One explanation for why Japan lacks resources (Chinese and Japanese version)

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Once referred to in Marco Polo’s ‘Travels’ as the “Land of Gold, Japan,” it was one of the few countries in the world that produced gold and silver before Europeans arrived in the Americas and began to greedily \"discover\" and \"plunder\" large amounts of such metals. But that was a long time ago. There used to be a saying that goes \"spending money like water,\" but does Japan really have a lot of water? The average annual precipitation worldwide is 973 MM, while in Japan it is 1723 MM. The United States is 760MM, China is 660MM, France is 750MM, and Saudi Arabia is 100MM. On the other hand, countries with higher precipitation than Japan include Indonesia at 2620 MM, and New Guinea at 2010 MM. But when it comes to *average precipitation*, Japan has less than any other **country (it’s 1/3 of that in Saudi Arabia). Japan produces almost no energy sources that can be used for power generation, such as oil, coal, natural gas, and uranium. To some extent, coal mines that could be exploited cannot be mined either due to cost issues. Almost all mines are shut down. Furthermore, mineral resources such as iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, bauxite, and tin are also extremely scarce in Japan. It relies almost entirely on imports from abroad. It was over half a century ago, when the first oil crisis resulted from an oil embargo imposed by Arab countries due to the Fourth Middle East War. This crisis dealt a severe blow to the Japanese people, who were then in a period of rapid growth and prosperity; prices became unstable and economic growth dropped to its lowest levels. Since then, Japan has paid a heavy price to advance economic restructuring. By vigorously promoting energy-saving technologies and the principle of diversifying import sources, it overcame this crisis. However, the situation in which almost all resources rely on imports has not changed. Asian emerging industrial countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, **, and Singapore are almost all, just like Japan, countries lacking in resources; yet they have achieved success in economic development, while the Soviet Union, which had more resources, collapsed. The above facts show that the amount of resources does not necessarily have a direct causal relationship with economic and social development. Japanese: Place names found in Marco Polo’s “The Travels of Marco Polo”. It is believed that Japan refers to the Island of Gold, located 1,500 nautical miles east of China. Terms like Japan Japan are variants of this word. Japan, once referred to as the \"Land of Gold, Japan\" in Marco Polo’s \"Travels of Marco Polo,\" was one of the world’s leading producers of gold and silver until Europeans \"reached\" the American continent and \"discovered\" and \"plundered\" vast amounts of gold and silver there. But that was a long time ago. 「There are expressions like \"spending gold as if it were water,\" so perhaps water is abundant in Japan? The average annual precipitation worldwide is 973 mm, while in Japan it is 1728 mm, in the United States it is 760 mm, in China it is 660 mm, in France it is 750 mm, and in Saudi Arabia it is 100 mm. Among countries that experience higher rainfall than Japan are Indonesia with 2620 mm, and New Zealand with 2010 mm. However, when converted to precipitation per capita, Japan actually has less than any of the countries mentioned above. (One-third of Saudi Arabia!) Natural resources used to generate electricity, such as oil, coal, natural gas, and uranium, are hardly produced in Japan. Even the coal that could be mined to a certain extent had costs that made it unprofitable, so most mines were shut down. Furthermore, Japan’s production of mineral resources such as iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, bauxite, and tin is also extremely low. The current situation is that almost everything relies on imports from abroad. It was over a quarter of a century ago, but the first oil crisis, triggered by the Arab countries’ suspension of oil exports following the Fourth Middle East War, pushed the Japanese, who were indulging in rapid economic growth and prosperity as an economic power, into a situation of soaring prices and negative economic growth. Japan subsequently made tremendous sacrifices to carry out economic restructuring, sought to develop energy-saving technologies and diversify its sources of imports in order to overcome the crisis, but nothing changed regarding the fact that it relies on imports for almost all of its resources. However, the fact that emerging industrial countries in Asia such as South Korea, Taiwan, **?, and Singapore – which are just as resource-poor as Japan – have managed to achieve remarkable economic growth suggests, together with the tragic collapse of the Soviet Union despite its abundant resources, that the presence or absence of resources does not necessarily have a direct positive or negative impact on an economy or society. This post was last edited by chinazwr on 2009-4-19 16:19]