Ibaraki Entrance Social Studies cheat sheet

Japan's 47 prefectures group into 8 regions (Hokkaidō, Tōhoku, Kantō, Chūbu, Kinki, Chūgoku, Shikoku, Kyūshū-Okinawa); Tochigi, Ibaraki, and Gunma form northern Kantō.

Japan spans roughly 20°–46°N latitude and 122°–146°E longitude; the 135°E meridian (Japan Standard Time) passes through Akashi, Hyōgo.

Climate zones: Pacific side gets summer rain and typhoons; Sea of Japan side gets heavy winter snow; Seto Inland Sea has low rainfall; Okinawa is subtropical.

Japan's EEZ (about 4.47 million km²) ranks among the world's largest; the territorial sea is 12 nautical miles, the EEZ 200 nautical miles.

Ibaraki Prefecture: capital Mito; borders Tochigi, Saitama, Chiba, and Fukushima; faces the Pacific; Kasumigaura is Japan's second-largest lake by area.

Population: Japan's total population peaked near 128 million around 2008 and is shrinking; the aging rate (share aged 65+) exceeds 29%.

Industry location: Pacific Belt (Tōkyō–Nagoya–Ōsaka–Kitakyūshū) concentrates heavy industry; Keihin, Chūkyō, and Hanshin are the three major industrial zones.

Map scale rule: large-scale maps (1/25,000) show small areas in detail; small-scale maps (1/1,000,000) show large areas with less detail.

Contour lines: the closer the lines, the steeper the slope; every fifth line is an index contour labelled with elevation; hachures mark depressions.

Period order: Jōmon → Yayoi → Kofun → Asuka → Nara → Heian → Kamakura → Muromachi → Azuchi-Momoyama → Edo → Meiji → Taishō → Shōwa → Heisei → Reiwa.

645 Taika Reform (Naka no Ōe and Nakatomi no Kamatari) introduced the ritsuryō system and the handen (equal-field) allotment; the 701 Taihō Code completed it.

710 Heijō-kyō (Nara) capital; 794 Heian-kyō (Kyōto) capital; 1192 Minamoto no Yoritomo becomes shōgun at Kamakura.

1543 Portuguese arrive at Tanegashima (firearms); 1549 Francis Xavier brings Christianity; 1639 the shogunate completes sakoku restrictions at Nagasaki/Dejima.

Edo period: sankin kōtai (alternate attendance), murakata kaishō, and five-route kaidō system; Genroku and Kyōhō eras mark cultural and fiscal shifts.

1853 Perry's squadron arrives at Uraga; 1854 Kanagawa Treaty opens Shimoda and Hakodate; 1858 Harris Treaty (unequal treaties, extraterritoriality, no tariff autonomy).

1868 Meiji Restoration: Charter Oath, abolition of domains (1871), conscription (1873), land tax reform (1873), and the 1889 Meiji Constitution.

Key figures: Prince Shōtoku (17-article constitution), Sugawara no Michizane, Minamoto no Yoritomo, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Fukuzawa Yukichi.

Postwar: 1945 Potsdam Declaration acceptance; 1947 Constitution of Japan effective; 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty; 1956 Japan joins the United Nations.

Silk Road and Kentōshi (Japanese embassies to Tang China) transmitted Buddhism, writing, and the ritsuryō model; the 894 embassy cancellation by Sugawara no Michizane followed Tang decline.

Mongol invasions of 1274 and 1281 failed (kamikaze typhoons); the cost weakened the Kamakura shogunate, contributing to its fall in 1333.

Wakō piracy and the 1609 trade license to the Siam/Annam trade; the shogunate's shuinsen (red-seal ships) traded across Southeast Asia.

Unequal treaties after 1858 led to tariff autonomy loss; revision succeeded in 1894 (Britain) and 1911 (full tariff autonomy restored).

1894–95 Sino-Japanese War: Treaty of Shimonoseki cedes Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula (triple intervention returns Liaodong).

1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance; 1904–05 Russo-Japanese War; 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth mediated by Theodore Roosevelt.

1919 Versailles Treaty: Japan gains Shantung rights and Pacific mandates; 1922 Washington Naval Treaty sets capital-ship ratios 5:5:3 (US:UK:Japan).

Postwar diplomacy: 1960 Japan–US Security Treaty revision; 1972 normalization with China; 1973 oil crisis shifts policy toward resource diplomacy.

International organizations: Japan joined the IMF and World Bank in 1952, GATT in 1955, OECD in 1964, and became a UN Security Council non-permanent member repeatedly.

Constitution of Japan promulgated 3 November 1946, effective 3 May 1947; three principles: popular sovereignty, fundamental human rights, pacifism (Article 9).

Article 9 renounces war and prohibits maintaining land, sea, and air forces plus other war potential; the right of belligerency is not recognized.

Rights: equality (Art. 14), freedom of thought and conscience (Art. 19), religion (Art. 20), expression (Art. 21), academic freedom (Art. 23), due process (Art. 31).

Social rights: right to maintain minimum standards of wholesome and cultured living (Art. 25), right to education (Art. 26), right to work (Art. 27), right to property (Art. 29).

The Emperor is the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people; acts in matters of state require the advice and approval of the Cabinet (Arts. 1, 3, 7).

Diet: House of Representatives 465 members (term 4 years, dissolvable); House of Councillors 248 members (term 6 years, half elected every 3 years).

Cabinet: Prime Minister designated by the Diet; majority of ministers must be Diet members; the Cabinet is collectively responsible to the Diet (Art. 66).

Judiciary: Supreme Court is the court of last resort with rule-making power; judges are independent; lower courts include high, district, family, and summary courts.

Constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote in each house plus a majority in a national referendum (Art. 96).

GDP = consumption + investment + government spending + net exports (C + I + G + NX); nominal vs real GDP differs by the deflator.

Business cycle: expansion → peak → recession → trough; a recession is commonly two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.

Fiscal policy: expansionary = higher spending or lower taxes; contractionary = lower spending or higher taxes; monetary policy is run by the Bank of Japan.

Taxes: direct (income, corporate, inheritance) vs indirect (consumption, liquor, tobacco); progressive income tax rates rise with income.

Japan's consumption tax: 3% (1989) → 5% (1997) → 8% (2014) → 10% (2019, with reduced 8% rate for food and newspapers).

Public finance: Japan's outstanding government debt exceeds 250% of GDP; primary balance excludes interest payments on past debt.

Exchange rates: a stronger yen makes exports dearer and imports cheaper; a weaker yen does the reverse; export/import elasticity matters.

Trade policy: tariffs, quotas, and non-tariff barriers; comparative advantage (Ricardo) explains gains from specialization and trade.

Balance of payments: current account (trade, services, income, transfers) plus capital and financial accounts; Japan runs a persistent trade surplus in income.

Local autonomy guaranteed by Chapter VIII (Arts. 92–95); local public entities are prefectures and municipalities (cities, towns, villages).

Local assemblies and chief executives (governors, mayors) are elected directly by residents for four-year terms.

Direct democracy tools: initiative to enact/abolish ordinances (1/50 of voters), recall of assembly members and chief executives, and dissolution of the assembly.

Resident voting: local elections require three months of residence; national elections require three months for the House of Representatives and six for the House of Councillors.

Local finance: local allocation tax (chihō kōfu zei), local bonds, and national treasury disbursements; the local allocation tax equalizes fiscal capacity.

Contemporary issues: aging and depopulation, regional revitalization (chihō sōsei), declining birthrate, and the 2024 population decline in most prefectures.

Civic participation: NPOs, NGOs, volunteer activity, and public comment procedures on administrative rulemaking.

Consumer protection: Consumer Affairs Agency; Product Liability Act; cooling-off periods for door-to-door sales and specified commercial transactions.

Map scale: 1/25,000 means 1 cm on the map equals 250 m on the ground; 1/50,000 means 1 cm equals 500 m.

Coordinate reading: latitude lines run east–west and measure north–south; longitude lines run north–south and measure east–west.

Graph types: bar charts compare categories; line graphs show trends over time; pie charts show composition; scatter plots show correlation.

Reading tables: identify units, totals, and base year before comparing; check whether values are per capita, absolute, or percentages.

Population pyramids: a wide base means high birthrate; a narrow base with a wide top means aging; Japan shows a constrictive (urn-shaped) pyramid.

Primary source analysis: identify author, date, audience, and purpose; distinguish fact from opinion and check for bias.

Statistical caution: correlation does not imply causation; watch for omitted variables, small samples, and differing definitions across countries.

Choropleth maps use shading to show density or rates; isoline maps connect equal values (isotherms, isobars); flow maps show movement.