Fukuoka Entrance Social Studies cheat sheet

Four main islands north to south: Hokkaidō, Honshū, Shikoku, Kyūshū; Okinawa lies far southwest in the Ryūkyū chain.

About 73% of Japan is mountainous; plains are small and crowded, so population and farmland concentrate on coastal lowlands such as the Kantō and Nōbi plains.

Japan sits where the Pacific, Philippine Sea, Eurasian, and North American plates meet, producing earthquakes, volcanoes, and hot springs; the Japan Trench lies off the Pacific coast.

Climate: Pacific side gets heavy summer rain and typhoons; Japan Sea side gets heavy winter snow from northwest monsoon winds crossing the mountains.

Seto Inland Sea climate is mild and dry because surrounding mountains block seasonal rain; Hokkaidō is subarctic with cool summers and no rainy season front.

Rivers are short and steep, so they are poor for transport but good for hydroelectric power and irrigation; few natural lakes, largest is Lake Biwa.

Agriculture: rice in warmer lowlands, especially Niigata and Tōhoku; Hokkaidō leads in dairy, wheat, potatoes, and sugar beet; Ehime and Wakayama lead citrus.

Industry belts: Keihin (Tōkyō–Yokohama), Hanshin (Ōsaka–Kōbe), Chūkyō (Nagoya, autos), plus Kitakyūshū and Setouchi; heavy industry clusters on reclaimed coastal land.

Population: over 90% urban, birth rate below replacement, aging society, and internal migration toward the three major metropolitan areas; many rural areas are depopulating.

Latitude controls climate: low latitudes are hot year-round, high latitudes cold; winds blow from high to low pressure and are deflected right in the Northern Hemisphere, left in the Southern.

Three main climate types by rainfall pattern: tropical rainforest near the equator, Mediterranean with dry summers and wet winters, and monsoon with strong seasonal wind reversal.

Deserts occur around 20–30° latitude where descending dry air dominates, and in continental interiors far from oceans, e.g., Sahara, Gobi, Atacama.

Major oil and gas producers: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE in the Persian Gulf; Russia, USA, and Canada also produce large volumes.

Iron ore exporters include Australia, Brazil, and South Africa; copper comes from Chile and Peru; bauxite from Guinea and Australia.

Population distribution is uneven: dense in East and South Asia and Western Europe, sparse in deserts, polar regions, and tropical rainforests.

Development indicators: GNI per capita, literacy rate, and life expectancy distinguish developed from developing countries; rapid urban growth in developing countries creates informal settlements.

Regional blocs: EU in Europe, USMCA in North America, ASEAN in Southeast Asia, and AU in Africa; OPEC coordinates oil production and prices.

Jōmon culture produced cord-marked pottery; Yayoi period introduced wet-rice farming and bronze and iron tools from the continent.

Kofun period: large keyhole-shaped tombs for powerful clans; Yamato court emerged in the Kinai region and claimed descent from the sun goddess.

Prince Shōtoku promoted Buddhism and issued the Seventeen-Article Constitution; the Taika Reform (645) created a centralized state with the ritsuryō code.

Nara period (710–794): capital at Heijō-kyō, Kojiki and Nihon shoki compiled, Tōdaiji and the Great Buddha built, Tōshōdai-ji linked to Jianzhen.

Heian period (794–1185): capital at Heian-kyō; Fujiwara regency through marriage politics; Kokin wakashū and Tale of Genji define court culture; hiragana develops.

Kamakura shogunate (1185–1333): Minamoto no Yoritomo; jitō and shugo stewards; Jōkyū War; repelled Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281 with typhoons called kamikaze.

Muromachi shogunate (1336–1573): Ashikaga shoguns; Northern and Southern Courts split; Kitayama culture (Kinkaku-ji) and Higashiyama culture (Ginkaku-ji) flourish.

Sengoku period: daimyō compete; Portuguese introduce firearms in 1543 and Christianity via Francis Xavier in 1549; Oda Nobunaga begins unification.

Azuchi–Momoyama: Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi unify Japan; Hideyoshi's kenchi land survey and katanagari sword hunt separate samurai from farmers.

Battle of Sekigahara (1600) leads to the Tokugawa shogunate established in Edo in 1603; Tokugawa Ieyasu is first shogun.

Bakuhan system: shogun controls domains directly and through the sankin kōtai system, which required daimyō to alternate residence in Edo.

Social order: shi-nō-kō-shō (samurai, farmers, artisans, merchants); status fixed by birth; outcast groups faced discrimination.

Sakoku policy restricted foreign contact; Dutch and Chinese traded at Nagasaki, Korea through Tsushima, China through Satsuma, and Ainu trade through Matsumae.

Economy grew: rice as tax base, commercial farming, Osaka as rice market, merchant culture, ukiyo-e, kabuki, and Genroku culture.

Genroku and later cultural periods produced haiku by Matsuo Bashō, Ihara Saikaku's fiction, and Chikamatsu's puppet plays.

Late Tokugawa crises: famine, peasant uprisings, and foreign pressure; Perry's squadron arrived in 1853, leading to the Kanagawa Treaty in 1854.

Meiji Restoration (1868): Charter Oath, abolition of domains replaced by prefectures (haihan chiken), conscription, land tax reform, and zaibatsu growth.

Meiji Constitution (1889): emperor sovereign, bicameral Diet, limited suffrage; education rescript promoted loyalty; industrialization led by state then sold to private firms.

Imperial expansion: Sino-Japanese War (1894–95), Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), annexation of Korea (1910); Japan joined World War I on the Allied side.

Interwar: Taishō democracy, universal male suffrage in 1925, but militarism grew after the Manchurian Incident (1931) and withdrawal from the League of Nations.

World War II in Asia and the Pacific ended with Japan's surrender in 1945 after atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; occupation led by GHQ/SCAP.

Postwar reforms: new constitution (1947) with sovereignty of the people, Article 9 renunciation of war, land reform, dismantling of zaibatsu, women's suffrage.

San Francisco Peace Treaty (1951) restored sovereignty in 1952; Japan joined the UN in 1956; high growth in the 1960s made Japan a major economy.

Contemporary issues: bubble economy and its 1990s collapse, aging population, 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and nuclear accident, and debates over constitutional revision and the Self-Defense Forces.

The Constitution of Japan took effect on 3 May 1947; it has three principles: popular sovereignty, fundamental human rights, and pacifism.

The emperor is a symbol of the state and unity of the people, with no powers related to government.

Article 9 renounces war as a sovereign right and forbids maintaining war potential; the Self-Defense Forces are interpreted as permissible for self-defense.

Human rights are held to be inherent, inviolable, and inalienable; the constitution guarantees equality under law and forbids discrimination by race, sex, or social status.

Civil liberties include freedom of thought, religion, assembly, speech, and the press; economic rights include the right to work and to property.

Social rights include the right to maintain minimum standards of living, the right to education, and the right and duty to work.

Rights have limits: they must not infringe on the public welfare, so laws can restrict them to a reasonable degree.

The constitution is the supreme law; laws and ordinances contrary to it are invalid, and courts have the power to review constitutionality.

Japan uses a parliamentary cabinet system: the prime minister is chosen by the Diet from among its members and appoints cabinet ministers.

The Diet is bicameral: the House of Representatives (lower) and House of Councillors (upper); both are elected by the people.

House of Representatives has 465 members and a term of 4 years; it can be dissolved. House of Councillors has 248 members with 6-year terms, half elected every 3 years.

The House of Representatives takes precedence on budget, treaty approval, and choice of prime minister; a two-thirds override in the lower house can pass a bill rejected by the upper house.

Laws are enacted by the Diet; the cabinet enforces them; courts handle disputes and criminal trials under the principle of judicial independence.

Local government: governors and mayors are directly elected, as are local assemblies; local governments have limited autonomy and receive central transfers.

Elections use single-member districts and proportional representation for the lower house; the voting age was lowered to 18 in 2016.

Political parties compete for seats; the party or coalition with a majority in the lower house usually forms the government.

GDP measures total value of goods and services produced in a country in a year; GNI measures income earned by residents, including from abroad.

Japan's economy relies on manufacturing, especially automobiles and electronics, and on service industries; it imports most fuel and raw materials.

Business cycle phases: recovery, expansion, recession, and trough; inflation raises prices and reduces purchasing power of money.

Fiscal policy uses government spending and taxes; monetary policy is controlled by the central bank, which adjusts interest rates and money supply.

International trade gains from comparative advantage; tariffs and quotas restrict trade, while free trade agreements reduce barriers.

Exchange rates affect trade: a weaker yen makes exports cheaper and imports more expensive, helping exporters but hurting consumers.

International organizations: UN for peace and cooperation, IMF for currency stability, World Bank for development finance, WTO for trade rules.

Global issues include climate change, poverty, refugees, and resource scarcity; Japan participates in ODA and peacekeeping operations.

Read a map's title, legend, scale, and orientation before interpreting symbols; north is usually at the top.

Contour lines connect points of equal elevation; closely spaced lines mean steep slopes, widely spaced lines mean gentle slopes; V shapes point upstream.

Latitude and longitude locate points; latitude lines run east–west and measure north or south; longitude lines run north–south and measure east or west from the prime meridian.

In a bar graph, read the axis labels and units first; in a line graph, note the trend and turning points; in a pie chart, compare sector sizes to the whole.

For population pyramids, a wide base means high birth rate; a narrow base with wide top means aging population.

When comparing data, check whether values are absolute or per capita; per capita figures allow fair comparison between different-sized regions.

For documents, identify the author, date, audience, and purpose; separate stated facts from opinion and look for bias.

Cross-check a chart's claim against the source data; a truncated axis can exaggerate small differences.