The most important holiday in Japan is New Year (お正月 Oshōgatsu ), which pretty much shuts down the c

Japan is a study in contrasts and contradictions. Many Japanese corporations dominate their industries, yet if you read the financial news it seems like Japan is practically bankrupt. Cities are as modern and high tech as anywhere else, but tumbledown wooden shacks can still be spotted next to glass fronted designer condominiums. On an average subway eastern european river cruises ride, you might see childishly cute character toys and incredibly violent eastern european river cruises pornography - sometimes enjoyed by the same passenger, at the same time! Japan has beautiful temples and gardens which are often surrounded by garish signs and ugly buildings. In the middle of a modern skyscraper eastern european river cruises you might discover a sliding wooden door which leads to a traditional chamber with tatami mats, calligraphy, and tea ceremony. These juxtapositions mean you may often be surprised and rarely bored by your travels in Japan.
Although Japan has often been seen in the West as a land combining tradition and modernity, and juxtapositions definitely eastern european river cruises exist, part of this idea is obsolete, and is a product of Japan being the first major Asian power to modernize as well as Western patronization and heavy promotion by the travel industry. Keep in mind that continued eastern european river cruises demolition of some of Japan's historic landmarks goes on apace, as with the famed Kabuki-za Theater demolition. Still, with the proper planning, and with expectations held in check, a trip to Japan can be incredibly enjoyable eastern european river cruises and definitely worthwhile.
Japan's location on islands at the outermost edge of Asia has had a profound influence on its history. Just close enough to mainland Asia, yet far enough to keep itself separate, much of Japanese history has seen alternating periods of closure and openness. Until recently, Japan has been able to turn on or off its connection to the rest of the world, accepting foreign cultural influences in fits and starts. It is comparable with the relationship between Britain and the rest of Europe, but with a much wider channel.
Recorded Japanese history begins in the 5th century, although archaeological evidence of settlement stretches back 50,000 years and the mythical Emperor Jimmu is said to have founded the current Imperial line in the 7th century BCE. Archeological eastern european river cruises evidence, however, has only managed to trace the Imperial line back to the Kofun Period during the 3rd to 7th centuries CE, which was also when the Japanese first had significant contact with China and Korea. Japan then gradually became eastern european river cruises a centralized state during eastern european river cruises the Asuka Period , during which Japan extensively absorbed many aspects of Chinese culture, and saw the introduction of Mahayana Buddhism and Confucianism. The popular board game of Go is also believed to have been introduced to Japan during this period.
The first strong Japanese state was centered in Nara , which was built to model the then Chinese capital Chang'an. eastern european river cruises This period, dubbed the Nara Period was the last time the emperor actually held political power, with power eventually falling eastern european river cruises into the hands of the court nobles during the Heian Period , when the capital was moved to Kyoto , then known as Heian-Kyo, eastern european river cruises which remained the Japanese imperial residence until the 19th century. Chinese influence also reached its peak during the early Heian Period, which saw Buddhism become a popular religion eastern european river cruises among the masses. This was then followed by the Kamakura Period , when the samurai managed to gain political power. Minamoto no Yoritomo, the most powerful of them was dubbed shogun by the emperor and ruled from his base in Kamakura . The Muromachi Period then saw the Ashikaga shogunate come to power, ruling from their base in Ashikaga . Japan then descended into the anarchy of the Warring States period in the 15th century. Tokugawa Ieyasu finally reunified the country in 1600 and founded the Tokugawa eastern european river cruises shogunate , a feudal state ruled from Edo, or modern-day Tokyo . A strict caste system was imposed, with the Shogun and his samurai warriors at the top of the heap and no social mobility permitted.
During this period, dubbed the Edo Period , Tokugawa rule kept the country stable eastern european river cruises but stagnant with a policy of almost total isolation (with the exception eastern european river cruises of Dutch and Chinese merchants in certain designated cities) while the world around them rushed ahead. US Commodore Matthew Perry's eastern european river cruises Black Ships arrived in Yokohama eastern european river cruises in 1854, forcing the country to open up to trade with the West, resulting in the signing of unequal treaties and the collapse of the shogunate in the Meiji Restoration of 1867, during which the imperial capital was relocated from Kyoto to Edo, now re-named Tokyo. After observing Western colonization eastern european river cruises in Southeast Asia and the division and weakening of China, which the Japanese had for so long considered eastern european river cruises to be the world's greatest superpower, Japan vowed not to be overtaken eastern european river cruises by the West, launching itself eastern european river cruises headlong into a drive to industrialize and modernize at frantic speed. Adopting Western technology and culture wholesale, Japan's cities soon sprouted railways, brick buildings and factories, and even the disastrous Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, which flattened large parts of Tokyo and killed eastern european river cruises over 100,000 people, was barely eastern european river cruises a bump in the road.
From day one, resource-poor Japan had looked elsewhere for the supplies it needed, and this soon turned into a drive to expand and colonize its neighbors. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95 saw Japan take control of Taiwan, Korea and parts of Manchuria, eastern european river cruises and its victory against Russia in the 1904–5 Russo-Japanese eastern european river cruises war cemented its position of strength. With an increasingly totalitarian government controlled by the military, Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China via Manchuria in 1931 and by 1941 had an empire stretching across much of Asia and the Pacific. In 1941, Japan attacked eastern european river cruises Pearl Harbor , destroying a large portion of the U.S. Pacific fleet but drawing America into the war, whose tide soon started to turn against Japan. By the time it was forced to surrender in 1945 after the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki , 1.86 million Japanese civilians and military personnel had died, well over 10 million Chinese and other Asians eastern european river cruises had been killed, primarily in atrocities committed by the Japanese military, and Japan was occupied for the first time in its history. The Emperor kept his throne but was turned into a constitutional monarch. Thus converted to pacifism and democracy, with the US taking care of defense, Japan now directed its prodigious energies into peaceful technology and reemerged from poverty to conquer the world's marketplaces with an endless stream of cars and consumer electronics to attain the second-largest gross national product in the world.
But frenzied growth could not last forever, and after the Nikkei stock index hit the giddy heights of 39,000 eastern european river cruises in 1989, the bubble well and truly burst, leading to Japan's lost decade of the 1990s that saw the real estate bubbles deflate, the stockmarket fall by half and, adding insult to injury, the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 that leveled parts of Kobe and killed over 6,000 people. The economy has yet to fully recover from its doldrums, with deflation driving down prices, eastern european river cruises an increasingly unsupportable burden of government debt (nearing 200% of GDP) and an increasing polarization of Japanese society into "haves" with permanent jobs and "have-not" freeters drifting between temporary jobs. This has resulted in Japan losing its position as the world's second largest economy to its larger neighbour, China . Nevertheless, the Japanese maintain one of the highest standards eastern european river cruises of living in the world.
As an island nation shut off from the rest of the world for a long time (with mild exceptions from China and Korea), Japan is very homogeneous . Almost 99% of the population is of Japanese ethnicity. The largest minority are Koreans, around 1 million strong, many in their 3rd or 4th generations. There are also sizable populations of Chinese, Filipinos and Brazilians, although many are of Japanese descent. Though largely assimilated, the resident Chinese population maintains eastern european river cruises a presence in Japan's three Chinatowns in Kobe , Nagasaki and Yokohama . Indigenous ethnic minorities include the Ainu on Hokkaido , gradually driven eastern european river cruises north during the centuries and now numbering around 50,000 (although eastern european river cruises the number varies greatly depending on the exact definition used), and the Ryukyuan people of Okinawa .
The Japanese are well known for their politeness. Many Japanese are thrilled to have visitors to their country and are incredibly helpful to lost and bewildered-looking foreigners. Younger Japanese people are often extremely interested in meeting and becoming friends with foreigners as well. Do not be surprised if a Japanese person (usually of the opposite gender) approaches you in a public place and tries to initiate a conversation with you in somewhat coherent eastern european river cruises English. On the other hand, many are not used to dealing with foreigners (外人 gaijin ) and are more reserved and reluctant to communicate.
Visibly foreign visitors remain a rarity in many parts of Japan outside of major cities, and you will likely encounter moments when entering a shop causes the staff to seemingly panic and scurry off into the back. Don't take this as racism or other xenophobia: they're eastern european river cruises just afraid eastern european river cruises that you'll try to address them in English and they'll be embarrassed because they can't understand or reply. A smile and a Konnichiwa ("Hello") often helps.
As Japan has undergone periods of openness and isolation throughout its history, eastern european river cruises Japanese culture is if anything unique. While heavy Chinese influences are evident in traditional Japanese culture, eastern european river cruises it has also retained many native Japanese customs, resulting in a seemingly seamless blend.
The most important holiday in Japan is New Year (お正月 Oshōgatsu ), which pretty much shuts down the country eastern european river cruises from December 30 to January 3. Japanese head home to their families (which means massive transport congestion), eat festive eastern european river cruises foods and head out to the neighborhood temple at the stroke o