Japan

§1. Japan Introduction

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.

§2. Japan Geography

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 kmē
  land: 374,744 kmē
  water: 3,091 kmē
  note: includes Bonin Islands (Ogasawara-gunto), Daito-shoto, Minami-jima,
    Okino-tori-shima, Ryukyu Islands (Nansei-shoto), and Volcano Islands
    (Kazan-retto)

Area - comparative:
  slightly smaller than California

Land boundaries:
  0 km

Coastline:
  29,751 km

Maritime claims:
  contiguous zone: 24 NM exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
  territorial sea: 12 NM; between 3 NM and 12 NM in the international straits
    - La Perouse or Soya, Tsugaru, Osumi, and Eastern and Western Channels of
    the Korea or Tsushima Strait

Climate:
  varies from tropical in south to cool temperate in north

Terrain:
  mostly rugged and mountainous

Elevation extremes:
  lowest point: Hachiro-gata -4 m highest point: Fujiyama 3,776 m

Natural resources:
  negligible mineral resources, fish

Land use:
  arable land: 11%
  permanent crops: 1%
  permanent pastures: 2%
  forests and woodland: 67%
  other: 19% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land:
  27,820 kmē (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
  signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography - note:
  strategic location in northeast Asia

§3. Japan People

Population:
  126,771,662 (July 2001 est.)

Age structure:
  0-14 years: 14.64% (male 9,510,296; female 9,043,074)
  15-64 years: 67.83% (male 43,202,513; female 42,790,187)
  65 years and over: 17.53% (male 9,351,340; female 12,874,252) (2001 est.)

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.)

Sex ratio:
  at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
  under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
  15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
  65 years and over: 0.73 male(s)/female
  total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2001 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
  3.88 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
  total population: 80.8 years male: 77.62 years
  female: 84.15 years (2001 est.)

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)
  adjective: Japanese

Ethnic groups:
  Japanese 99.4%, Korean 0.6% (1999)

Religions:
  observe both Shinto and Buddhist 84%, other 16% (including Christian 0.7%)

Languages:
  Japanese

Literacy:
  definition: age 15 and over can read and write
  total population: 99% (1970 est.)
  male: NA%
  female: NA%

§4. Japan Government

Country name:
  conventional long form: none
  conventional short form: Japan

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) head of government:
    Prime Minister Junichiro KOIZUMI (since 24 April 2001)
  cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the prime minister
  elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; the Diet designates the prime
    minister; the constitution requires that the prime minister must command
    a parliamentary majority, therefore, following legislative elections, the
    leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition in the
    House of Representatives usually becomes prime minister
  note: following the resignation of Prime Minister Yoshiro MORI, Junichiro
    KOIZUMI was elected as the new president of the majority Liberal
    Democratic Party, and soon thereafter designated by the Diet to become
    the next prime minister

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)
  elections: House of Councillors - last held 12 July 1998 (next to be held
    NA July 2001); House of Representatives - last held 25 June 2000 (next to
    be held by June 2004)
  election results: House of Councillors - percent of vote by party - NA%;
    seats by party - LDP 102, DPJ 47, JCP 23, Komeito 22, SDP 13, Liberal
    Party 12, independents 26, others 7; note - the distribution of seats as
    of February 2001 is as follows - LDP 112, DPJ 58, Komeito 24, JCP 23, SDP
    13, Liberal Party 5, independents 7, others 10; House of Representatives
    - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - LDP 233, DPJ 127,
    Komeito 31, Liberal Party 22, JCP 20, SDP 19, other 28; note - the
    distribution of seats as of February 2001 is as follows - LDP 239, DPJ
    129, Komeito 31, Liberal Party 22, JCP 20, SDP 19, other 20

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]

Political pressure groups and leaders:
  NA

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 chancery: 2520 Massachusetts
    Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
  telephone: [1] (202) 238-6700
  FAX: [1] (202) 328-2187
  consulate(s) general: Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit,
    Hagatna (Guam), Honolulu, Houston, Kansas City (Missouri), Los Angeles,
    Miami, New Orleans, New York, Portland (Oregon), San Francisco, and
    Seattle
  consulate(s): Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands)

Diplomatic representation from the US:
  chief of mission: Ambassador-designate Howard H. BAKER, Jr. embassy: 10-5
    Akasaka 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8420
  mailing address: Unit 45004, Box 205, APO AP 96337-5004
  telephone: [81] (03) 3224-5000
  FAX: [81] (03) 3224-5856
  consulate(s) general: Naha (Okinawa), Osaka-Kobe, Sapporo
  consulate(s): Fukuoka, Nagoya

Flag description:
  white with a large red disk (representing the sun without rays) in the
  center

§5. Japan Economy

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% industry: 35%
  services: 63% (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line:
  NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
  lowest 10%: 4.8% highest 10%: 21.7% (1993)

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
  expenditures: $718 billion, including capital expenditures (public works
    only) of about $84 billion (FY01/02 est.)

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% hydro: 8.35%
  nuclear: 30.31%
  other: 2.43% (1999)

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

§6. Japan Communications

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
  domestic: high level of modern technology and excellent service of every
    kind
  international: satellite earth stations - 5 Intelsat (4 Pacific Ocean and 1
    Indian Ocean), 1 Intersputnik (Indian Ocean region), and 1 Inmarsat
    (Pacific and Indian Ocean regions); submarine cables to China,
    Philippines, Russia, and US (via Guam) (1999)

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)

Internet country code:
  .jp

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
  73 (2000)

Internet users:
  27.06 million (2000)

§7. Japan Transportation

Railways:
  total: 23,670.7 km
  standard gauge: 2,893.1 km 1.435-m gauge (entirely electrified)
  narrow gauge: 89.8 km 1.372-m gauge (89.8 km electrified); 20,656.8 km
    1.067-m gauge (10,383.6 km electrified); 31 km 0.762-m gauge (3.6 km
    electrified) (1994)

Highways:
  total: 1,152,207 km
  paved: 863,003 km (including 6,114 km of expressways)
  unpaved: 289,204 km (1997 est.)

Waterways:
  1,770 km approximately
  note: seagoing craft ply all coastal inland seas

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
  ships by type: bulk 137, cargo 51, chemical tanker 15, combination bulk 22,
    combination ore/oil 3, container 22, liquefied gas 49, passenger 9,
    passenger/cargo 2, petroleum tanker 194, refrigerated cargo 15, roll
    on/roll off 49, short-sea passenger 6, vehicle carrier 56 (2000 est.)

Airports:
  173 (2000 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
  total: 142 over 3,047 m: 8
  2,438 to 3,047 m: 36
  1,524 to 2,437 m: 38
  914 to 1,523 m: 30
  under 914 m: 30 (2000 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
  total: 31 914 to 1,523 m: 4
  under 914 m: 27 (2000 est.)

Heliports:
  16 (2000 est.)

§8. Japan Military

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)

§9. Japan Transnational Issues

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
