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Japan |
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Japan |
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Background: |
While retaining its time-honored culture, Japan rapidly absorbed Western technology during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After its devastating defeat in World War II, Japan recovered to become the second most powerful economy in the world and a staunch ally of the US. While the emperor retains his throne as a symbol of national unity, actual power rests in networks of powerful politicians, bureaucrats, and business executives. The economy experienced a major slowdown in the 1990s following three decades of unprecedented growth. |
Japan |
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Location: |
Eastern Asia, island chain between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean Peninsula |
Geographic coordinates: |
36 00 N, 138 00 E |
Map references: |
Asia |
Area: |
total: 377,835 sq km |
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Shinkansen 500
Series. Now operating at
300km/h. Currently being
tested for operating speed 360km/h. |
Area - comparative: |
slightly larger than Norway |
Land boundaries: |
0 km |
Coastline: |
29,751 km |
Maritime claims: |
contiguous zone: 24 NM |
Climate: |
varies from tropical in south to cool temperate in north |
Terrain: |
mostly rugged and mountainous |
Elevation extremes: |
lowest point: Hachiro-gata -4 m |
Natural resources: |
negligible mineral resources, fish |
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Land use: |
arable land: 11% |
Irrigated land: |
27,820 sq km (1993 est.) |
Natural hazards: |
many
dormant and some active volcanoes; about 1,500 seismic occurrences (mostly
tremors) every year; tsunamis; typhoons |
Environment - current issues: |
air pollution from power plant emissions results in acid rain; acidification of lakes and reservoirs degrading water quality and threatening aquatic life; Japan is one of the largest consumers of fish and tropical timber, contributing to the depletion of these resources in Asia and elsewhere |
Environment - international agreements: |
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living
Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous
Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands,
Whaling |
Geography - note: |
strategic
location in northeast Asia
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Japan |
Population: |
126,771,662 (July 2001 est.) |
Age structure: |
0-14 years: 14.64% (male 9,510,296; female 9,043,074) |
Population growth rate: |
0.17% (2001 est.) |
Birth rate: |
10.04 births/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Death rate: |
8.34 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.) |
Net migration rate: |
0
migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)
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Sex ratio: |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female |
Infant mortality rate: |
3.88 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.) |
Life expectancy at birth: |
total population: 80.8 years |
Total fertility rate: |
1.41 children born/woman (2001 est.) |
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: |
0.02% (1999 est.) |
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: |
10,000 (1999 est.) |
HIV/AIDS - deaths: |
150 (1999 est.) |
Nationality: |
noun: Japanese (singular and plural) |
Ethnic groups: |
Japanese 99.4%, Korean 0.6% (1999) |
Religions: |
observe both Shinto and Buddhist 84%, other 16% (including Christian 0.7%) |
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The Sapporo Snow Festival held in
February every year. |
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Literacy: |
definition: age 15 and over can read and write |
Japan |
Country name: |
conventional long form: none |
Government type: |
constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government |
Capital: |
Tokyo |
Administrative divisions: |
47 prefectures; Aichi, Akita, Aomori, Chiba, Ehime, Fukui, Fukuoka, Fukushima, Gifu, Gumma, Hiroshima, Hokkaido, Hyogo, Ibaraki, Ishikawa, Iwate, Kagawa, Kagoshima, Kanagawa, Kochi, Kumamoto, Kyoto, Mie, Miyagi, Miyazaki, Nagano, Nagasaki, Nara, Niigata, Oita, Okayama, Okinawa, Osaka, Saga, Saitama, Shiga, Shimane, Shizuoka, Tochigi, Tokushima, Tokyo, Tottori, Toyama, Wakayama, Yamagata, Yamaguchi, Yamanashi |
Independence: |
660 BC (traditional founding by Emperor Jimmu) |
National holiday: |
Birthday of Emperor AKIHITO, 23 December (1933) |
Constitution: |
3 May 1947 |
Legal system: |
modeled after European civil law system with English-American influence; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations |
Suffrage: |
20 years of age; universal |
Executive branch: |
chief of state: Emperor AKIHITO (since 7 January 1989) |
Legislative branch: |
bicameral
Diet or Kokkai consists of the House of Councillors or Sangi-in (252 seats;
one-half of the members elected every three years - 76 seats of which are
elected from the 47 multi-seat prefectural districts and 50 of which are
elected from a single nationwide list; members elected by popular vote to
serve six-year terms) and the House of Representatives or Shugi-in (480 seats
- 180 of which are elected from 11 regional blocks on a proportional
representation basis and 300 of which are elected from 300 single-seat
districts; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) |
Judicial branch: |
Supreme Court (chief justice is appointed by the monarch after designation by the cabinet; all other justices are appointed by the cabinet) |
Political parties and leaders: |
Democratic Party of Japan or DPJ [Yukio HATOYAMA, leader, Naoto KAN, secretary general]; Japan Communist Party or JCP [Kazuo SHII, chairman, Tadaaki ICHIDA, secretary general]; Komeito [Takenori KANZAKI, president, Tetsuzo FUYUSHIBA, secretary general]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [Junichiro KOIZUMI, president, Taku YAMASAKI, secretary general]; Liberal Party [Ichiro OZAWA, president, Hirohisa FUJII, secretary general]; New Conservative Party [Chikage OGI, president, Takeshi NODA, secretary general]; Social Democratic Party or SDP [Takako DOI, chairperson, Sadao FUCHIGAMI, secretary general] |
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Great Kanto Earthquake Tokyo & Yokohama
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International organization participation: |
AfDB, APEC, ARF (dialogue partner), AsDB, ASEAN (dialogue partner), Australia Group, BIS, CCC, CE (observer), CERN (observer), CP, EBRD, ESCAP, FAO, G- 5, G- 7, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, NAM (guest), NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNRWA, UNU, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC |
Diplomatic representation in the US: |
chief of mission: Ambassador Shunji YANAI |
Diplomatic representation from the US: |
chief of mission: Ambassador Howard H. BAKER, Jr. |
Flag description: |
white with a large red disk (representing the sun without rays) in the center |
Japan |
Economy - overview: |
Government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery of high technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation (1% of GDP) have helped Japan advance with extraordinary rapidity to the rank of second most technologically powerful economy in the world after the US and third largest economy in the world after the US and China. One notable characteristic of the economy is the working together of manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors in closely-knit groups called keiretsu. A second basic feature has been the guarantee of lifetime employment for a substantial portion of the urban labor force. Both features are now eroding. Industry, the most important sector of the economy, is heavily dependent on imported raw materials and fuels. The much smaller agricultural sector is highly subsidized and protected, with crop yields among the highest in the world. Usually self-sufficient in rice, Japan must import about 50% of its requirements of other grain and fodder crops. Japan maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly 15% of the global catch. For three decades overall real economic growth had been spectacular: a 10% average in the 1960s, a 5% average in the 1970s, and a 4% average in the 1980s. Growth slowed markedly in the 1990s largely because of the aftereffects of overinvestment during the late 1980s and contractionary domestic policies intended to wring speculative excesses from the stock and real estate markets. Government efforts to revive economic growth have met little success and were further hampered in late 2000 by the slowing of the US and Asian economies. The crowding of habitable land area and the aging of the population are two major long-run problems. Robotics constitutes a key long-term economic strength, with Japan possessing 410,000 of the world's 720,000 "working robots". |
GDP: |
purchasing power parity - $3.15 trillion (2000 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate: |
1.3% (2000 est.) |
GDP - per capita: |
purchasing power parity - $24,900 (2000 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector: |
agriculture: 2% |
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Household income or consumption by percentage share: |
lowest 10%: 4.8% |
Inflation rate (consumer prices): |
-0.7% (2000 est.) |
Labor force: |
67.7 million (December 2000) |
Labor force - by occupation: |
services 65%, industry 30%, agriculture 5% |
Unemployment rate: |
4.7% (2000) |
Budget: |
revenues: $441 billion |
Industries: |
among world's largest and technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronic equipment, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemicals; textiles, processed foods |
Industrial production growth rate: |
5.3% (2000 est.) |
Electricity - production: |
1.018 trillion kWh (1999) |
Electricity - production by source: |
fossil fuel: 58.91% |
Electricity - consumption: |
947.038 billion kWh (1999) |
Electricity - exports: |
0 kWh (1999) |
Electricity - imports: |
0 kWh (1999) |
Agriculture - products: |
rice, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit; pork, poultry, dairy products, eggs; fish |
Exports: |
$450 billion (f.o.b., 2000) |
Exports - commodities: |
motor vehicles, semiconductors, office machinery, chemicals |
Exports - partners: |
US 30%, Taiwan 7%, South Korea 6.4%, China 6.2%, Hong Kong 5.6% (2000 est.) |
Imports: |
$355 billion (c.i.f., 2000) |
Imports - commodities: |
fuels, foodstuffs, chemicals, textiles, office machinery |
Imports - partners: |
US 19%, China 14.5%, South Korea 5.4%, Taiwan 4.8%, Indonesia 4.3%, Australia 3.9% (2000 est.) |
Debt - external: |
$NA |
Economic aid - donor: |
ODA, $9.1 billion (1999) |
Currency: |
yen (JPY) |
Currency code: |
JPY |
Exchange rates: |
yen per US dollar - 117.10 (January 2001), 107.77 (2000), 113.91 (1999), 130.91 (1998), 120.99 (1997), 108.78 (1996) |
Fiscal year: |
1 April - 31 March |
Japan |
Telephones - main lines in use: |
60.381 million (1997) |
Telephones - mobile cellular: |
63.88 million (2000) |
Telephone system: |
general assessment: excellent domestic and international service |
Radio broadcast stations: |
AM 190, FM 88, shortwave 24 (1999) |
Radios: |
120.5 million (1997) |
Television broadcast stations: |
7,108 (plus 441 repeaters; note - in addition, US Forces are served by 3 TV stations and 2 TV cable services) (1999) |
Televisions: |
86.5
million (1997) August 6, 1945 Hiroshima August 9, 1945 Nagasaki |
Internet country code: |
.jp |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): |
73 (2000) |
Internet users: |
27.06 million (2000) |
Japan |
Railways: |
total: 23,654 km (15,895 km electrified) |
Highways: |
total: 1,152,207 km |
Waterways: |
1,770
km approximately |
Pipelines: |
crude oil 84 km; petroleum products 322 km; natural gas 1,800 km |
Ports and harbors: |
Akita, Amagasaki, Chiba, Hachinohe, Hakodate, Higashi-Harima, Himeji, Hiroshima, Kawasaki, Kinuura, Kobe, Kushiro, Mizushima, Moji, Nagoya, Osaka, Sakai, Sakaide, Shimizu, Tokyo, Tomakomai |
Merchant marine: |
total: 630 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 11,691,174
GRT/15,484,848 DWT
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Airports: |
173 (2000 est.) |
Airports - with paved runways: |
total: 142 |
Airports - with unpaved runways: |
total: 31 |
Heliports: |
16 (2000 est.) |
Japan |
Military branches: |
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (Army), Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (Navy), Japan Air Self-Defense Force (Air Force) |
Military manpower - military age: |
18 years of age |
Military manpower - availability: |
males age 15-49: 29,926,614 (2001 est.) |
Military manpower - fit for military service: |
males age 15-49: 25,876,484 (2001 est.) |
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: |
males: 765,817 (2001 est.) |
Military expenditures - dollar figure: |
$43 billion (FY01) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: |
0.96% (FY01) |
Japan |
Disputes - international: |
islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, and Shikotan, and the Habomai group occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia, claimed by Japan; Liancourt Rocks (Takeshima/Tokdo) disputed with South Korea; Senkaku-shoto (Senkaku Islands) claimed by China and Taiwan |