Japan's original country name NIPPON means "country under the sun," but the traditional name of the country when the capital was here in Nara was YAMATO. YAMATO means "land of great harmony between people and nature." The history of Japan is very old, about 2,000 years since the Emperor's reign, but humans began to live in villages and communities in this island nation about 14,000 years ago, during “the Jomon pottery” culture. (That's 30,000 years ago, if you count the Neolithic period.) Surrounded by the sea on all sides, this island nation has a warm and humid climate and is blessed with abundant clear water resources, plants, and fisheries resources, and people have lived in peace since ancient times. People have respected harmony, lived peacefully as a group, exercised wisdom to overcome numerous natural disasters, lived in harmony with nature, and enjoyed the blessings of nature. The ancient name of the country, "Yamato, Wa," expresses the wishes and realities of such people to live