To know the geographic characteristics of Japan To understand the importance of Japan's tradition of borrowing from foreign cultures Discussion Japan is about one hundred miles east of Korea. The country consists of four main islands and many smaller ones.
Japan is smaller than France or Spain but bigger than Italy or Britain.
Mountains cover 80 to 85 percent of its surface. The small amount of arable land resulted in the concentration of population and intensive use of land. Japan has no major rivers, but no place in the country is more than seventy-five miles from the coast. The climate is mild, with the north colder than the south. There is plentiful rainfall, especially in the Kyushu area, which is beneficial for agriculture.