Some Japan fun facts!

Purely for fun! Some of these facts are quite surprising.

• Japan is 70% mountains.
• The population of Japan is about 127 million.
• The population of Tokyo is over 12 million. (New York City is about 8 million)
  
• Japan is slightly smaller in area than California. (perspective: CA has a population of about 37 million)
  
• Normal Japanese kitchens do not have ovens.
• In Japan when you move into an apartment, you often have to bring your own light fixtures.
• You don't wear shoes in the house, you wear slippers.
• There are special slippers for the bathroom.
• You do not wear any slippers in a tatami mat room.
  
• The head of the Japanese state is the Emperor. Not to be confused with the head of government, the Prime Minister.
• In Japan, you drive on the left side of the road, and roads are very narrow.
  

A quick geography lesson

Here is a map of Japan that shows the regions and the prefectures. The four main islands are Hokkaido (salmon color), Kyuushuu (gray), Honshuu (multi-colored big island), and Shikoku (purple).

I am in Nagano, number 20 in the Chuubu (sky blue) region. I am up in the top by Niigata (#15). You should be able to click the map to make it bigger so the words are legible.

Plaaaaaaacement!

Looks like I will be in: 長野県 Nagano-ken (prefecture) 飯山市 Iiyama-shi (city)

Wikipedia (not the most reliable, but its probably close) says the city has a population of about 24,000, which I think will be a good mix of city and not city. I *should* have access to a post office, a bank, and the ever-necessary コンビニ (konbini-convenience store), but I will still get to experience Japan without it being completely Westernized. Apparently, to get to Iiyama from Tokyo takes 2.5-4 hours: take the train to Nagano-shi, then a bus or train to Iiyama (thanks for the info, Nic!)

If you want to check it out:

http://www.iiyama-ouendan.net/english/index.html (the city's tourism website)

http://tamagazou.machinami.net/iiyamashigaichi.htm (just pictures, and all the links are in Japanese so if you want to navigate to a different page, hold your mouse over a link and BEFORE you click, look in the bottom left corner of your browser. Usually you will see a copy of the web address which should be in a language you recognize. You will have to sort of decipher what is there, but you might know some names)

http://myoko-nojiri.com/madarao/ One more that is more tourist-oriented.

:-D