Omote-ura - Public and Private Faces

Omote (the public face) and ura (the private face) are twin concepts that are applied to almost any aspect of Japan or life in Japan. Omote refers to the image... Read more...
Kyoto Development Issues

Kyoto holds a unique position in Japan as the ancient, imperial capital and the cultural center of the nation. It was because of these reasons that the Japan specialists who... Read more...
The Shinkansen

The Shinkansen is commonly known outside Japan as the 'bullet train' but the word actually means 'new trunk line'. It is a high-speed passenger train system which now stretches from... Read more...
The Ashita Honjin

Although only a small town, Ashita boasts the oldest surviving honjin on the Nakasendo. It has also been owned by the same family since its' original construction in the late... Read more...
Landslides

The mountains in Japan are very steep and the rocks unstable due to weathering. Landslides are common whenever there are heavy rains. Many rural villages have established themselves along the... Read more...
Namiki

The idea of planting trees along the roadside to provide shade for travelers had occurred to the Chinese when they developed their highway system more than 2000 years ago. Almost... Read more...
Pilgrimage

The idea of making a pilgrimage to visit religious places is present in nearly every culture and religion. In Japan, it is typical of both major religions, Buddhism and Shinto... Read more...
Castle Towns

At the time of the Meiji Restoration, in 1868, some 250 castle towns (jokamachi) formed the core of a well developed urban network in Japan. Although constructed primarily as defended... Read more...

Waste and Pollution

Pollution

Pollution is endemic in the modern world unless strenuous efforts to prevent it are undertaken. Large numbers of people and industries concentrated in small areas and consuming large quantities of resources are major sources of pollution. Japan certainly fits this description. Immediately after World War II, the primary goal of the government and industry was… [Read more]

Waste Disposal

Japan, like all industrial nations, has experienced more and more difficulty disposing of waste products. The production of trash for each person rose from 1.75 pounds per day in 1977 to nearly 2 pounds in 1987 while the total output in Japan rose from around 90,000 tons to 108,500 tons per day in the same… [Read more]

Heian period
The Heian period (797-1185) is named after its capital city, Heian-kyo, now called Kyoto. Japan’s capital had moved frequently before the Heian period, but now settled in one place until Tokyo was made the formal capital in 1868. During this era, Chinese cultural influences were absorbed and transformed into a recognizably Japanese culture. The period saw the flowering of aristocratic culture which remained a major model of civilization thereafter. Politically, the period is easily divided into two or more epochs with at least the second half seeing the decay of the central government and rise of provincial power centers controlled by military families. The imperial court was, in theory, controlled by the imperial family working through a bureaucracy modeled after the Chinese institution, but the Fujiwara family controlled and manipulated politics to a large extent. Early in the Heian period there were great achievements in literature, both poetry (written by men and, to a lesser degree, women) and novels written by women. The most famous novel from this period is ‘The Tale of Genji’ by Murasaki Shikibu.

Omote-ura - Public and Private Faces

Kyoto Development Issues

The Shinkansen

The Ashita Honjin

Landslides

Namiki

Pilgrimage

Castle Towns

Pollution

Waste Disposal

Hiroshige

The Kisoji Post-towns

Rice Farming

The Inheritance Laws

Pollution

Waste and Pollution

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