1. Culture of Japan

2. Japan is located in Asia

3. Japan is an Island

4. Climate and Terrain  Climate: varies from tropical in the south to cool temperate in the north  Terrain: mostly rugged and mountainous with numerous volcanos

5. Religion  Today many religions are practiced in Japan, but most Japanese follow a combination of Shintoism and Buddhism.  Although religion does not play a major role in the everyday life of the average Japanese, they do have customs and rituals that are observed on special occasions like birthdays, weddings, funerals, and religious holidays.

6. Japanese Art: Origami  Origami, the art of folding paper to create objects or animals, is a Japanese tradition that is important in many celebrations.

7. Japanese Art: Ikebana  Ikebana is the unique Japanese art of arranging flowers. It is a very disciplined art form that brings together humanity and nature. It runs completely counter to the concept of a flower arrangement as being just a collection of multicolored blooms and actually puts more focus on stems and leaves

8. Japanese Art: Ukiyo-e  Ukiyo-e (floating world) is a specific style of Japanese painting produced by woodblock prints which was popular between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries.  This style mostly featured landscape, theater, pleasure quarters, and history motifs.  This art encourages people to live in the moment and to turn their entire focus on the pleasure that is provided by the moon, cherry blossoms, snow, maple leaves, wine, and song. According to the artists of this movement, people should refuse to be disheartened by the burdens of everyday life.

9. Traditional Clothing  In recent years, the Japanese have become more accustomed to wearing western clothing. This is likely due to the convenience of western clothes and the global acceptance of western styles and fashions.  However, the Japanese have a rich history of their own unique cultural fashion. Traditional Japanese clothing includes many different types; fundoshi, furisode, hakama, hanten, happi, jinbeit, gūnihitoe, kimono, obi (sashes), samue, sokutai, tomesode, uwagi, and yukata. These garments are made to suit the seasons in which they are worn.  Clothing that has rustic hues and patterns, such as those that feature russet leaves, are preferred for autumn wear.  However, floral designs, such as those that feature cherry blossoms, and more vibrant colors are more common during the spring time. For winter, people who are dressed in kimonos like to wear darker fabric and more layers. Sometimes, people may wear ten layers of clothing. Hakama

10. Language  The Japanese language is spoken by more than one hundred and thirty million people. It belongs to the Japonic (Japanese-Ryukyuan) family of languages.  There is a fairly small inventory of sounds in the language, and the system of pitch-accents is significant. The written language uses three scripts. These are the kanji (Chinese characters), hiragana (for Japanese words), and the katakana (for foreign "loan" words), which are syllable scripts that use modified Chinese characters

11. Interesting Facts about Japan  1. Raw horse meat is a popular food in Japan.  2. Sometimes the trains are so crowded railway staff are employed to cram passengers inside.  3. Many couples in Japan celebrate Christmas like Valentine's Day.  4. Poorly written English can be found everywhere, including T-shirts and other fashion items.  5. More than 70% of Japan consists of mountains, including more than 200 volcanoes.  6. Mt. Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan, is an active volcano (although scientists have not reached a consensus on what defines "active").  7. Religion does not play a big role in the lives of most Japanese and many do not understand the difference between Shintoism and Buddhism. However, there are also many Japanese who do understand the difference.  9. There are four different writing systems in Japan; Romaji, Katakana, Hiragana, and Kanji.  10. Coffee is very popular and Japan imports approximately 85% of Jamaica's annual coffee production.  11. Japan's literacy rate is almost 100%.  12. Sumo is Japan's national sport, although baseball is also very popular.  13. Sumo wrestlers eat a stew called Chankonabe to fatten up. Many restaurants in the Ryogoku district of Tokyo serve this nabe (Japanese word for stew).

12. Manga and Anime  The Japanese culture has its own unique forms of comic books and animation. Manga (comic books) and anime (animation) are extremely popular in Japan. The earliest animation that is known to have been created in Japan was released in 1917. This early cartoon featured a samurai testing a sword and being defeated.  Japanese animation pioneers included Seitarō Kitayama, Jun'ichi Kouchi, and Shimokawa Oten. The modern style of anime was developed during the 1960s. One of the most influential artists is Osamu Tezuka. He followed the example set by Walt Disney's popular animated films and simplified the techniques they pioneered to save time and money.  Today's anime is both generated by computers and drawn by hand.

13. Food  While in Japan one can enjoy a wide variety of interesting and delicious dishes, including tako-yaki (grilled or fried octopus), sushi (dish of rice cooked with vinegar topped with seafood -often uncooked), sashimi (raw fish is sliced and served alone), and tempura (vegetables or seafood that are covered in a light batter and then deep fried ).  A few aspects that set Japanese cuisine apart from other cuisines are it's emphasis on using quality ingredients, particular seasonality, and impeccable presentation.

14. Traditions: Tea Ceremony  Japanese tea ceremony is a ritual that is heavily-influenced by the teachings of Zen Buddhism. There are two types of the tea gatherings with Ochakai being the simpler form of ceremony. Chaji is the more formal of the two ceremonies. It includes kaiseki (full-course meal), the service of confections, koicha (thick tea), and the thin tea. The chaji tea ceremony can last more than four hours. Tea ceremony has very specific traditions which are followed very closely. If the tea house possesses a bench outside, guests are expected to wait on that bench until the host calls them to come inside the establishment. Guests are then asked to use a little stone basin to wash their hands and mouths to "purify" themselves. After this, the guests head inside, but must remove their shoes before the are allowed to enter. Guests are then seated on a tatami in order from the most prestigious person in the group to the least prestigious. The host lays a charcoal fire in front of them and serves several courses of food and sake to wash it down. After the meal, each guest takes out a little sweet from kasha paper and eats it. Once the sweet is eaten, the guests are all expected to return to the waiting area until they are called again by the host.

15. Tea Ceremony Continued  The host uses specific movements to clean all of the utensils and then prepares the thick tea. It is proper for the host to have an assistant pour the tea for the guests. The host and the guest exchange bows as the guest drinks from the tea bowl. Then, he repeats this with the second guest. The action is repeated over and over until the last guest has consumed tea from the same bowl as everyone else. Then, the guests admire the tea bowl. Once all of the guests have had a chance to admire the bowl, the host takes the tea bowl out of the room. At this point, the host changes the event from formal to informal and adds more charcoal to the fire. Then, the host prepares individual bowls of the thin tea for each guest in attendance. At this point in the evening, it is finally acceptable for the guests to engage in casual conversations with one another. After the tea has been taken by every guest, the host takes the utensils and cleans them. The guest of honor is supposed to ask the host to let the guests examine the cleaned utensils. Each guests takes a good hard look at the utensils, but handles them with care. The utensils are often very valuable and irreplaceable. Once everything has been examined, it is time for the guests to leave. The host bows to them as they exit through a small doorway concluding the ceremony.

16. Resources  http://www.facts-about-japan.com http://www.facts-about-japan.com  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Japan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Japan