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About Japan

     Japan (日本 Nihon or Nippon^?, officially 日本国 Nippon-koku (help·info) or "Nihon-koku") is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of China, Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes identified as the "Land of the Rising Sun".

     Japan comprises over three thousand islands, the largest of which are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for 97% of land area. Most of the islands are mountainous, many volcanic; for example, Japan’s highest peak, Mount Fuji, is a volcano. Japan has the world's tenth largest population, with about 128 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.

     Archaeological research indicates that people were living on the islands of Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan begins with brief appearances in Chinese history texts from the first century AD. Influence from the outside world followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. Thus, its culture today is a mixture of outside influences and internal developments. Since adopting its constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament, the Diet.

     A major economic power, Japan has the world's second largest economy by nominal GDP. It is a member of the United Nations, G8, G4 and APEC, with the world's fifth largest defense budget. It is also the world's fourth largest exporter and sixth largest importer and world leader in technology and machinery.

 

     Close government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery of high technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation have helped Japan become the second largest economy in the world, after the United States, at around US$4.5 trillion in terms of nominal GDP and third after the United States and China in terms of purchasing power parity.

      Banking, insurance, real estate, retailing, transportation and telecommunications are all major industries. Japan has a large industrial capacity and is home to some of the largest and most technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronic equipment, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemicals, textiles and processed foods. It is home to leading multinational corporations and commercial brands in technology and machinery. Construction has long been one of Japan's largest industries, with the help of multi-billion dollar government contracts in the civil sector. Distinguishing characteristics of the Japanese economy have included the cooperation of manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and banks in closely-knit groups called keiretsu and the guarantee of lifetime employment in big corporations. Recently, Japanese companies have begun to abandon some of these norms in an attempt to increase profitability

 

About Gifu City

     The city of Gifu is located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. Before becoming a city, it was part of the former Atsumi District, but it has since been designated a core city by the national government.

     Most of the area's history is a result of its location in the middle of Japan. During the Sengoku period, Gifu thrived as a castle town, first under the protection of Saitō Dōsan, then under the protection of Oda Nobunaga, and it was often a staging point for battles in the effort to unify Japan. During the Edo period, Gifu and its neighboring post town, Kanō-juku, thrived as major rest areas along the Nakasendō. Eventually, the city's economy became supported by the fashion industry, but now the city is looking towards the manufacturing industry to boost its economy.

     Much of Gifu's land area has been gained as the result of many mergers, but most of that came through mergers with the neighboring towns of Kanō (in 1940) and Yanaizu (in 2006). As a result, Gifu's geography is very diverse, ranging from the built-up city center to persimmon orchards and rice paddies in the outskirts.

     Cormorant fishing is the representative tourist attraction of Gifu. Though cormorant fishing occurs in many places in Japan, it is only on the Nagara River that cormorant fishing has an uninterrupted over 1,300 year history. This is also the largest display of cormorant fishing in all of Japan, with six fishing masters going down the river at the same time, using their birds to catch ayu (sweetfish). The cormorant fishing season lasts from May 11 to October 15 every year and occurs each night, except during high water levels and the harvest moon.

      Matsuo Bashō, a renowned haiku poet, spent many months in Gifu, creating haiku about many things, including cormorant fishing. Famed comedian Charlie Chaplin also came to view cormorant fishing on the Nagara River twice and came away very moved.

     Gifu has a wide range of museums available to its citizens and visitors. To further promote the use of these facilities, the city instituted a policy in 2006 that allows elementary and junior high school students to enter many of the museums for free.

      The largest of the city-supported museums is the Gifu City Museum of History. It is located in Gifu Park and its permanent exhibit primarily focuses on Gifu's past and contains many hands-on exhibits. It often hosts special exhibits, though, providing a broader field of information to its visitors. Also located in Gifu Park is the Eizō & Tōichi Katō Memorial Art Museum, which is a semi-autonomous branch of the history museum. This art museum is dedicated to the works of the brothers Eizō and Tōichi Katō, famous artists born in Gifu Prefecture. These brothers' paintings had many subjects, but the Nagara River and cormorant fishing feature prominently in a number of pieces. The Yanaizu Folklore Museum in the Yanaizu-chō area of the city is the other branch of the Museum of History