 
japan is a rugged, mountainous group of islands. 
sometimes the islands are rocked by earthquakes. 
the mountains rise from the floor of the ocean, five or six miles deep 
(25,000-30,000 feet), to a height of over two miles in some places. 
mt. fuji (fujiyama) reaches 12,500 feet into the sky. 
the distance from coast to coast is less than two hundred miles anywhere 
in the islands. 
the islands, by their very shape, ensured (made it possible) that 
communication and transportation overland would always be a problem. 
almost 80% of the land surface is mountainous. 
nearly 600 mountains are 6,000 feet in altitude or more. 
the remaining 20% is very arable (good for farming) land divided into 
three main areas. 
these three great areas of fertile land lie along the eastern coast of the 
island of honshu. 
the largest is the kanto plain. 
the others are the nobi and kinai plains. 
the struggle for the control of these lands is the key to japanese 
history. 
(why do you think this is so?) 
throughout japan's existence these plains have attracted the japanese 
people. 
today the great cities of tokyo, nagoya and osaka are in the center of 
these areas. 
the kinai plain, by its position in the center of honshu, has tended to 
become the hub (center) of japan. 
until modern times the capital of japan was found in the kinai (nara, 
kyoto). 
to the japanese the kinai area has been known as the "home provinces." 
japan has many rivers. 
hundreds of streams race from the highlands to the sea. 
