THE GEOGRAPHY OF JAPAN 



With Special Reference to Its Influence on the 

 Character of the Japanese People 



By Walter Weston 



Author of "Mountaineering and Exploration in the Japanese Alps" and "The Playground 



of the Far East" 



THE islands of the Japanese Archi- 

 pelago have been likened by the 

 fertile fancy of its native geogra- 

 phers and poets to a garland of flowers or 

 a girdle of jewels adorning the western 

 margin of those far Eastern Seas. In 

 prosaic fact, they really form the summit 

 ridge of a stupendous mountain chain that 

 rears itself from some of the profound- 

 est ocean depths yet fathomed. 



The main features of this gigantic mass 

 quite clearly prove its geological kinship 

 with the Asiatic mainland. The long, 

 sinuous crest of these mountain islands 

 of Japan forms the advanced frontier of 

 eastern Asia.* 



The bed of the ocean between Korea 

 and Japan, near the Tsushima Straits, is 

 so shallow that a comparatively slight up- 

 heaval of it would afford dry-land com- 

 munication from one to the other. In 

 the extreme north, at the island of Sak- 

 halin, the distance from the Asiatic main- 

 land can readily be crossed in a small 

 canoe. 



This fact has an important bearing on 

 the flora of the Japanese Alpine regions, 

 for its peculiar admixture of Alpine and 

 northern plant forms points to its trans- 

 migration from Kamchatka and eastern 

 Siberia, carried thence southward by the 

 violent monsoons and currents, and then 

 driven up the mountains by valley winds. 



MANY POINTS OP SIMILARITY BETWEEN 

 JAPAN AND THE BRITISH ISLES 



There are many striking and suggestive 

 points of resemblance between the islands 

 of Japan and those of Britain. Just as 

 Britain was close enough to the Conti- 

 nent of Europe readily to receive its 

 civilization and religion, while maintain- 



*For a map of Japan, see the National Geo- 

 graphic Society's "Map of Asia" (size, 28x36 

 inches), published as a supplement with the 

 May Geographic. 



ing the independence characteristic of an 

 island race, so it has been with Japan. 



It is from the Asiatic mainland that 

 Japan has derived all its ancient arts, 

 religion, and civilization — chiefly from 

 China, either direct or by way of Korea. 



It is freely admitted by the Japanese 

 that practically the only item of the 

 amenities of life for which they have not 

 been in the past indebted to the Celestial 

 Empire is their love of cleanliness. Al- 

 most every Japanese, whenever possible, 

 has a hot bath at the end of his day's toil, 

 whereas the Chinese rarely, in any sense, 

 gets into hot water (if he can possibly 

 get out of it), and he is popularly said to 

 observe sarcastically, ''What a dirty fel- 

 low a Japanese must be to need washing 

 so often !" 



Both in area and population Japan 

 proper somewhat exceeds the British 

 Isles, having 150,000 square miles as 

 against 121,000, and 57,000,000 inhabit- 

 ants compared with 45,000,000. 



ONE MILE OP COAST POR EVERY NINE 

 SQUARE MILES 



These islands are remarkable for the 

 length of their coast-lines, which, com- 

 pared with the area, give a ratio of one 

 mile of coast to nine square miles of land. 

 The ratio in the case of the British Isles is 

 one mile of coast to thirteen square miles. 

 With this deeply indented coast-line, there 

 are many good natural harbors, though 

 these are mostly confined to the Pacific 

 coast. 



The shores abound in rich supplies of 

 fish of many kinds, which have for cen- 

 turies constituted one of the chief articles 

 of the daily food of the Japanese people, 

 and the fishing industries have served to 

 rear a hardy race of seafaring folk. 



Yokohama, the chief seaport of the 

 Empire, lies in practically the same lati- 

 tude as Gibraltar, while the central por- 

 tion of the great range of the "Japanese 



45 



