Japanese Culture: Part 3 - The Islands

Japan is mainly separated into four islands. Honshu is the main island, in the south is Kyushu, next Kyushu is Shikoku, the smallest of them all, and in the north is Hokkaido.

Japan also includes the island of Okinawa. Okinawa and other islands have been controversial, as after the US occupation of Japan, other offshore islands were granted to the government of Japan, and this has expanded the economic zones of Japan. But even more prominent is perhaps how these benefits to the fishing industry. One can all agree that crabs and other crustacean seafood are often found in colder waters, therefore it is visible that the northern parts of Honshu, Hokkaido, produce many crabs and sea urchins as such during fall.

Hokkaido is perhaps the coldest of them all, with the main city of Sapporo on the island. The region has many landmarks, including as the first episode, mentioning castles. Sapporo and its surrounding regions house a relatively modernized form of Japanese castle, with its structure and canals routed in a 5-pointed star shape. Hokkaido is also famed for its lavenders in the fields surrounding the mountains.

Honshu houses just about all the regions in Japan. Akita and other regions make up the north and are famed for rice harvesting. But more prominently in recent years, the region surrounding Fukushima has etched itself infamously into everyone’s minds because of the disasters of the nuclear plants there and tsunamis crashing the region. Then further south we have Kanto, or the Tokyo region. Kanto is the “east of the gate”. Tokyo Bay in recent times have been the victim of reclamation, as islands are being constructed around the bay, and tunnels were built to link the two sides.

We turn our attention up north, where skiing resorts and the shinkansen pave the way to places like Kanazawa, famed for seafood, and their art museum. Although Japan may not seem like the country of choice, the 21st century museum of contemporary art, is the 10th most visited museum in the whole entire world.

Kansai’s Osaka and Kobe again make a bay like Tokyo’s one, but more complicated, as the island of Awaji acts almost like a sort of barrier of the star of the show, the Seto Inland Sea. The Seto Inland Sea, as the name points out is almost like an extended part of the Pacific, wrapping her arms around Shikoku, splitting open Kyushu and Honshu, while providing the nations abundant food source. A major landmark is the Naruto Strait (which has nothing to do with the anime Naruto), but rather is a strait where the tides collide and form whirlpools, all under the watchful eye of the bridge linking the islands. Osaka uses this to their advantage, and houses aquariums storing one the largest creatures on earth, the Whale Shark. One marvels at the magnificence of such a creature. Nearby Ise is famed for its lobsters, and mountains separate the two places.

Look West you’ll find the island Shikoku, often overlooked and less prominent compared to its brothers. But north of the island we see Okayama, home to one of many beautiful Japanese gardens.

I went to Kew Gardens lately, and it is honestly not that different. Oriental gardens often include much more water features and structures like bridges, and omit Western structures like greenhouses and conservatories like the Palm House or the Temperate House.

Hiroshima is next, and hopefully we can omit the bombing part, but rather focus on Nagasaki. If you’ve read the former post, you would’ve realized that Nagasaki, aside from being bombed, was also the main port to Western Culture during the Shogunate times, and this is shown in places like churches in nearby towns, where the church structure painted entirely white can easily show that Westerners built it. Right next across the pond is the Kumamoto Castle, which is completely another story (read my first blog for details).

Kyushu then is what houses Kumamoto, and perhaps then as we close to the end to of the country’s geography, our journey also comes to an end. What I’ve told you here is just a teaser to the rich culture, if you want to know more, the Great British Bake Off’s Paul Hollywood has a nice show talking about Japanese cuisine. I think it’s on Netflix. James May also has a tv show on stream on Amazon Prime with him travelling through the entirety of Japan and experiencing different culture in different parts of the land.

Luckily this isn’t a promotion for streaming services, but it is truly here where my stream of consciousness about Japanese culture comes to an abrupt end.