Japan

Japan, the "Land of the Rising Sun" is officially known as Nippon-koku. It is an archipelago in East Asia and located on the Pacific Ocean. The archipelago is composed of more than 3000 islands. Honshû, Hokkaidô, Kyûshû and Shikoku are the largest islands of Japan, forming almost 97% of the archipelago.

China, Korea and Russia form the eastern part of Japan. Japan is bounded by the Sea of Okhotsk to the north and East China Sea to the south. The de facto capital city Tokyo (35 41 N, 139 45 E) is the largest city of Japan. Japan is leading in technology and automation globally. It is the 2nd largest economy of the world. Japan is granted membership of United Nations, G8, G4, OECD and APEC.

HISTORY:-In Chinese book ‘Book of Han’, it was recorded that Japanese history began with Yamato clan. In the Asuka period, Buddhism reached its zenith in Japan. Nara period was marked by attempts to adopt Chinese administrating rules and an appearance of a budding written literature. Heian period was characterized by rich written arts. The samurai appeared in the feudal age. In Kamakura period (1185–1333), Zen Buddhism was first introduced to Japan. Kamakura shogunate sickened the Mongols in 1274 and 1281 who was defeated by Emperor Go-Daigo. Emperor Go-Daigo was overpowered by Ashikaga Takauji in 1336. Sengoku empire came into power after a civil war in 1467.

Portuguese, followed by Spanish, Dutch, and English landed in Japan to start business. But in Tokugawa period (1603–1867) the shoguns tried to ban all overseas trades, but they failed to prohibit those trades and the feudal world of the shoguns was ended. In 1868, the emperor Meiji was crowned. During the The Meiji Restoration, Japan had been transformed into an industrial center. In World War I, Japan took the side of the Allis. In World War II Japan joined the Axis powers. On 7th December, 1941,Japan attacked  Pearl Harbor and eventually declared the World War II. But after the massacre of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Japan surrendered. Japan adopted pacifist constitution in 1947 while the Allied occupation was ended on 28th April, 1952 with Treaty of San Francisco.

GEOGRAPHY:- The archipelago of Japan comprises almost 3000 islands. The total are of the archipelago is 377,835 sq km (Land-374,744 sq km Water-3,091 sq km). Geographically Japan is located at 36 00 N, 138 00 E. Japan is mostly rugged and mountainous. The coastline is 29,751 km long. The lowest point is Hachiro-gata (-4 m) and the highest peak is Mount Fuji (3,776 m), which is a volcano.

CLIMATE:- The climate of Japan varies from tropical in south to cool temperate and mind in north.

GOVERNMENT:- Japan’s government is Constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government. The constitution has been adopted on 3rd  May 1947. Japan’s judicial system is influenced by the Roman law. The government is formed of three branches:



Executive branch is composed of chief of state, head of government(prime minister) and cabinet.



Legislative branch is composed of bicameral Diet-House of Representatives (480 seats) and House of Councilors (242 seats)



Judicial branch is composed of Supreme Court.



Important political parties are Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), New Clean Government Party (Komeito), Japan Communist Party (JCP), Social Democratic Party (SDP). Voting rights are universal above 20.

Head of State     Emperor Akihito

Prime Minister     Yasuo Fukuda

Minister of Foreign Affairs   Masahiko Komura

Ambassador to the U.S.   Ryozo Kato

Permanent Representative to the UN  Kenzo Oshima



STATES:- Japan comprises of  47 prefectures.



ECONOMY:- Government-industry cooperation, a strong work culture, small defense allocation (1% of GDP), and a highly developed technology make Japan 2nd highest economy of the world. It is leading in automation industry in the world. Japan is world\'s fourth largest exporter and sixth largest importer.



GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $4.346 trillion; per capita $33,800.

Real growth rate: 1.9%.

Inflation: 0%.

Unemployment: 4%.

Arable land: 12%.

Agriculture: rice, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit; pork, poultry, dairy products, eggs; fish.

 Labor force: 66.07 million; agriculture 4.6%, industry 27.8%, services 67.7% (2004).

 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.

Natural resources: negligible mineral resources, fish.

Exports: $665.7 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): transport equipment, motor vehicles, semiconductors, electrical machinery, chemicals.

Imports: $571.1billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): machinery and equipment, fuels, foodstuffs, chemicals, textiles, raw materials.

Budget:  

Revenues: $1.463 trillion

Expenditures: $1.575 trillion (2007 est.)

Public debt:194.4% of GDP (2007 est.)

Major trading partners: U.S., China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, Saudi Arabia, UAE (2006).

Monetary unit: Yen

CULTURE:- The influence of Asian, European and North American culture has given birth to Japanese contemporary culture. Manga, a Japanese comic book format, is popular worldwide. Flower arranging, tea ceremony, and Karaoke are the most popular cultural practices in Japan. Sumo is the national sport. Japan-made video games are popular globally since 1980.

LANGUAGE:- Japanese is the official language.

CITIES:- Capital and largest city is Tokyo.

Other large cities are Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kobe,Kyoto, Fukuoka, Kawasaki, Hiroshima.



RACE:-



Japanese 98.5%

Koreans 0.5%

Chinese 0.4%

other 0.6%

RELIGION:-



Shinto and Buddhist 84%

Other 16% (including Christian 0.7%)



UNICEF:-Japan committee for UNICEF was established in 1955. The committee plays a significant role in advocating children rights by arranging campaigns against commercial sexual exploitation of children, child trafficking and child enrolment in war. In addition to this, UNICEF campaigns for child education programmes. Japan is the largest fund collector (more than US$100 million) for UNICEF around the world. Supporters of UNICEF in Japan range from individuals, NGOs, schools and business communities to parliamentarians and government officials. Goodwill Ambassadors in Japan include Tetsuko Kuroyanagi and Dr. Agnes Chan Miling.



HEALTH:-



Birth rate:7.87 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate:9.26 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate:total: 2.8 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:total population: 82.07 years (The average life expectancy is  highest in the world. In 2005, it was 85.49 years for women and 78.53 years for men.).

HIV/AIDS - deaths:500 (2003 est.)



POPULATION:- Japanese population is 127,467,972 with a growth rate of 0.0%. It is the 10th most populous country in the world.

Density per sq mi: 836

Literacy rate: 99% (2002 est.)

Total expenditure on health per capita (Intl $, 2005): 2,498



TRANSPORTATION:-



Railways: total: 23,474 km (2006).

Highways: total: 1,183 million km (2003).

Waterways: 1,770 km (2007).

Ports and harbors: Chiba, Kawasaki, Kiire, Kisarazu, Kobe, Mizushima, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo, Yohohama.

Airports: 176 (2007)