日本紹介の為の原文（企画終了） - ClickJapan@wiki

日本紹介の為の原文

外交スレで、海外クリッカー向けの日本紹介ページを6/8～約一カ月にわたり作成しました。
すでに完成し公開されましたが、記録として元原稿をこちらに保管します。

完成ページはこちら

• 英語版
• 日本語版
• 台湾語版

Introduction

During this click war, perhaps many of you got puzzled and asked questions
such as "Why the hell are the Japanese getting so crazy about this?"
"What the **** are the Japanese?!". To give you an answer to these questions,
I'd like to introduce our country, Japan, briefly.

More than 70% of the country is covered by forests or
high mountains which we cannot use for farms, and is always facing
the mighty nature's great menaces such as volcanos, typhoons, earthquakes
and many more. However we are living in islands and are completely surrounded
by the ocean, and for this we cannot escape from this place!
We tried our best to fight against the menaces of nature,
but at the end, we gave up and chose the way to coexist with nature.

The great advantage of an island nation is the avoidability from menaces, not from
nature, but from foreign people. The Japanese were able to live without many invasions
from other countries. Our culture was able to grow independently, resulting in a very unique one.Of course, influence from China, which had been a super power for a long time, is not negligible.
For example, the language. Although the Japanese language is completely independent and
has no similarity with Chinese, nearly half of our words are made of Chinese characters.
These kind of things can be seen in Vietnamese, and in Korean also, but it is only in Japanese to use Chinese characters with the nation's original letter (I mean Japanese characters)
mixed together. Perhaps from these, many of you confound Japan/Japanese
with China/Chinese.... But at least, I'd hope you remember that Jackie Chang is NOT Japanese
but Chinese.

Such openmindedness to nature and foreign cultures seems to be related with
religious generosity. The Japanese have been polytheist since the ancient era.
This is based on animism, the belief that souls inhabit all objects and affairs.
"Water god", "thunder god", "rice god", "kitchen range god" all exist,
but there are also "housesitter god" "poverty god" and so on. So much openmindedness!
As a matter of course, "the God" of Christianity is one of the gods here in Japan.

Like this, Japanese people have been actively accepting many things of different natures.
This caused the formation of such a curious nation. In the early modern age (16c-),
the social environment was developed and peaceful, and citizens could have a peaceful time.
With the free time, they started to do many things very seriously (perhaps they are
recognized as leisures). Let's give an example here. I'd like to ask you to check this site
( http://mg.biology.kyushu-u.ac.jp/mg-files/woodprint/36-kasen/index.html )
This site shows you a piece of those professional hobbyists' works of improvement of a
breed of morning glory. I believe that you can see such passion and the persistency that
tries to do things as seriously as possible, even though they are taken as silly things in many occasions.
These factors formed today's high-tech nation Japan, and the passion for this clicking war.
It is a really big pleasure for us Japanese to have communication with you through this click war.

YOKOSO! JAPAN (WELCOME TO JAPAN)

http://nettv.gov-online.go.jp/prg/prg847.html

※Please click "拡大表示" button to watch with wider window.

Climate and geography in Japan / 日本の風土

• The exact location of Japan supposes to be not well known in Europe and is often confused with China. Japan consists of islands laying long from the north to the south, located on the north-west of the Pacific Ocean.
• 欧州では日本の位置をあまりしられておらず、しばしば中国と混同される。日本は太平洋の北西に位置する、南北につらなった島々です。

• It is mainly placed in the temperate zone, although the climate changes greatly from the north to the south, due to the difference of the latitudes. There is a big variety of climates, as in the north, it snows very heavily while in the south, it is subtropical. In June, it become a rainy season called 'tsuyu' in the mainland of Japan, and it rains almost daily. Basically, Japan is a water-rich country.
• 日本は温帯に位置しているが、北部と南部とでは緯度の差が大きく、豪雪地帯からほぼ熱帯にまで変化に富む。６月は梅雨とよばれ、本土ではほぼ毎日雨が降る。基本的に、日本は水の豊かな土地である。

• Japanese islands are volcanically active, and because of this, earthquakes are common, many active volcanoes are known, and there are many hot springs.
• 日本列島は火山活動があり、よって地震が頻発し、また多くの活火山がある。多くの温泉がある。

• Strictly speaking, there are minority groups such as the Ainu and the Okinawan (different theories exist), but basically Japan is a homogeneous country where most people speak Japanese, although differences between each dialects are supposedly larger than two different languages in Europe in some cases. Most of the population of Japan are Mongolian, with black hair and pupils.
• 厳密にはアイヌ人や琉球民族（異説あり）など少数民族も存在するが、基本的に単一民族であり、ほとんどの人が日本語を話す。人種はモンゴロイドで黒い髪に黒い瞳、黄色い肌の人々です。

HISTORY / 歴史

Ancient age / 古代

• Human has lived in Japanese Islands since 100,000 years ago.
• １０万年前から人が住んでいた。

• The most studies agree that the present Japanese imperial dynasty started at least more than 1,500 years ago. It is the oldest existing dynasty of the world.
• すくなくとも１５００年以上前に、現在の天皇につながる王朝が誕生したことは広く認められている。これは現存する王朝では世界で最も古いものである。

• Many things were introduced from/though China, such as Kanji (Chinese character) and Buddhism.
• 中国から、あるいは中国を通じて漢字や仏教など多くのものが伝えられた。

• Shotoku Taishi, the great regent of Empress Suiko in the 7th century, sent a mail to Chinese emperor that said "The Emperor of the land where Sun rises sends a letter to the Emperor of the land where Sun sets", and claimed that Japan is equal to China.(In those days, the Kings of countries around China had to bow to the Chinese emperor) The name of the state "Nippon", the Japanese name of Japan that means 'the place where Sun come from' has begun to be used in that period. Horyuji, the oldest wooden architecture in the world was built by him.
• ７世紀の女帝「推古天皇」の摂政（regent)となった「聖徳太子」は、中国の皇帝に対し「日出る処の天子、書を日没する処の天子に致す」と言う手紙を送り、日本は中国と対等の立場を主張した。（当時、諸国の王たちはは中国皇帝の家臣の立場を取らなければならなかった。）太陽の来る所、を意味する日本という国号はこの頃から用いられるようになった。また、世界最古の木造建築「法隆寺」は聖徳太子によって作られた。

• A lot of temples and the famous huge statue of Buddha ware built in Nara, an ancient capital.
• 古都奈良には多くの仏教寺院や、有名な奈良の大仏が建造された。

Middle age / 中世

• In 8th century, the capital was moved to Kyoto.
• 8世紀に首都が京都になる。

• Then the political power moved from emperor to nobles.
• この頃から権力の中枢は天皇から貴族たちに移り、貴族たちの時代が訪れる。

• The exchange with Asian continent became sparse and Japanese original cultures have grown up greatly. The famous ethnic costume kimono and literatures such as 'The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari)' was written.
• アジア大陸との交流は疎になり、日本独自の文化が大きく発展する。有名な民族衣装キモノや「源氏物語」などの文学が生まれた。

• In 12th century, the period of samurais had come. Many samurai heroes took active parts and some shogunates (military regime) ruled by samurai families which conquered civil war gained central power. However, the central goverment in those days decayed in the afternoon of 15th century, and daimyou, who are stronger among samurais and rule over paticular area, had gained power and fought each other.
• 12世紀になると、サムライの時代となった。多くのサムライの英雄たちが活躍し、内戦を制覇した一族による軍事政権が政権の中枢を担った。しかし、15世紀後半になると中央政権の力は衰え、各地の大名（侍の中でもある地域を支配する有力な侍）が力をつけ相争うようになった。

Early modern age / 近世

• In 16th century Oda Nobunaga began to intergrate Japan Islands again, and after his death his man Toyotomi Hideyoshi achieved it. But when he died, the political vacuum caused large civil war. Then the winner Tokugawa family seized the political power in the beginning of 17th century. Their government was set up in Edo (present Tokyo), and 250 years of peaceful age has started.

• 16世紀に織田信長が再び日本統一を始め、彼の死後その部下豊臣秀吉が統一を成し遂げた。しかし、彼が死ぬと権力の空白から大規模な内戦が起こった。17世紀にはそれを制した徳川一族が権力を握った。江戸（現在の東京）に政府を作り、平和な時代が250年間続いた。

• Edo became the city with biggest population among every cities in the world at the time, and civil cultures such as ukiyoe and kabuki are grown.
• 江戸は世界一の人口を誇る大都市となり、浮世絵や歌舞伎などの市民文化が発達した。

Modern age / 近代

• In 19th century, the imperial family which was 'the sovereign reigns but does not rule' over 1000 years was restored by royalist samurais, and the new administration promoted Westerernization of Japanese society system.
• 8世紀に権力の中核が貴族たちに渡って以来1000年以上にわたって「君臨すれども統治せず」であった天皇を再び政権中枢に据えようとする王党派のサムライたちによる革命が起こり、新政権は欧米を模範として社会の西洋化を進めた。

• Domestically, democracy was introduced and parliamentary government was began.
• 国内では、民主主義が導入され議会政治が行われるようになった。

• Internationally, Japan won Russo-Japanese War and WW1, and joined the League of Nations as a parmanent member.
• また国際的には、日露戦争、ＷＷ１の勝利を経て国際連盟の常任理事国になった。

• Afterwards Japan defeated the WW2, but revived and succeeded economically from burnt ruins.
• ＷＷ２で敗戦したが、焼け野原から復活し、経済的な成功を果たし、現在に至る。

Life style / 生活スタイル

• Although there are a lot of modern tall buildings and houses have iron frames, traditional Japanese architectures are built from woods with grasses, not from stones like European architectures.
• 現在では近代的なビルが多く建ち並び、鉄骨で出来た家も一般的ですが、日本の伝統的な家は木とともに草が使われ（木や草などの天然物で出来ており）、ヨーロッパと違って石は使われません。

• Even though in “modern” houses, the most of Japanese houses has "genkan (entrance)" space to put shoes off there. The most of us do not wear shoes inside a house, although sometime we use slippers instead, only for internal use.
• 近代的な家屋にも玄関があり、そこで靴を脱ぎます。時として屋内専用のスリッパを使用します。

• Due to high humidity, we have had bathing tradition for a long, and even before modern days, people had bath at least once 1 or 2 days.
• 湿気の多い気候の為に、昔から入浴の習慣があり、現代以前でもすくなくとも１～２日に一度は風呂にはいっていました。

• Today more people uses bed, but a lot of people put mattresses and quilts on Tatami, Japanese traditional flooring made of woven straw. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatami )
• 現在はベッドで寝る人も多いですが、現在でも多くの人はタタミの上に布団を敷いて寝ます。

Food culture / 食文化

• Traditionally, in the most area, to eat 4-legs animals was thought as a taboo. Therefore, mainly traditonal japanese foods are made from plants/vegetables, chickens, ducks, and prududs from seas.
• 古来，日本では４足動物を食べることを嫌い，したがって食の中心となるのは植物性の食材および鳥肉類，海産物です。

• Rice is common staple food.
• 主食は米です。

• Japanese people are very sensitive to the taste of "dashi" (extract from edible kelp, fish or so on). Possibly, as the background, this is caused by the fact that the components from "dashi" help assimilate amino acid, which have tend to be lack in japanese food.
• 通常，日本人はダシ（昆布や魚などの抽出液）の味には敏感である．おそらく，背景として，日本食で欠如しがちなアミノ酸の吸収をダシの成分が助けているという事実が原因であろうと思われる．

• The taste of "dashi" is named as "umami". The concept of "umami" is proposed academicaly by a japanese scholer, and today umami is commonly known as one of the 5 basic taste. (more information, refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami)
• この味はウマミと呼ばれ，ウマミの概念は日本人の学者によって学術的に提唱され，現在では基本５味の一つとして広く知られている．

• Japan is surrounded fully by seas, therefore people eat many kind of oceanic products. (not only fish but also squids, octopuses, sea urchins, crabs, shrimps, shellfish, wheels, and many kind of sea weeds)
• 周りを海に囲まれた島国なので、魚介類を良く食べます。（魚介類とは魚のみではなく、イカ、タコ、ウニ、カニ、エビ、貝、鯨、そして多くの海草類です。）

• There are much more nouns for fish name in Japanese language comparing to in English language.
• 魚の名前は英語に比べてとても種類が多いです。

• We use chopsticks to eat.
• 食事の時にはスプーンやナイフやフォークではなく、「箸」を使います。

Industry / 産業

• Once the main industries in Japan were agriculture and fishery, but they have been replaced by manufacturing of cars and electrical products since 1950's.
• 日本ではかつて農業や漁業が主な産業でしたが、１９５０年代から自動車や電気製品などの製造業が発展しました。

• Though Japan is poor in natural resources, it have been exporting high quality products to the world with its high processing technologies.
• 天然資源に乏しいものの、持ち前の高い加工技術で高品質の製品を世界に輸出しています。

• Japan is on the top of the world in the area of robot engineering.
• 日本のロボット技術は世界一でしょう。

Religious circumstances / 宗教事情

• In a Japanese myth,it is said that the male god Izanagi(Izanaki) and the female god Izanami produced Japanese islands in the ocean.These two gods made a lot of gods afterwards, and gave birth to the sun goddess Amaterasu at the end.

• 日本神話では男神イザナギ（イザナキ）と女神イザナミが日本列島を生んだといわれる。この2人の神はその後たくさんの神を作り、最後にアマテラスという太陽神を産んだ。

• It is worthy of special mention that, the god of the sky, the sun, who recognized as the most important god, Amaterasu is female. In many other myths such a position is occured by male god though.
• 特筆すべき事として、太陽神、天空神である主神アマテラスは女性である。日本神話を除く多くの神話ではこういった立場の神は男神であることが多いですが。

• Japanese people feel that many gods inhabit everywhere; For example, there are gods of rice, of water, of thunder, and of poverty. It is told that there are millions of gods, as Japanese myth is a kind of animism.
• 日本では八百万の神といわれすべて（※の物象）に神が宿るといわれている。「お米の神様」「かまどの神様」「水の神様」「雷の神様」その他「貧乏神」など。

• Therefore, Japanese people tend to consider the other pantheons of other religions as one of the gods, and are generous with other religions. Such a natural belief (Shintoism) and the Buddhism influenced each other in Japan. In other word, they were "mixed together". Up to now, this "mixed-up" belief has been established in the society.
• その為に、日本人は他の宗教もそれらの神々の１人としてとらえる傾向があり、他の宗教に寛容である。現代ではこのような自然信仰（神道）と仏教が融合し、社会に定着している。

• A typical modern Japanese has a church wedding, goes to a Shintoism shrine when his/her child is born, has a Buddhist funeral service.
• 典型的には、現代の日本人は子供が産まれれば神社に参り、教会で結婚式を挙げ、念仏を唱えてお葬式をする。

Trivia / 豆知識

• The average lifetime of Japanese people is the longest in the world.
• 日本人の寿命は世界一です。

リンク

リンク選別は以下のページで投票を行いました。

日本紹介リンク選別投票ページ（投票終了）
http://www33.atwiki.jp/clickvip/pages/205.html