Geography - Japan and the World: Territory, Environment, Industry and Population
What this domain tests
You must place Japan on the globe, explain its natural environment, and connect that environment to industry, population and trade. Most items pair a map or a graph with a "why" question, so every fact should be tied to a number or a named place.
Territory and location
Japan stretches roughly from 20°N to 46°N and 123°E to 154°E, east of the Eurasian continent. Four main islands - Hokkaidō, Honshū, Shikoku and Kyūshū - plus about 14,000 smaller islands. Land area is about 377,000 km², but the exclusive economic zone reaches about 4.47 million km², among the world's largest. Around three-quarters of the land is mountainous, so population and farmland crowd narrow alluvial plains such as the Kantō, Nōbi and Osaka plains.
Climate
Five zones are examinable: Hokkaidō; the Sea of Japan side with heavy winter snow; the Pacific side with humid summers and dry winters; the Seto Inland Sea with low rainfall and many fine days; and the subtropical Nansei Islands. Snow on the Japan Sea side occurs because the northwest monsoon absorbs heat and moisture over the warm Japan Current before crossing the mountains.
Industry and population
Industry forms the Pacific Belt from Kantō through Chūkyō (automobiles) to Hanshin and North Kyūshū. Japan exports cars and semiconductor-making equipment and imports crude oil and liquefied natural gas. Population peaked around 2008 near 128 million and is now about 123 million; the ageing rate exceeds 29%, so questions often ask you to link falling births to labour shortage and a shrinking school-age population.
Worked example
A climate graph shows heavy January snowfall, low July rainfall and a high share of workers in precision machinery. The answer is an inland basin of the Sea of Japan side, not a Pacific-side prefecture: the snow comes from the winter monsoon, summer rain is low because the rainy-season front passes elsewhere, and precision industry needs transport and skilled labour rather than port access.
Traps
Mixing up the warm Kuroshio with the cold Oyashio; reversing cause and effect when explaining Sea of Japan snow; and misreading units on a graph (thousands versus millions).