Asia is a large continent made up of many different countries. This project brings into focus Japan in the north-east and Thailand in the south-east. Due to many factors these countries share similar characteristics while also remaining very unique. In respect to this, their level of development and their physical and human geography will be looked at and compared.
Japan is situated in the North Pacific Ocean, it's closest neighbours are Russia in the north, north/west and North and South Korea in the west and south west. This information can be seen on Map 1. Japan's landmass consists of over 3900 islands, of which Hokkaido in the north, Kyushu and Shikoku in the south, and the central island Honshu are the largest. Close to 80% of the population live on the main island of Honshu, which occupies 61% of Japan's total land area. The capital of Japan is Tokyo and is found also on Honshu island. In total, most Japanese inhabitants live on the coast and other habitable land is small considering nearly three quarters of Japan is mountainous. The highest peak is Mt Fuji at 3776m, which is an extinct volcano. There are over 60 active volcanoes in Japan, and the country is prone to bad earthquakes. Despite its size Japan's climate varies greatly. In the north they have long cold winters while the south has hot summers and mild winters. In the summer months, hurricanes and heavy rains contribute to Japan's large rainfall. The national currency of Japan is the Yen.
Thailand is situated in South-East Asia, it is bordered by Burma to the North-West, Laos to the North-East, Cambodia to the south east and Malaysia to the south. Thailand's official name is " The Kingdom of Thailand- and was previously called Siam'. The political capital of Thailand is Bangkok, which, also is the countries largest city. The currency of Thailand is the Baht. The total land area of Thailand is 513,115 square kilometers and can generally be divided into four regions which can be defined by differing land geography, industry and agriculture.
