mini intro to Japan by NVLU vet students

Geography and nature
Japan is a Far Eastern country.
The area of Japan is 377,914k‡u.
It is the 60th largest country by area.
There are four seasons in Japan.
Each area has different climates.
Early June to mid-July is a rainy season in Japan.
Japan comprises of four big islands and many groups of islands.
It also has steep rivers, many volcanoes and two-thirds of the land is forest.
There are many earthquakes in Japan like in Turkey.
In addition, Japan is surrounded by the sea and can be hit by tsunamis.
The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011 taught us that we can be hit by tsunami higher than wefve ever seen.
Japan is famous for Mt. Fuji, which was registered wild world heritage in 2013.
Mt.Fuji was placed on the World Heritage List.

Mt. Fuji
People and society
Japanf‚“ population is about 13 millions.
One-third of Japanese are elderly people.
In Japan, an issue of raising the consumption tax rate from 5 percent to 15 percent over several years has been hotly debated.
Because a new bill to raise the rate passed the Diet in August, it will go up to 8 percent in April 2014. and then to 10 percent in October 2015.
The Emperor of Japan, who used to rule the country, is now considered the symbol of the State, or the constitutional monarch.
There are historically famous cities, such as Kyoto and Nara in addition to the capital Tokyo in Japan.
Tokyo Region is the largest metropolis in the world where over 30 million people live and work.
There is a Japanese super computer (‹ž) which has the fourth place in the world ranking.
Many Japanese people are not particular about religions.
We celebrate Christmas which is a Christian event and New Year which is a Shinto event.
Veterinary universities and colleges in Japan
In Japan, there are 16 veterinary universities, ten national, five private, and one public. There are about 6,000 veterinary students. There are total 783 universities and colleges.
We go to university for 6 years. Like in many other countries, it is difficult to get into vet school in Japan. After graduating, you need to pass a national exam to practice as a veterinarian.
Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University (NVLU) Our university!
The name of our university is Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University.
It was established in 1881 and celebrated its 130th anniversary in 2011.
It is the oldest private vet school in Japan.
Its main campus is located in the western suburb of Tokyo.
It has an animal farm at the foot of Mt. Fuji.

There are two faculties and four schools at our university. The four schools are: School of Veterinary Medicine, School of Animal Nursing, School of Animal Science, and School of Food Science and Technology.

There are total about 70 professors.
Of total about 1,500 students over 600 are the School of Veterinary Medicine.@
About 100 vet students are accepted every year and this year about 40 percent were male and 60 percent are female.

There are 20 divisions in the School of Veterinary Medicine. Students first spend two years studying basic sciences. Then, they choose their division from 20 (anatomy, to wildlife medicine) based on their individual interests.
Veterinarians and vet hospitals
There are 9,753 animal hospitals and clinics in Japan. The number is going up gradually.
Veterinarians in Japan work in many fields. Some veterinarians specialize in companion animals and some specialize in domestic animals, or fish and marine animals. Fish culture is an important industry. Some veterinarians run animal hospital, some work at laboratories, and some at public institutions working as quarantine officers..
In Japan, like in some other countries, there are now some veterinary hospitals which are open 24-hour a day.
There are about 38 thousand veterinarians in Japan.
The ratio of men and women is 7: 3
Wildlife
There are four distinct seasons in Japan, and various types of animals can be seen from time to time. In Japan there are over 90,000 species of wild animals.
The Japanese antelope is smaller than foreign antelopes.
There are over 40 different types of fireflies in Japan but many of them are endangered.. They glow beautifully in the dark on summer nights. There are many poems about fireflies in Japan.
One of the most beautiful Japanese wild animals is a crane Tancho. It lives in Hokkaido and makes a beautiful contrast with snow.
The Japanese crested ibis is a natural monument of Japan. It has beautiful pink feathers.
Most wild animals in Japan, for example rats, boars, bats and so on live in the forest or the hill area.
As a result of habitat loss, wild animals eat and cause damage to agricultural crops.  Bears, monkeys and boars sometimes attack humans..
Companion animals
The most popular dog breeds is Toy Poodle.
In general, Japanese tend to prefer small dogs.
Most popular pets in Japan are dogs and cats.
Recently, various exotic animals are getting popular too.
The Shiba dog is native to Japan.
 "Chucken Hachiko" is a famous dog in Japan. The dog kept waiting his master, who had been dead, until he died. It was made into a Hollywood movie featuring Richard Gere.
Some people like having tropical fish with beautiful water plants in Japan.
Food&industrial animals 
In Japan, we eat meat such as beef, pork, and chicken.
We also eat raw fish frequently.
Cattles are one of the famous sericulture animals. But because of mad cow disease epidemic , we forbade import of American beef for long time. 
Cattles are one of the most famous farm animals. However, we forbade imports of American beef for a certain period of time because of the spread of mad cow disease.
About 500 thousand tons of beef is imported to Japan, but only less than 1,000 tons is exported from Japan every year.
Japan produced about 360 thousnad tons of beef in 2010.
Farm animals in Japan include cows, pigs, horses, sheep, chickens, ducks, and bees.
Healthcare and public health
Top 3 causes of death in Japan are cancer, heart disease and cerebro-vascular disease.
The number of births and the population of Japan are both decreasing.
There has been no cases of rabies in Japan since 1956.
Japan's average life expectancy is the highest in the world. It was 80 years for men and 86 years for women in 2013.
H5N1virus has affected millions of birds, and hundreds of humans around the world. The virus spread to some chicken farms in Japan but no humans have so far been affected.
Miscellaneous
Today, Hawaiian pancakes and popcorns are very popular in Japan.
There is a custom of bowing in Japan. You might be surprised by how many people bow everywhere in their daily life and in business situations. Bowing is just like shaking hands in Western cultures.
Japanese culture, such as comics (manga), is loved by people around the world. Popular series include Pokemon, Dragon Ball, Naruto and One Piece. Letfs read a lot of comics!
Japan has four seasons, so you can enjoy seasonal events: Viewing cherry blossoms in spring, stars and fireflies in summer, gorgeous maple leaves turning red in autumn and
snow in winter.
Judo is one of the martial sports in Japan. Tani Ryoko is a gold medalist at the Athens Olympic. She is now a politician, and is a member of the Upper House.
The Olympic games will be held in Tokyo in 2020.
Sumo is the national sport in Japan but right now, the strongest sumo wrestler is a Mongolian. There are wrestlers from Mongolia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Brazil, Georgia andEgypt among the top-ranking wrestlers.
There are a lot of popular gYuru-kyarahs in Japan. Yuru-kyara is a mascoticharacterj for different regions of Japan used for promotional purposes. Most famous ones are Funasshi, a jumpy yellow pear character of Funabashi-shi (Chiba prefecture) and a black bear character Kumamon of Kumamoto Prefecture.. 
As a result of habitat loss, wild animals eat and cause damage to agricultural crops.  Bears, monkeys and boars sometimes attack humans..
 In 2013, a famous news caster, Takigawa Christel, generated the slogan gOMOTENASHIh to describe the Japanese spirit. She was Tokyo Olympic bid ambassador, used the slogan in her speech to the IOC in September, and Japan won the 2020 Olympic bid.
Today, more and more people around the world know the word gkawaiih just like gsushih and gninja.h Ninja is popular but there are no professional ninjas any more.
Japan has many vending machines. You can buy various goods such as books, confectionaries, and oden (hot pot). They are signs that most cities in Japan are safe. People don't try to steal money or food from the machine.
Kabuki is a Japanese traditional performance and it is one of the important Japanese cultures from the past.
The traditional Japanese tea ceremony is more than just drinking tea. There are manners in the tea ceremony, and one of the important manners is to be neat.
Some Japanese think the sushi to be a wok of art.
When we eat Japanese food, we use chopsticks.
We don't always eat sushi though.
Japan has many subcultures such as fashion of young people, manga and anime. Harajuku and Akihabara are the two places attracting tourists from arount the world.
Japanese people are said to be shy and serious. The number of such Japanese people is decreasing because of lower birth rate and maybe in the future by not competing aggressively against other countries.
Origami is a traditional paper folding art from Japan.
Folding techniques are now used in high-tech projects, like in making flexible electronic gadgets.
In Japan,movies are popular and many films are produced every year. Kurosama samurai movies were popular in the 20th century. Ghibli movies directed by Hayao Miyazaki are popular in recent years.
Not many Japanese people are wearing Japanese-style closing or kimono everyday. They are for special occasions like weddings and tea ceremonies.
J-pop, an abbreviation for Japanese pop. Popular groups and singers include AKB 48, Perfume, Arashi, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (a harajuku girl) and many more!