Holiday in Japan (1): introduction
On 3-14 October 1998, I visited Japan as a member of a delegation from three British trade unions, including the Communication Workers Union where I was then Head of Research, to visit colleagues from the five postal and telecommunications trade unions of Japan. The delegation had meetings in Tokyo and we were shown around Tokyo and Kyoto. I stayed on alone for a few days to fly down to Hiroshima.
I never expected then that I would visit Japan again and certainly I would not have imagined that any further visit would occur 27 years later when I am the venerable age of 76. However, I am about to have a two-week holiday in the country.
I will be travelling with the company Great Rail Journeys and our Tour Manage for the entire trip will be Bill MacKintosh. I will be with my travel buddy, Jenny Madden, with whom I have previously travelled in Georgia & Armenia, Pakistan and India & Bhutan.
Japan – known as the Land of the Rising Sun – is a nation of islands. The four largest are (from north to south) Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. By far, the largest island is Honshu, the location of the capital Tokyo. Outside of these four large islands are 6,848 smaller islands.
The nearest point to the Eurasian land mass is 120 miles which is among the reasons why the country has never been successfully invaded. In the 1300s, the Mongols tried twice to invade Japan but failed on both occasions. In 1945, the Americans obviated the need to invade by dropping two atomic bombs and forcing a surrender.
The territory of the Japanese islands is larger than Germany, but three quarters of the land is not conducive to human habitation, especially in the mountainous regions, and only 13% is suitable for intensive cultivation. So the Japanese live in close proximity to one another, mainly along the coastal plains.
The current population of Japan is 124 million, making it the 11th most populous nation on the planet, but the birth rate has fallen dramatically and there is minimal immigration, so the populations is falling and is expected to shrink to less than 100 million by the middle of the century. Meanwhile the collapse in the birth date and high longevity (one of the highest rates in the world) means that the demographics of the nation are changing rapidly with a growing proportion of older citizens (currently 29%. are over 65).
Politically, the head of state is the emperor, making the country the only one on the globe with such a figure as the constitutional leader (although he is no longer said to be a god). The country is a democracy with free elections, but the same political party has won almost every election since the war.
Although the Japanese economy has been stagnant for decades, the country still has the fourth largest economy in the world. Culturally, the country is renowned for its traditionalism and conformity which fosters good order and little (overt) crime.
The Japanese language is exceptionally challenging: over over 2,200 kanji characters used in everyday life and around 3,000 basic everyday words to memorise – plus three writing systems.