Indeed nine out of ten Japanese people live in cities. Tokyo is the fourth largest city in the world, and the pace of life here is frantic. Over 40 million people live in Tokyo and its suburbs and there is so little space that most people live in very small flats. Japan today Japan was defeated in World War II and two of its major cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were destroyed by American atomic bombs. Since then, however, the country has become rich.
Japanese cities are very modern, with most homes full of all kinds of electronic gadgets.
But the Japanese are also proud of their traditional culture and religion. Tokyo streets are among the most polluted in the world, and traffic policemen must wear masks. Shoguns and Samurai From 1254 to 1868, Japan was effectively ruled not by the emperor, but by strong military leaders called shoguns. Each shogun was served by a powerful brotherhood of warriors called samurai. Company workers Japanese workers tend to work for the same company all their lives.