Chapter Twenty Eight – Japan and the Koreas
Natural Environments (Section 1)
 What islands make up Japan? Describe Japan’s terrain. What is the name of
Japan’s longest mountain range? What is Japan’s highest peak? What is the rest of
Japan’s land made up of? What are the three most important plains in Japan and
where are they located?

What problems does the subduction zone underneath Japan cause the country?
What is a tsunami? What bodies of water separate Japan and Korean Peninsula?
What countries occupy the peninsula? What countries border North Korea and what
river run along the border? Describe the topography of Korea.

What affects the climates of Japan and the Korean Peninsula? When do these
areas get the most rainfall? How are the climates of Japan similar to the U.S.?
What is the Chishima Current? What is the Japan Current? What climate patterns
will you find in the Korea Peninsula?

What kinds of forests and trees are found in Japan and in the Koreas? What kinds
of animals live in these forests and what kinds have disappeared? What is a flyway?

What mineral and energy resources are found in Japan? How do the Japanese make
up for the shortage? What resources are found on the Korea Peninsula? How does
Japan manage its forests? How have Japan and the Koreas developed the resources
found in the sea?
History and Culture (Section 2)

Who were Japan’s early inhabitants? Who were they? What country has had a lot
of influence in Korea? What is Korean culture known for in Asia? What is
Shintoism?

What was unique about the Japanese political system? What is a shogun? What is a
daimyo? What are the samurai?

What did the Europeans bring to Japan? What happened to Europeans in Japan in
the 1600s? Who was allowed to stay in Japan and where were they allowed to
trade? Why did the Japanese limited access to their country?

Who was Commodore Matthew Perry and what was his influence in Japan? What was
the Meiji Restoration? What were the changes the happened to Japan as a result?
How did Japan expand its borders? What countries did it take and what countries
did it annex?

What was Japan’s involvement in WWII? What changes were made to Japan after
WWII? What is a Diet? What happened to Korea after WWII? What happened
after the occupation forces withdrew from Korea? How did the Korean War start
and how did it end? What is the demilitarized zone? What ecosystem has
developed in the DMZ?

What language is spoken in Japan? In Korea? How has China influenced Japan and
Korea? What is the name of the Korean alphabet?

What is the main religion in Japan? In the Korean Peninsula? What other religions
play apart in the countries?

How does Japan compare to California? Where do most people live in Japan? In
Korea? What are Japan’s main foods? Korea’s?

Describe Japan’s education system? Korea’s?
The Region Today (Section 3)

How much of Japan’s farmland is arable? How do Japanese farmers make the most
of their land? How does the government help? How big is the average farm?

How has Japan grow their economy so quickly? What is the relationship between
worker and employer? What is the keiretsu system?

Describe Japan’s international economy. Where is Japan’s main competition? What
is an export economy? What is a trade surplus?

Name the three large functional regions on the Honshu’s eastern coastal plains.
What is an urban agglomeration and which is the largest in the world? Describe it.

What is meant by Japan’s “graying” population? What problems does this mean for
Japan? How has the role of women changed in Japan in recent decades?

What kind of economy does North Korea have? How does the military and the
government impact daily life? What is the capital of North Korea? How do most
North Koreans live? How are farms run? Who used to help the North Koreans with
aid and who helps them now? How does North Korean GDP compare with South
Korea’s?

What is the capital of South Korea? What is the makeup of South Korea’s
government? What did it used to be like? What is meant by the phrase “Asian
Tiger”? What does South Korea export? What is a chaebol? How do chaebols
operate in South Korea? What problems have they caused and how has the
government tried to address them?