Japan (Jap. Nihon [Nippon])
- Hugh de Ferranti,
- Shigeo Kishibe,
- David W. Hughes,
- W. Adriaansz,
- Robin Thompson,
- Charles Rowe,
- Donald P. Berger,
- W. Malm,
- W.P. Malm,
- David Waterhouse,
- Allan Marett,
- Richard Emmert,
- Fumio Koizumi,
- Kazuyuki Tanimoto,
- Masakata Kanazawa,
- Linda Fujie
- and Elizabeth Falconer
Extract
Country in East Asia. With an area of 370,000 km² and a population of about 126·43 million (2000), it principally comprises four main islands (Honshū, Kyūshū, Hokkaidō and Shikoku) and the Ryūkyū archipelago, extending in an arc between Kyūshū and Taiwan. Early cultural influences flowed from Japan’s proximity to China and Korea to the west. Although generally considered to be ethnically homogeneous, Japan is culturally diverse, with distinctive cultures especially in the far south (Ryukyuan) and the far north (Ainu culture of Hokkaidō) complementing the mainstream of Japanese culture....
