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Japan (日本, Nippon or Nihon ) is an island country of East Asia in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It borders the Sea of Japan to the west and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. Japan is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire and comprises an archipelago of 6,852 islands covering ; its five main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa Island. Tokyo is the country's capital and largest city; other major cities include Osaka and Nagoya.
Japan is the 11th most populous country in the world, as well as one of the most densely populated and urbanized. About three-fourths of the country's terrain is mountainous, concentrating its population of 126.2 million on narrow coastal plains. Japan is administratively divided into 47 prefectures and traditionally divided into eight regions. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37.4 million residents.
The islands of Japan were inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, though the first mentions of the archipelago appear in Chinese chronicles from the 1st century AD. Between the 4th and 9th centuries, the kingdoms of Japan became unified under an emperor and imperial court based in Heian-kyō. Starting in the 12th century, however, political power was held by a series of military dictators ( shōgun), feudal lords ( daimyō), and a class of warrior nobility ( samurai). After a Sengoku period, the country was reunified in 1603 under the Tokugawa shogunate, which enacted a Sakoku. In 1854, a Perry Expedition forced Japan to Bakumatsu, leading to the Boshin War and the restoration of imperial power in 1868. In the Meiji era, the Empire of Japan adopted a Western-style constitution and pursued industrialization and modernization. Japan invaded China in 1937; in 1941, it entered World War II as an Axis power. After suffering defeat in the Pacific War and two atomic bombings, Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under an Allied occupation, during which it adopted a post-war constitution. It has since maintained a Unitary state parliamentary constitutional monarchy with an elected legislature known as the National Diet.
Japan is a great power and a member of numerous international organizations, including the United Nations (since 1956), the OECD, and the G7. Although it has renounced its right to declare war, the country maintains a modern military ranked as the world's fourth most powerful. Following World War II, Japan experienced high economic growth, becoming the second-largest economy in the world by 1990 before being surpassed by China in 2010. Despite stagnant economic growth ever since the Lost Decade, the country's economy is still the third-largest by nominal GDP and fourth-largest by purchasing power parity as of 2019. Japan is a global leader in the automotive and electronics industries and has made significant contributions to science and technology. Ranked the second highest country on the Human Development Index in Asia after Singapore, Japan also has the world's second-highest life expectancy, though it is currently experiencing a decline in population. Japanese culture, Japan is renowned for its Japanese art, Japanese cuisine, Japanese music, and popular culture, including its prominent anime and video game industries.
The name Japan is based on the Chinese pronunciation and was introduced to European languages through early trade. In the 13th century, Marco Polo recorded the early Mandarin Chinese or Wu Chinese pronunciation of the characters labels=no as Cipangu. The old Malay language name for Japan, Japang or Japun, was borrowed from a southern coastal Chinese dialect and encountered by Portuguese traders in Southeast Asia, who brought the word to Europe in the early 16th century. The first version of the name in English appears in a book published in 1577, which spelled the name as Giapan in a translation of a 1565 Portuguese letter.
Japan first appears in written history in the Chinese Book of Han, completed in 111 AD. Buddhism was introduced to Japan from Baekje (a Korean kingdom) in 552, but the subsequent development of Japanese Buddhism was primarily influenced by China. Despite early resistance, Buddhism was promoted by the ruling class, including figures like Prince Shōtoku, and gained widespread acceptance beginning in the Asuka period (592–710).
After defeat in the Battle of Baekgang by the Chinese Tang dynasty, the Japanese government devised and implemented the far-reaching . It nationalized all land in Japan, to be distributed equally among cultivators, and ordered the compilation of a household registry as the basis for a new system of taxation. The Jinshin War of 672, a bloody conflict between Prince Ōama and his nephew Prince Ōtomo, became a major catalyst for further administrative reforms. These reforms culminated with the promulgation of the Taihō Code, which consolidated existing statutes and established the structure of the central and subordinate local governments. These legal reforms created the ritsuryō state, a system of Chinese-style centralized government that remained in place for half a millennium.
The Nara period (710–784) marked an emergence of a Japanese state centered on the Imperial Court in Heijō-kyō (modern Nara). The period is characterized by the appearance of a nascent literary culture with the completion of the Kojiki (712) and Nihon Shoki (720), as well as the development of Buddhist-inspired artwork and architecture. A smallpox epidemic in 735–737 is believed to have killed as much as one-third of Japan's population. In 784, Emperor Kanmu moved the capital from Nara to Nagaoka-kyō, then to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto) in 794. This marked the beginning of the Heian period (794–1185), during which a distinctly indigenous Japanese culture emerged. Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji and the lyrics of Japan's national anthem "Kimigayo" were written during this time.
During the 16th century, Portuguese traders and Jesuit Missionary reached Japan for the first time, initiating direct Nanban trade and Nanban art exchange between Japan and the West. Oda Nobunaga used European technology and firearms to conquer many other daimyōs; his consolidation of power began what was known as the Azuchi–Momoyama period (1573–1603). After Nobunaga was assassinated in 1582 by Akechi Mitsuhide, his successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified the nation in 1590 and launched two unsuccessful invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597.
Tokugawa Ieyasu served as regent for Hideyoshi's son Toyotomi Hideyori and used his position to gain political and military support. When open war broke out, Ieyasu defeated rival clans in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. He was appointed shōgun by Emperor Go-Yōzei in 1603 and established the Tokugawa shogunate at Edo (modern Tokyo). The shogunate enacted measures including buke shohatto, as a code of conduct to control the autonomous daimyōs, and in 1639 the isolationist sakoku ("closed country") policy that spanned the two and a half centuries of tenuous political unity known as the Edo period (1603–1868). Modern Japan's economic growth began in this period, resulting in roads and water transportation routes, as well as financial instruments such as , banking and insurance of the Osaka rice brokers. The study of Western sciences ( rangaku) continued through contact with the Dutch enclave at Dejima in Nagasaki. The Edo period also gave rise to kokugaku ("national studies"), the study of Japan by the Japanese.
The early 20th century saw a period of Taishō democracy (1912–1926) overshadowed by increasing expansionism and militarization. World War I allowed Japan, which joined the side of the victorious Allies, to capture German colonies in the Pacific and in China. The 1920s saw a political shift towards statism, the passing of laws against political dissent, and a series of attempted coups. This process accelerated during the 1930s, spawning a number of Radical Nationalist groups that shared a hostility to liberal democracy and a dedication to expansion in Asia. In 1931, Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria; following Lytton Report, it resigned from the League of Nations two years later. In 1936, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany; the 1940 Tripartite Pact made it one of the Axis Powers.
The Empire of Japan invaded other parts of China in 1937, precipitating the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). In 1940, the Empire invaded French Indochina, after which the United States placed an oil embargo on Japan. On December 7–8, 1941, Japanese forces carried out surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor, as well as on British forces in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and declared war on the United States and the British Empire, beginning Pacific War. After Allied victories during the next four years, which culminated in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender. The war cost Japan its colonies, China and the war's other combatants tens of millions of lives, and left much of Japan's industry and infrastructure destroyed. The Allies (led by the United States) repatriated millions of ethnic Japanese from colonies and military camps throughout Asia, largely eliminating the Japanese empire and its influence over its conquered territories. The Allies also convened the International Military Tribunal for the Far East to prosecute Japanese leaders for war crimes.
In 1947, Japan adopted a new constitution emphasizing liberal democratic practices. The Allied occupation ended with the Treaty of San Francisco in 1952, and Japan was granted membership in the United Nations in 1956. A period of record growth propelled Japan to become the second-largest economy in the world; this ended in the mid-1990s after the popping of an asset price bubble, beginning the "Lost Decade". In the 21st century, positive growth has signaled a gradual economic recovery. On March 11, 2011, Japan suffered one of the largest earthquakes in its recorded history, triggering the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. On May 1, 2019, after the historic abdication of Emperor Akihito, his son Naruhito became the new emperor, beginning the Reiwa era.
About 73 percent of Japan is forested, mountainous and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial or residential use. As a result, the habitable zones, mainly in coastal areas, have extremely high population densities: Japan is one of the most densely populated countries. Approximately 0.5% of Japan's total area is reclaimed land (umetatechi). Late 20th and early 21st century projects include artificial islands such as Chubu Centrair International Airport in Ise Bay, Kansai International Airport in the middle of Osaka Bay, Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise and Wakayama Marina City.
Japan is substantially prone to earthquakes, tsunami and volcanoes because of its location along the Pacific Ring of Fire. It has the 15th highest natural disaster risk as measured in the 2013 World Risk Index. Japan has 108 active volcanoes, which are primarily the result of large oceanic movements occurring from the mid-Silurian to the Pleistocene as a result of the subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate beneath the continental Amurian Plate and Okinawa Plate to the south, and subduction of the Pacific Plate under the Okhotsk Plate to the north. Japan was originally attached to the Eurasian continent; the subducting plates opened the Sea of Japan around 15 million years ago. During the twentieth century several new volcanoes emerged, including Shōwa-shinzan on Hokkaido and Myōjin-shō off the Bayonnaise Rocks. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunami, occur several times each century. The 1923 Tokyo earthquake killed over 140,000 people. More recent major quakes are the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, which triggered a large tsunami.
The average winter temperature in Japan is and the average summer temperature is . The highest temperature ever measured in Japan, , was recorded on July 23, 2018. The main rainy season begins in early May in Okinawa, and the rain front gradually moves north until reaching Hokkaido in late July. In late summer and early autumn, often bring heavy rain.
, more than 40 coal-fired power plants are planned or under construction in Japan, following the switching-off of Japan's nuclear fleet following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Prior to this incident, Japan's emissions had been on the decline, largely because their nuclear power plants created no emissions. Japan ranks 20th in the 2018 Environmental Performance Index, which measures a nation's commitment to environmental sustainability. As the host and signatory of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Japan is under treaty obligation to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and to take other steps to curb climate change. Current environmental issues include urban air pollution (NOx, suspended particulate matter, and toxics), waste management, water eutrophication, nature conservation, climate change, chemical management and international co-operation for conservation.
Japan's legislative organ is the National Diet, a Bicameralism parliament. It consists of a lower House of Representatives with 465 seats, elected by popular vote every four years or when dissolved, and an upper House of Councillors with 245 seats, whose popularly-elected members serve six-year terms. There is universal suffrage for adults over 18 years of age, with a secret ballot for all elected offices. The Diet is currently dominated by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has enjoyed near-continuous electoral success since 1955. The prime minister is the head of government and is appointed by the emperor after being designated from among the members of the Diet. As the head of the Cabinet, the prime minister has the power to appoint and dismiss Ministers of State. Following the LDP victory in the 2012 general election, Shinzō Abe replaced Yoshihiko Noda as the prime minister.
Historically influenced by Chinese law, the Japanese legal system developed independently during the Edo period through texts such as Kujikata Osadamegaki. However, since the late 19th century, the judicial system has been largely based on the civil law of Europe, notably Germany. In 1896, Japan established a civil code based on the German Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, which remains in effect with post–World War II modifications. The Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947, is the oldest unamended constitution in the world. Statutory law originates in the legislature, and the constitution requires that the emperor promulgate legislation passed by the Diet without giving him the power to oppose legislation. The main body of Japanese statutory law is called the Six Codes. Japan's court system is divided into four basic tiers: the Supreme Court and three levels of lower courts.
poly 421 1 549 43 569 93 492 177 412 197 382 220 366 203 358 161 408 13 413 7 Hokkaido poly 382 264 388 261 411 261 415 257 420 257 421 260 421 264 422 266 426 266 431 264 433 260 439 259 445 256 431 205 409 203 387 221 372 255 Aomori poly 382 266 389 263 409 263 413 262 415 258 418 258 420 260 420 265 421 267 418 271 418 296 415 300 415 312 420 318 423 324 423 329 418 332 415 333 399 327 387 327 373 291 Akita Prefecture poly 455 335 446 337 443 336 434 331 425 329 425 322 420 314 417 311 417 302 419 297 419 272 422 268 428 268 432 265 435 261 440 260 446 257 454 264 467 281 470 300 466 319 Iwate Prefecture poly 387 328 366 341 367 355 380 357 391 365 394 368 394 374 389 377 388 381 388 385 392 389 394 390 407 390 411 388 414 384 409 380 409 376 416 367 417 363 418 346 416 343 415 335 399 329 388 329 Yamagata poly 417 335 424 331 433 332 444 339 454 337 462 357 440 381 431 382 425 380 419 380 415 383 411 379 411 376 418 367 420 347 418 342 417 340 416 338 Miyagi poly 378 357 339 372 332 387 317 441 325 449 328 447 330 444 334 447 336 447 337 445 344 444 349 436 353 435 356 437 361 445 362 446 365 446 369 442 371 436 375 432 380 433 379 430 375 425 374 416 375 411 379 409 382 409 387 405 387 396 391 391 387 387 386 379 392 372 393 372 393 368 Niigata poly 381 433 380 428 376 424 376 415 379 411 385 410 389 405 389 397 392 391 409 392 416 384 421 381 425 382 431 384 441 383 447 393 450 419 444 431 438 429 435 429 431 431 429 434 427 434 413 421 406 420 402 423 396 430 391 433 389 434 383 434 Fukushima poly 422 432 427 436 431 435 432 431 436 430 443 433 451 480 448 480 445 478 442 475 437 474 429 477 426 481 422 481 413 475 408 474 402 469 408 468 419 459 423 454 Ibaraki poly 384 436 391 435 398 430 404 422 406 422 410 422 413 424 421 431 420 437 421 454 415 460 409 465 407 466 400 468 391 459 390 456 390 450 389 447 386 445 386 438 Tochigi poly 409 476 414 477 420 482 426 483 430 478 438 475 442 477 446 481 449 482 451 481 453 485 442 490 440 495 440 513 423 530 417 529 413 503 413 493 412 486 411 480 Chiba Prefecture poly 362 448 365 448 370 443 372 436 375 434 380 434 385 439 385 445 388 450 389 450 389 457 391 461 399 468 384 468 374 478 370 482 369 486 363 480 362 476 362 468 360 466 355 465 352 461 353 457 Gunma Prefecture poly 381 493 381 489 384 488 388 488 392 490 394 491 398 491 402 490 406 490 410 488 410 483 408 476 400 469 385 469 371 483 370 487 374 491 Saitama poly 382 493 382 491 383 489 387 489 392 491 393 492 399 492 401 491 406 491 410 489 411 490 412 494 407 498 401 498 399 499 388 499 386 496 Tokyo poly 393 500 400 500 403 499 408 499 413 510 412 518 389 521 385 520 383 517 383 512 380 510 378 510 379 507 393 507 Kanagawa rect 423 538 457 551 Tokyo rect 386 551 438 565 Kanagawa circle 551 737 119 Okinawa poly 352 493 364 493 367 491 368 487 373 492 381 494 384 496 387 499 392 499 392 507 378 507 377 510 376 511 369 511 366 513 364 515 364 520 362 521 359 519 351 508 351 506 343 506 343 499 352 499 Yamanashi poly 338 529 345 520 348 514 349 511 350 510 353 513 359 521 362 522 365 521 365 515 369 512 377 512 378 511 380 511 382 513 382 518 385 521 389 522 393 526 393 540 383 551 356 556 325 557 325 547 328 541 335 534 Shizuoka poly 325 450 330 446 334 449 338 447 343 446 346 444 350 437 352 436 355 437 361 447 352 456 351 462 354 466 359 467 360 468 361 470 361 479 363 483 367 486 366 490 363 492 351 492 351 499 343 499 343 506 350 506 350 508 348 510 347 513 338 527 336 528 326 527 326 512 321 503 316 499 316 497 321 492 322 486 322 477 321 473 321 471 323 470 323 454 Nagano poly 294 447 316 441 324 450 322 453 322 469 320 471 301 471 297 476 296 476 293 475 291 475 290 466 287 459 287 458 290 458 291 449 Toyama poly 291 476 293 476 295 478 298 478 302 472 320 472 321 479 321 488 320 492 315 496 315 500 320 504 324 512 325 514 325 524 324 527 313 527 307 523 296 523 293 526 292 530 289 534 288 534 283 534 280 529 279 524 272 511 274 508 279 505 285 505 291 501 291 497 286 493 286 489 291 483 Gifu Prefecture poly 290 535 293 530 294 526 297 524 305 524 312 528 328 528 336 529 334 533 327 540 324 547 324 557 308 561 298 552 296 542 Aichi Prefecture poly 268 477 247 477 247 462 276 461 276 431 299 415 307 418 305 425 294 446 291 447 289 451 289 458 287 458 289 464 290 482 285 488 280 488 Ishikawa poly 267 478 280 489 285 489 285 493 289 497 289 499 289 500 285 504 278 504 272 508 270 512 261 521 257 523 253 527 247 527 243 524 243 521 256 492 Fukui Prefecture poly 271 512 277 524 280 532 280 544 278 547 275 549 271 549 268 551 264 556 258 542 257 541 256 531 254 528 261 522 Shiga Prefecture poly 280 533 284 535 288 535 294 542 297 555 307 568 306 577 271 606 265 604 262 600 262 598 270 591 272 586 272 564 265 557 269 552 277 550 281 544 Mie Prefecture poly 217 518 225 508 237 509 242 520 242 524 246 528 252 528 255 533 256 535 256 542 263 556 263 558 255 556 247 547 241 547 235 538 231 536 225 535 222 533 223 531 226 528 226 526 220 522 Kyoto Prefecture poly 242 548 246 548 252 555 252 573 253 575 239 575 243 566 244 564 243 553 Osaka Prefecture poly 253 556 257 559 263 559 264 558 270 564 271 580 272 580 272 587 268 592 261 598 261 600 256 600 251 597 251 589 252 586 252 579 255 579 253 572 Nara Prefecture rect 222 616 253 628 Osaka Prefecture poly 238 576 241 576 253 576 254 579 252 579 252 585 250 589 250 597 253 600 256 601 261 601 265 605 271 607 271 618 260 623 260 631 285 631 285 644 228 644 228 631 254 631 254 617 253 616 242 614 230 600 229 581 Wakayama poly 198 518 202 515 215 517 219 523 224 526 224 528 221 532 222 535 226 537 231 537 235 540 237 545 240 548 242 555 242 565 230 567 227 578 223 587 216 587 214 577 222 567 221 565 200 563 197 557 197 553 195 549 197 544 204 535 204 527 Hyōgo poly 156 529 163 521 197 519 203 528 203 534 200 538 191 538 186 534 181 534 178 537 169 537 163 542 155 549 152 550 149 547 149 544 152 541 157 535 Tottori poly 154 551 157 549 169 539 172 538 178 538 182 535 185 535 190 539 199 539 194 545 194 551 197 554 197 561 200 565 185 578 167 579 162 569 159 562 156 558 155 553 Okayama poly 92 574 89 558 89 549 142 523 149 523 155 531 155 536 148 543 148 548 151 551 138 551 133 557 129 564 126 565 119 565 109 573 106 580 104 587 102 588 96 585 92 580 Shimane poly 106 582 110 574 119 566 128 566 130 564 139 552 153 552 155 554 155 558 159 564 159 566 166 579 164 582 158 582 150 589 133 596 116 592 112 590 110 585 Hiroshima poly 91 574 91 581 96 587 101 589 104 589 106 583 109 586 111 590 117 593 113 616 75 613 59 602 62 588 Yamaguchi poly 158 582 177 582 185 579 204 582 203 587 198 591 186 594 181 595 174 600 171 596 158 592 Kagawa poly 175 601 182 596 198 592 205 586 213 586 218 597 229 598 229 607 217 607 202 620 197 615 187 607 181 607 175 604 Tokushima poly 132 658 138 653 138 650 136 647 136 644 145 636 145 629 150 625 155 616 155 614 166 608 174 605 181 608 187 608 202 622 196 635 162 635 152 662 137 667 Kōchi poly 118 610 133 610 139 597 147 594 171 597 174 601 174 604 166 607 155 612 151 621 145 627 143 629 143 636 135 642 134 647 137 651 136 653 131 658 120 663 119 658 126 641 124 636 107 635 108 628 118 622 Ehime Prefecture poly 77 624 67 608 62 605 34 619 29 634 32 636 51 636 52 638 51 641 42 651 46 657 52 652 60 650 63 648 63 637 68 632 72 631 Fukuoka poly 64 649 64 638 69 633 74 631 79 625 91 620 97 621 102 632 113 657 110 662 100 662 98 665 96 665 93 664 88 664 84 661 80 655 79 648 78 646 73 646 70 649 69 652 66 652 Ōita poly 84 663 87 665 94 665 98 666 102 663 109 663 104 681 103 688 120 688 120 700 96 700 94 735 87 737 83 731 83 723 79 719 71 713 64 702 74 698 77 693 76 683 73 679 73 676 Miyazaki poly 27 633 31 637 50 637 51 638 50 640 38 653 36 657 26 653 21 648 20 641 18 633 23 632 Saga Prefecture poly 19 641 19 648 25 654 49 662 49 673 37 678 17 679 6 671 7 641 12 638 Nagasaki poly 46 658 53 653 62 650 64 650 66 653 69 653 70 651 74 647 76 647 78 649 78 654 83 662 72 676 72 680 74 684 75 686 75 694 73 698 63 701 58 697 43 698 22 693 22 682 25 681 48 681 48 674 51 672 51 663 Kumamoto poly 13 707 43 699 57 699 62 702 70 714 81 723 82 733 80 744 64 753 39 744 35 721 12 720 Kagoshima
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| Tōhoku
3. Iwate Prefecture 4. Miyagi 5. Akita Prefecture 6. Yamagata 7. Fukushima| style="padding-right:1em; vertical-align:top;" | Kantō
9. Tochigi 10. Gunma Prefecture 11. Saitama 12. Chiba Prefecture 13. Tokyo 14. Kanagawa| style="padding-right:1em; vertical-align:top;" | Chūbu
16. Toyama 17. Ishikawa 18. Fukui Prefecture 19. Yamanashi 20. Nagano 21. Gifu Prefecture 22. Shizuoka 23. Aichi Prefecture |
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25. Shiga Prefecture 26. Kyoto Prefecture 27. Osaka Prefecture 28. Hyōgo 29. Nara Prefecture 30. Wakayama| style="padding-right:1em; vertical-align:top;" | Chūgoku
32. Shimane 33. Okayama 34. Hiroshima 35. Yamaguchi| style="padding-right:1em; vertical-align:top;" |
37. Kagawa 38. Ehime Prefecture 39. Kōchi| style="padding-right:1em; vertical-align:top;" | Kyūshū
41. Saga Prefecture 42. Nagasaki 43. Kumamoto 44. Ōita 45. Miyazaki 46. Kagoshima 47. Okinawa |
Japan has close economic and military relations with the United States; the US-Japan security alliance acts as the cornerstone of the nation's foreign policy. The United States is a major market for Japanese exports and the primary source of Japanese imports and is committed to defending the country, having military bases in Japan partially for that purpose.
Japan's relationship with South Korea has been strained because of Japan's treatment of Koreans during Japanese colonial rule, particularly over the issue of comfort women. In December 2015, Japan agreed to settle the comfort women dispute with South Korea by issuing a formal apology and paying money to the surviving comfort women. Today, South Korea and Japan have a stronger and more economically-driven relationship. Since the 1990s, the Korean Wave has created a large fanbase in East Asia: Japan is the number one importer of Korean music (K-pop), television (Korean drama), and films. Most recently, South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the 2017 G20 Summit to discuss the future of their relationship and specifically how to cooperate on finding solutions for North Korean aggression in the region.
Japan is engaged in several territorial disputes with its neighbors. Japan contests Russia's control of the Southern Kuril Islands, which were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945. South Korea's control of the Liancourt Rocks is acknowledged but not accepted as they are claimed by Japan. Japan has strained relations with China and Taiwan over the Senkaku Islands and the status of Okinotorishima.
The military is governed by the Ministry of Defense, and primarily consists of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. The Maritime Self-Defense Force is a regular participant in Exercise RIMPAC maritime exercises. The forces have been recently used in peacekeeping operations; the deployment of troops to Iraq marked the first overseas use of Japan's military since World War II. The Japan Business Federation has called on the government to lift the ban on arms exports so that Japan can join multinational projects such as the Joint Strike Fighter.
The Government of Japan has been making changes to its security policy which include the establishment of the National Security Council, the adoption of the National Security Strategy, and the development of the National Defense Program Guidelines. In May 2014, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe said Japan wanted to shed the passiveness it has maintained since the end of World War II and take more responsibility for regional security. Recent tensions, particularly with North Korea, have reignited the debate over the status of the JSDF and its relation to Japanese society.
Additionally, there is the Japan Coast Guard which guards territorial waters. The coast guard patrols the sea surrounding Japan and uses surveillance and control countermeasures against smuggling, marine environmental crime, poaching, piracy, spy ships, unauthorized foreign fishing vessels, and illegal immigration.
The Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law strictly regulates the civilian ownership of guns, swords and other weaponry. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, among the member states of the UN that report statistics, the incidence rate of violent crimes such as murder, abduction, forced sexual intercourse and robbery is very low in Japan.
, Japan's labor force consisted of some 65 million workers. Japan has a low unemployment rate of around three percent. Around 16 percent of the population were below the poverty line in 2013. Housing in Japan is characterized by limited land supply in urban areas.
Japan's exports amounted to US$5,430 per capita in 2017. , Japan's main export markets were the United States (19.4 percent), China (19 percent), South Korea (7.6 percent), Hong Kong (5.1 percent) and Thailand (4.2 percent). Its main exports are transportation equipment, motor vehicles, iron and steel products, semiconductors and auto parts. Japan's main import markets were China (24.5 percent), the United States (11 percent), Australia (5.8 percent), South Korea (4.2 percent), and Saudi Arabia (4.1 percent). Japan's main imports are machinery and equipment, fossil fuels, foodstuffs (in particular beef), chemicals, textiles and raw materials for its industries. By market share measures, domestic markets are the least open of any OECD country.
Japan ranks 34th of 190 countries in the 2018 ease of doing business index and has one of the smallest tax revenues of the developed world. The Japanese variant of capitalism has many distinct features: keiretsu enterprises are influential, and lifetime employment and seniority-based career advancement are relatively common in the Japanese work environment. Japanese companies are known for management methods like "The Toyota Way", and shareholder activism is rare. Japan also has a large cooperative sector, with three of the ten largest cooperatives in the world, including the largest consumer cooperative and the largest agricultural cooperative in the world.
Japan ranks highly for competitiveness and economic freedom. It is ranked sixth in the Global Competitiveness Report for 2015–2016.
In 1996, Japan ranked fourth in the world in tonnage of fish caught. Japan ranked seventh and captured 3,167,610 metric tons of fish in 2016, down from an annual average of 4,000,000 tons over the previous decade. In 2010, Japan's total fisheries production was 4,762,469 fish. Japan maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly 15% of the global catch, prompting some claims that Japan's fishing is leading to depletion in fish stocks such as tuna. Japan has also sparked controversy by supporting quasi-commercial whaling.
Japan is the third largest automobile producer in the world and is home to Toyota, the world's largest automobile company. Despite facing competition from South Korea and China, the Japanese shipbuilding industry is expected to remain strong through an increased focus on specialized, high-tech designs.
Japan attracted 19.73 million international tourists in 2015 and increased by 21.8% to attract 24.03 million international tourists in 2016. In 2008, the Japanese government set up Japan Tourism Agency and set the initial goal to increase foreign visitors to 20 million in 2020. In 2016, having met the 20 million target, the government revised up its target to 40 million by 2020 and to 60 million by 2030. For inbound tourism, Japan was ranked 16th in the world in 2015. Japan is one of the least visited countries in the OECD on a per capita basis, and it was by far the least visited country in the G7 until 2014.
Japanese scientists and engineers have contributed to the advancement of agricultural sciences, electronics, , optics, chemicals, , and various fields of engineering. Japan leads the world in robotics production and use, possessing more than 20% of the world's industrial robots . Japan boasts the third highest number of scientists, technicians, and engineers per capita in the world with 83 per 10,000 employees.
The Japanese consumer electronics industry, once considered the strongest in the world, is currently in a state of decline as competition arises in countries like South Korea, the United States and China. However, video gaming in Japan remains a major industry. Japan became a major exporter of video games during the golden age of arcade video games, an era that began with the release of Taito's Space Invaders in 1978 and ended around the mid-1980s. Japanese-made video game consoles have been popular since the 1980s, and Japan dominated the industry until Microsoft's Xbox consoles began challenging Sony and Nintendo in the 2000s. , $6 billion of Japan's $20 billion gaming market is generated from arcades, which represent the largest sector of the Japanese video game market, followed by home and at $3.5 billion and $2 billion, respectively. Japan is now the world's largest market for ; in 2014, Japan's consumer video game market grossed $9.6 billion, with $5.8 billion coming from mobile gaming.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is Japan's national space agency; it conducts space, planetary, and aviation research, and leads development of rockets and satellites. It is a participant in the International Space Station: the Japanese Experiment Module (Kibō) was added to the station during Space Shuttle assembly flights in 2008. The space probe Akatsuki was launched in 2010 and achieved orbit around Venus in 2015. Japan's plans in space exploration include building a moon base by 2030. In 2007, it launched lunar explorer SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) from Tanegashima Space Center. The largest lunar mission since the Apollo program, its purpose was to gather data on the moon's origin and evolution. It entered a lunar orbit on October 4, 2007, and was deliberately crashed into the Moon on June 11, 2009.
Since privatization in 1987, dozens of Japanese railway companies compete in regional and local passenger transportation markets; major companies include seven JR enterprises, Kintetsu Railway, Seibu Railway and Keio Corporation. Some 250 high-speed Shinkansen trains connect major cities and Japanese trains are known for their safety and punctuality. A new Maglev line called the Chūō Shinkansen is being constructed between Tokyo and Nagoya. It is due to be completed in 2027.
There are 175 airports in Japan; the largest domestic airport, Haneda Airport in Tokyo, is Asia's second-busiest airport. The largest international gateways are Narita International Airport, Kansai International Airport and Chūbu Centrair International Airport. Nagoya Port is the country's largest and busiest port, accounting for 10 percent of Japan's trade value.
Japanese society is linguistically, ethnically and culturally homogeneous, composed of 98.1% ethnic Japanese, with small populations of foreign workers. The most dominant native ethnic group is the Yamato people; primary minority groups include the indigenous Ainu people and Ryukyuan people, as well as social minority groups like the burakumin. Zainichi Koreans, Chinese, Filipinos, Brazilians mostly of Japanese descent, Peruvians mostly of Japanese descent, and Americans are among the small minority groups in Japan. In 2003, there were about 134,700 non-Latin American Western (not including more than 33,000 American military personnel and their dependents) and 345,500 Latin American expatriates, 274,700 of whom were Brazilians, the largest community of Westerners.
Japan has the second longest overall life expectancy at birth of any country in the world: 83.5 years for persons born in the period 2010–2015. The Japanese population is rapidly aging as a result of a post–World War II baby boom followed by a decrease in birth rates. In 2012, about 24.1 percent of the population was over 65, and the proportion is projected to rise to almost 40 percent by 2050. On September 15, 2018, for the first time, one in five Japanese residents was aged 70 or older. 26.18 million people are 70 or older and accounted for 20.7 percent of the population. Elderly women crossed the 20 million line at 20.12 million, substantially outnumbering the nation's 15.45 million elderly men. The changes in demographic structure have created a number of social issues, particularly a potential decline in workforce population and increase in the cost of social security benefits.Gonzalo Garland et al. "Dynamics of Demographic Development and its impact on Personal Saving : case of Japan", with Albert Ando, Andrea Moro, Juan Pablo Cordoba, in Ricerche Economiche, Vol 49, August 1995 A growing number of younger Japanese are not marrying or remain childless. Japan's population is expected to drop to 95 million by 2050.
Immigration and birth incentives are sometimes suggested as a solution to provide younger workers to support the nation's aging population. Japan accepts an average flow of 9,500 new naturalized citizens per year. On April 1, 2019, Japan's revised immigration law was enacted, protecting the rights of foreign workers to help reduce labor shortages in certain sectors.
Christianity was first introduced into Japan by Jesuit missions starting in 1549.Higashibaba, 2002. p. 1 Today, fewer than 1% to 2.3% are Christians, most of them living in the western part of the country. , there were 32,036 Christian priests and pastors in Japan. Routledge Handbook of Japanese Culture and Society (2011) edited by Victoria Bestor, Theodore C. Bestor, and Akiko Yamagata, p. 65 Throughout the latest century, some Western customs originally related to Christianity (including Western style weddings, Valentine's Day and Christmas) have become popular as secular customs among many Japanese.
Islam in Japan is estimated to constitute about 80–90% of foreign-born migrants and their children, primarily from Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iran. Many of the ethnic Japanese Muslims are those who convert upon marrying immigrant Muslims. The Pew Research Center estimated that there were 185,000 Muslims in Japan in 2010.
Other minority religions include Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism, and Bahá'í Faith; since the mid-19th century numerous new religious movements have emerged in Japan. (1993). 9780895775016, Reader's Digest. ISBN 9780895775016
Besides Japanese, the Ryukyuan languages (Amami language, Kunigami, Okinawan, Miyako, Yaeyama language, Yonaguni), also part of the Japonic language family, are spoken in the Ryukyu Islands chain. Few children learn these languages, but in recent years local governments have sought to increase awareness of the traditional languages. The Okinawan Japanese dialect is also spoken in the region. The Ainu language, which is a language isolate, is moribund, with only a few elderly native speakers remaining in Hokkaido.
The Programme for International Student Assessment coordinated by the OECD currently ranks the overall knowledge and skills of Japanese 15-year-olds as the third best in the world. Japan is one of the top-performing OECD countries in reading literacy, math and sciences with the average student scoring 529 and has one of the world's highest-educated labor forces among OECD countries. In 2015, Japan's public spending on education amounted to just 4.1 percent of its GDP, below the OECD average of 5.0 percent. The country's large pool of highly educated and skilled individuals is largely responsible for ushering Japan's post-war economic growth. In 2017, the country ranked third for the percentage of 25 to 64 year-olds that have attained tertiary education with 51 percent. In addition, 60.4 percent Japanese aged 25 to 34 have some form of tertiary education qualification and bachelor's degrees are held by 30.4 percent of Japanese aged 25 to 64, the second most in the OECD after South Korea.
Japanese architecture is a combination between local and other influences. It has traditionally been typified by wooden structures, elevated slightly off the ground, with tiled or thatched roofs. The Shrines of Ise have been celebrated as the prototype of Japanese architecture. Largely of wood, Minka and many temple buildings see the use of tatami mats and sliding doors that break down the distinction between rooms and indoor and outdoor space. (1995). 9784770019929, Kodansha. ISBN 9784770019929 Since the 19th century, however, Japan has incorporated much of Western, modern, and post-modern architecture into construction and design. Architects returning from study with western architects introduced the International Style of modernism into Japan. However, it was not until after World War II that Japanese architects made an impression on the international scene, firstly with the work of architects like Kenzō Tange and then with movements like Metabolism.
During the Edo period, the chōnin ("townspeople") overtook the samurai aristocracy as producers and consumers of literature. The popularity of the works of Saikaku, for example, reveals this change in readership and authorship, while Bashō revivified the poetic tradition of the Kokinshū with his haikai (haiku) and wrote the poetic travelogue Oku no Hosomichi. The Meiji era saw the decline of traditional literary forms as Japanese literature integrated Western influences. Natsume Sōseki and Mori Ōgai were the first "modern" novelists of Japan, followed by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Yukio Mishima and, more recently, Haruki Murakami. Japan has two Nobel Prize-winning authors – Yasunari Kawabata (1968) and Kenzaburō Ōe (1994).
Japanese philosophy has historically been a fusion of both foreign, particularly Chinese and Western, and uniquely Japanese elements. In its literary forms, Japanese philosophy began about fourteen centuries ago. Confucian ideals are still evident today in the Japanese society and the self, and in the organization of the government and the structure of society. Buddhism has profoundly impacted Japanese psychology, metaphysics, and esthetics.
The four traditional theaters from Japan are noh, kyōgen, kabuki, and bunraku. Noh and kyōgen theater traditions are among the oldest continuous theater traditions in the world.
Officially, Japan has 16 national, government-recognized holidays. Public holidays in Japan are regulated by the Kokumin no Shukujitsu ni Kansuru Hōritsu of 1948. Beginning in 2000, Japan implemented the Happy Monday System, which moved a number of national holidays to Monday in order to obtain a long weekend. The national holidays in Japan are New Year's Day on January 1, Coming of Age Day on Second Monday of January, National Foundation Day on February 11, The Emperor's Birthday on February 23, Vernal Equinox Day on March 20 or 21, Shōwa Day on April 29, Constitution Memorial Day on May 3, Greenery Day on May 4, Children's Day on May 5, Marine Day on Third Monday of July, Mountain Day on August 11, Respect for the Aged Day on Third Monday of September, Autumnal Equinox on September 23 or 24, Health and Sports Day on Second Monday of October, Culture Day on November 3, and Labor Thanksgiving Day on November 23.
Popular Japanese beverages include sake, which is a brewed rice beverage that typically contains 14–17% alcohol and is made by multiple fermentation of rice. Beer has been brewed in Japan since the late 17th century. (2020). 9781118685341, John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781118685341 Green tea is produced in Japan and prepared in various forms such as matcha, used in the Japanese tea ceremony.
Japanese readers have a choice of approximately 120 daily newspapers, with an average subscription rate of 1.13 newspapers per household. The main newspapers are the Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, The Nikkei and Sankei Shimbun. According to a survey conducted by the Japanese Newspaper Association in 1999, 85.4 percent of men and 75 percent of women read a newspaper every day.
Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world; movies have been produced in Japan since 1897. Ishirō Honda's Godzilla became an international icon of Japan and spawned an entire subgenre of kaiju films, as well as the longest-running film franchise in history. Japan has won the Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film four times, more than any other Asian country. Japanese animated films and television series, known as anime, were largely influenced by Japanese manga and have been extensively popular in the West. Japan is a world-renowned powerhouse of animation. If you want to know Japan, See Animation Dong-ah-news, November 5, 2005 language = Korean
Japan has significant involvement in motorsport. Japanese automotive manufacturers have been successful in multiple different categories, with titles and victories in series such as Formula One, MotoGP, IndyCar Series, World Rally Championship, World Endurance Championship, World Touring Car Championship, British Touring Car Championship and the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Three Japanese drivers have achieved podium finishes in Formula One, and drivers from Japan also have victories at the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in addition to success in domestic championships. Super GT is the most popular national series in Japan, while Super Formula is the top level domestic open-wheel series. The country also hosts major races such as the Japanese Grand Prix, Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix, Suzuka 10 Hours, 6 Hours of Fuji, FIA WTCC Race of Japan and the Indy Japan 300.
Japan hosted the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 1964 and the Winter Olympics in Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998. Further, the country hosted the official 2006 Basketball World Championship. Tokyo will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, making Tokyo the first Asian city to host the Olympics twice. The country gained the hosting rights for the official Women's Volleyball World Championship on five occasions, more than any other nation. Japan is the most successful Asian Rugby Union country, winning the Asian Five Nations a record six times and winning the newly formed IRB Pacific Nations Cup in 2011. Japan also hosted the 2019 IRB Rugby World Cup.
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