General Information

Japan is made of four main islands and some 3900 little islands. These collections of islands begin from the north Soya down to the south near Taiwan. The four main islands of Japan are from north to south—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu.

Tokyo, the capital city, and some other important cities like Osaka, Kobe, and Yokohama, are on Honshu Island, the largest island of Japan. Nagasaki is situated in Kyushu. Japan is divided into forty-seven prefectures which are equivalent to states or provinces in other countries. The closest neighboring countries to Japan are Russia from the north and North Korea and South Korea from the west.

There have been difficulties with neighboring countries concerning the territorial boundaries of Japan. This involves some islands that are claimed both by the Japanese and Russians or by the Japanese and Koreans.

The earliest Japanese historical period is the Jomon Period dating approximately from 8000 B.C. until 300 B.C. The Jomons were remarkable pottery makers. Many believe that gradually the Jomon people moved northward.

There are various theories and mythological beliefs concerning the origin of the Japanese people. Some believe that the Jomons were the first inhabitants of Japan. Some link the Japanese origin to the Tungus people of the North. The Tungus are a Siberian ethnic group numbering perhaps 30,000 today. They are subdivided into the Evenki who live in the area from the Yenisei and Ob river basins to the Pacific Ocean, and from the Amur River to the Arctic Ocean, and the Lamut who live on the coast of the Okhotsk Sea. The Tungus are closely related to the Manchus. Before they were brought under Soviet control the Tungus practiced a shamanistic religion. The Tungus and Tunguzic languages are a division of the Altaic subfamily of the Ural-Altaic family of languages that includes the Manchu literary language; they may be related to those who are Mongolic and Turkic.

Some also believe that the Japanese people find their origin in the Austronesian people from South Asia. Countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines are examples of Austronesian people. Some others believe that their origin may be a mixture of both the Tungus and Austronesian people.

Another interesting theory is that the Japanese people come from one of the lost tribes of Israel, a subject which I am researching right now.