top.
Japanese curry is usually eaten with a large Westerm style spoon. It is often accompanied with a garnish of fukujinzuke (a slightly sweet mix of pickles) or rakkyo (pickled japanese scallion).
Fresh seafood Sushi:
Ramen: This is one of the favourite foods of japaneses. This is a clear soup which has a light flavour and its made of chicken.
