thIngs tO knOw::

• Japan is located in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. In the Sea of Japan lies a group of four islands and hundreds of tiny islets. These are the Japanese Islands, which stretch about 2,400 kilometers(1,500 miles) from the cold waters of the North Pacific to the warmer South. The islands are Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido.
• Japan has one of the highest populations in the world and it is still growing.
• The Japanese are homogeneous, or similar to one another, because few foreigners have moved into Japan and settled there.
• Japan's climate is affected by two ocean currents. One is the Japan Current that moves from the east of the Philippines, along the eastern coast of Japan. This brings a warmer climate to the country. The second current is a cold one. It originates in the Bering Sea off the Siberian Coast and flows off to the east coast to the island of Hokkaido. This cold belt brings the lower temperatures. Japan has high humidity throughout the year. Japan had four seasons: pleasant springs; hot, humid summers; clear, bright summers; and cold winters.
• There are 200 hundred religions in Japan, but most are affiliated with either Buddahism or Shintoism in their various forms.
• The Japanese language is unique. It cannot be classified with any other language group in the world. Until the third century when Chinese was introduced, there was no written style for the Japanese. In the 8th century a system was developed for writing out spoken Japanese on Chinese characters or ideographs. The Japanese languages uses three writing systems: kanji, hiragana, and katakana.

knOw thIs

• Japanese make up 15 percent of the current Asian-American population.
• Only 7 percent live in poverty.
• Prejudice against them is due mainly because of their economic success.
• Japanese citizens were not allowed to immigrate to the states until 1884
• Because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, businesses in Hawaii and California actively recruited Japanese men as cheap labor.
• In 1913, the Webb Alien Land Law prevented the Japenese already in the U.S. from owning land.
• A second Gentlemen's Act in 1924 ended further Japanese immigration.
• After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7,1941, all Japanese Americans on the West Coast were imprisoned to ten inland relocation centers until 1945.

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dEfInItIOns

• Nisei: Second generation Japanese who were born as U.S. citizens
• Issei: Older Japanese adults who had immigrated before the 1924 Gentlemen's Agreement. Never eligible for naturalization, the issei were classified as "enemy aliens" during WWII.
• Japan-Bashing: The practice of puttinf down or discriminating against Japanese products in order to favor U.S. made products.

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AziaNNaTioN