1. E x p l o r e J a p a n Nature and climate By: Allison Mckay & Ellie Semsarian

2. About Japan The land area of Japan is 378,000 square km. Three- quarters of the country is mountainous, with plains and water covering the remaining area. Japan consists of 3,000km of Islands stretching from North to South. The four main Islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and kyushu.

3. Seasons Japan has four seasons, spring (haru), summer (natsu), autumn, (aki) winter (fuyu) When the cherry blossoms appear in spring it is one of the two most beautiful sites in Japan. The other beautiful site is the red and yellow leaves in autumn. Summer is when the farmers plant their rice. Winter is quite cold and dry and the western parts of Japan have very heavy rainfall.

4. Climate Most of Japan is in the Northern Temperate Zone of the earth and has a humid monsoon climate. The far north and south of Japan have very different climates. For example, In March you can go sunbathing in the south and skiing in the north. Japan also has a lot of Natural disasters, such as typhoons, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

5. Bibliography Kids web Japan, [on-line], http://web- japan.org/kidsweb/index.html, 8/9/09 and 9/9/09 Google the company, 2009, google images, [on- line] www.images.google.com.au, 8/9/09 and 9/9/09