Page 157 - Basic Japanese

CULTURE NOTE Weather in Japan

Japan consists of four major islands: Honshu, Hokkaido,

Kyushu, and Shikoku, and nearly 7,000 islands in all,
including numerous tiny islands where no one can live.

The total land area of Japan is 145,902 square miles
(380,000 square kilometers), only 1/25 of the total area
of the United States. Most of the land is mountainous,

and the flat portion where people can live is very
limited. Japan is a small country, but it is long. Japan

can be seen as a chain of islands that goes northeast to
southwest and measures about 1,700 miles (3,000

kilometers) in length. Japan’s northern end is near 45°
N., about the same as Montreal, Canada, and its

southern end is near 20° N., about the same as the
southern part of Florida. As might be expected, the
climate is very different across the country. Everywhere

in Japan except Hokkaido has a rainy season, called
tsuyu. In Tokyo, it rarely snows, but its summer is quite

muggy. Hokkaido is dry, but its winter is severe. Most of
the northern areas suffer from high accumulations of

snow in winter. Kyushu and the southern islands