The Resiliency of the Great Japan

The resiliency of the great Japan is the topic everyone should think about. Not the tragedies. One of the most ancient, most beautiful cultures should be documented as a legend. Japan is an island nation apart of the parent continent, East Asia. Japan's culture, both spiritual and cultural has deep meaning because it is part of tradition that has been carried over from generations. Japan has been one of the oldest countries we have to this present day starting from the Paleolithic culture in or around 30,000 B.C.

A brief history of the early ages of Japan; A Paleolithic culture close to 30,000 BC represents first recognized locale of Japan. This period lasted from around 14,000 BC (the incarnation of the Jōmon period) by a Mesolithic to Neolithic semi-inactive huntsman way of life, who comprise of ancestors, both contemporaneous Ainu people as well as the Yamato people characterized by hollow lodging and basic agriculture. From archeological findings, decorated clay ewers from this period are some of the oldest surviving illustrations of pottery in the globe. In or around 300 BC, the Yayoi people started to enter the Japanese islands, merging with the Jōmon. The Yayoi period, starting in or close to 500 BC, saw the induction of a new practice such as wet-rice farming, a new style of stone ware and ceramic objects and metallurgy, adapted from the teachings of China and Korea.

Prehistoric Japan is devised by four major cultures: Starting with the Palaeolithic, the Jomon, the Yayoi culture and last but not least, the Kofun. Each of these major periods/cultures, are more subdivided into various sub-periods. The cultural chapters are almost immeasurable. The dates for these periods are given in unregulated radiocarbon years before present, not including the beginning of the Palaeolithic era. This information is based with dating procedures and dates back approximately 50,000 years ago until the eve of the Jomon period. It is a period generally thought to be lead by big-game hunters, although there is little direct evidence for how these people lived. Everyone agrees that there is a late Palaeolithic in Japan, which dates from about 35,000 years ago to the advent of pottery technology 13,000 to 10,000 years ago. The evidence for humans in Japan before 35,000 years ago is quite controversial

Since such early beginnings, Japan has had over 20 dynasty's with the last one (this day) called the lost years due to the economic collapse in the country. Although today, they are one of the most innovative and developing nations, manufacturing of the clothing and electronics market put Japan on the forefront as a country that became relevant and increased its value and purpose among the other trade nations. Some economist feels that because of the United States choice to outsource the jobs to countries that can do it for cheap, it's a much smarter spectrum however Japan learned how to do its own manufacturing (based on the American infrastructure) and applied it, in order to modernize their nation without compromise of their culture.

Japan has faced many challenges of our time. Just in earthquakes alone, there have been countless. Japans fragile infrastructure has been always compromised because of the earlier warnings and predictions and actual events of the various casualties. In fact Japan, in totality, has suffered more than 20 earthquakes dating back to the early date of November, 684 A.C. Two of the nation's most devastating earthquakes are one, the Great Kanto. This quake struck the island of Honshu on September 1st, 1923. The longevity was quite short; 4 to 10 minutes however within that short time frame the event took 142,000 lives. The second massive earthquake with a huge death toll was the Genroku. On December, 1703 B.C, an 8.0 earthquake hit and then produced a tsunami which hit the interior areas of the Boso Peninsula and Sagami Bay. Although this was in the earlier centuries, the earthquake performed high on the Richter scale, it was followed by a tsunami, and the tsunami was reported to have claimed more than 100,000 lives.

Japan has since and always relied on their strong planning skills and remarkable architectural blueprint that it has survived through various natural disasters; defining this country as strong and proactive. However, on March 11, 2011, things changed for the worst. All of the planning, emergency drill practicing, diligence was tested. Within 6 minutes, a huge earthquake, turned tsunami, struck off the coast of Japan. It churned up such a devastating tsunami that swept over cities, farms, and land in the northern part of the country. Concurrently the quake set off warnings as far away the west coast of the United States and South America. Recorded as 9.0 on the Richter scale, it was the most powerful quake ever to hit the country. What happened to cause this everyone is asking. Also, what changes to the earth has the earthquake caused?

The first question is what is an earthquake? Before talking about Earthquake, we have to get a better understanding about the Earth, and what happen to it that causes the movement called Earthquake. Let's start saying that the Earth is divided into three parts: the crust, the mantle, and the core. The mantle of the earth is where many earthquakes begin, in that place, the temperatures are very hot. The heat causes some rock to soften; this softened rock is called magma that moves through the mantle in a circular motion. This process is called convection which is the force behind earthquakes.

As magma circulates, the force of circular motion pulls the crust apart. When this happens, it can leave a gap, or space, in earth's crust; this gap is called a fault. A fault marks a weak spot where an earthquake can occur. Every earthquake has two parts; one part is called the focus. The focus is the spot inside earth where an earthquake occurs. The second part is the epicenter. The epicenter is the point on earth's surface that lies directly above the focus, the area around the epicenter is in the most danger during an earthquake. When an earthquake strikes, the ground shakes, buildings sway back and forth; other structures may bounce up and down, sometimes houses are bounced right off their foundations.

Scientists developed two scales to describe earthquakes which are: the Mercalli scale and the Richter scale. A scale is a series of numbers that is used to measure an earthquake's power. The scale begins with the number 1, the higher the number is on the scale, the greater the damage the earthquake had caused. An ocean can create a huge wall of sea water called a tsunami. No place on Earth is totally safe from earthquakes. But some places have more earthquakes than others. Once people learn how to live with earthquakes, their cities will become safer places. Furthermore, the earthquake shifted the Earth's