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Welcome to Japan! Did you know that almost all the cartoons that you watch today are made in Japan? For example, Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, and Batman are all Japanese! Japan may look small, but did you know it is made of 4,000 small and big islands? It’s capital is Tokyo, the largest city in Japan. Japans four biggest islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. About 126 million people are crowded on these islands. It’s one of the world’s largest nations in population. During 1870 to 1970 the population increased from 30 million to 100million. About 8 ¼ million of those people lived in Tokyo. People had lived in Japan for over 30,000 years! To survive, they hunted for deer and boar, fished, and gathered nuts and berries. During this time people lived in villages of about 50 people. The Japanese learned how to grow rice in irrigated fields, and also learned how to make tools and weapons out of bronze and metal. They began to settle in communities near the rice paddles. This period is called the Yayoi era about 300 B.C. to A.D. 300. In the 600’s and 700’s one of the family groups began to dominate the others and it declared itself. By tradition the imperial family has no family name. The head of the imperial house, whose name was Kotuku, became emperor in 645. In 794, the imperial household moved to a new capital city called Heian-kyo, located at the site of today’s Kyoto. During the next 400 years, Heian-kyo was the center of Japan’s government and nobility.
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