JAPAN 50 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Altaic Languages, Japanese Language, Yodo River
Document Summary
Textbook: chapter 1 prehistory (pages 3 to 15) Japan deeply influenced by china but did not become like them looki(cid:374)g at japa(cid:374)"s ar(cid:272)hipelago (cid:271)efore japa(cid:374), the ter(cid:373) a(cid:374)d (cid:272)o(cid:374)(cid:272)ept, e(cid:454)isted. Japan = 4 main islands: hokkaido, honshu, shikoku, kyushu, dozens of smaller islands, + ryukyu/okinawa islands. Area of 146,000 sq miles: looks small against china but is pretty big. Separated from the asian continent by sea of okhotsk, sea of japan, and east china. Shaped by tectonic, climatic, and oceanic forces. Sits at intersection of four tectonic plates: pacific, north american, eurasian, philippine sea, = many earthquakes and active volcanoes, which makes a lot of mountains (steep/rugged) 4 important plains: tsukushi plain (in kyushu, kinai, nobi, kanto plains (in honshu) Mountains + plains + between asian mainland and pacific ocean = weird weather: winter = snow and wind, summer = rainy first + warm. Before ice age, land bridges linked the archipelago to asia (about 12,000 years ago)
