Skip to Main Content
Japan
Japan: Topic Page
The divine design of the empire—supposedly founded in 660 B.C. by the emperor Jimmu, a lineal descendant of the sun goddess and ancestor of the present emperor—was held as official dogma until 1945.
Geography
Hokkaido: Topic Page
It is the second largest, northernmost, and most sparsely populated of the major islands of Japan.
Honshu: Topic Page
The largest of the four main islands of Japan, between the Pacific and the Sea of Japan; regarded as the Japanese mainland.
Kyushu: Topic Page
An island of SW Japan: the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, with over 300 surrounding small islands; coalfield and chemical industries.
Shikoku
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Smallest of the four main islands of Japan, south of Honshu, east of Kyushu; area 18,800 sq km/7,250 sq mi; population (2000 est) 4,154,000.
Cultures
Ainu
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Aborigines of Japan who may be descended from a Caucasoid people who once lived in N Asia. More powerful invaders from the Asian mainland gradually forced the Ainu to retreat to the northern islands of Japan and Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in what is now the Russian Far East.
