Regarding the country I've lived in 

I've been living in/to Mashhad, Iran, which is the city with the second largest population in the country following Tehran, its capital. Although Despite (in this case, because you are talking about the population which is a noun, you need to use "despite" or "in spite of")its large population, it's hard to find Japanese people here, and I guess that there might be only several only be a few people who have the same origin with as me, including the one and only Japanese colleague in our office. I've been driven, sometimes, mad due to the overwhelming isolation. Whenever feeling I feel that, I escape into by reading books.
Iran is, actually, a very interesting country. Not only because of its own culture, but also because of (whenever you use "not only..." you need to add a second part "but also...", otherwise it sounds incomplete)the history the country has passed been through so far,. It seems to be particular in the world. The country used to flourish and have the (superlatives always need the definite article "the")greatest power more than 2,500 years ago, and ever since the that period, it has experienced a lot of conquests and divide-and-rule by the various super powers such as the oldest Greek kingdoms, the Islamic imperials and the modern states. Finally, it could become to keep its own rule by means of the revolution led by Imam Khomeini in 1979,. There seems to be many controversial issues according to the viewpoints of outside of (in this case, "outside" is a preposition and does not need "of". Although, as far as I know, it's not wrong to use it) the country, though.

Hi Shinji! Very interesting entry. I went ahead and tried my best to make some corrections and suggestions. Hope it helps!