Fruit and vegetable farming takes up what slivers of cultivable land are left after rice farming, but Japan is forced to import about half its food.
For some people, modern Japan is an anathema, a kitsch distillation of the Western world that destroys traditional culture. Others embrace the nation’s fascination with invention and image, and praise it for often leading the West. Few urban buildings are more than 25 years old, and consumer trends may change in a matter of weeks in this economic powerhouse. In some ways, though, the liking for change is a manifestation of ancient religious concepts that emphasize the importance of impermanence and renewal.
The torii is the most recognizable icon of Shinto. These gateways mark the entrance to the sacred precincts of a shrine.
Buddhist sites, identifiable by the suffixes -ji and -dera, are usually translated as “temples” whereas Shinto sites are “shrines.”
Pruning is prized as an art, bringing out the inherent qualities of a tree. A beautifully pruned tree often forms a focal point in a stroll garden.
Through much of Japan’s history, parallel with the institutions and prevailing ideologies of the day, there has been a distinction between power and office. The emperor had little power from the 12th century onward, being essentially a puppet under first the regents, then the shoguns, and, later, the military government before and during WW2. This distinction persists today in the relationship between bureaucrats, who are given enormous power to oversee the economy, and politicians, who merely co-opt, accommodate, or head off the opposition groups.
The cherry, as the Japanese see it, is a felicitous symbol but also a poignant reminder of the evanescent beauty of this floating world. Few nations have extracted so much refined pleasure and sadness from the contemplation of a flower.
The new system, also based on Chinese models, held that the land and people were ultimately the property of the emperor. Tax-exempt status was granted to Buddhist institutions, large landholders, and settlers who would expand the state’s frontiers. Meanwhile, the Fujiwara clan gained influence by acting as regents, and intermarriage with the imperial family. A pattern emerged in which emperors would abdicate, name a younger successor, enter a monastery, then exercise power from behind the scenes.
While Kyoto remained the official capital through the Tokugawa period, Edo eclipsed it in size and was probably the largest city in the world by around 1700.
Weakened by unrest from within its own and other ranks, the shogunate could only accede to Perry’s demands. Samurai from the Satsuma, Choshu, and Tosa domains in Kyushu, Western Honshu, and Shikoku became the driving force behind a successful restoration of imperial power and a reorganization of the government carried out in 1868.
Military conscription and the elimination of the hereditary samurai class were undertaken to create a modern fighting force, provoking furious resistance from samurai in 1874-6. Daimyo domains were gradually transformed into prefectures, although daimyo and court nobles lingered in the form of a new class called kazoo.
When Ieyasu moved his military capital to Edo in 1590, Ginza was all swamp and marshland. Once filled in, the area attracted tradesmen and merchants. The silver mint that provided Ginza’s name, “silver place,” was built in 1612.