japan

1. japan The land of the rising sun

4. Facts about japan • Capital city- Tokyo • Population- 127 million • Currency- Yen • GDP- $4.34 Trillion • Major industries- consumer electronics, motor vehicles, steel • Literacy rate- 99% • Unemployment rate- 4% • Official language- Japanese with some Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana, and Romanji

5. In this unit, you will learn • Historically, how was Japan structured and what did they believe in • What qualities they valued in an ideal citizen • Isolationismwithin Edo Japan • The end of isolationism and the start of industrialization within Meiji Japan • How Japanese culture changed with global interaction • Japanese thoughts on armed forces

7. Land of the rising sun • Japanese creation story on page 261 • Why is Japan called the “land of the rising sun? • How is Japan isolated from the rest of the world? • Where are its neighbours? How would you get there? How long would it take to travel there? • Japan was able to remain isolated from the rest of the world because, in the 1500s, Europeans did not have the capability of sailing into Japanese waters • Even when they did develop the technology, the journey took several months and was extremely dangerous

8. Isolationism • We will discuss in more detail, why Japan isolated itself from the rest of the world. For now, let’s compare Japan to Canada: • Which province is the most like Japan? Which province is the most isolated and why?

9. Culture adaptation • Because of their isolationist stand-point, Japan was able to pick and choose which cultures they borrowed from • For example, they borrowed the system of writing in characters from China and called it Kanji • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ECNv0Rv52k

10. Practice time • http://www.thejapaneseconnection.com/kanji-symbol-stencil-download-list.htm