Study Tour for Children

Chitra Sivakumar

Japan

1 Japan is Land of the Rising Sun. It is also called Nihon or Nippon. Nihon means Sun Light. Japanese believe that their Emperor had come from the family of the Female Goddess Ameterasu. That is why it is called Nihon. It is in East Asian Pacific Ocean.

2 Japan has 40 thousand islands. It is 3000 kms from North to South. Its width is only 402 kms. China, Korea and Russia are its neighbours. America and Canada are in the East after Pacific Ocean. Japan has four major islands Honshu, Hokkaido, Shikoku and Kyushu.

Japan has mountains and sea coasts. One third is mountains. Most of the Japanese live on the coasts. Honshu island has the big flat area called Kanto. Japans capital Tokyo, second biggest city Yokohama and other important cities Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Nara and Kobe are all in this area.

3 There is a big mountain near the Japans capital Tokyo. It is called Mount Fuji. It is a big volcano. It is 3779m. It has erupted 1707 times. It is staying quite for past 300 years.

Mount Fuji

Best time to visit Japan is April and May. First week of May is called Golden Week.
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4 Japan get earthquakes frequently. The 1923 Tokyo Earthquake swallowed 140000 people. Mostly all the houses in Japan are constructed to withstand earthquakes. Japan had disastrous earthquakes in 1995, 2008, 2011. When earthquakes occur, tsunami waves rise. Tsunami waves touches Japan coasts frequently. Next danger is Typhoon which hits Japan during Summer end. Typoon means Strong Wind.

Kobe Bridge after earthquake

Tsunami

5 History says that Siberians were first to occupy Japan. Later Chinese and Koreans occupied Southwest Japan and moved north and mixed with those living there. Ainu people lived in the Hokkaido region in the north. They belong to Jomon period. They spoke Ainu language. .

Ainu tribes

; Ainu festival on Akon lake

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In 300 B.C, Yamato group got into power. These people told that they came from family of Sun Goddess Ameterasu. They called their head as Emperor. Till today, their family head is treated as the Emperor of Japan. Heien (todays Kyoto) was made Japans capital in 794 B.C. Fujiwara, Teira, Minamoto groups fought between each other. Finally in 16th century, Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan.

Tokugawa Ieyasu
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6 Nishiyoki or Hinamaru, the Japanese flag was accepted in 1854. It has red circle on a white background. The red circle depicts Sun.

Hinamaru Modern Japan was created by Emperor Meiji in 1868. During his rule, lot of changes were brought in Japan. Japans currency Yen was created in 1871 similar to European coins. Yen means circle.

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1871 Silver 1 Yen coin

Todays 10 Yen Bronze Coin

Constitution was drafted by Ito Hirobumi in 1889. Japanese Parliament is called Diet. Diet has both House of Representatives and House of Councillors.

Japanese Parliament Diet;

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7 On December 7th, 1941, Japan participated in Second World War. It showed its power by attacking the American Naval Shipyard Pearl Harbour in Hawaiian Island with a bomb.

There were continuous attacks in the Pacific Ocean for many years. Many important cities in Japan were burnt. On August 6th, 1945 the atom bomb Little Boy burnt millions of people living in Hiroshima. Again after three days, the attack by Americans with Fat Boy hit Nagasaki and shook the Japans power.
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8 Shinto and Buddhism are the two important religions of Japan. Shinto means Way of the Gods. It is followed only in Japan. There are many Shinto shrines in Japan. The entrance called Tori is unique. Shinto religion treats nature as sacred.

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Tori

Next important religion is Buddhism. It was introduced in 552 B.C.

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9 When two Japanese meet, they wish each other by bending.

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10 Japanese Language uses Kanji, Hirakana, Furigana, Katakana and Romaji letters. Chinese letters were called Kanji. There are more than 3000 letters written using strokes. Chinese words and similar meaning words were represented in Kanji. It is an art writing these characters. Some has 23 strokes.

rpy fhQ;rp vOj;Jfs;

Thoese words that cannot be written in Kanji were written in Hirakana. Unusual Kanji characters were explained by writing the pronounciation on top of kanji called Furigana. They have just 4 strokes. a e c v x
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f ] jh e ` k a u t

fp \p rp ep `p kp hp

F R l;R E `{ K A U

Nf Nr Nj Ne N` Nk

Nu

Nfh Nrh Njh Neh N`h Nkh Nah Nuh Nth d;

Hirakana letters

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or

Furigana letters Foreign words and words borrowed from other languages are written in Katakana.

Katakana letters When English letters were written and read, it is called Romaji.

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Kimono is Japans traditional dress. Both men and women wear this. Kimono for women is made of special silk material. It is very expensive. Kimono for men is simple. It is called Yukata.
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We can see them wear this during festive occasions and weddings.

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12 New Year is January 1. They celebrate it for three days. Next comes Girls Day on March 3rd. Girls enjoy by wearing Kimono. They get beautiful toys as gifts. Toys were arranged on steps.

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May 5th is Childrens day. It is called Kodomo-no-hi. It is also Boys day. They pray for their boy children for good health and courage. Fishes made with paper or cloth were hung on bamboo poles in front of their houses on that day to depict that they have to face all challenges in life.

Gian Matsuri was celebrated on July 17th. Nicely decorated floats with music go around the streets.

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Bon festival was celebrated in August. People pay their rights to ancestors by offering the ghosts returning to earth. They dance together during this occasion. One week in March or April month has cherry blossons called Sakura. People enjoy by sitting under those trees during this week of blossom. It is called Hana-mi, seeing the flowers.

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13 Staple food for Japanese is rice. Their morning meal is mostly mizo soup, rice, egg, dried fish, vegetable pickle and Green Tea. Their food is healthy. Vegetables, meat and fish are taken in equal portions to make the body strong. This is reason for their long lives.

Sushi 25

Dinner is complete food. Varieties were served. There will be Sashimi, sliced fresh fish, sea weeds, tofu, tempura, fried sea food, vegetable.

Sashimi

Tempura

They eat sea food three folds than meat.

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14 Their dining table is a short one unlike ours. They sit and eat with folded legs.

They eat their food with two sticks called Chopsticks.

Chopsticks

How to hold the Chopsticks 27

15 Noh, Bunraku and Kabuki are Japanese Stage arts. Oldest Noh is a stage drama. It preaches the Shinto and Buddhist religions facts.

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Bunraku was introduced in Osaka as puppet show in 1684. It got famous with the name Uemeru Bunrakan of Osaka. It is puppet show with music and story.

Kabuki became famous during Edo period. Kabuki means song and dance.

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Growing dwarfed trees called Bonsai is another art of Japan.

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Sanoyu, the sacred art of Japan is Tea Ceremony. It was created by Buddhist.

Japanese instruments are unique. The thirteen stringed instrument is called Koto. Shamisen is a Guitar instrument.

Koto
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16 Japanese houses were built as big rooms. Partitions can be made according to requirement. These partitions are two types. Thin, light transparent partition is called Shoji. Thick light opaque is called osama.

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Interior of Japanese house

Mat is spread inside. It is called tatami. Tatami means fold. It is a thick straw mat. Sizes change for houses. House size is measured in tatami mat count. Japanese dont use cots. They use bed called futon and rug over the mat and sleep.

futon

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17 Japanese take bath not only to be clean but to relax also. They take bath mostly in the night. They dont get into the tub directly. They clean themselves with the water kept in buckets next to tub and then enter the tub to relax. If they want to apply soap, they come out of the tub, wash themselves and then enter the tub again. Since the same water in the tub must be used by all the house members, they try to keep the water in the tub clean.

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18 Shinkansen means New Rail. It was started during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. It ran at 210 km per hour. It was also called Bullet Train for its speed. It runs at 300 km per hour now.

Shinkansen Till today, it runs punctually. No accidents were recorded. When earthquake symptoms occur, it stops automatically.
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19 Shortage of space and high cost of living led to Cubicles. Kisho Kurokawa of Osaka introduced such staying places in 1979. One person can comfortably sleep in it.

Cubicle

Cubicle Hotel

It has various facilities. Television, phone, electricity, internet connections are available inside.
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20 Haiku is the unique Japanese style poetry. It has three lines. 5 words in first, 7 words in second and 5 words in third is the normal style.

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Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, Mazda, Nissan are High quality car Manufacturers of Japan.

Honda cars for export;

Panasonic, Canon, Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba, Mazda make Camera, Video and many items of quality. Japan has natural resources like gold, silver and coal. Raw materials for factories are mostly imported. All the items in factories are made using Robot.

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Unit with Robot hands Besides these, farming, forestry and fishing are also important occupations in Japan.

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22 Base ball introduced by Americans is the chief sport of Japan. Martial arts like Judo, Kendo, Sumo are traditional games of Japan. Judo means gentle way. It is fought very calmly.

Base ball

Judo

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Kendo is done with sword. It means Way of the Sword. Both men and women practice this. It was done with sharp sword during Samurai period. Now Bamboo sword is used.

Kendo

Sumo

Sumo is like Indian Wrestling. It is done only for seconds. It is fought on a circular rink.

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23 Tokyo, Kyoto, Himeji, Hiroshima, Osaka, Nagoya has wonderful castles.

Tokyo Imperial Palace

Himeji Castle

Hamamatsu Castle

Nagoya Castle 42

24 Shinto and Buddhist shrines. Gold roofed Kyoto Kin-ka-kuji Shrine situated in a lake.

Kyoto Kin-ka-kuji Shrine Naras Todaiji Shrine has the biggest Buddha statue of Japan.

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Naras Todaiji Shrine

Biggest Buddha statue

Kumakura in Yokohama, 50km from Tokyo has the biggest Bronze Buddha seated outdoors. Statue has escaped the great tsunami when the roof was washed out.

Kumakura Buddha statue

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25 Important places in Tokyo. Electronic shopping street in Akihabara. Big malls and restaurants of Ginza. Youngsters stylish Asakusa.

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26 Disney Land is a place where both children and adults can enjoy together.

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Peace Park is built to show the effects of Atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

Peace Memorial

Bomb Dome;

The Aioi river bank where people ran to drink water to quench their thirst after the dropping of the bomb was made as Peace Park. Museum showing the after effects of bombing and the Bomb Dome that escaped the bombing tells lot of stories to us.
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