Coordinates | 44°25′57″N26°6′14″N |
---|
Native name | Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku |
---|
Conventional long name | Japan |
---|
Kyujitai name | 日本國 |
---|
Alt flag | Centered red circle on a white rectangle. |
---|
Common name | Japan |
---|
Linking name | Japan |
---|
Alt coat | Golden circle subdivided by golden wedges with rounded outer edges and thin black outlines. |
---|
Symbol type | Imperial Seal |
---|
Other symbol type | Government Seal of Japan: |
---|
Other symbol | |
---|
National anthem | |
---|
Official languages | None |
---|
Languages type | National language |
---|
Languages | Japanese |
---|
Regional languages | Aynu itak, Ryukyuan languages, Eastern Japanese, Western Japanese, and several other Japanese dialects |
---|
Demonym | Japanese |
---|
Ethnic groups | 98.5% Japanese, 0.5% Korean, 0.4% Chinese, 0.6% other |
---|
Area rank | 61st |
---|
Area magnitude | 1 E11 |
---|
Area km2 | 377,944 |
---|
Area sq mi | |
---|
Percent water | 0.8 |
---|
Population estimate | 127,960,000 |
---|
Population estimate year | 2011 |
---|
Population estimate rank | 10th |
---|
Population census | 127,333,002 |
---|
Population census year | 2004 |
---|
Population density km2 | 337.1 |
---|
Population densitymi2 | 873.1 |
---|
Population density rank | 36th |
---|
Gdp ppp year | 2010 |
---|
Gdp ppp | $4.309 trillion |
---|
Gdp ppp per capita | $33,804 |
---|
Established event2 | Meiji Constitution |
---|
Established date2 | November 29, 1890 |
---|
Established event3 | Current constitution |
---|
Established date3 | May 3, 1947 |
---|
Established event4 | Treaty ofSan Francisco |
---|
Established date4 | April 28, 1952 |
---|
Hdi year | 2010 |
---|
Hdi | 0.884 |
---|
Hdi rank | 11th |
---|
Hdi category | very high |
---|
Gini | 37.6 (2008) |
---|
Currency | International Symbol ¥ Pronounced (Yen)Japanese Symbol (or in Traditional Kanji) Pronounced |
---|
Currency code | JPY |
---|
Country code | JPN |
---|
Time zone | JST |
---|
Utc offset | +9 |
---|
Time zone dst | not observed |
---|
Utc offset dst | +9 |
---|
Date format | yyyy-mm-ddyyyy年m月d日Era yy年m月d日 (CE−1988) |
---|
Drives on | left |
---|
Cctld | .jp |
---|
Calling code | 81 |
---|
Iso 3166–1 alpha2 | JP |
---|
Iso 3166–1 alpha3 | JPN |
---|
Iso 3166–1 numeric | 392 |
---|
Sport code | JPN |
---|
Vehicle code | J |
---|
Japan (; Nihon or Nippon, officially or Nihon-koku) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II, which brought to an end in 1945 by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.
A major economic power, Japan has the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP and by purchasing power parity. It is also the world's fourth largest exporter and fourth largest importer. Although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military force in self-defense and peacekeeping roles. After Singapore, Japan has the lowest homicide (including attempted homicide) rate in the world. According to both UN and WHO estimates, Japan has the longest life expectancy of any country in the world. According to the UN, it has the third lowest infant mortality rate.
Etymology
The English word
Japan is an
exonym. The
Japanese names for Japan are and ; both names are written using the
kanji . The Japanese name
Nippon is used for most official purposes, including on
Japanese yen,
postage stamps, and for many international sporting events.
Nihon is a more casual term and is used in contemporary speech.
Japanese people refer to themselves as and to their language as . Both
Nippon and
Nihon mean "sun-origin" and are often translated as
Land of the Rising Sun. This nomenclature comes from
Japanese missions to Imperial China and refers to Japan's eastward position relative to China. Before
Nihon came into official use, Japan was known as or .
The English word for Japan came to the West via early trade routes. The early Mandarin or possibly Wu Chinese (吳語) word for Japan was recorded by Marco Polo as Cipangu. In modern Shanghainese, a Wu dialect, the pronunciation of characters 'Japan' is Zeppen . The old Malay word for Japan, Jepang, was borrowed from a Chinese language, and this Malay word was encountered by Portuguese traders in Malacca in the 16th century. It is thought the Portuguese traders were the first to bring the word to Europe. It was first recorded in English in a 1565 letter, spelled Giapan.
History
Prehistory and ancient history
and
five-storey pagoda of
Hōryū-ji, among the oldest wooden buildings in the world,
National Treasures, and a
UNESCO World Heritage Site]]
A
Paleolithic culture around 30,000 BC constitutes the first known habitation of Japan. This was followed from around 14,000 BC (the start of the
Jōmon period) by a
Mesolithic to
Neolithic semi-sedentary
hunter-gatherer culture, who include ancestors of both the contemporary
Ainu people and
Yamato people, characterized by pit dwelling and rudimentary agriculture. Decorated clay vessels from this period are some of the oldest surviving examples of pottery in the world. Around 300 BC, the Yayoi people began to enter the Japanese islands, intermingling with the Jōmon. The
Yayoi period, starting around 500 BC, saw the introduction of practices like
wet-rice farming, a new style of pottery, and
metallurgy, introduced from China and Korea.
The Japanese first appear in written history in the Chinese Book of Han. According to the Records of Three Kingdoms, the most powerful kingdom on the archipelago during the 3rd century was called Yamataikoku. Buddhism was first introduced to Japan from Baekje, but the subsequent development of Japanese Buddhism was primarily influenced by China. Despite early resistance, Buddhism was promoted by the ruling class and gained widespread acceptance beginning in the Asuka period.
The Nara period of the 8th century marked the emergence of a strong Japanese state, centered on an imperial court in Heijō-kyō (modern Nara). The Nara period is characterized by the appearance of a nascent literature as well as the development of Buddhist-inspired art and architecture. The smallpox epidemic of 735–737 is believed to have killed as much as one-third of Japan's population. In 784, Emperor Kammu moved the capital from Nara to Nagaoka-kyō before relocating it to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto) in 794. This marked the beginning of the Heian period, during which a distinctly indigenous Japanese culture emerged, noted for its art, poetry and prose. Lady Murasaki's The Tale of Genji and the lyrics of Japan's national anthem Kimigayo were written during this time.
Feudal era
in
Kamakura (c. 1252);
bronze, although most
Japanese sculpture is of wood; the
enclosing hall was destroyed by a
tsunami during the
Muromachi period (1336–1573)]]
Japan's feudal era was characterized by the emergence and dominance of a ruling class of warriors, the
samurai. In 1185, following the defeat of the
Taira clan, sung in the epic
Tale of Heike, samurai
Minamoto no Yoritomo was appointed
shogun and established a base of power in
Kamakura. After his death, the
Hōjō clan came to power as regents for the shoguns. The
Zen school of Buddhism was introduced from China in the
Kamakura period (1185–1333) and became popular among the samurai class. The
Kamakura shogunate repelled
Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281, but was eventually
overthrown by Emperor Go-Daigo. Go-Daigo was himself defeated by
Ashikaga Takauji in 1336. The succeeding
Ashikaga shogunate failed to control the feudal warlords (
daimyo), and a civil war (the
Ōnin War) began in 1467, opening the century-long
Sengoku period ("Warring States").
During the 16th century, traders and Jesuit missionaries from Portugal reached Japan for the first time, initiating direct commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West. Oda Nobunaga conquered many other daimyo using European technology and firearms; after he was assassinated in 1582, his successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified the nation in 1590. Hideyoshi invaded Korea twice, but following defeats by Korean and Ming Chinese forces and Hideyoshi's death, Japanese troops were withdrawn in 1598.
Tokugawa Ieyasu served as regent for Hideyoshi's son and used his position to gain political and military support. When open war broke out, he defeated rival clans in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Ieyasu was appointed shogun in 1603 and established the Tokugawa shogunate at Edo (modern Tokyo). The Tokugawa shogunate enacted measures including buke shohatto, as a code of conduct to control the autonomous daimyo; 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. The study of Western sciences, known as 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.
Modern era
On March 31, 1854,
Commodore Matthew Perry and the "
Black Ships" of the
United States Navy forced the opening of Japan to the outside world with the
Convention of Kanagawa. Subsequent similar treaties with Western countries in the
Bakumatsu period brought economic and political crises. The resignation of the shogun led to the
Boshin War and the establishment of a
centralized state nominally unified under the Emperor (the
Meiji Restoration). Adopting Western political, judicial and military institutions, the
Cabinet organized the
Privy Council, introduced the
Meiji Constitution, and assembled the
Imperial Diet. The Meiji Restoration transformed the
Empire of Japan into an industrialized world power that pursued military conflict to expand its sphere of influence. After victories in the
First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) and the
Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), Japan gained control of Taiwan, Korea, and the southern half of
Sakhalin. Japan's population grew from 35 million in 1873 to 70 million in 1935.
(1868–1912), in whose name imperial rule was restored at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate]]
The early 20th century saw a brief period of "Taishō democracy" overshadowed by increasing expansionism and militarization. World War I enabled Japan, on the side of the victorious Allies, to widen its influence and territorial holdings. It continued its expansionist policy by occupying Manchuria in 1931; as a result of international condemnation of this occupation, Japan resigned from the League of Nations two years later. In 1936, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany, and the 1940 Tripartite Pact made it one of the Axis Powers. In 1941, Japan negotiated the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact.
The Empire of Japan invaded other parts of China in 1937, precipitating the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). In 1940, the Empire then invaded French Indochina, after which the United States placed an oil embargo on Japan. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor and declared war, bringing the US into World War II. After the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender on August 15. The war cost Japan and the rest of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere millions of lives and left much of the nation's industry and infrastructure destroyed. The Allies (led by the US) repatriated millions of ethnic Japanese from colonies and military camps throughout Asia, largely eliminating the Japanese empire and restoring the independence of its conquered territories. The Allies also convened the International Military Tribunal for the Far East on May 3, 1946 to prosecute some Japanese leaders for war crimes. However, the bacteriological research units and members of the imperial family involved in the war were exonerated from criminal prosecutions by the Supreme Allied Commander despite calls for trials for both groups.
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. Japan later achieved rapid growth to become the second-largest economy in the world. This ended in the mid-1990s when Japan suffered a major recession. In the beginning of the 21st century, positive growth has signaled a gradual economic recovery. On March 11, 2011, Japan suffered the strongest earthquake in its recorded history; this triggered the Fukushima I nuclear accidents, one of the worst disasters in the history of nuclear power.
Politics
and
Empress Michiko]]
Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of the Emperor is very limited. As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people". Power is held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected members of the Diet, while sovereignty is vested in the Japanese people. Akihito is the current Emperor of Japan; Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan, stands as next in line to the throne.
Japan's legislative organ is the National Diet, a bicameral parliament. The Diet consists of a House of Representatives with 480 seats, elected by popular vote every four years or when dissolved, and a House of Councillors of 242 seats, whose popularly-elected members serve six-year terms. There is universal suffrage for adults over 20 years of age, The Prime Minister of Japan is the head of government and is appointed by the Emperor after being designated by the Diet from among its members. The Prime Minister is the head of the Cabinet and appoints and dismisses the Ministers of State. Naoto Kan was designated by the Diet to replace Yukio Hatoyama as the Prime Minister of Japan on June 2, 2010. Although the Prime Minister is formally appointed by the Emperor, the Constitution of Japan explicitly requires the Emperor to appoint whoever is designated by the Diet. Emperor Akihito formally appointed Kan as the country's 94th Prime Minister on June 8.
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. For example, in 1896, the Japanese government established a civil code based on a draft of the German Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch; with post–World War II modifications, the code remains in effect. Statutory law originates in Japan's legislature and has the rubber stamp of the Emperor. The Constitution requires that the Emperor promulgate legislation passed by the Diet, without specifically giving him the power to oppose legislation. The main body of Japanese statutory law is called the Six Codes.
Foreign relations and military
Japan is a member of the
G8,
APEC, and "
ASEAN Plus Three", and is a participant in the
East Asia Summit. Japan signed a security pact with Australia in March 2007 and with India in October 2008. It is the world's third largest donor of
official development assistance after the United States and France, donating US$9.48 billion in 2009.
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. A member state of the United Nations since 1956, Japan has served as a non-permanent Security Council member for a total of 19 years, most recently for 2009 and 2010. It is one of the G4 nations seeking permanent membership in the Security Council.
Japan is engaged in several territorial disputes with its neighbors: with Russia over the South Kuril Islands, with South Korea over the Liancourt Rocks, with China and Taiwan over the Senkaku Islands, and with China over the EEZ around Okinotorishima. Japan also faces an ongoing dispute with North Korea over the latter's abduction of Japanese citizens and its nuclear weapons and missile program (see also Six-party talks).
Japan maintains one of the largest military budgets of any country in the world. Japan contributed non-combatant troops to the Iraq War but subsequently withdrew its forces. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is a regular participant in RIMPAC maritime exercises.
Japan's military is restricted by Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which renounces Japan's right to declare war or use military force in international disputes. Japan's military is governed by the Ministry of Defense, and primarily consists of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF), the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF). 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.
Administrative divisions
Japan consists of forty-seven prefectures, each overseen by an elected governor, legislature and administrative bureaucracy. Each prefecture is further divided into cities, towns and villages. The nation is currently undergoing administrative
reorganization by merging many of the cities, towns and villages with each other. This process will reduce the number of sub-prefecture administrative regions and is expected to cut administrative costs.
{| style="width:415px; margin:auto;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
! style="text-align:center"|
|-
| align=center|
|}
Geography
celebrations under the cherry blossoms in Ueno Park, Tokyo]]
) at Kongōbu-ji on Mount Kōya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site]]
Japan has a total of 6,852 islands extending along the Pacific coast of Asia. The country, including all of the islands it controls, lies between latitudes 24° and 46°N, and longitudes 122° and 146°E. The main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaidō, Honshū, Shikoku and Kyūshū. The Ryūkyū Islands, including Okinawa, are a chain to the south of Kyūshū. Together they are often known as the Japanese Archipelago. About 73 percent of Japan is forested, mountainous, and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial, or residential use. As a result, the habitable zones, mainly located in coastal areas, have extremely high population densities. Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
The islands of Japan are located in a volcanic zone on the Pacific Ring of Fire. They are primarily the result of large oceanic movements occurring over hundreds of millions of years 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 eastern coast of the Eurasian continent. The subducting plates pulled Japan eastward, opening the Sea of Japan around 15 million years ago. Japan has 108 active volcanoes. 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, a 9.0-magnitude quake which hit Japan on March 11, 2011, and 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 August 16, 2007. The main rainy season begins in early May in Okinawa, and the rain front gradually moves north until reaching Hokkaidō in late July. In most of Honshū, the rainy season begins before the middle of June and lasts about six weeks. In late summer and early autumn, typhoons often bring heavy rain.
Biodiversity
Japan has nine forest
ecoregions which reflect the climate and geography of the islands. They range from
subtropical moist broadleaf forests in the Ryūkyū and
Bonin Islands, to
temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the mild climate regions of the main islands, to
temperate coniferous forests in the cold, winter portions of the northern islands. Japan has over 90,000 species of
wildlife, including the
brown bear, the
Japanese macaque, the
Japanese raccoon dog, and the
Japanese giant salamander. A large network of
National Parks has been established to protect important areas of flora and fauna as well as thirty-seven
Ramsar wetland sites.
Environment
In the period of rapid economic growth after World War II, environmental policies were downplayed by the government and industrial corporations; as a result,
environmental pollution was widespread in the 1950s and 1960s. Responding to rising concern about the problem, the government introduced several environmental protection laws in 1970. The
oil crisis in 1973 also encouraged the efficient use of energy due to Japan's lack of natural resources. 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 is one of the world's leaders in the development of new environment-friendly technologies, and is ranked 20th best in the world in the 2010 Environmental Performance Index. As a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol, and host of the 1997 conference which created it, Japan is under treaty obligation to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and to take other steps to curb climate change.
Economy
, the largest stock exchange in Asia.]]
Some of the structural features for Japan's economic growth developed in the Edo period, such as the network of transport routes, by
road and water, and the
futures contracts, banking and insurance of the
Osaka rice brokers. During the Meiji period from 1868, Japan expanded economically with the embrace of the
market economy. Many of today's enterprises were founded at the time, and Japan emerged as the most developed nation in Asia. The period of overall real economic growth from the 1960s to the 1980s has been called the
Japanese post-war economic miracle: it averaged 7.5 percent in the 1960s and 1970s, and 3.2 percent in the 1980s and early 1990s. Growth slowed markedly in the 1990s during what the Japanese call
the Lost Decade, largely because of the after-effects of the
Japanese asset price bubble and domestic policies intended to wring speculative excesses from the stock and real estate markets. Government efforts to revive economic growth met with little success and were further hampered by the
global slowdown in 2000.
, Japan is the third largest national economy in the world, after the United States and China, in terms of both nominal GDP and purchasing power parity. , Japan's public debt was more than 200 percent of its annual gross domestic product, the largest of any nation in the world. The service sector accounts for three quarters of the gross domestic product. Japan has a large industrial capacity, and is home to some of the largest and most technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronics, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemical substances, textiles, and processed foods. Agricultural businesses in Japan cultivate 13 percent of Japan's land, and Japan accounts for nearly 15 percent of the global fish catch, second only to China. Japan has a low unemployment rate of around four percent. Almost one in six Japanese, or 20 million people, lived in poverty in 2007. Housing in Japan is characterized by limited land supply in urban areas.
manufactured by Toyota, one of the world's largest carmakers. Japan is the second-largest producer of automobiles in the world.]]
Japan's exports amounted to US$4,210 per capita in 2005. Japan's main export markets are China (18.88 percent), the United States (16.42 percent), South Korea (8.13 percent), Taiwan (6.27 percent) and Hong Kong (5.49 percent) as of 2009. Its main exports are transportation equipment, motor vehicles, electronics, electrical machinery and chemicals. By market share measures, domestic markets are the least open of any OECD country.
Japan ranks 12th of 178 countries in the 2008 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. Some of the largest enterprises in Japan include Toyota, Nintendo, NTT DoCoMo, Canon, Honda, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp, Nippon Steel, Nippon Oil, and Seven & I Holdings Co. It has some of the world's largest banks, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange (known for its Nikkei 225 and Topix indices) stands as the second largest in the world by market capitalization. Japan is home to 326 companies from the Forbes Global 2000 or 16.3 percent (as of 2006).
Science and technology
Japan is a leading nation in scientific research, particularly technology, machinery and
biomedical research. Nearly 700,000 researchers share a US$130 billion
research and development budget, the third largest in the world. Japan is a world leader in
fundamental scientific research, having produced fifteen
Nobel laureates in either physics, chemistry or medicine, three
Fields medalists, and one
Gauss Prize laureate. Some of Japan's more prominent technological contributions are in the fields of electronics, automobiles, machinery,
earthquake engineering,
industrial robotics,
optics, chemicals,
semiconductors and metals. Japan leads the world in
robotics production and use, possessing more than half (402,200 of 742,500) of the world's industrial robots.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is Japan's 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 (Kibo) was added to the station during Space Shuttle assembly flights in 2008. Japan's plans in space exploration include: launching a space probe to Venus, Akatsuki; developing the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter to be launched in 2013; and building a moon base by 2030. On September 14, 2007, it launched lunar explorer "SELENE" (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) on an H-IIA (Model H2A2022) carrier rocket from Tanegashima Space Center. SELENE is also known as Kaguya, after the lunar princess of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. Kaguya is the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program. Its purpose is to gather data on the moon's origin and evolution. It entered a lunar orbit on October 4, flying at an altitude of about . The probe's mission was ended when it was deliberately crashed by JAXA into the Moon on 11 June 2009.
Infrastructure
or 'Bullet train' at
Tokyo Station]]
As of 2008, 46.4 percent of energy in Japan is produced from petroleum, 21.4 percent from coal, 16.7 percent from natural gas, 9.7 percent from nuclear power, and 2.9 percent from hydro power. Nuclear power produces 22.5 percent of Japan's electricity. Given its heavy dependence on imported energy, Japan has aimed to diversify its sources and maintain high levels of energy efficiency.
Japan's road spending has been extensive. Its 1.2 million kilometers of paved road are the main means of transportation. A single network of high-speed, divided, limited-access toll roads connects major cities and is operated by toll-collecting enterprises. New and used cars are inexpensive; car ownership fees and fuel levies are used to promote energy efficiency. However, at just 50 percent of all distance traveled, car usage is the lowest of all G8 countries.
Dozens of Japanese railway companies compete in regional and local passenger transportation markets; major companies include seven JR enterprises, Kintetsu Corporation, Seibu Railway and Keio Corporation. Some 250 high-speed Shinkansen trains connect major cities and Japanese trains are known for their punctuality. Proposals for a new Maglev route between Tokyo and Osaka are at an advanced stage. There are 173 airports in Japan; the largest domestic airport, Haneda Airport, 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.
Demographics
Japan's population is estimated at around 127.3 million.
Zainichi Koreans,
Zainichi Chinese,
Filipinos,
Japanese Brazilians, and
Japanese Peruvians are among the small minority groups in Japan. In 2003, there were about 136,000 Western expatriates. The most dominant native ethnic group is the
Yamato people; primary minority groups include the indigenous
Ainu and
Ryukyuan peoples, as well as social minority groups like the
burakumin.
Japan has the longest life expectancy rate in the world. 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 like the public pension plan. A growing number of younger Japanese are preferring not to marry or have families. Immigration and birth incentives are sometimes suggested as a solution to provide younger workers to support the nation's aging population. Japan has a steady flow of about 15,000 immigrants per year. According to the UNHCR, in 2007 Japan accepted just 41 refugees for resettlement, while the US took in 50,000.
Japan suffers from a high suicide rate. In 2009, the number of suicides exceeded 30,000 for the twelfth straight year. Suicide is the leading cause of death for people under 30.
Religion
of Itsukushima Shrine near Hiroshima, one of the Three Views of Japan and a UNESCO World Heritage Site]]
Upper estimates suggest that 84–96 percent of the Japanese population subscribe to Buddhism or Shinto, including a large number of followers of a syncretism of both religions. However, these estimates are based on people affiliated with a temple, rather than the number of true believers. Other studies have suggested that only 30 percent of the population identify themselves as belonging to a religion. Nevertheless the level of participation remains high, especially during festivals and occasions such as the first shrine visit of the New Year. Taoism and Confucianism from China have also influenced Japanese beliefs and customs. Fewer than one percent of Japanese are Christian. In addition, since the mid-19th century numerous new religious movements have emerged in Japan.
Languages
More than 99 percent of the population speaks Japanese as their first language.
Besides Japanese, the Ryukyuan languages, also part of the Japonic language family, are spoken in Okinawa; however, few children learn these languages. The Ainu language, which is unrelated to Japanese or any other known language, is moribund, with only a few elderly native speakers remaining in Hokkaido. Most public and private schools require students to take courses in both Japanese and English.
Education
to the
University of Tokyo]]
Primary schools, secondary schools and universities were
introduced in 1872 as a result of the Meiji Restoration. Since 1947, compulsory education in Japan comprises
elementary and
middle school, which together last for nine years (from age 6 to age 15). Almost all children continue their education at a three-year senior
high school, and, according to the
MEXT, as of 2005 about 75.9 percent of high school graduates attend a university, junior college, trade school, or other
higher education institution. The two top-ranking universities in Japan are the
University of Tokyo and
Kyoto University. The
Programme for International Student Assessment coordinated by the OECD currently ranks the overall knowledge and skills of Japanese 15-year-olds as sixth best in the world.
Health
In Japan, health care is provided by national and local governments. Payment for personal medical services is offered through a universal health insurance system that provides relative equality of access, with fees set by a government committee. People without insurance through employers can participate in a national health insurance program administered by local governments. Since 1973, all elderly persons have been covered by government-sponsored insurance. Patients are free to select the physicians or facilities of their choice.
Culture
or 'The Temple of the Golden Pavilion' in
Kyoto,
Special Historic Site, Special Place of Scenic Beauty, and UNESCO World Heritage Site; its torching by a monk in 1950 is the subject of a
novel by
Mishima]]
Japanese culture has evolved greatly from its origins. Contemporary culture combines influences from Asia, Europe and North America. Traditional Japanese arts include
crafts such as
ceramics,
textiles,
lacquerware,
swords and
dolls; performances of
bunraku,
kabuki,
noh,
dance, and
rakugo; and other practices, the
tea ceremony,
ikebana,
martial arts,
calligraphy,
origami,
onsen,
Geisha and
games. Japan has a developed system for the protection and promotion of both tangible and intangible
Cultural Properties and
National Treasures.
Fourteen sites have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Art
, one of a
series of
woodblock prints by
Hokusai]]
The
Shrines of Ise have been celebrated as the prototype of Japanese architecture. Largely of wood,
traditional housing 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.
Japanese sculpture, largely of wood, and
Japanese painting are among the oldest of the Japanese arts, with early figurative paintings dating back to at least 300 BC. The history of Japanese painting exhibits synthesis and competition between native
Japanese aesthetics and adaptation of imported ideas. The interaction between Japanese and European art has been significant: for example
ukiyo-e prints, which began to be exported in the 19th century in the movement known as
Japonism, had a significant influence on the development of modern art in the West, most notably on
post-Impressionism. Famous
ukiyo-e artists include
Hokusai and
Hiroshige. The fusion of traditional
woodblock printing and Western art led to the creation of
manga, a comic book format that is now popular within and outside Japan. Manga-influenced animation for television and
film is called
anime. Japanese-made
video game consoles have been popular since the 1980s.
Music
Japanese music is eclectic and diverse. Many
instruments, such as the
koto, were introduced in the 9th and 10th centuries. The accompanied
recitative of the
Noh drama dates from the 14th century and the popular
folk music, with the guitar-like
shamisen, from the sixteenth. Western
classical music, introduced in the late 19th century, now forms an integral part of Japanese culture. The imperial court ensemble
Gagaku has influenced the work of some
modern Western composers. Notable classical composers from Japan include
Toru Takemitsu and
Rentaro Taki. Popular music in post-war Japan has been heavily influenced by American and European trends, which has led to the evolution of
J-pop, or Japanese popular music.
Karaoke is the most widely practiced cultural activity in Japan. A 1993 survey by the
Cultural Affairs Agency found that more Japanese had sung karaoke that year than had participated in traditional pursuits such as flower arranging (ikebana) or tea ceremonies.
Literature
of
The Tale of Genji, a
National Treasure]]
The earliest works of Japanese literature include the
Kojiki and
Nihon Shoki chronicles and the
Man'yōshū poetry anthology, all from the 8th century and written in Chinese characters. In the early Heian period, the system of
phonograms known as
kana (
Hiragana and
Katakana) was developed.
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is considered the oldest Japanese narrative. An account of Heian court life is given in
The Pillow Book by
Sei Shōnagon, while
The Tale of Genji by
Murasaki Shikibu is often described as the world's first novel.
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, Yasunari Kawabata, Yukio Mishima and, more recently, Haruki Murakami. Japan has two Nobel Prize-winning authors—Yasunari Kawabata (1968) and Kenzaburo Oe (1994).
Sports
wrestlers form around the referee during the ring-entering ceremony]]
Traditionally,
sumo is considered Japan's national sport.
Japanese martial arts such as
judo,
karate and
kendo are also widely practiced and enjoyed by spectators in the country. After the Meiji Restoration, many Western sports were introduced in Japan and began to spread through the education system. Japan hosted the Summer Olympics in
Tokyo in 1964. Japan has hosted the Winter Olympics twice:
Nagano in 1998 and
Sapporo in 1972.
The Japanese professional baseball league was established in 1936. Today baseball is the most popular spectator sport in the country. Since the establishment of the Japan Professional Football League in 1992, association football has also gained a wide following. Japan was a venue of the Intercontinental Cup from 1981 to 2004 and co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup with South Korea. Japan has one of the most successful football teams in Asia, winning the Asian Cup four times. Golf is also popular in Japan, as are forms of auto racing like the Super GT series and Formula Nippon.
References
;Further reading
Flath, The Japanese Economy, Oxford University Press, 2000 (ISBN 0-19-877503-2)
Henshall, A History of Japan, Palgrave Macmillan, 2001 (ISBN 0-312-23370-1)
Iwabuchi, Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism, Duke University Press, 2002 (ISBN 0-8223-2891-7)
Jansen, The Making of Modern Japan, Belknap, 2000 (ISBN 0-674-00334-9)
Kato et al., A History of Japanese Literature: From the Man'Yoshu to Modern Times, Japan Library, 1997 (ISBN 1-873410-48-4)
Samuels, Securing Japan: Tokyo's Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia, Cornell University Press, 2008 (ISBN 0-8014-7490-6)
Silverberg, Erotic Grotesque Nonsense: The Mass Culture of Japanese Modern Times, University of California Press, 2007 (ISBN 0-520-22273-3)
Sugimoto et al., An Introduction to Japanese Society, Cambridge University Press, 2003 (ISBN 0-521-52925-5)
Varley, Japanese Culture, University of Hawaii Press, 2000 (ISBN 0-8248-2152-1)
External links
; Government
Kantei.go.jp, official prime ministerial and cabinet site
Kunaicho.go.jp, official site of the Imperial House of Japan
National Diet Library
; News media
Asahi Shimbun
Kyodo News
NHK Online
Japan Times
Yomiuri Shimbun (English)
; Tourism
Japan National Tourist Organization
; General information
Japan from UCB Libraries GovPubs
Energy Profile for Japan from the US Energy Information Administration
containing the 1889 and 1946 Constitutions
Japan: Land of the Rising Sun – slideshow by Life magazine
}}
Category:Article Feedback Pilot
Category:G8 nations
Category:G20 nations
Category:Constitutional monarchies
Category:Countries bordering the Pacific Ocean
Category:Countries bordering the Philippine Sea
Category:East Asian countries
Category:Empires
Category:Island countries
Category:Liberal democracies
Category:States and territories established in 660 BC
Category:Member states of the United Nations