The iPhone has many interesting emojis, new emojis will come up with every update. One of my best friends is a crazy fan of iPhone emojis. She always likes to send me a lot of emojis instead typing. If you use emoji, you will know there are some monkey images. One monkey covers its eyes, one covers its ears and one covers its month. It is interesting, right? But do you know where these three emojis come from?
A. From the brainstorming of Apple stuff
B. From one of the Japanese shrines
C. Emoji fans contribution
D. ET’s creation
I will choose B.

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There are a lot of shrines in Japan with a large number of followers, which shows that the shrine has the great power among Japanese population and they are also one of the distinctive nationalities in Japan. The religious activities of the local shrine are the core and mainstream of Japanese traditional culture and play an irreplaceable role in the production and life of ordinary people. The Shinto shrine is the carrier of Shinto that to house one or more kami. It contains the essence of Japanese history, culture, and religion. Shinto in Japan originated from “animism” and Shinto does not take the form of thought or the classics, but roots into customs and habits in the Japanese population.

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Fushimi Inari Taisha
Fushimi Inari Taisha is the head shrine of the god Inari, which was built in 8 century, located in the Fushimi mountain in Kyoto. It is also one of the oldest shrines in Kyoto. In Japanese culture, Inari is the kami (god) of agriculture and business. Therefore, in ancient Japan, peasants come here to pray for good weather for the crops and a good harvest; merchants come to here to pray for success and wealth.

The most famous architecture of Fushimi Inari Taisha is the Senbon Torii (Japanese style pavilion). Originating in the customs of the Edo period, those who come here often make donations to erect a Torii in the Shinto shrine to express their respect for the gods, so that an amazing number of Torii houses are erected within the scope of the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Japan has believed that the fox has been sent by the Inari god through ancient times. Therefore, the fox is the messenger of Inari god, and people can see the statue of fox everywhere in the Fushimi Inari Taisha.

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Messager Fox

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Senbon Torii

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Itsukushima Shrine
Itsukushima Shrine, established around 593, is a shrine located on Itsukushima Island in Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture. It mainly hosts three goddesses of the sea in Japan’s ancient legend. Itsukushima Shrine is built in the intertidal zone of the Seto Inland Sea and the large tree stands in front of the shrine in one of the most famous landmarks of the island of Itsukushima, known as one of the “Three Sights of Japan.” The Torii gate is also known as a floating Torii gate. It is the only marine wooden building in Japan that has been designed using the principle of seawater ebb and flow. At high tide, the Torri floats at sea, and after ebb tide, visitors can approach it and enjoy its beauty at close range.

Itsukushima Shrine is home to a large number of national treasures. The Shinto shrine houses many national-class items and was listed in the World Heritage List in 1996 with the original forested area on the hill behind the shrine (The shrine is a world cultural heritage, while The forested area on the hill is a world natural heritage).

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The floating Torii Gate

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Nikko Toshogu Shrine
Nikko Toshogu Shrine is a shrine located in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture. It is the head of Toshogu Shogun. The Nikko Toshogu shrine was founded in 1617 to commemorate Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Edo shogunate. The territory set a large number of animal carvings are the symbol of peace, of which “three ape” and “sleeping cat” is the most famous. In December 1999, “Nikko Shrine and Temple” including Nikko Toshogu was voted World Heritage Site.
Nikko is a beautiful city. There is a saying in Japanese “日光をみないうちはけっこうと言うな”, sort of “do not say pretty well if you haven’t been to Nikko”. The Nikko Toshogu shrine was built by Tokugawa Ichikawa, the third generation Shogun, who convened all skilled craftsmen in Japan. Every pillar, every piece of sculpture, every painting, are all made of fine, the visitors are amazed by its delicate craftsmanship.

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Here come our leading roles: three wise monkeys. The three monkeys covered their ears with their hands, mouth, and eyes, respectively. They called “Hear No Evil Monkey, Speak No Evil Monkey, See no Evil Monkey”. Three monkeys from the ‘Analects of Confucius’ “non-Evil to see, non-Evil to hear, non-Evil words,” in the carving group means: “In your childhood, do not listen to the bad things, do not say, do not think, to maintain a pure heart And healthy growth. ”

Nikko, Tochigi, Japan – May 05, 2009: Three Wise Monkeys (Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil). Famous wooden carving above the gate to the sacred stables at the Toshogu sanctuary in Nikko.

https://travel.gaijinpot.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2016/08/See-No-Evil-Hear-No-Evil-Monkeys.jpg

References

Fushimi Inari Taisha. 2017. Wikipedia. Retrieved    from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fushimi_Inari-taisha.

Itsukushima Shrine. 2017. Wikipedia. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itsukushima_Shrine.

Nikko Toshogu Shrine. 2017. Wikipedia. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikk%C5%8D_T%C5%8Dsh%C5%8D-g%C5%AB.

Nussabum L. F. 2005. Itsukushima Jinja. Japan Encyclopedia. p. 407. Retrieved from: https://books.google.ca/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&pg=PA407&dq=&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

The Shinto Shrine. 2017. Wikipedia. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto_shrine.

The States Parties of Japan. UNESCO. Retrieved from: http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/jp.

The topic of our group of the group project 2 is about the population of flora and fauna in Fukushima area. Japan’s Triple Disaster has had a marked impact on fauna and flora in the Fukushima region. Reproductive capacity, population size, and overall health are a few of the plethora of measurable changes observed in local populations of both plant and animal life. It is easy to view the disaster from the scope of its economic impact or by the number of lives lost. Although these are certainly important variables to measure, it is all too easy to overlook the geographic effects of such an immense natural disaster. Entire ecosystems have been drastically changed, and it is unclear if they can or will ever return to their pre-disaster equilibriums. The change of the physical topography of the region, coupled with radiation contamination has transformed modern geographic and ecological understandings of the Fukushima region. Much work must be done to reclaim this land, and further research must be executed to understand the viability of such a grand reclamation process.

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We all know the power of nuclear energy, just likes a coin, everything has its dual character. I am more concerned about those people who affected by this accident.

Nuclear energy has many advantages as a cost-effective measure to mitigate the world’s energy crisis. First, it has the great power of the small volume. The nuclear energy is millions of times larger than chemical energy. Second is less pollution. Nuclear power plants have set up layers of barriers that basically do not emit pollutants to discharge to the environment.

However, the disadvantage of nuclear power is destructive. The biggest long-term health risk is cancer. Our body has many mechanisms to stop cancerous cells and replace damaged tissues. But, the damage caused by radiation can seriously disrupt these mechanisms in the body, thereby greatly increasing the risk of cancer. In addition, mutations in our genes are likely to occur if the body does not properly repair the chemical damage and changes that radiation causes. The degree of health damage depends on the radiant quantity. The unit measures in Sieverts, or milliSieverts (mSv). According to The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), it allows up to 500 mSv for workers in emergency situations. However, an instant dose of 100-250 mSv would be harmful to human body and increase the possibility of cancer. In April 2011, the Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC) published that 12 PBq of Cs-137 had been released to the environment, which is the equivalent of 620 PBq of iodine-131. Moreover, 210 Sv/h also released into the air, the ground and water body.

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Now we see the power of nuclear energy.

After this accident, 154,000 people have been replaced. Other groups in the class also talked about this humanity problem. There are 123,000 people still unsettled, living in temporary housing and away from their hometown. 80,000 people evacuated from Fukushima also remain displaced and, they also suffer the fear of nuclear radiation and other people’s isolation. People from Fukushima area have to change their name and hide their identity in order to avoid discrimination. 

When I search online, a topic caught my eyes. It is Fukushima 50.

The Fukushima 50 is who voluntarily or required to stay after TEPCO evacuated more than 800 staff following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, continued to carry out emergency repairs. By March 18, the number reached 580. They were on duty in groups of 50 and took turns in and out of the factory every 10 to 15 minutes. On May 14, an emergency rescue worker at Fukushima Daiichi suddenly died of a myocardial infarction and was highly likely to be killed by nuclear radiation.

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They are all old people. Why?

Some experts said:”Although people who are exposed to high doses of radiation have a serious concern about cancer, it usually takes at least a few years to be induced and they have passed the reproductive period.”

The TEPCO said:”Not because their lives are not precious, not because they are more experienced, not because they are more skilled, but because they may be able to enjoy their old age even if they are exposed to high doses of radiation, and will not die until the cancer is induced.”

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What do you think?

Sometimes the dark side of society just exposed like this. Maybe it not suitable to call it the dark side of society. Because, when bad things happen, we always have to give up some people, those who have no choice.

If you have to make a choice between a moron child and a genius child, what would you do? Maybe a lot of people would choose that genius. Some people, just like a moron child, they already got a tag of “hopeless”. They are old people who only have few years in the world, they would hardly to make contributions to society, also, they may become the burden to their families. Therefore they become Fukushima 50.

They are absolutely risking their lives to do everything to keep the nuclear power plant in a safe state.

2011 a Tsunami caused one of the biggest catastrophe of the century in Fukushima, Japan.
We wanted to pay respect to the last 50 workers in the atomic power plant, which tried to prevent an atomic disaster.
On two days we painted four different themes. First, the rising sun, second the beauty of the Japanese landscape, third the cause of the disaster and at last the impact of the atomic contagion.

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References

Comparison of Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear accidents. (2017). Wikipedia. Retrieved              from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Fukushima_and_Chernobyl_nuclear_accidents

Fukushima: Radiation Exposure. (2016). World Nuclear Association. Retrieved from: http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/appendices/fukushima-radiation-exposure.aspx

Six Years after the 3/11 Disasters. (2017). The Japan Times. Retrieved from: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2017/03/10/editorials/six-years-311-disasters/#.WgiblbA-eRs

Why do we like Japan?

Why do we like Japan? Why would people all around the world like to travel to Japan? There are a lot of reasons. For example, beautiful natural sceneries, iconic fashion style, attractive history and kind people. An essential point, in my opinion, is food. I like the food of Japan. I am a crazy fan of Ramen and fried food. The good news for me is that the exchange rate of Yen to Canadian dollar decreased after Abe was reappointed so that I could do shopping on Japan’s shopping website. When I was browsing that website, I noticed that the external packings have the wold “北海道産” for a lot of dairy products, such as Shiroi Koibito cookies, the Royce chocolates, milk pudding and ice creams. Additionally, the dairy products with “北海道産” are very popular and top-rated on many shopping websites (on Amazon also).

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Some comments from Amazon of Shiro Koibito.

Why Hokkaido?

According to Karan (2005), initially, Hokkaido located in the North of Japan and it is the second largest island of Japan (the first is Honshu). Approximately Hokkaido is in the sub-cold zone which between north latitude 40 degrees to 45 degrees barely free from typhoon and moldy. Moreover, contrasting other crowded places of Japan, Hokkaido owns a quarter agricultural land in Japan. Furthermore, Hokkaido has a volcanic belt, the deposition of volcanic ash after volcanic eruptions makes the soil became fertilized. Additionally, the west of the Hokkaido is the sea of Japan, the southeast of it is the Pacific Ocean, and the northeast is the sea of Okhotsk. Under the influence of the ocean, the most islands of Hokkaido has the temperate oceanic climate or sub-cold zone oceanic climate. These reasons make Hokkaido become the important agricultural base of Japan. Wheat, potatoes, and dairy production ranked the first of Japan.

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Hokkaido and Europe

There are 14 sub-prefectures of Hokkaido, the cold weather of Kushiro sub-prefecture, Nemuro sub-prefecture and Soya sub-prefecture is not capable of carrying out agricultural activities. However, These three sub-prefectures are the most abundant dairy industry over the whole country. We all know that the stock farming in Europe is well developed and organized. Comparing Europe farm and Japan farm, they have four crucial points in the same. First, they have the similar oceanic climate, which is not so cold in the winter and not so hot in the summer. It also has an evenly year precipitation, no drought water-logging, which is suitable for pasture growth, and for the development of stock farming. Second, they all have a significant proportion of plains with fertile earth. Third, they all have dense river network with short rivers originated from mountains which provides irrigation. Finally, Japan and many European countries are developed countries with the higher technical management of stock farming. Overall, accompanying the excellent natural condition and acquired development, the dairy productions of Hokkaido become very famous around the world.

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Conclusion

However, I am also considering the different eating habits between Asian and European, specifically the East Asia and the Europe. The dietary structure of the East Asia is mainly herbivorous, while in Europe is the carnivore. At first, Hokkaido had barely any stock farming. Because some places are too cold to grow plants, the Japan government started to develop stock farming in those areas instead of planting. This is a good choice since Kushiro sub-prefecture, Nemuro sub-prefecture and Soya sub-prefecture are with particularly favorable natural conditions of stock farming. On the other hand, the dairy production also brings effective economy profits to Japan, especially in tourism. People who travel to Japan would consume those dairy productions for themselves or as the gifts for their families and friends. Therefore, nonetheless herbivorous or carnivore, it is important to adjust measures to local conditions. Besides, I love the winter of Hokkaido and its snow. One of my friend who is from the north of China always makes the joke on me: “It is not exciting when there is snow. It is only excited for you and other southern guys.”

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Reference

P.P. Karan (2005) Japan in the 21^st Century: Environment, Economy and Society, Lexington, The University Press of Kentucky.

Introduction

Our group did the research of natural disaster prevention strategies of Tokyo 2020 through four aspects, early warning systems, prevention procedures, evacuation, and post-disaster management. The 32nd Summer Olympic Games and the 16th Summer Paralympic will be held in Tokyo, from July 24th to August 9th, 2020 and August 25th to September 6th, 2020 respectively (Tokyo2020).

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Brief Introduction of Our Projection

Initially, Tokyo is a coastal city. It is located in the southern part of the

Kanto plain in Honshu with a large population (Karan, 2005). It is also situated on the boundary of Eurasian plate and the Pacific plate (Karan, 2005). These two reasons make Tokyo prone to several disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, as well as volcanic eruptions (Ministry of Finance Japan, 2017).

Early Warning System

The Japan has Early Warning System (EWS) of earthquake reporting, which is provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). It collects seismic data from a network of over one thousand seismographs nationwide and provides estimates of seismic intensities along with a rough arrival time o the principal motion. Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting Tsunami (DART) monitors tsunami, which developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United-States. It comprised of over thirty-nine buoy-mounted detection systems, measures ocean pressure in tandem with sea-surface height estimates to provide advanced warnings on developing tsunamis.

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Evacuation

Japan has devised the Basic Plan for the Promotion of Tokyo Inland Earthquake Emergency Countermeasures (the TIE Basic Plan) by The Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG), which calls for the construction of systems to ensure the sustaining of the pivotal functions of the central government and the building of earthquake resilient communities.

Post-Disaster Management

The Japanese government has established an Earthquake Insurance System in 1966 for indemnifying natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as the volcanic eruptions (Ministry of Finance Japan, 2017). There are three approaches of post-management in Japan: self-rescue, government assistance, and social relief.

Conclusion

Japan has detailed and well-organized early warning system, evacuation and post-disaster management strategies for coping with natural disasters. However, due to the increase in people amount in and around Tokyo. the government needs to and has to put the large effort into disasters prevention.

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Weaknesses and Concerns    

The Kantō Great Earthquake of 1923 (the magnitude of 7.9) brought a painful lesson to the Japanese nation and gave Japan’s disaster prevention work a profound impact. Therefore, in the later disasters prevention plan, Japan paid a special attention to the establishment of urban shelters, fire belt construction around rivers and parks, the community disaster prevention base planning, which gradually formed a relatively integrated and well-organized disasters prevention system.

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Until 2016, The population of Tokyo had an estimated population of 9262.046 in 2,191 square kilometers (Tokyo proportion) which Tokyo is in high population and high population density. Moreover, Japan has an average of four earthquakes per day. However, my concern is that How would those disasters prevention systems work during the Paralympic? The public attention of the Paralympic Games may not be as high as the Olympics. But it is certain that the number of tented people around Tokyo and in Tokyo will still increase, and the hardest and most important thing, how to ensure the safe evacuation of the Paralympic athletes if any natural disaster happens during the Paralympic? Those physically or mentally disabled people even need assistance in their daily life. Additionally, the disasters prevention system still has drawbacks, which may not alarm in time.

According to the Basic Plan for the Promotion of Tokyo Inland Earthquake Emergency Countermeasures, the Japan government is increasing the existing emergency response structures in order to fit Games. If any natural disaster happens, all people in the Tokyo stadium will evacuate to the nearest shelter. This means, the Japanese government need to and has to be fully prepared before the start of the Paralympic and promote disasters prevention knowledge to all participants and athletes of the Paralympic.

Fortunately, Japan has rich practiced experience and matured disaster prevention system. Before the Games, people can go to the website: http://www.mlit.go.jp/river/bousai/olympic/en/index.html, to find any disasters prevention information. I wish both the Games a complete success.

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Reference

Japan Meteorological Agency. Earthquake Early Warning System, 2017, Retrieved from:

      http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/en/Activities/eew.html .

Ministry of Finance Japan. (2017). Outline of Japan’s Earthquake Insurance System.

     Retrieved from: http://www.mof.go.jp/english/financial_system/

     earthquake_insurance/outline_of_earthquake _insurance.html

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Deep-ocean Assessment and

     Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) Description, 2017. Retrieved from: http://

     www.ndbc.noaa.gov/dart/dart.shtml

P.P. Karan (2005) Japan in the 21st Century: Environment, Economy and Society,

     Lexington, The University Press of Kentucky.

The Scenerio-Based Plan for a Large-Scale Earthquake in Tokyo Metropolitan Area.

      (2013). Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Retrieved from: http://www.apec-

     epwg.org/public/uploadfile/act/13_epwg_sdmof_007.pdf

Tokyo 2020 Overview Outline of the Organizational Plan and Tokyo 2020 Paralympic

     Games. Tokyo2020. Retrieved from: https://tokyo2020.jp/en/games/plan/

When talking about Japan, the first thing come to my mind is “someday I will travel to there.” Yes, Japan is a great tourist country, Mount Fuji, cherry blossom, temple and shrine, Shibuya, and many places are full of charm and very attractive to tourists. In this blog, I will briefly discuss one or two interesting tourist places associated with geographical knowledge.

An introduction of Japan tourism resources

Japan’s tourism resources are mainly in two aspects. One is the beautiful physical sceneries of the islands, rivers and mountains, waterfalls and deep valleys, and hot springs, etc.. For example, Mount Fuji, Matsushima, and Miyajima. These natural sceneries have very good and special features and are in good states for tourism. Second, the rich and colorful historical and cultural heritage, especially in Nara, Kyoto, and Kamakura. Japan not only retains its national tradition but also actively absorbing the foreign culture, committed to modernization. Tokyo is one of the largest and most modern cities in the world. In addition to Tokyo, Osaka, Japan’s famous tourist city with historical and cultural characteristics. Yokohama is known as the “world kitchen.” Kobe is a city combine eastern and western cultures that is called “the Japanese spiritual hometown.”

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Mount Fuji 富士山

Mount Fuji is the highest peak of Japan, and it is one of Japan’s crucial national symbol. Mount Fuji is one of the world’s largest active volcanoes across Shizuoka and Yamanashi, which closes to the Pacific coast, about 80 km southwest of Tokyo. Even though Mount Fuji is an active volcano, it is currently in the dormant condition, but geologists still put it in the active volcanoes list. Since the year of 781, a total of 18 eruptions were recorded, the last eruption in the year of 1707 which was in the Edo period. This last eruption had a lot of words and pictures records. August 2002 (Heisei 14 years), the Japanese Land and Geography Institute re-measured the height of Mount Fuji, which was 3775.63 meters high.

Mount Fuji is more than 60 million years old volcano, and the past was the island of the Izu peninsula,  which is due to the tectonic activity of the Eurasian plate and the Pacific plate. The intense collision of Izu peninsula and Honshu island uplifted the mountains and made a basic formation of Mount Fuji. The Foothills of Mount Fuji is about 125km long; the bottom diameter is about 40 ~ 50km. Crater surface diameter is about 500 meters, and 250 meters deep.

Mount Fuji is a typical stratovolcano. It has the standard cone-shape with unique and beautiful contours. Although Mount Fuji is in a dormant state, there is still the jet phenomenon. The base of Mount Fuji is a Tertiary stratum. At the beginning of the Quaternary, volcanic lava broke through the Tertiary strata, erupted and accumulated during that period. After several eruptions, volcanic eruption layer kept accumulating, and finally became a cone-shaped volcano, Mount Fuji. Volcanic activities also bring a wealth of geothermal resources to Japan. All kinds of hot springs are all over the country. Hot spring travel is one of the most popular recreational activities in Japan. It is said that Japan has more than two thousand hot springs, Japanese-style hotels have their hot springs. In Japanese, if people need to say hiragana “fu(ふ),” they usually would say “the ‘fu’ of Fuji San (ふじさん).

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Kyoto 京都

Kyoto is located in the Kansai area which is the center of the Japanese archipelago. Kyoto was built in the year of 794 as the capital of Japan, that has been a thousand years of history. Kyoto is the home of the Japanese spirit, Japanese textiles, ceramics, lacquerware, dyeing fabrics and other traditional crafts. Meanwhile, it has the Japanese Sado and Japanese Ikebana. Kyoto as the cradle of Japanese culture, art, Buddhism, and Shinto sanctuary, also known as “true Japan.” There are hundreds of famous shrines and temples, with more than two percent of Japan’s cultural heritage resources. Beautiful natural sceneries and a long history of building and architecture, attracting countless tourists come to sightseeing. Kyoto is a museum of ancient architecture of Japan. In 1994, the ancient capital of the historical buildings of Kyoto as a cultural heritage by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee included in the “World Heritage List.”

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https://fastjapan.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/kyoto.jpg

http://www.getsready.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/wonderful-scenery-in-kyoto.jpg

https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/PVO4sJKnLQRv483AnxqMh97JdAE=/fit-in/1072x0/https://public-media.smithsonianmag.com/filer/My-Town-Kyoto-Japan-geisha-district-1.jpg

References

Horinaga 4th (1707) Eruption, Available                                from: http://sk01.ed.shizuoka.ac.jp/koyama/public_html/Fuji/fujid/1707.html

Japan Guide of Kyoto, Available from: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2158.html

Japan Guide of Mount Fuji, Available from: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2172.html

Kyoto Prefecture Web Site, Available from: http://www.pref.kyoto.jp/error404.html

Kyoto Wikipedia, Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto#Geography

Mount Fuji Wikipedia, Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Fuji#Geography

P.P. Karan (2005) Japan in the 21^st Century: Environment, Economy and Society, Lexington, The University Press of Kentucky.