Settlement Patterns
It is unknown when people first crossed from the Asian mainland to the islands of Japan and its also unknown exactly how they got there but it’s possible that the first humans traveled across the Sakhalin land chain or the Kuril islands to Hokkaido; the northern island of Japan. (HistoryWorld)
These ancient travelers could have been Siberian because archaeology shows early Japanese pottery similar to that of ancient Siberia. From 205BC, another Neolithic community know as the Yayoi was discovered around Tokyo. These people lived in the southern Ryukyu islands and cultivated Rice. About 200 years later, a group of Chinese came through Korea, taking their Chinese culture with them. This established the links between both Korea and China to Japan. (HistoryWorld)
Most rural settlements still present today are from a long time ago but the newer ones (shinden) with a traceable history are from the land reclamation after the 16th century. These shinden are similar to the older settlements in terms of social structure. An old rural unit is called a mura (or aza), which consists of 30 - 50 households. (EBRIT)
Local difference is found in the settlement patterns of villages. Some are bunched together, like those of the Kinki-Chiho, others are dispersed, as of those in North-eastern Shikoku, some are elongated, like the Niigata-Heiya on the rows of sand dunes, and others are scattered on steep mountain slopes. (EBRIT)
No village is considered completely rural. The villages near industrialized urban cities have commuters and industrial workers. The most remote settlements have seasonal workers that they send out during the winters. The Hokkaido villages are based on commercial farming, and each home has contact to a nearby town. (EBRIT)
Before fishing, they depended on other villages to produce rice and fish for them. Fishing was a major way to get food for Japanese people. It started to become very popular in the early 17th century, when fishing began to move northward through Japan. Fishing villages are most common in the south-west, and these places have a practised exchange economy. Villages that don't fish produce rice or depend on other villages to produce rice and fish for them. (EBRIT)
Urban settlement has only recently began, but the former capital cities called Nara, Kyoto and Kamakura are the only exceptions of sizable settlements before the 16th century. Most provincial capitals (koku-fu) of ancient Japan were only centres full of official residences but were not actually developed towns. After the later 16th century though, temples and lords built towns by collecting merchants and crafts-people close to these new cities. The feudal lords also built castle towns (joka-machi) which commanded and controlled the transport routes and surrounding towns. Many important cities, like Tokyo have developed from these castle towns. (EBRIT)
In order of importance in Japanese society, the port towns were next. Two examples of port towns are Hakata and Sakai. Religious towns are also important and for that reason have grown over the years. Nara and Kyoto are some castle towns that prospered. (EBRIT)
Urban growth began in the late 19th century when the international ports of Kobe, Niigata, Yokohama, Nagasaki and Hakodate developed and with the Naval bases of Kure, Sasebo and Yokosuka. With industrialization, Japanese cities rapidly grew and more industrial towns were created. (EBRIT)
This map shows the population density of Japan per prefecture. As you can see, the darker the prefecture is, the more dense the population is per km. This map shows that the most people are settled on the south-eastern coast, while the least are settled in the north.