Population: 127 million
Capital: Tokyo
Language: Japanese
many couples in Japan celebrate Christmas as we celebrate Valentine’s Day? In Japan, Christmas is the holiday of the love couple.
more than 70% of Japan is made up of mountains, including more than 200 volcanoes?
Geography of Japan
The Empire of Japan is populated by 127 million people and consists of the main islands Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu as well as about 3,000 smaller islands. Together, the many islands form a 2,000 km long arc that separates the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Japan and has China, Korea and Russia as its nearest neighbors. Japan is a distinct mountain nation with mountain ranges that are about 3,000 meters high. The country’s highest mountain is the sacred and very beautiful Fujiyama on the west side of the main island of Honshu. Fujiyama is 3,776 meters high. Between the many Japanese mountains, many rivers run and form deep lakes before flowing into the sea. Each flat area is covered by cities. Especially the low, narrow coastal plains on the Pacific coast where Japan’s many million cities are located. In Japan, it is very difficult to find untouched nature. The many millions of people have spread everywhere, and one has to go quite high up in the mountains to find landscapes that have not been affected by man. Population growth has been a serious problem throughout the 20th century, and attempts have been made to address the shortage of places through emigration, conquests, free abortion and family planning campaigns.
Climate and wildlife in Japan
Japan has temperate climates in the north and subtropical climates in the south. The summer monsoon comes with warm, humid air and 21-26 ° to most of the country. Spring is the most popular time to travel to Japan, and if you have experienced how the wind turns the flowers of the cherry trees into pink snow villages, you understand why. Autumn in Japan is also nice with mild temperatures and nice colors. But the weather does not only offer blue skies and beautiful natural phenomena. Japan has over 1,000 earthquakes each year and about 200 active and inactive volcanoes that form many hot springs inland. The species most likely to encounter in Japan is homo sapiens, but there are still monkeys, bears, wild boars, deer and giant salamanders up to 1.5 m in the Japanese mountains and mountain streams.
Traveling in Japan
On a holiday in Japan, you get to meet the Japanese’s elegant, formal behavior, which, however, changes radically after a couple of drinks and perhaps a karaoke performance. You always experience the contrast between tradition and modernity. Tokyo is one of the world’s most modern cities with exclusive department stores, glittering neon signs and giant big screens along the streets. Kyoto has over 1,600 Buddhist temples, an imperial palace, Shogun’s Nijoborg, and some of Japan’s best museums. In the pleasant town of Nara you can see the country’s oldest and most impressive buildings. The most horrific part of Japan’s history can be found in Hiroshima, which was the site of a terrible debut in the history of weapons when the city was laid in ruins by the world’s first atomic bomb in August 1945. A dome-shaped ruin remains as a memorial to the destruction. Visit printerhall for Japan Hotels.
If you want to see a real UNESCO attraction on your trip to Japan, you can go to the city of Himejii on Honshu. Here is Japan’s and one of the world’s most beautiful fortresses – “The Castle of the White Herons”. The castle dates from the 17th century, is surrounded by a large park and was designed so that the attackers would have difficulty finding their way to the core facility Donjo. On the southernmost of the main islands, Kyushu, the international city of Fukuoka with a lively nightlife and Kagoshima with the lava-dust-erupting volcano Sakurajima are located next door.
Climate and weather Japan
Get an overview of the weather and climate in Japan – from the big cities Tokyo and Osaka on the main island of Honshu to Fukuoka on the southern island of Kyushu and Naha on Okinawa.
JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | CHRISTMAS | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC | |
Tokyo | ||||||||||||
Daytime temperature | 10 | 10 | 13 | 19 | 23 | 26 | 29 | 31 | 27 | 22 | 17 | 12 |
Night temperature | 3 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 23 | 25 | 21 | 15 | 10 | 5 |
Precipitation (mm) | 52 | 56 | 118 | 125 | 138 | 168 | 154 | 168 | 210 | 198 | 93 | 51 |
Osaka | ||||||||||||
Daytime temperature | 10 | 10 | 14 | 20 | 25 | 28 | 32 | 33 | 29 | 23 | 18 | 12 |
Night temperature | 3 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 25 | 22 | 16 | 10 | 5 |
Precipitation (mm) | 45 | 62 | 104 | 104 | 146 | 186 | 157 | 91 | 161 | 112 | 69 | 44 |
Fukuoka | ||||||||||||
Daytime temperature | 10 | 11 | 14 | 20 | 24 | 27 | 31 | 32 | 28 | 23 | 18 | 13 |
Night temperature | 4 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 25 | 21 | 15 | 10 | 6 |
Precipitation (mm) | 68 | 72 | 113 | 117 | 143 | 255 | 278 | 172 | 178 | 74 | 85 | 60 |
Naha (Okinawa) | ||||||||||||
Daytime temperature | 20 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 27 | 29 | 32 | 32 | 30 | 28 | 25 | 21 |
Night temperature | 15 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 22 | 25 | 27 | 27 | 26 | 23 | 20 | 16 |
Precipitation (mm) | 107 | 120 | 161 | 166 | 232 | 247 | 141 | 241 | 261 | 153 | 110 | 103 |
Japan has four seasons just like in Sweden. A visit can be planned in the spring when the cherry trees are in bloom, or in the autumn when the leaves change color. The climate in the country varies from temperate in the north to subtropical in the south. On the islands in the northern part of the country, the winters are long and cold, with winds from the northwest bringing snowfall. The summers in these regions are also cool. The central highlands have a typical inland climate with large temperature differences between winter and summer. Further south, on the Ryukyu Islands, among others, the climate is subtropical with a warm winter and hot, humid summers. The average winter temperature in Japan is 5.1 ºC and summer time 25.2 ºC. The rainy season begins in May – June and reaches the northern regions at the end of July.