Japan
Parliamentary constitutional monarchy
Geography
Japan is located in the eastern part of Asia and consists of a chain of islands over 3000 km long off the Russian coast and the Korean peninsula. There are no direct national borders with other countries. Japan borders the Sea of Japan to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the east and the East China Sea to the south.The area, including the 14,125 islands, is around 377,975 square kilometers and the population is around 125.12 million people. The population density is very high at around 331.0 inhabitants per square kilometer. This makes Japan one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with around 92.0% of the population living in urban areas. One in nine inhabitants lives in the Tokyo metropolitan area alone.
More than half of the country lies in the Japanese Alps, a mountain range that stretches along the central region of the islands. It was formed by the folding of several adjacent continental plates, which still often cause volcanic activity and earthquakes in the region today. The highest mountain is Mount Fuji, an iconic volcano with a height of 3,776 meters. The most important cities have mostly developed away from the mountains in the coastal lowlands.
The name "Japan" probably goes back to "Nihon" or "Nippon", which means "land of origin of the sun" and refers to the importance of the sun in Japanese culture and mythology.
The countrywide time in Japan is Japan Standard Time (JST), which is currently 13 hours ahead of New York.
As in many countries, there is no daylight savings time in Japan.
Related to Greenwich Mean Time, there's the same difference of 9 hours all over the year.
Population
Population pyramid
1 Yen is divided into 100 Sen.
Status: 07/05/2024
1000 Yens = 6.21 US dollar
Climate in Japan
Japan's exposed location on the edge of the Pacific Ocean ensures high temperatures above 30°C with high humidity, especially in the summer months. Late summer is monsoon season, when warm air masses with heavy rainfall from the Pacific Ocean. Typhoon season is from August to September. In winter, the winds blowing mostly from mainland Asia bring cold, but they decrease towards the south. In general, the south is predominantly subtropical with milder and shorter winters as well. The north is in the cold-moderate climate zone and offers a lot of snow at high altitudes in winter.
Languages
| Mother tongue | Distribution |
|---|---|
| Japanese | 99.1 % |
| Korean | 0.5 % |
| Chinese | 0.2 % |
| Tagalog | 0.1 % |
| English | 0.1 % |
| other | 0.0 % |
Religions
| Religion | Distribution |
|---|---|
| Buddhists | 66.8% |
| Christs | 1.5% |
| Shinto | 79.2% |
more...
Economy
| GDP: | 4,256.41 bn $ |
| Exportations: | 921.21 bn $ |
| Importations: | 1,079.88 bn $ |
| › Tourism receipts: | 5.23 bn $ |
| › Debt rate: | 261.29 % |
| › Unemployment rate: | 2.58 % |
| › Inflation rate: | 2.50 % |
| › Corruption index: | 73 (good) |
| › Energy consumption: | 903.7 bn kWh |
With a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.920, Japan counts as one of the high developed economies by UN definition. The IMF also shares this classification.
With an average annual income of 42,550 USD Japan is one of the high-income countries.
Land use
| 29% Urban areas: | 108,678 km² |
| 12% Agricultural areas: | 46,604 km² |
| 68% Forest: | 258,573 km² |
| 4% Water areas: | 13,415 km² |
more...
Transport
| Roadways: | 1,218,772 km |
| Railways: | 27,311 km |
| Waterways: | 1,770 km |
| Reg. vehicles: | 82,644,029 |
| › Airports: |
Most important cities
| City | Region | Population |
|---|---|---|
| Tokyo / Capital | Kantō | 13,960,000 |
| Yokohama | Kantō | 3,770,000 |
| Osaka | Kinki | 2,752,000 |
| Nagoya | Chūbu | 2,332,000 |
| Sapporo | Hokkaidō | 1,973,000 |
| Fukuoka | Kyūshū | 1,612,000 |
| Kawasaki | Kantō | 1,538,000 |
| Kobe | Kinki | 1,525,000 |
| Kyoto | Kinki | 1,464,000 |
| Saitama | Kantō | 1,324,000 |
| Hiroshima | Chūgoku | 1,201,000 |
| Sendai | Tōhoku | 1,097,000 |
| Chiba | Kantō | 975,000 |
| Kitakyushu | Kyūshū | 939,000 |
| Sakai | Kinki | 826,000 |
| Hamamatsu | Chūbu | 791,000 |
| Niigata | Chūbu | 789,000 |
| Kumamoto | Kyūshū | 739,000 |
| Okayama | Chūgoku | 725,000 |
| Shizuoka | Chūbu | 693,000 |
| Kagoshima | Kyūshū | 593,000 |
| Utsunomiya | Kantō | 519,000 |
| Matsuyama | Shikoku | 511,000 |
| Akita | Tōhoku | 301,000 |
The difference between the urban area and the city proper alone can be considerable. Tokyo, for example, has an urban population of 37,732,000. However, the actual proper city is much smaller with only 13,515,000 inhabitants. The difference to metropolitan regions, i.e. conurbations with several cities, is even greater.
Political indicators
| Political stability: | ◈ |
| Rule of law: | ◈ |
| Effectivity: | ◈ |
| Regulatory quality: | ◈ |
| Voice accountability: | ◈ |
| Democratic values: | ◈ |
| Death penalty: | Legally allowed |
Existing trade agreements
- APEC - Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
- RCEP - Regional, comprehensive economic partnership
- TPP - Trans-Pacific Partnership
Country comparison: Australia / Japan
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