Japan, a brief history, current information, and global issues.

Japan, one of the largest current economic powers of the world, is considered to be located in Eastern Asia. It is due east of the Korean peninsula and is an island chain that consists of more than 2,000 islands including Honshu which is the 7th largest island in the world. The population is about 126 million which is a little less than half the population of the United States. This might not seem like much when you consider that we have more than double the amount of people that they have but fit them all into a country the size of our state of California. There are 7.8 million people alone in the capital city of Tokyo.

The topic of religion seems to have a slight blur to it in Japan as far as how they view themselves. The major religions are Buddhism and Shinto with a fairly significant amount in the other category such as Confucianism, Islam, and Christianity. Buddhism runs mainly based on the goal of achieving Nirvana, a state of enlightenment, where Shinto is a religion based greatly upon its optimism. It seems like religion does not seem to be as important to the average Japanese person as it used to be but more followed on special occasions like weddings and funerals. The people tend not to stick to one definitive religion but adapt parts from a few different religions. The official language of Japan is obviously Japanese but it definitely benefits them to learn English as a second language. The way the language is spoken can have different meanings just as any other languages. Rules of respect such as the ones that occur in the Spanish language also hold true in Japanese depending upon who you are speaking with. There are also words that are specific...