Question on Majors/Minors in College

Could someone help me understand what a minor in college is?  I have no idea, Whats it actually mean to minor in something? Does it go on your degree?  How many hours of another major do you usually have to complete to get a minor in something?  
 
I would like to major in Japanese and Minor in Journalism, I'm in my freshman year so I have a little while before I have to figure things out.

To minor in something means that you studied enough to specialize in that field without making it your main focus.  The classes taken to earn a minor do not have to be related to your major, so if you want, you can go for a minor in a completely unrelated field.
 
When I was in college, I decided to go for a Minor in Japanese.  The requirements that I fulfilled were three years of Japanese language classes and one year's worth of Japanese literature and linguistics courses.  This was separate from the requirements for my Comparative Literature major, though my Japanese classes did fulfill the foreign language requirements.
 
Neither your major nor your minor will necessarily show up on your degree.  Rather, it will likely just state your area of study.  My degree states that I earned a Bachelor of Arts, so you'd have to look at my transcript in order to see the specific major and minor I took.

Thanks, now I understand.  So how do you declare a minor, by going to your academic adviser?

Yes, that's who  you'd need to see to make any changes like that.

And some schools give certificates instead of minors.  But there is a difference between a major university granting a certificate, and getting certification from a tech school. That's where it gets confusing. For example, I double majored in economics and philosophy, and then got a certificate in mathematics, meaning a minor in economics. But that is different than a certificate from a tech school, such as a certificate in carpentry or something. 
 
They make it kind of confusing. But it looks like someone already explained to you what a major is, and they are correct. Your advisor will explain all that junk to ya. Use your advisor a lot.