THE COUNTRY OF THE CHERRY BLOSSOM

ZEMLJA TRENJEVOG CVETA

Autor

Iva Milkovski, uenica I razreda Ekonomsko-trgovinske kole Bor

Mentor

Irina Kagadejev Stevanovi, profesor engleskog jezika u Ekonomsko-trgovinskoj koli

Regionalni centar za talente Bor, April 2015.

CONTENTS:

ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................4
HISTORY.......................................................................................................................4
ECONOMY....................................................................................................................6
CULTURE.....................................................................................................................7
TOURISM IN JAPAN.................................................................................................10
ANIME AND MANGA................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................12
LITERATURE.............................................................................................................12

ABSTRACT
Japan is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, but not is it only beautiful it has its long history,
a good economic and political status and a very different culture than our own. Japan is often called "Land
of the Rising Sun" because the kanji that makes the word Japan means "sun origin" and it is also often
called "The country of the Cherry Blossom" because Japan is famous for the large number of cherry
blossom trees. The capital of Japan is Tokyo, which is the world's largest metropolitan area, with over 30
million inhabitants.

Japan je jedna od najlepih zemlja na svetu, ali nije da je samo lepa ona ima svoju dugaku istoriju, dobar
ekonomski i politiki status i jednu veoma drugaiju kulturu od nae. Japan esto zovu "Zemlja izlazeeg
sunca" zato to kandi u rei Japan znai "Zemlja gde izlazi sunce" i takoe je esto nazivaju "Zemlja
trenjevog cveta" zato to je Japan poznat po velikom broju drveta trenje. Glavni grad Japana je Tokio,
koji je najvea metropola na svetu, sa preko 30 miliona stanovnika.

Picture 1: Japan's flag

Key words : Japan, Japanese history, Japanese culture, tourism in Japan, anime and manga
Kljune rei : Japan, istorija Japana, kultura Japana, turizam u Japanu, anime i manga

INTRODUCTION
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Japan or Nippon is an island nation in East Asia. It is located in the Pacific Ocean and it has over 6.000
islands, but there are four main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. Japan's population is
126 million people which makes it the world's tenth largest. The ruler is the Emperor, even thouth he
doesn't have that much power, he is a ceremonial figurehead. Japan is a member of the UN, the G7, the
G8, and the G20. Japan is a developed country and is a major economic and political power.

HISTORY
The history of Japan includes the history of the islands of Japan and the Japanese people, spanning the
ancient history of the region to the modern history of Japan as a nation state. Following the last ice age,
around 12,000 BC, the rich ecosystem of the Japanese archipelago fostered human development. The
earliest-known pottery found in Japan belongs to the Jmon period. The first known written reference to
Japan is in the brief information given in Book of Han in the 1st century AD. The main cultural and
religious influences came from China. Japans history is divided into more periods:
Picture 2:Mountain Fuji

Jmon period
It starts in the early 14,000 BC and ends 300 BC. The first signs of stable living patterns appeared around
14,000 BC with the Jmon culture is characterized by a semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer lifestyle of wood
stilt house and pit dwellings and a rudimentary form of agriculture. The beginning of briding rice on the
Kyushu island and the fast spreading of the yayoi culture marks the end of the jomon period.

Yayoi period
The Yayoi period lasted from about 400 or 300 BC until 250 AD, following the Jmon period, and is
named after Yayoi, a subsection of Bunky, Tky, where archaeological investigations found its first
recognized traces.
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Kofun period
The Kofun period began around 250 AD, and is named after the large tumulus burial mounds called kofun
( means "ancient grave") that started appearing around that time. In the Kofun period the Japanese have
established a strong military which was concentrated around powerful clans (zoku).This period ends in
710.

Nara period
This period got it's name from the place where the capital of this period is and that's in Nara. This period
last's from 710 to 794 and it's called the golden age of Japan because that's when the Japanese state starts
to be more powerful.

Heian period
This is one of the longest periods in the Japanese history, it begins in 794 A.D when the Emperor Kammu
moves the capital to Kyoto and ends in 1185 when Minamoto no Yoritomo seized power from the
emperors. This period is also famous for the rise of the samurai class, which later size all power of Japan.

Kamukura period
This period mainly lasts until the end of the Kamakura shogunate (1185-133), it got it's name from the city
Kamakura, where the seat of the government was placed.

Muromachi period
This period lasts from 1333 to 1568 and in those 237 years ruled the Ashikaga shogunate who have 1333
taken all of the power over Japan when they took down the Kamakuri. This period ends when Oda
Nobunaga took over the capital Kyoto.

Azuchi-Momoyama period
This period lasts from 1568 to 1600 and is the period when the Japan is finally united. This period got it's
name from two castles Azuchi and Momoyama

Edo period
The Edo period, or Tokugawa period is a very impotent period in the Japanese history because this period,
even thought it was a very hard period, brought peace to Japan and brought prosperity to a nation of 31
million. This period lasted from 1600 to 1868.

Picture 3:Life in the Edo period

Meiji period
The Meiji era lasted from September 8, 1868 to July 30, 1912.This period marks the beginning of Empire
of Japan during which Japanese society moved from being an isolated feudal society to its modern form.

Taisho period
Once Emperor Meiji died his place took Taisho. This period lasts from July 30, 1912, to December 25,
1926.This period is also known as the "Taisho democracy" in Japan.

Showa period
This period was ruled by the Emperor Showa, from December 25, 1926 to January 7, 1989. Showa
reigned for 63 years, through some of both the most tumultuous and prosperous moments in Japanese
history.

Heisei period
This period lasts from the death of the Emperor Showa (1989) till this day. The current ruler of Japan is
Showa's son Akihito. The name "Heisei" was taken from two Chinese history and philosophy books,
namely Records of the Grand Historian and the Classic of History.

ECONOMY
Most of the features of Japan's economic developed in the Edo period, like the network of transport routes,
by road and water, and the futures contracts, banking and insurance of the Osaka rice brokers. In the Meiji
period from 1868, Japan expanded it's economy thanks to the market economy. But the economy's best
growing years were from the 1960s to the 1980s and it was called the Japanese post-war economic
miracle. The economy weakened in the 1990 but got better in the 2000 especially in the 2005. As of 2012,
Japan is the third largest national economy in the world, after the United States and China, in terms of
nominal GDP, and is the fourth largest national economy in the world, after the United States, China and
India, in terms of purchasing power parity. As of December 2013, Japan's public debt was the second
largest in the world.
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Japan has a large industrial capacity, and is the place where some of the largest and most technologically
advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronics, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships,
chemical substances, textiles, and processed foods. Japan has a low unemployment rate of around four
percent and has in 2007 had 20 million people in poverty.
Japan's main export markets are China, the United States, South Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong. Its main
exports are transportation equipment, motor vehicles, electronics, electrical machinery and chemicals. The
main imports markets are China, the US, Australia, Saudi Arabia , United Arab Emirates, South Korea and
Qatar.

Picture 4: The Tokyo Stock Exchange

Japan is a leading nation in scientific research, particularly technology, machinery and biomedical
research. Nearly 700,000 researchers share a US$130 billion research and development budget, the third
largest in the world. Japanese researchers have won several Nobel Prizes. Hideki Yukawa, educated at
Kyoto University, was awarded the prize for physics in 1949. Sin-Itiro Tomonaga followed in 1965. Solidstate physicist Leo Esaki, educated at the University of Tokyo, received the prize in 1973.
Japan is also famous for it's fast trains and new cars that are inexpensive and have fuel levies are used to
promote energy efficiency. Some 250 high-speed Shinkansen trains connect major cities and Japanese
trains are known for their safety and punctuality.

CULTURE
The culture of Japan has evolved greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jmon period,
to its contemporary hybrid culture, which has the most influences from Asia, Europe, and North America.

Geisha

Geishas are traditional Japanese entertainers who are like hostesses and usually entertain people with there
skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music, dance, games and conversation,
mainly to entertain male customers. Geisha were traditionally trained from young childhood. Geisha
houses often bought young girls from poor families, and took responsibility for raising and training them.
During their childhood, apprentice geisha worked first as maids, then as assistants to the house's senior
geisha as part of their training and to contribute to the costs of their upkeep and education.
Picture 5:Geisha
Samurai
Samurai is a common term for a warrior in pre-industrial Japan. A more appropriate term is bushi which
came into use during the Edo period. However, the term samurai now usually refers to warrior nobility,
not, for example, ashigaru or foot soldiers. The samurai with no attachment to a clan or daimyo was called
a ronin.
Noh
Noh is a form of theater involving music, dance and drama, originating in
the 14th century. It was developed together with kyogen, which are comical
pieces performed during interludes of the main noh performance. The dual
art of noh and kyogen is known as nogaku. One key element of noh are the
masks which the shite (acter) wears.
Ikebana
Ikebana is a common term used for the Japanese art of flower arrangement
which is also known as kado ("the way of flowers"). Different schools of
ikebana exist today with a variance in style. Some schools advocate that
flowers should be arranged in a way that they look as if they were in the
wild; others pay attention to precision of shape, line and form, going as far
as to prescribe rules that dictate the angles that the branches should make.
Picture 6: Ikebana arrangement
Cuisine
Japanese cuisine offers an abundance of gastronomical delights with a boundless variety of regional and
seasonal dishes as well as international cuisine. Restaurants range from mobile food stands to centuries
old ryotei, atmospheric drinking places, seasonally erected terraces over rivers, cheap chain shops and
unique theme restaurants about ninja and robots. Many restaurants are specialized in a single type of dish,
while others offer a variety of dishes. Some of the famous dishes in Japan are sushi, ramen, soba, hayashi
rice, noodles, miso soup...
How to make sushi
Ingridients:

Fish, shellfish or other topping

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Sushi rice
Unsalted dried seaweed (layer sheets prepared for making sushi)
Rice wine vinegar
Sugar
Salt

Steps:
Picture 7:Sushi
1. Select 2 types of veggies (cucumbers and carrots) and a fish (for instance artificial cooked crab).
Also, buy some dried seaweed (also known as nori) and uncooked rice.
2. Place about 2 cups of sushi rice in a rice cooker and then rinse the rice repeatedly until the rice
water is not cloudy. Then fill the rice pot with new water (how much water depends on the amount
of rice of the cooker and the same goes for how long to cook it; the instructions are usually in the
box).
3. Wash the veggies and place them on a cutting board and cut the carrots in half long wise and then
cut them into long skinny strips. Repeat on the cucumber.
4. Cut the crab into little strips and make sure they are pretty even in length.
5. Check on your rice. If it's ready, take it out and put it in a dish.
6. Take a bowl and pour in about two tablespoons of rice wine vinegar. You can add more or less
depends on your taste buds and how separated you want your grains or rice. It is better to put in
less right now and add more later. Add in sugar and salt and stir until it dissolves (repeat until it
tastes good).
7. Pour the mixture onto the rice and mix thoroughly by "slicing" the rice. Add rice wine vinegar if
needed to make the grains of rice separate easily.
8. Place the seaweed layer on a bamboo mat and then spread rice onto the seaweed. It should be
spread out so there are no empty holes and it should fill the middle third. Dampen the end edge
with rice vinegar so it sticks when you roll it. Place the strips of the veggies and the crab onto rice.
9. Roll the bamboo into a long roll by first folding the bottom third in then roll it up. It should look
like a tube of some sort. Now remove the sushi roll from the bamboo and cut out as follows
10. Cut down the middle of the roll, take each half and place them parallel to each other. Repeat by
cutting both halves down the middle simultaneously, take those portions and repeat one last time.
This cutting technique insures that the ingredients do not spill out of the roll.
11. Serve and enjoy!
TOURISM IN JAPAN

Tourism in Japan atracted 8.3 million foreign visitors in 2008, slightly more than Singapore and Ireland.
Japan has 16 World Heritage Sites, including Himeji Castle and Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto.
Kyoto receives over 30 million tourists annually. Foreigners also visit Tokyo and Nara, Mount Fuji, ski
resorts such as Niseko in Hokkaido, Okinawa, ride the shinkansen and take advantage of Japan's hotel and
hotspring network.
In 2014 13,413,600 tourists visited Japan. Most of those tourist were from Asia, the ones who visited
Japan the most were people from Taiwan, than from South Korea, China, Hong Kong, and there were also
a lot of tourist from USA.
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Some of the major tourist attractions are: Hirosaki Castle, Nakacho Samurai District, Edo Wonderland
Nikko Edomura, Tokyo Disney Resort, Imperial Palace, Mount Fuji, Historic Monuments of Ancient
Kyoto, Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, Itsukushima Shrine, Awa Dance
Festival, Buddhist Monuments in the Hry-ji Area, Atomic Bomb Dome, Mojiko Retro Town, Huis Ten
Bosch (theme park), Kirishima-Yaku National Park, Ishigaki Island

Picture 8: Ishigaki Island

Picture 9: Awa Dance Festival

ANIME AND MANGA

Anime
Anime is the thing that ectualy got me interested in Japan. Anime is like cartoons but the style is different,
because anime is refer to Japanese animated productions featuring hand-drawn or computer animation.
Anime isn't only popular in Japan and Asia it is also popular in many Western lands. The anime industry
consists of over 430 production studios including major names like Studio Ghibli, Gainax and Toei
Animation. Despite having a fraction of the domestic film market, anime achieves a majority of DVD
sales and has been an international success after the rise of televised English dubs. This rise in
international popularly has resulted in non-Japanese productions using the anime art style, but these works

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have been defined as anime-influenced animation by both fans and the industry. Anime are often classified
by target demographic, including kodomo (children's), shjo (girls'), shounen (boys') and a diverse range
of genres targeting an adult audience. Some of mine fvoite anime are Betrayal Knows My Name, Magi,
Karneval, Shiki, Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi, 07-Ghost, CANNAN
Picture 10:Shiki(Anime)

Manga
Manga are comics created in Japan, or by Japanese creators in the Japanese
language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century.
They have a long and complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art. Manga
have the same style as anime and usually either a manga is adapted to an
anime or an anime to a manga. Anime includes works in a broad range of
genres: action-adventure, romance, sports and games, historical drama,
comedy, science fiction and fantasy, mystery, suspense, detective, horror,
sexuality, and business/commerce, among others. Manga-influenced
comics, among original works, exist in other parts of the world, particularly
in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan ("manhua"), and South Korea
("manhwa"). Mangas are popular all over the world including here in Serbia
where in recent years began manga translations by Dark Wood. My
favourite mangas are Black Haze, Id, Lessa, Purgatory of Cartagra, Which
Hunter, Shokugeki no Sma, Black Butler
Picture 11:Soul Eater(Manga)

CONCLUSION

Japna is a very beautiful country even thought that i got to know all of it's beauty troth watching anime
and reading manga. Even tooth most of the kids my age would prefer going to America or France just
because they don't know how beautiful Japan is. Japan is a very unique country with it's unique culture
and unique people which is why it's definitely one of the most beautiful places in the world. If anything if
I could go to any place in the world I would sourly go to Japan, the country where the cherry blossoms
bloom.

LTERATURE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan#History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan#Economy
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan#Culture
http://www.japan-guide.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Japan
http://www.gojapango.com/culture/culture.html
Dragan Milenkovi/ Japan za poetnike/ Super Print, Beograd/ SJD Beograd-Tokio,/ Beograd/ 2007
Peter Bleed, J. Edward Kidder Jr., Takeuchi Rizo, G. Cameron Hurst III, Shinoda Minoru, Martin C.
Colcutt,Jurgis Elisonas, John. W. Hall, Marius B. Jansen, Pter Duus, Peter Frost/ Istorija Japana/ Zavod za
udbenike/ Subotica/ 2003

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