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7th grade · Social Studies · Unit 5 of 9

Japan: Land, Beliefs & Values

Islands, mountains and the ideas that shaped Japan

What your child practices

Japan's islands and mountains, its farming and fishing, and the Shinto, Buddhist and Confucian ideas that helped shape how people lived and what they valued.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: Geography 2; History 2 · how Japan's geography shaped its culture and government

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Japan is a chain of mountainous islands with the Pacific Ocean to the east. Mount Fuji is its tallest peak.
  2. Little flat land meant farming in valleys and lots of fishing.
  3. Shinto honors kami, spirits in nature; Buddhism and Confucian ideas of family, order and duty also shaped Japanese values.

Example: Shinto, an old belief in Japan, honors what? Shinto shrines are often in natural places, marked by a torii gate. They honor kami, the spirits in nature and special places. Answer: kami, the spirits in nature and special places

Japan: Land, Beliefs & Values in Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 5 of 9 in 7th grade Social Studies, after African Kingdoms & Empires and before Maya, Aztec & Inca.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Maine Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Buddhism came to Japan around the 500s CE from…

    • Mexico
    • Egypt
    • Spain
    • Korea and China

  2. Question 2

    What is the capital of Japan today?

    • Seoul
    • Tokyo
    • Kyoto
    • Beijing

  3. Question 3

    Which writing system did Japan adapt from China?

    • kanji, characters
    • Hieroglyphs
    • Cyrillic
    • Latin letters only

  4. Question 4

    Which two religions or philosophies had the greatest influence on early Japanese life?

    • Greek mythology and Roman law
    • Christianity and Islam
    • Shinto and Buddhism
    • Judaism and Sikhism

  5. Question 5

    Why did early Japanese villages often develop near rivers and coasts?

    • Mountains are warm.
    • There were no roads.
    • Water, fish and flat land for farming were found there.
    • Cities had no rivers.

  6. Question 6

    What crop has been central to farming in Japan for a very long time?

    • potatoes
    • rice
    • wheat
    • canola

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