JAPAN ATLAS: About This Page

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The "Japan Atlas" homepage offers visual presentations on a variety of topics to anyone interested in the nature, traditions, and current social trends of Japan. This extremely informative homepage will give you a comprehensive picture of the attractive beauty of Japan from many angles. Two indices, "by region" and "by area of interest," let you search around the site for the information you need, offering easy access to unique features of each region. You can also cross-reference to compare among different regions within specific areas of interest.

 You can jump from the top page showing an illustrated map of Japan that serves as the "areas of interest" index to relevant commentary page, where each of the seven topics is clearly explained, along with clear photographs. These commentary pages may also be called up from the "region index" for a summary of the culture and history of any selected region.

 

Japan Atlas covers the following seven areas of interest.

Historic Sites
 This section showcases many sites of great historical significance all over Japan, including archaeologically valuable remains of ancient villages of several thousands of years ago as well as world-famous beautiful Japanese gardens. 

Festivals
 Some of the better-known local festivals from various parts of Japan are introduced, including traditional festivals that date back hundreds of years as well as quite new ones which have emerged from recent social trends.

Architecture
Examples of typical Japanese architecture, old and new, are introduced. Here you will see modern architecture based on state-of-the-art construction technology as well as historical buildings such as shrines and temples, most of which are ranked the best in Japan or even in the world.

Nature
  1. Scenic Beauty

    2. Japan is a mountainous, island country surrounded by the ocean, so the country is characterized by much diversity with seasonal changes unique to each region.
    This section introduces some of the places famous for their scenic beauty.

  2. Nature Conservation

    3. This section introduces the preserved areas designated as "World Natural Heritage" or registered under the Ramsar Convention as well as rare and/or endangered species of animals or plants indigenous to Japan.

  3. Nature and Life

    4. This section covers rivers, lakes, hot springs, and other areas in Japan, where nature has had a strong impact on people's lives since ancient times.

Traditional Crafts
Pottery, ceramics, dyeing, textiles, dolls, and other traditional crafts are introduced in the context of Japanese lifestyles. Historical backgrounds of some of the better-known local crafts are also presented.

Advanced Technology
Japan is now a world leader in advanced technology. You can visit some of Japan's top research institutes and centers of excellence in this cyberspace.

Communities
Streets and towns in Japan with unique character are introduced here, including ones with rich traditions and history as well as modern urban development projects.

Structure of the "Areas of Interest" Index Page
The "areas of interest" index page consists of a text-based list of topics in the left frame and an illustrated Japanese map in the right frame showing the location of each topic with corresponding index numbers. Use either one to jump to the commentary page for the selected topic, which will be displayed in the right frame. To go back to the map page, just click the graphic icon at the top of the text-based list of topics on your left. To jump to another "area of interest" page, just click on one of the seven buttons with topic names in the upper left corner of the screen.

Configuration of the "Commentary" Page
The commentary page for each topic consists of photographs, text, local maps, and other relevant data. External hyperlinks take you to related web sites on the Internet.


Index by Regions

In addition to the "areas of interest" index, JAPAN ATLAS offers other indices to help you search for information on specific geographical areas by region (8 in total) or prefecture (47 in total). The index by region comprises the following eight regions. The prefectures of each region are listed in parentheses.

  1. Hokkaido Region (Hokkaido)
  2. Tohoku Region (Aomori, Akita, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata)
  3. Kanto Region (Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, Tochigi, Tokyo)
  4. Chubu Region (Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, Nagano, Niigata, Shizuoka, Toyama, Yamanashi)
  5. Kinki Region (Hyogo, Kyoto, Mie, Nara, Osaka, Shiga, Wakayama)
  6. Chugoku Region (Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori, Yamaguchi)
  7. Shikoku Region (Ehime, Kagawa, Kochi, Tokushima)
  8. Kyushu Region (Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Oita, Okinawa, Saga)


Copyrighted Photographs

No photographs included in Japan Atlas may be used elsewhere or reproduced in any form without the prior consent of the copyright holder.

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