is a country made from four major islands. Though its area is small,
each region has different tastes. The country has the population of 123.6
millions according to the 1990 census, or 2.5 % of the world total, and it
is the seventh most populated nation according to The Cambridge
Encyclopaedia of .(5, p.25). ese political and economical world
power has been one of the success stories of the twentieth century. Though
small in geographic area, its popularity is the seventh greatest; its
inhabitants crowd themselves into an area the size of the state of Montana
or California in the United States. Its natural resources are almost non-
existent; however, today it ranks only second after the much larger United
States as the most affluent and economically productive nation in the world.
Japan was traditionally more self-sustained and semi-isolated in its
islands, and it pursued its own historic path on the periphery of a great
Chinese civilisation. The Japanese borrowed some cultural ideas from China.
(4,p.1-2). Although the population is largely homogeneous, there is
considerable regional diversity. This diversity is reflected in life-styles,
dialects and speech differing patterns of historic and economical
development. The four largest islands are Hokkaido(2), Honshu, Shikoku,
and Kyushu. Honshu, the largest island, is usually divided into five
regions; Tohoku (3), Kanto (4),Chubu (5), Kinki(6), and Chugoku (7).

According to Cultural Atlas of Japan, Hokkaido is Japan's northern
frontier.(1,p.23 ). Dominated by the daisetsu mountain range and national
park, Hokkaido is an island of forests, rivers, sheer cliffs and rolling
pastures. It's located at roughly the same latitude as New England or
southern France. Hokkaido is bounded by the Sea of Okhotsk to the North
and East, the Sea of Japan to the West, and the Pacific Ocean to the South.
It is 83517 square kilometres in area, a little smaller than Ireland. Its
climate is quite different from that of Honshu, with colder temperatures,
lower rainfall, no rainy season, few typhoons, and a much shorter growing
season of only 120 to 140 days a year. Hokkaido was outside the rice-
growing area in premodern Japan, but modern cold-resistant strains will
grow there and it now produces large quantities of rice as well as live
stock, dairies produce, fish, potatoes and other crops. About ninety
percent of Japan's pastureland is found in Hokkaido and nearly as much of
its dairy produce comes from there. With its wooded terrain, pastureland,
herds of cattle, large farms and silos Hokkaido has something of the look
of New England to it. Individual farms are larger than those further south
and the population are less dense.(1,p.24 ). Hokkaido also offers
delicious seafood, fresh daily produce, and plenty of hot springs. Its
beautiful winter is great for skiing, skating and the annual snow festival
with its world-famous ice sculptures.(2). The coal-mining, forestry and
fishing industries is important and industrial development is taking place
around Sapporo, the principal city and centre of development of modern
Hokkaido. Hokkaido is also one of the most popular place to visit for
thousands of the tourists throughout the year.

The island of Honshu, at 231,000 square kilometres, is larger than Great
Britain and is very much more densely populated, 404 persons per square
kilometre. It is broken by a spine of mountain arcs into a number of
regions with overlapping, but recognisably distinctive, characteristics
depending on their latitude and which sea they face. The coastal plains of
Honshu were for centuries the heartland of Japanese rice agriculture. They
have also been the site of dense urban settlement and heavy industrial
development.(1,p.25)

The north-eastern part of Honshu, comprising the prefectures of Aomori,
Iwate, Akita, Miyagi, Yamagata, and Fukushima is known as the Tohoku.
Traditionally labelled the granary of Japan, it is still predominantly a
farming area, supplying Sendai and the huge Tokyo-Yokohama market with rice
and other commodities. Farms in northern Tohoku, while smaller than some
dairy farms in Hokkaido, are larger than the national average.(1,p.25) From
the windows of the Shinkansen Bullet Train, which have just linked to
Aomori from Tokyo for six hours, travellers see acres of rice fields spread
in regular grids over the broad valleys. The region is famous for apples,
cherries, and seafood which is gathered from a landscape of rugged
coastlines, breathtaking islands, bubbling hot springs, sacred volcanoes,
deep ravines, thickly forested mountains, and picture-postcard lakes. Lake.
Towada which is located in Aomori prefecture, is known as a very beautiful
lake, and Lake. Tazawa in Akita prefecture is the most deepest lake in
Japan. Tohoku is a winter sports mecca and is also popular destination in
the summer for the some of Japan's most hot-blooded celebrations, including
the Tanabata, Kanto and Nabuta Festivals. Tohoku people are renowned for
their warmth and hospitality, and women from the region are reputed to be
the most fair-skinned and beautiful in Japan.(3) The major city in Tohoku
region is Sendai which grew up around the castle town of the feudal lord
Date Masamune (1567-1636).(1, p.25).

The Kanto, literally "east of the barrier," comprises the seven prefectures
around Tokyo on the broad Kanto Plain. They are Kanagawa Prefecture, Tokyo
Metropolitan Prefecture, Saitame, Gumma, Tochigi, Ibaraki and Chiba. The
Izu and Bonin Islands are administratively part of metropolitan Tokyo. The
alluvial plain, watered by several rivers rising in the mountains of
central Honshu, is surrounded by mountains to the west and north, and hills
to the east. Once the heartland of feudal power, the Kanto has been at the
core of modern Japanese development. The Tokyo-Kawasaki-Yokohama
conurbation, with a population ...