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Japan And Japanese Culture

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Japan is an East Asian Island country with a distinct cultural identity. Samurai values, kimono clothing, Noh Theater, woodblock art, and sumo wrestling are among the many instantly identifiable aspects of Japan's culture. Many of Japan's cultures have developed through centuries of feudal rule and has benefited from the country's geographic isolation.
Japan put in place a policy of national seclusion for hundreds of years until the 1850s, but it succumbed to an imperialist power by the end of the 19th century. The culture of Japan was spread internationally through occupation in military campaigns before World War II. Japan then reinvented itself after the war and began to flourish economically. Japanese influence spread not by militarist might, but through economic integration with much of the international community in the last part of the 20th century (Encyclopedia Britannica Online, "Japan," 2011).
East of the Asian mainland, Japan is a country of mountainous volcanic islands and intermittent valleys situated in the western Pacific Ocean. Japan has four main islands, the biggest is Honshu, which contributes to sixty percent of the nations total land area and eighty percent of the entire population. Some of the other major islands of Japan include Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. Lying south of the main islands are the Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa. With a land area totaling 377,835 sq km (145,902 sq mi), Japan is a fraction smaller than California. Neighboring

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