Language/Japanese/Vocabulary/Geography
Japan is an archipel (a group of isles).
There are many small isles but Japan is known to be mainly composed by 4 large islands: Hokkaidou, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyuushuu.
Each of them is divided in a set of prefectures, except for Hokkaidou which has only one prefecture : HOKKAIDOU.
Beside Prefecture, there's also districts which compose main islands.
The shape of Japan looks like a curve. With a few of imagination, we can see the letter "J" with a top bar.
Summary: Japan is 4 main islands, 8 aeras and 47 prefectures.
Hokkaidou
Hokkaidou is a whole itself. Isle, prefecture and everything.
It means there is only Hokkaidou, nothing else.
Honshu
Hon, means main. Honshu Is the largest of four. Located between the south of Hokkaidou and the north of Kyuushuu.
Contrary to other islands, Honshu also got aeras which are : Touhoku, Kantou, Chuubu, Kansai and Chuugoku.
Is located in the deep east of Japan.
Tohoku prefectures
Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima.
Kantou prefectures
Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitam, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa.
Chuubu prefectures
Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Yamanashi, Nagano, Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi.
Kansai prefectures
Mie, Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara, Wakayama.
Chuugoku prefectures
Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi
Shikoku
Shikoku is the smallest main island. It is located under the Chuugoku aera and between Kansai aera and Kyuushuu island.
It is composed of 4 prefectures.
Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kochi.
Kyuushuu
Is the south east of Japan.
Located is the very far west south, the most famous city is Nagasaki, known to has been hit by the A-Bomb at the end of WW2.
Okinawa
There is also another very famous Island called Okinawa which is attached to Kyuushuu.
Historic facts
- 1995 : Kobe got hit by an earthquake which made ...
- 2011 : The biggest earthquake ever happend in the region of Tohoku, distric of Sendai
| America | アメリカ | Amerika |
| around | 回 | mawari |
| Asia | アジア | Ajia |
| behind | 後ろ - うしろ | ushiro |
| between | 間 | aida |
| capital city | 首都 | shuto |
| China | 中国 | Chuu-goku |
| citizen | 市民 | shi-min |
| compass | コンパス | konpasu |
| continent | 大陸 | tai-riku |
| country | 国 | kuni, (-koku) |
| dictatorship | 独裁 | dokusai |
| down | 下 | shita |
| downstream | 川下 | kawa-shimo |
| East | 東 | higashi |
| emperor | 皇帝 | kōtei |
| empress | 皇后 | kōgō |
| far | 遠い | tooi |
| flag | 旗 | hata |
| France | フランス | Furansu |
| Germany | ドイツ | Doitsu |
| government | 政府 - せいふ | seifu |
| in front of | 前 | mae |
| in the middle | 中 | naka |
| in, into, inside, at | に | ni |
| Japan | 日本 | Nihon |
| king | 王 | ō |
| kingdom | 王国 | ō-koku |
| map | 地図 | chizu |
| minister | 大臣 | dai-jin |
| monarchy | 君主制 | kunshusei |
| nation, people | 国民 | koku-min |
| near | 近い , 近く , そば | chikai, chikaku, soba |
| North | 北 | kita |
| on the left | 左 | hidari |
| on the right | 右 | migi |
| out of, outside | 外 | soto |
| parliament | 国会 - こっかい | kokkai |
| parliamentarian | 議員 | giin |
| prime minister | 総理大臣 , 首相 | sōri-daijin, shushō |
| prince | 王子 | ō-ji |
| princess | 王女 | ō-jo |
| queen | 女王 | jo-ō |
| region | 地方 | chihō |
| republic | 共和国 | kyōwa-koku |
| South | 南 | minami |
| South Korea | 韓国 | Kan-koku |
| straight ahead | まっすぐ | masugu |
| Tokyo | 東京 | Tōkyō |
| translator | 訳者 | yaku-sha |
| up | 上 | ue |
| upstream | 川上 | kawa-kami |
| West | 西 | nishi |