Japan
Reading: Page 1
Answers: Worksheet 1
Japan is about the same size as the
state of: California
Japan has a population of over:
100 million people
Japan is located in: Asia
Japan is surrounded by:



The Pacific Ocean
The East China Sea
The Sea of Japan
Japan is made up of:
4 main islands
The largest of the islands is:
Honshu
The capital of Japan is: Tokyo
Japan’s most famous mountain is:
Mt. Fuji
Planting crops on low mountain slopes is called:
terraced farming (also: step farming)
Much of the food eaten in Japan
comes from: the sea
Food and products bought from
other countries are called: imports
Two problems Japan has because
of its geographical location are:


Earthquakes
Typhoons
The destructive waves that hit Japan
are called: tidal waves (or tsunamis)
The large tribes that once ruled
Japan were called: clans
The most powerful of these tribes
worshipped a: sun goddess
Today Japan is still called:
“the land of the rising sun”
The Japanese flag symbolizes the
rising sun
The most powerful of the clan
leaders became an: emperor
An emperor rules over: his own
land and the lands of others
The “ruling class” fought for and
protected the emperor
The Japanese type of government
was called: feudalism
The strong, powerful people who
became the military leaders were:
 Shoguns
The power handed from father to
son was called: hereditary power
The famous military fighters of
Japan were: Samurai
Rather than surrender to an enemy,
these fighters would: commit suicide
This type of death was named:
hari-kari
Japan
Reading: Page 3
Worksheet: 2
The 1400’s are called:
the Age of Exploration
Europeans were going to:
Asia and Africa
The Europeans came to Japan: in
the mid 1500’s
The Europeans brought with them
the religion of: Christianity
Any Japanese who tried to change to
this religion was: tortured or executed
The Japanese chose not to mix
with the Europeans and chose
“isolation” from the Europeans
Japan was part of the Eastern World and
Europe was part of the Western World
Japan remained isolated for about:
200 years
In history, Japan came out of it’s
isolation when American ships
sailed into Tokyo Bay
The American naval officer who
sailed into Tokyo Bay was:
Matthew Perry
The Asian country that England had
defeated was: China
The other European country that was
also interested in Japan was: Russia
Japan was afraid England and
Russia might: invade them
The Japanese believed if the Americans
stayed in Japan, the other countries
would not try to conquer Japan
Japan’s isolation had to end because
Japan was getting: far behind Europe
and the United States
The type of war the Japanese had
among themselves was a: civil war
The two sides

One side in this war
wanted to give more
power back to the
emperor.

And wanted to
modernize Japan
The civil war was won by the people
who wanted to modernize Japan
Japan
Reading: Page 5
Worksheet: 3
For a country to grow and
modernize it must have:

New equipment for
the factories
The new class of people gaining
power in Japan were: merchants
One thing this new class of people
wanted was:

To control what
was made, bought,
and sold in Japan
Three ways to get natural
resources from other countries:



Buy them
Trade for them
Take them
To solve the problem of getting
natural resources:

Japan chose to take
them by going to war
Expansionism:

Belief that a country
should expand and
gain control over
other countries
The first Asian country Japan
conquered was: Korea
Japan then took over the island of:
Formosa
This island is now called: Taiwan
Natural resources are needed:
to make products
These products are then:
sold or traded
The natural resources can also:
be sold or traded
The more natural resources and the
more products a country has to sell:

the richer the country
will be.
Japan and the rest of the western
world wanted to control: China
The group that was gaining control
of Japan in the late 1920’s was:

the military
In the 1920’s and 1930’s the whole
world was having a: depression
When a depression occurs, millions
of people are unable to find: work
The military leaders were afraid
the depression might spread to Asia
The natural resources, the making of products, the
selling of products, and trade is controlled by
the government in communist countries