Japan is an island country. It sits on the eastern edge of Asia. It is a string of islands. Four are the main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. Tokyo is the capital of Japan. Mount Fuji is the tallest mountain in Japan. It is a cone-shaped volcano.

About three-quarters of Japan's land is mountains or hills. Most people live on the flatter land that is left. Japan has a lot of earthquakes. More than a thousand shake it every year. From summer to autumn, typhoons form over the Pacific Ocean. They hit Japan.

Winter brings snow. Cold air from Siberia flows over the warm Sea of Japan. Then heavy snow falls on the Sea of Japan side of Honshu. Cherry trees have pale pink flowers. Families and friends hold parties under the blooming trees. The party is called hanami. They eat and drink there.

At home, people take off their outdoor shoes at the genkan. That is the entryway. Then they step up into the house and put on slippers. At night, a futon is laid out on the tatami floor. In the morning it is put away in a closet.

The Japanese school year begins in April. It ends in March. Students serve school lunch to their classmates. They do it in the classroom. They also take turns cleaning their school. They treat it as a normal part of school.

Meals in Japan are made with lots of rice, fish and vegetables. Rice is the main food. So a lunch box often has a big helping of it. People eat with chopsticks. The word for chopsticks is hashi.

Japanese is written with three kinds of characters. They are kanji, hiragana and katakana. Text is traditionally written in vertical columns. It is read from top to bottom. The columns go from right to left. Most children learn calligraphy in elementary school. A haiku is a short poem of three lines. It counts 5, 7 and 5 sounds.

Japan's Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train began running in 1964. As of November 2026, it has a top speed of 285 kilometers per hour.

Words to know

• genkan: entryway
• tatami: floor mat
• futon: floor bed
• hanami: blossom party
• haiku: short poem

The short version

Japan is an island country on the eastern edge of Asia. Its capital is Tokyo. It has four main islands, many mountains and volcanoes, and daily life with its own customs: shoes off at the door, school lunch served by students, and rice at most meals.

Quick facts

• Japan is a string of islands on the eastern edge of Asia, and Tokyo is its capital.
• Japan has four main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu.
• Mount Fuji is 3,776 meters tall and is the tallest mountain in Japan.
• Japanese is written with three kinds of characters: kanji, hiragana and katakana.
• In Japan, people take off their outdoor shoes at the genkan, the entryway, before stepping into the home.