PLATE 8.1 These are two pictures of the same sign, which changes from Japanese characters to the Latin alphabet about every 10 seconds. Here the imminent departure of Shinkansen trains from Tokyo to northern Honshu is announced. Chinese symbols, Japanese phonetic characters, Latin letters and Arabic numerals all appear. The trains will depart virtually on the second. This extraordinary punctuality matches the mental agility of Japanese school-children, who have to familiarise themselves with the diversity of symbols, including thousands of Chinese ones, a problem they share with the Chinese themselves

ABSTRACT

Compared with almost any other densely populated region of the world, Japan is extremely rugged, with the result that only about one-eighth of its surface is cultivated, almost exclusively the many small plains around the coasts and the narrow interior valley floors. About two-thirds of the land is forested, however, while precipitation everywhere is high enough for water resources to be adequate so long as the monsoon arrives. Rainfall was lower than average in the summer of 1994 and many areas of Japan, especially on the island of Shikoku, suffered acute water shortages. Offshore and further away there are excellent fishing grounds. Japan’s mineral resources are characterised by their variety rather than their quantity, and many reserves have now been exhausted. Coal production has fallen in recent decades (see Figure 8.8), oil and natural gas reserves are negligible, and almost all nonfuel mineral requirements are imported.