Travel to Japan

Objectives

Students will be able to

locate the geographical position of Japan in relation to Australia.
locate the names of Japan’s main islands.
copy the names of countries and the main islands of Japan in hiragana and katakana

Language

Names of countries in Asia and the main islands of Japan

Activity

1. にほんはどこ？

Using Worksheet 1, students label the countries including Japan choosing the names from the list. The teacher can add roma-ji/hiragana above the names if needed.

2. にほんのしま

Using Worksheet 2, students label the islands in Japan.

3. にほん○×クイズ

To assess and /or raise awareness of cultural knowledge about Japan, the teacher may ask questions such as the ones below in the form of a ○×（まるばつ）クイズ (true or false quiz).

	Questions	Answer
1	The size of Japan is 1/ 20th the size of Australia.	○
2	Japan is the third most populous country in the world.	× (10th *1)
3	The population of Japan is 7 times greater than Australia.	○
4	The capital city of Japan is Kyoto.	× (Tokyo *2)
5	It takes about 5 hours by plane from Sydney to Tokyo.	× (it takes about 9 hours)
6	ふじさん is the highest mountain in Japan.	○
7	About 70 percent of the land in Japan is mountainous.	○
8	Japan has about 100 volcanoes.	× (more than 200)
9	The national flower of Japan is きく(chrysanthemum).	× (さくら/Cherry blossoms)
10	さくら(Cherry blossoms) bloom in summer.	× (Spring)
11	There are about 3000 islands in Japan.	○
12	The highest speed the しんかんせん (bullet train) reaches is 150km/h.	× (300km/h)
13	There are 2 しんかんせん lines in Japan.	× (7 lines in 2003)
14	Japan’s original religion was Buddhism.	× (Shintonism)
15	You can buy Teriyaki burgers in Japan.	○

*1 1st China, 2nd India, 3rd USA, 4th Indonesia, 5th Brazil, 6th Pakistan, 7th Nigeria, 8th Russia, 9th Bangladesh, 10th Japan
*2 Kyoto is the ancient capital of Japan.

Worksheet 1

Worksheet 2

にほん　オーストラリア　ニュージーランド

かんこく　インドネシア　ちゅうごく

ほっかいどう　ほんしゅう　しこく

きゅうしゅう　おきなわ

Worksheet 1 (PDF:569kb)

Worksheet 2 (PDF:488kb)