Geography of Korea and Japan Unit 1 - Comparative Asian Societies: Korea & Japan

Key Questions

How does the geography of Japan and Korea help influence national identity?

How susceptible are Japan and the Koreas to natural disasters?

How does geography affect the foreign relations between China, Japan, the Koreas?

How does the geography of Japan and Korea affect their national security?

Japan

• The Japanese archipelago (island chain) consists of 3,900 islands. The FOUR most important are -Honshû, Shikoku, Kyûshû and Hokkaidô.

• At the closest point, the main Japanese islands are 120 miles away from the mainland.

• Unlike China and Korea, the borders of Japan have stayed relatively stable throughout most of its history due to its geographic status as a group of islands.

In comparison, Great Britain, which is, at the narrowest point of the English Channel, only 21 miles from Europe.

Great Britain

Japan

Japan • Cultural differences between the east

(Kanto region) and the west (Kansai region) of Honshu date to the earliest times.

• The Kanto region centers on the Kanto plain, the site of the present capital and Japan’s largest city, Tokyo.

• The early capitals Nara and Kyoto, however, were located in the Kansai region, another area of relatively flat land in the west.

Japan and the Korean Peninsula • The total land space of the Japanese islands is

about 142,000 square miles (377,915 sq. km).

The population and areas of agriculture are

therefore concentrated together.

• By comparison, the whole Korean peninsula is

about 220,258 sq. km and China is 9,596,961

sq. km = 4th largest in the world.

Tokyo • Formerly known as Edo. Tokyo means “eastern capital. ” (to –

east / kyo – capital)

• Became capital of Japan during Meiji Restoration in 1868. Prior to that it became an important city under the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1603.

• One of 47 Prefectures in Japan. City population = 8.7 million

• Largest metropolitan area in the world – 35 million people / New York is third with 22 million.

• Ranked MOST EXPENSIVE CITY in the WORLD by Marketwatch.com (Osaka is 3rd)

• Tokyo experienced 2 major catastrophes in the 20th century:

1. 1923 Great Kanto earthquake – 144,000 dead & missing

2. U.S. bombing of Tokyo in 1944 killed between 75- 144,000 dead & missing.

How Geography Saved the Japanese from the Mongols! • The Japanese attribute their victory over the Mongols to

storms that wrecked the Mongol fleets during both attempted invasions in 1274 and 1281.

• They concluded that Japan was protected from invasion by a divine wind, or Kamikaze, which was invoked in World War II to inspire pilots to launch suicide attacks on allied ships.

• As Central Asian nomads, the Mongols had little experience of the sea and used subjugated Chinese and Koreans to build their fleets.

• The Mongols that did manage to land are reputed to have had some success against the Japanese, who struggled to match their skilled use of mounted archers.

• But on both occasions, the Mongols and the Chinese and Korean troops under their command, headed back out to sea to try to ride out approaching typhoons - and that proved to be their downfall.

The Korean Peninsula • The whole Korean peninsula is about 220,258 sq. km:

- South Korea is 99,720 sq. km.

- North Korea is 120,538 sq. km

• Mountains & hills are THE significant geographical feature on the Korean peninsula. There are very few lowlands and those that exist tend to be the sites of major cities today.

• About 3,579 islands are found off of the Korean coastline

• Over the last 2,000 years the Korean peninsula has been wracked by eight major invasions and countless smaller wars and incursions. Strategically situated on a partial land bridge in the Yellow Sea interaction sphere, the peninsula has been a natural access route for invasions to and from the Asian mainland.

Seoul • Originated from the Korean word for “capital city.”

• Became capital city of Korea during the Choson Dynasty in 1392.

• Early 20th century - Seoul was the first city in East Asia to have

electricity, trolley cars, water, telephone and telegraph systems

all at the same time. Much of this was due to trade with the

United States, and the Seoul Electric Company, Seoul Electric

Trolley Company, and Seoul Fresh Spring Water Company were all

U.S.-owned.

• During the Korean War, Seoul was completely destroyed.

• Located approx. 30 miles south of the DMZ

• City population 10.4 million / metropolitan population – almost

25 million – 2nd in the world after Tokyo / 25% of entire

population lives in Seoul / 50% of entire population lives in Seoul

Metropolitan area

Natural Resources

Japan

Negligible mineral resources, fish

With virtually no energy natural resources, Japan is the world's largest importer of coal and liquefied natural gas, as well as the second largest importer of oil

3/11 – the nuclear disaster at Fukushima as a result of the earthquake & tsunami makes Japan even more dependent on foreign oil & gas

South Korea

Coal, tungsten, graphite, molybdenum, lead, hydropower potential

North Korea

• Coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper, gold, pyrites, salt, fluorspar, hydropower

Natural Hazards

Japan

Many dormant and some active volcanoes; about 1,500 seismic occurrences (mostly tremors but occasional severe earthquakes) every year

Tsunamis

Typhoons

South Korea

Occasional typhoons bring high winds and floods.

Low-level seismic activity common in southwest. Overall, the Korean peninsula is geologically more stable than either northeast China or Japan, regions that both have a history of serious earthquake activity.

North Korea

• Late spring droughts often followed by severe flooding; occasional typhoons during the early fall

Japan – Terrain & Arable Land

• The Japanese islands are covered by mountains, most of them heavily forested, and crisscrossed by short, swift rivers. Only a few of the rivers are navigable.

• Only about 11.64 % of Japan's land mass is suitable for agriculture, the same land that is also most suitable for living.

North & South Korea – Terrain & Arable Land The peninsula is very mountainous –

divided by eight major mountain ranges.

Only about 16.58% of South Korea's land mass is suitable for agriculture compared to North Korea’s 22.4%.

Current Conflicts: Japan vs. China >> Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands

Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands China’s Claim

China says that the Diaoyu islands have been part of its territory since ancient times, serving as important fishing grounds administered by the province of Taiwan.

Taiwan was ceded to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, after the Sino-Japanese war.

When Taiwan was returned in the Treaty of San Francisco, China says the islands - as part of it - should also have been returned.

But Beijing says Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek did not raise the issue, even when the Diaoyu islands were named in the later Okinawa reversion deal, because he depended on the US for support.

Japan’s Claim On 14 January 1895 Japan formally incorporated the

islands into its territory. The islands became part of modern-day Okinawa prefecture.

After World War II Japan renounced claims to a number of territories and islands including Taiwan in the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco.

But under the treaty the Nansei Shoto islands came under US trusteeship and were then returned to Japan in 1971, under the Okinawa reversion deal.

Japan says that China raised no objections to the San Francisco deal. And it says that it is only since the 1970s, when the issue of oil resources in the area emerged, that Chinese and Taiwanese authorities began pressing their claims.

Why do these islands even matter???????

They matter because…..

•they are close to strategically important shipping lanes

• offer rich fishing grounds

•thought to contain oil deposits.

Commercial Fishing

• China, the Koreas, and Japan are major consumers of fish and seafood.

• China is the 2nd largest exporter of fish.

• Japan’s seafood industry was devastated after 3/11. Slow to recover.

Oil Dependency of China, Japan, and South Korea…..

Chinese Offshore Oil Production and Disputed Territories

• About 15 % of overall Chinese oil production is from shallow offshore reserves, a large contributor of China's incremental oil production growth.

• Territorial disputes in the East China Sea have so far limited large-scale development of fields in the region, where China and Japan's Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs).

• The two countries have held negotiations to resolve the disputes:

• In June 2008, the two countries reached an agreement to develop jointly the Chunxiao/Shirakaba and Longjing/Asurao fields.

• However, in early 2009, the agreement unraveled when China asserted sovereignty over the fields. Tensions in the second half of 2010 have resurfaced between the two countries over the gas fields.

Anti-Japanese Protests in China over the status of the islands……

Japan-South Korea Territorial Dispute: Dokdo/Takeshima islands

• Known as Dokdo (Solitary islands) in Korea, Takeshima (Bamboo islands) in Japan

• Both Japan and South Korea claim the islands, so too does North Korea.

• The islands themselves consist of two main islands and about 30 smaller rocks. A South Korean coastguard detachment has been stationed there since 1954.

• The islands are in good fishing grounds and it is thought that gas reserves may also lie nearby, although their amount is not clear.

Dokdo/Takeshima Islands Dispute Japanese Claim

Japan established sovereignty over the islands by the mid 17th Century, its sailors using it as a "navigational port, docking point for ships and a rich fishing ground".

It then incorporated the islands into modern-day Shimane prefecture in 1905.

South Korea acted illegally by declaring them its territory in 1952, it says, because they were not included in territory to be returned under the San Francisco Peace Treaty.

"The occupation of Takeshima by the ROK (South Korea) is an illegal occupation undertaken on no basis of international law," the ministry of foreign affairs says.

South Korean Claim South Korea says Dokdo was recognized by Japan as

Korean territory in 1696, after a run-in between Korean and Japanese fishermen.

The island grouping was formally placed under the jurisdiction of Uldo county in 1900, but annexed by Japan in 1905 ahead of its colonization of the Korean peninsula.

Dokdo was rightly restored to Korea after World War II, according to the South Korean govt. "Dokdo is an integral part of Korean territory historically, geographically and under international law."

Korean Protests in Support of Disputed Islands….

South Korean singer Kim Jang-Hoon (R) swims in the sea off Uljin, 225 kms southeast of Seoul, on August 13, 2012. He's among more than 40 swimmers who are part of a politically-charged relay team swimming from South Korea to the contested islands of Dokdo, or Takeshima as they're known in Japan.

South Korean soccer player Park Jong-woo did not get a bronze Sunday when the Olympic medals were handed out in a ceremony to the rest of his team because he held aloft a sign that read “Dokdo is our territory.” The same day ROK defeated Japan for the bronze medal, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited the islands calling them "worthy of sacrificing our lives."

Gyeongju Gyeongsangbuk-do South Korea

South Korea

The View from Hotel Kanyo Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture - JAPAN

Conclusion • Japan, South Korea, and China are heavily dependent on foreign

energy sources:

- major factor contributing to the

territorial disputes currently

happening

• Japanese population = 127,368,088 but only 11.64% of the land is

arable. / South Korean population = 48,860,500 and 16.58% of the

land is arable.

• Chinese influences like Buddhism & Confucianism came to Japan via

Korea. Japanese access to mainland Asia THROUGH Korea.

• Korea has been greatly influenced in its political, cultural, and

intellectual history by China as a result of their close proximity.

• Korea has either been colonized by its western neighbor (Japan) or

heavily influenced politically by its northern neighbor (Russia/USSR

& North Korea).