Natural Disasters and Anthropogenic Events

Japan as a country has experienced a very unique history, including both natural disasters and man-made events; yet, Japan today has the third largest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita (nominal) in the world after the United States and China with a value of 5.2 trillion dollars. The country and its people have overcome many odds to reach this stage. According to document 4, Japan is separated from the rest of Asia by water, and it is far enough away to be protected from invasions.

The Mongols were interested in invading Japan. Under Kublai Khan’s command, they rose to the challenge and tried to sail to conquer Japan twice, only to be caught in a storm that ended both invasions before their arrival. These winds were thought to be of the kamikaze, or wind god, protecting Japan from these invasions. Even though Japan was too far from China to attack, they were close enough to interact and trade ideas.

While Japan was trying to reform itself, it took many ideas from China to do so.

One idea that Japan got from China was Buddhism. Even though Buddhism started out as an idea from China, its presence became prominent enough to be in the constitution of Prince Shookum, or the seventeen-article constitution, “The three treasures which are Buddha, the (Buddhist) Law and the (Buddhist) Priesthood, should be given sincere reverence” Historically, Japan had a hierarchical society and believed that people should always obey those above them and fulfill their role instead of being like those above them, lest problems should arise (Document 2).

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This belief resulted in the feudal system staying intact because the samurai and peasants never rebelled to become as wealthy as the daimyo. Japan also ensured that there was a large working class of about 80% of the population that would stay as they were by making everyone’s rank clear and making it virtually impossible to escape poverty.

This was because they were illiterate, and were ruled by appointed officials. Japan Japan’s, society and philosophies ensured loyalty and that enough of the population was and would continue to work. Japan is currently known for its innovative technology and manufacturing because of companies like Toyota, and Nintendo. Toyota is currently the largest manufacturer of cars worldwide and is a name that many people have heard about; furthermore, Nintendo started out as a playing card company, but soon became known as a huge video-game company. Many people have heard the name of both these companies, but Japan has many more industries that allowed it to climb to the third highest GDP. One of these

industries is agriculture. While having about 14 million acres available for farming, Japan also has the highest amounts of crops per unit area in the world. Another large industry present in Japan is fishing. Japan’s fishing industry captured approximately 4,987,703 metric tons of fish in 2000, and it is currently ranked as the fourth largest fishing industry in the world. Another industry in Japan is tourism. By 2012, Japan had gained many tourists and soon became the most visited place in the In conclusion, Japan is a country that was very lucky because of its distance from Asia, but it has also faced its fair share of disasters, but it always rebuilt itself and became the country with the third highest gross domestic product worldwide. Japan is a very important link in the global economy and trade. Japan’s history and culture have helped its people to overcome many odds like having a small land mass, few natural resources, impacted by natural disasters, and set up the country as a successful economic power.