Page 3 - Japan 11 Day Sample Itinerary

Tokyo Kanazawa Kyoto Hakone Approximately 127 million people live in this island country, in an area roughly equal to that of California. Japan is the world’s second –largest economy and has a constitutional monarchy with the world’s oldest imperial line, numbering 125 successive rulers. Perched on the Ring of Fire, Japan is a cluster of four main islands – Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu – and thousands of smaller ones. Most of the country is covered in mountains, 70 of which are active volcanoes. Japan a very densely populated country. There are two versions of Japan’s early history – one of the Shinto mythologists and another of the historians. According to tradition, the country was founded in 660 B.C. by Jimmu, a descendant of the sun goddess. Jimmu is believed to have been an ancestor of future emperors. Historians, however, think Homo sapiens inhabited the islands about 30,000 years ago, having migrated from Southeast Asia. By A.D. 500 the Yamato, a political body consisting of powerful clans headed by priest-chiefs, had established control over most of Japan.