日本の地理を英語で説明しよう！

こちらのGeography Nowは、今日初めて知ったチャンネルですが、 トークも動画編集もうまく出くていてとても見やすいです。

history of japanも再生数5000万回近く、非常に有名なよくできた動画です。

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This is one country I barely have to introduce you to. Let's just get it over with.
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Sushi, geishas, karate!
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Temples, ramen, anime!
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Sumos, weird stuff, weird cosplay, poison fish,
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and I'm not even gonna ask about that...
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De wa, ikimashou! では, 行きましょう!
00:13
It's time to learn Geography
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NOW!
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Hey everybody, I'm your host Barbs. We have reached the Land of the Rising Sun,
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Asia's island powerhouse and home to a culture that I'm sure you've heard of. Let's just jump into it.
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Ah, Japan, you have such a story behind you.
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First of all, Japan is located right off the east coast of the Asian continent
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between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan,
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stretching all the way from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north with the East China Sea to the south.
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The country is divided into 47 prefectures, each with incredibly beautiful minimalistic style flags.
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The prefectures are divided into four different categories: "ken", "to", "fu", and "do".
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The first level, "ken"
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(heh heh, "Ken")
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refers to the 43 plain prefectures. Then you have "to",
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which means something like "metropolis", and this category only applies to Tokyo City.
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"Fu" refers to the urban prefectures, which applies only to the cities of Osaka and Kyoto.
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And finally, "do", which is a unique category translating to something like "circuit"
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and that applies to all of Hokkaido in the north.
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Speaking of which, Tokyo, Japan's capital, is the largest city in the world,
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with its greater metropolitan area including Kanto containing about 37 million people.
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That's more than the entire population of Canada.
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However, Tokyo is kinda like 23 smaller cities all smashed into one, divided into units called wards.
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And the closest thing to a capital one would probably be Chiyoda,
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where the Emperor, Prime Minister, and Supreme Court are located.
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After the Greater Toyko Kanto region, you have the next largest cities Osaka and Nagoya coming in at third.
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Keep in mind, about 90% of people in Japan live in cities, and the vast majority on Honshu and Kyushu
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The busiest airports, of course, being Tokyo's two twins:
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Haneda, which is actually in Tokyo,
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and Narita International, which is like an hour and a half drive away outside of Tokyo.
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Then you have Osaka's Kansai International
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Heh heh, "KIX".
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and Fukoka International on Kyushu.
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Heh heh, fu-
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Gotta keep it clean, Keith!
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Speaking of which, Japan is made up of about 6,850 islands,
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but about 97% of the land is made up of four main islands:
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Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido.
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South of the main four, you have the Ryukyu Islands chain
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which extends just south of Kyushu, partially making up Okinawa Prefecture.
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You've probably heard of Okinawa – it's where Uma Thurman got that sword that she used to kill Lucy Liu.
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It's also where these two isla- *ahem* never mind...
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Nonetheless, Japan can still kind of be separated into ten historical main regions,
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six of which divided amongst Honshu.
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Then you have the interesting less-highlighted Kuril Islands dispute with Russia in the north.
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Basically, Russia administers all of them but Japan claims these two islands closest to Hokkaido:
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Iturup (or Etoro-futo) and Kunashir (or Kunashiri),
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which is only less than ten miles away from Hokkaido.
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On a clear day, you can even see it from the coast, but it's like, "Nope! Russia."
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They even have a statue of Lenin.
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The Russians and Japanese have kind of had a long dispute over this area –
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at one point Japan even tried to take over all of Sakhalin in the 1800's.
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Then you have the Dokdo/Takeshima island dispute between them and South Korea.
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To this day South Korea has a patrol building built on the island and they fiercely guard it.
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And finally, you have Okinotori-shima,
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which is probably the loneliest place in Japan as a shallow reef in the middle of the ocean.
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It looks like it's trying so hard to become an island, complete with three helipads and a research station.
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There's no diplomatic dispute, but rather a dispute within the UN on whether or not it qualifies as "land"
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for an exclusive economic zone in the ocean.
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Whew, okay, all right, that kind of took forever.
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Getting around in Japan is incredibly easy,
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often touted as having the best public transportation system in the world.
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They have highways and trains everywhere, even one that cuts through an office building,
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as well as the Shinkansen bullet train system that can get you to virtually every corner of Honshu and Kyushu
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as well as the bottom tip of Hokkaido.
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But not Shikoku! If you want to go Shikoku,
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you have to take this slower, local Seto-Ohashi Line across the Seto Bridge.
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Yeah, Shikoku is kind of like the runt of the litter in Japan.
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Basically, Japan is like one big massive machine constantly running and moving,
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with flashing neon lights, vending machines, and robots, and everything,
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EVERYTHING, even the garbage cans have cartoons, cartoons everywhere!
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Anyway! Some notable places of interest might include:
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Tokyo Skytree, the second tallest building in the world,
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Miyajima Pagoda,
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Matsumoto, Himeji, and Osaka Castles,
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the Fushimi Inari Shrine, the Great Buddha Hall,
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Nakagin Capsule Tower, the vine bridges of Iya Valley,
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the Ramen Museum,
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so many weird-themed restaurants and hot springs,
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the self-mummified monks of sokushinbutsu,
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Henn-na Hotel,
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the Ninja Museum in Iga, Kan-mangafuji Lava Buddhas,
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the restricted-access Ise Grand Shrine, the most significant of all Shinto shrines,
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the Shirakawa-go Traditional Village armed with water cannons to protect itself from fires,
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abandoned theme parks like Greenland and Nara Dreamland,
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Kochia Hill with red cypress,
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and the national treasure, Itsu-Kushima Shrine, featured on numerous pieces of art, films, and even banknotes.
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Now despite the bustling metropolis regions and skyscrapers,
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Japan does an incredible job at maintaining its natural integrity. Find out how in...
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Now Japan's land is kind of like a gingerbread house:
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beautiful on the outside, but potentially dangerous on the inside.
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First of all, Japan is a straddle volcanic archipelago located on the most precariously-situated section where
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four major tectonic plates converge: the Pacific, the Philippine, the Eurasian, and the North American Plates.
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Of course, this means that not only is Japan subject to earthquakes but also tsunamis
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(which by the way is a Japanese word – “津波”)
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caused from sub oceanic activities, such as the one recently in Fukushima
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caused by the epicenter in the Japan Trench off the Pacific.
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This also means that Japan is a volcanic area, with numerous volcanoes still active
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like Aogashima, a volcano within a volcano, and Mt. Aso, the largest volcanic caldera.
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This, in return, also blesses Japan with countless natural hot springs
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which they like to exploit and build bathhouses on called “onsen”, typically indicated with this symbol.
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All this plate activity and volcanoes means that about 70% of Japan is mountainous,
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with the highest peak Mt. Fuji overlooking Tokyo,
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which by the way is still technically an active volcano which erupted about 300 years ago.
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The rift between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate creates the Japanese Alps
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which bisects the country on Honshu. This isolated geologic warzone in return, though,
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kinda blesses Japan with an abundance of unique flora and fauna.
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Today, about 70% of Japan is forested, with nice natural water sources
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like the longest river, the Shinano, and the largest lake, Lake Biwa on Honshu.
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Endemic animals can be found, like
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Japanese hornets, macaque monkeys, tanukis,
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giant salamanders, Bob-tail cats, serow,
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red fox, red crown crane,
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the national dog the shiba inu, the national bird the green pheasant, and the national fish koi.
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Speaking of animals, Japan has quite a few feral animal islands and towns,
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such as Tashirojima the cat island, Okunoshima the rabbit island,
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the town of Miyajima for deer, Miyagi Zao for foxes,
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and of course Jigoku-dani where you can see those monkeys in hot springs.
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With limited space and only about 20% (highly subsidized) arable land,
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Japan has kinda had to think outside the box, so they said, “Hey! Why not go to the sea?”
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Today, Japan is disputably the most advanced aquaculture society on the planet.
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Not only do they have the largest merchant marine fleet in the world,
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but they also harvest everything from shellfish to seaweed in offshore ocean plots and fish farms.
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They love fish – they even have the largest fish market in the world, Tsukiji.
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Speaking of which, we all know about Japanese food –
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I feel like I don’t really have to give you a list of notable dishes like sushi, mochi, or ramen.
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However, Japan is known for making strange flavors of conventional snacks, drinks, and desserts, such as:
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yogurt Pepsi, spaghetti popsicles,
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horse and octopus ice cream,
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pancake juice, wasp crackers,
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and Kit-Kat has tried pretty much anything under the sun.
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Itadakimasu! いただきます! (Let's eat!)
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Speaking of which, Japan is the third-largest world economy by nominal GDP,
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mostly due to their various technology and automotive industries
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that have swept over the world by storm since the middle of the 20th Century.
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The largest automotive companies include Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Suzuki, and Subaru.
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As well as tech companies and their subsidiaries like
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Hitachi, Sony, Epson, Canon, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Panasonic, Nikon, and Nintendo.
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This does, however, cause a problem: Japan is classified as a high-throwaway society
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in which lots of resources get unnecessarily used and tossed.
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Like, c'mon Japan! I know you have aesthetic standards
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but seriously, I don’t need one apple in vacuum-sealed plastic wrap!
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Nonetheless, Japan is often seen as one of, if not the, world leader in robotics and tech science,
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receiving more Nobel Prizes in science than any other Asian country. And it’s kind of impressive –
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I mean, with a high population and limited space, Japanese people know how to consolidate and innovate.
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Speaking of Japanese people…
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Now, Japanese people are like, you never know what they’re gonna come up with next.
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You know it’s probably going to be a little weird, but you’re still gonna be a little interested in it.
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First of all, the country has about 127 million people and is the 10th most populous country in the world
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(however, Mexico is getting really close to beating them).
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The country is incredibly homogenous, with over 98% of the populace identifying as ethnically Japanese
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while the remainder is mostly made up of Koreans, Chinese, and very small Caucasian minorities
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of Americans and Europeans, and the indigenous Ryukyu and Ainu peoples.
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They use the Japanese yen as their currency,
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they surprisingly use the Type A American-style plug outlet,
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and they drive on the left side of the road.
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As mentioned like eight seconds ago, Japan has two main indigenous ethnic groups,
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each with their own languages. You have the Ainu,
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which predominantly inhabit Hokkaido and some of the Kuril Islands administered by Russia,
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known for their rustic, scruffy features, where men grew beards and women used to tattoo their lips and arms.
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Today there are less than 30,000 left, but some estimate that there could be up to 200,000 if you include
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the other Ainu that have assimilated into the rest of Japan and are kind of faintly aware of their own culture.
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Otherwise, you have the Ryukyu people or the “Okinawans”,
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which are kind of like the “Hawaiians” of Japan, known for their own distinct art and traditions and beliefs.
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Now, everybody in the world has had at least a little bit of exposure to some kind of Japanese culture,
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whether it be samurais, geishas, sumos, kabuki, shamisen music, kimonos,
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and excessively weird products and advertisements
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aimed at using nonconformity as a hook to engage viewers.
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But apart from all that flashy Japan stuff, let’s look at the basics first.
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Japan (no surprise) speaks Japanese which is actually not that hard to learn conversationally,
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but it’s a nightmare when it comes to writing.
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The Japanese language uses three alphabets: hiragana, katakana, and kanji
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(technically four if you include romaji, but that’s kinda like for lazy people).
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The first two, hiragana and katakana, are syllabaries made up of 46 corresponding base characters each.
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That means you have two ways to write each syllable.
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Whereas kanji is basically the list of Chinese characters that they borrowed from China.
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Most students have to learn about 2000-3000 of these.
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That means that Chinese people can kind of get by in Japan just by reading the signs
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as most of the characters have identical meanings, just different pronunciations.
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It’s kind of hard to explain, but the reason why they use three alphabets is because
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each one kind of plays a role for certain words and contexts.
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They don’t use spaces in writing so each alphabet kind of acts as like word dividers,
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and katakana is used for technical and foreign words.
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Well, why don’t they just fix the problem by using spaces and discard the other two alphabets?
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Shut up, that’s why!
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If you didn’t grow up here and actually learn this stuff, you’re either obsessed with Japan or criminally insane.
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Sorry, I’m boring the crap out of you guys with language stuff – anyway!
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Let’s talk about history. Now I’m sure many of you have seen that video by Bill Wurtz
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(whom I am totally not jealous of considering that he racked up more views and subscribers in two videos
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than I have in all these years of working on this channel), but in the quickest way I can summarize it:
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Yayoi Period, Kofun Period (Yamatos unite Japan),
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Asuka regime (Chinese culture comes in),
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Heian Period (aristocrats take over),
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Kamakura Period (aristocrats lose),
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Shogun Time!, province wars,
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Azuchi-Momoyama Period (things are stable),
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Meiji Restoration (industrialization),
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World War One (Japan’s economy sucks),
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coup d’états and assassination attempts against the Emperor,
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military rule, they try to make an Empire and in World War Two attack Pearl Harbor,
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Nagasaki and Hiroshima, afterwards treaty signed,
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military kind of dismantled and post-war economic miracle. Done!
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Japan definitely sticks out from every country on Earth, and it’s partially because of their belief system.
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Japan is the only country in the world that practices Shintoism, which obviously enough started in Japan.
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If you don’t know anything about Shintoism,
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basically it’s a very ritualistic belief system that reveres a multitude of “kami”,
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which translates to something along the lines of “gods” or “spirits” or “essence”. It’s hard to explain,
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but basically a kami can be manifested in almost anything and everything.
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There are kami for harvests, kami for war, kami for good luck, and so on.
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Today, about 80% of Japanese people practice Shinto to some extent,
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whether it be going to temples or shrines and lighting incense and praying. However, most of them
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will not say that they identify as “Shintoists” since there are no formal rituals to deem yourself a practitioner.
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Otherwise, about 35% might say that they identify as Buddhist and a small 3% are Christians.
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Today there are about 81,000 Shinto shrines and about 85,000 appointed Shinto priests all over the country.
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Technically, Shintoism is also important because it’s claimed that the Emperor is a direct descendant of
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Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, which means that the Emperor has the highest authority in Shintoism,
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though today it’s more seen as like a moral tradition and patriotic practice
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rather than believing that the Emperor actually has divine status.
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Oh yeah, and Japan has an Imperial Family with Akihito holding the throne since 1989
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and to this day Japan is the only country with an emperor.
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Some people will say that Shintoism is partially the reason why Japan also has a vibrant, complex industry
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of cartoons and anime, many of which were inspired by Shinto-driven legends and kami. They often rank as
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the top video game producing and playing country in the world – everybody knows Mario, Sonic, and Pikachu.
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In a sense, Japanese people have always admittedly kind of been escapist, creating their own worlds
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and it might be due to their long history of diplomatic isolation.
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In another sense, though, honor and diligence culture is of huge importance;
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having a degree and respectable title is always flaunted.
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The problem, though, is that Japan has the largest aging population in the world in which
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over 26% of the country is 65 or older; in contrast, only about 12.4% are 1 to 14 years old.
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Sociologists have many theories as to why this is, but in addition to a high depression rate,
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there seems to be a lack of sexual interest amongst millennials.
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Especially for men – they even have a word for it: “soushoku-danshi”, or “herbivores”.
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On top of that, Japan has a very strict and conservative approach towards immigration and citizenship. So,
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ultimately, a smaller generation has to lift the burden of taking care of a population almost ten times their size.
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Many Japanese people are overworked – they even have a word for that: “karoshi”.
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Some wonder how the future will look like.
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Hey son, can you help me cross the street?
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Oh…I would, but you never had a son, so I don’t exist – good luck!
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Now you can probably understand why the Japanese are so into building robots.
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There’s so much more we could talk about, like
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how Japan has a strong history in martial arts, folklore, and regional festivals,
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but this video is already getting long and I have to cut it down.
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Some notable people of Japanese descent might include people like:
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Emperor Hirohito, Fukuzawa Yukichi, Honda Tadakatsu,
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Kukai, Maeda Toshiie, Tokugawa Ieyasu,
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Murasaki Shikibu, Saigo Takamori, Akira Kurosawa,
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Hayao Miyazaki, Soichiro Honda, Miyoshi Umeki,
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Hibari Misora, Rinko Kikuchi, Osamu Dazai,
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Kei Nishikori, Ayumi Hamasaki, Takeshi Kitano,
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Masayoshi Son, Akria Toriyama, Sadako Ogata,
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Taiho Koki, Masako Katsura, Ichiro Suzuki,
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Hanae Mori, Ken Watanabe, Downtown Duo,
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Keisuke Honda, and Shinji Kagawa.
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Now due to their history, Japan has always been like a “lone wolf”,
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but over time they learned how to open up and let's find out how in the last segment, the…
13:33
So Japan is a pretty big player on the world stage.
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As a member of the G20, G8, IMF, WHO, UN, EAS, Interpol,
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and, like, 400 other acronyms, they know diplomacy pretty well.
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They get along with Brazil, Peru, and the Philippines pretty well,
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as each country contains many Japanese communities. In addition,
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lots of people from these countries either visit or work in Japan. Peru even had a Japanese president.
13:53
As mentioned in the France episode, Japan kind of sees France as the epitome of European exoticism.
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After English, French is one of the most highly-desired languages to learn
14:01
(although good luck, considering how every French word ends in a consonant).
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The Pacific island nations of Palau, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands still hold close ties, even though
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Japan kind of occupied them during the first half of the 20th Century.
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Japanese people love visiting and provide business and revenue for these countries.
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Their biggest frenemies are South Korea and China.
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These three are like the Asian trifecta, dominating most of the business and affairs in the East.
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Despite Japan having invaded and occupying these two for decades –
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my own grandmother was actually raised in Japanese-occupied Korea
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and to this day she still speaks fluent Japanese –
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they’ve mostly moved on, plus the whole North Korea thing kind of makes South Korea and Japan closer.
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The youth of today love piggybacking off of each other’s’ cultures:
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Koreans and Japanese admit it, they can’t get enough of Japanese anime and video games,
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whereas the Japanese are obsessed with K-pop.
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And, you know, they kinda got kanji and Buddhism from China, so, uh, there’s that.
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In terms of their best friends, however, interestingly enough,
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most of the Japanese people I’ve talked to have said the USA and Taiwan.
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Even though they don’t officially recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state on paper,
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they totally act like they do and stand with them on pretty much any diplomatic measure.
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Taiwan was actually the longest-lasting occupied area under Japanese rule during the Empire years,
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and they have since then still kept close.
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Even though the pains of World War Two will never be forgotten, it’s funny because
15:06
almost immediately after that the US and Japan started skipping down the street hand-in-hand.
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The US kind of felt like a duty to make reparations since
15:13
there were already communities of Japanese-Americans, especially in Hawaii and California –
15:17
my hometown Los Angeles has a Little Tokyo –
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so they invested tons of money in Japan after the war and in the 50’s Japan started booming in every industry.
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Culture cues were adopted on both sides: McDonald’s opened up in Tokyo, 7-Eleven opened up in the US,
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they love burgers and Chris Evans, and we have nerds living in their mom’s basements
15:32
rewatching every season of Naruto Shippuden with ill-fitting cosplay outfits.
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In conclusion, the Land of the Rising Sun has always kind of figured that the best way for them to
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open up to the world was to create their own worlds with wild imaginations driven by technology,
15:45
yet still beautifully preserving the ancient vibrant values of their ancestors.
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Oh and by the way, this episode was brought to you by
15:50
Bob Saget’s Bearsharktopus Coffee Shoes!
15:52
Watashi wa KOOHII to kutsu ga hoshii 私はコーヒーと靴がほしい (I want coffee and shoes)
15:55
Let's super harassment sandwich!
15:57
Stay tuned: Jordan is coming up next.