San Jose State University
Economics Department
Thayer Watkins


JAPAN

Geography
Population
Government
Economy
Communications
& Transportation

Military
Tokyo
Osaka

Geography
Location
Land
Land Use
Resources
Climate
Environment
Japanese
Place Names

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Location:
Eastern Asia, island chain
east of the Korean Peninsula
between the North Pacific Ocean
and the Sea of Japan
Geographic coordinates: 36 00 N, 138 00 E

Geographic Charcteristics
CategoryQuantity
Area: 
Total377,835 sq km
land 374,744 sq km
water3,091 sq km
Irrigated land 27,820 sq km
Coastline29,751 km

Climate
RegionClimate
SouthTropical
NorthCool Temperate

Natural resources
and attributes:
mineral resourcesnegligible
fishabundant
locationstrategic
hazardsearthquakes
volcanoes
tsunamis

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

Environment—current issues:
air pollution from power plant emissions results in acid rain
acidification of lakes and reservoirs
degrading water quality
threatened aquatic life


People

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Population
Age
Structure

Demographic
Rates

Ethnic
Composition

Religion

Age structure:
(1999 est.)
Age GroupProportionMaleFemaleSex Ratio
males/female
0-14 years: 15% 9,697,851 9,242,0271.05
15-64 years: 68% 43,405,024 43,023,8851.01
65 years and over: 17% 8,686,347; 12,126,943 0.72
Total100%126,182,077
(July 1999 est.)
0.96


Demographic Rates and Characteristics
RateValue
(1999 est.)
Birth rate 10.48 births/1,000 population
Death rate 8.12 deaths/1,000 population
Net migration rate -0.34 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Infant mortality rate 4.07 deaths/1,000 live births
Infant mortality rate 4.07 deaths/1,000 live births
Population growth rate 0.2%
Total fertility rate: 1.48 children born/woman
Life expectancy at birth: 
total population80.11 years
male 77.02 years
female 83.35 years

Ethnic groupProportion
Japanese 99.4%
Other
(mostly Korean)
0.6%

Religious
Affiliation
Proportion
Observe both
Shintoism and
Buddhism
84%
Christian 0.7%
Other 15.3%


Government

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Government
Administrative
Divisions

Executive
Branch

Legislative
Branch

Judicial
Branch

International
Organizations

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
Administrative divisions:
47 prefectures
Miyazaki
Nagano
Nagasaki
Nara
Niigata
Oita
Okayama
Okinawa
Osaka
Saga
Saitama
Shiga
Shimane
Shizuoka
Tochigi
Tokushima
Tokyo
Tottori
Toyama
Wakayama
Yamagata
Yamaguchi
Yamanashi

.

 
Executive branch:
OFFICEHOLDERSINCE:
chief of state Emperor AKIHITO 7 January 1989
head of government Prime Minister
Keizo OBUCHI
30 July 1998
cabinet Cabinet appointed by the prime minister

Legislative Branch
 SeatsTerms
Diet (Kokkai) bicameral  
House of Councillors
(Sangi-in)
252 seats126 members elected every three years—

      76 elected from the 47 multi-seatprefectural districts

      50 elected from a single nationwide list with voters casting ballotsby party; members elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms)
House of Representatives (Shugi-in)500 seats200 elected from 11 regional blocks on a proportional representation basis

300 elected from 300 single-seat districts; members elected bypopular vote to serve four-year terms

House of Councillors
seats by party
after last election
PartySeats
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)102
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) 47
Japanese Communist Party (JCP) 23
Komeito 22
Social Democratic Party (SDP) 13
Liberal Party 12
independents 26
others 7

House of Representatives
seats by party
after last election
PartySeats
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) 240
New Frontier Party (NFP) 142
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) 52
Japanese Communist Party (JCP) 26
Social Democratic Party (SDP) 15
Sun Party 10
others 15

Judicial branch: Supreme Court
chief justice appointed by the monarch
after designationby the cabinet
all other justices appointed by the cabinet

International organization participation:
AfDB APEC, AsDB 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 InmarsatIntelsat Interpol IOC IOM
ISO ITU MTCR NEA NSG OAS (observer)
OECD OPCW OSCE (partner) PCA UN UN Security Council (temporary)
UNCTAD UNDOF UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNITAR
UNRWA UNU UPU WFTU WHOWIPO
WMO WToO WTrO ZC  


Economy

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Economy
Production
and Income

Labor Force
Industry
Trade
Energy

Labor Force
by industry (1994)
SectorShare
trade and services 50%
manufacturing, mining, and construction 33%
utilities and communication 7%
agriculture, forestry, and fishing 6%
government 3%
Total Labor Force
(November 1998
67.72 million

Energy
SourceProduction
Electricity
Total production
948.559 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity
production by source:
Share
(1996)
fossil fuel 61.47%
hydro 8.34%
nuclear 29.83%
other 0.36%

Trade StatisticValue
1998
Exports: $440 billion (f.o.b.)
Imports: $319 billion (c.i.f.)
Economic aid: donor: ODA, $9.1 billion (1999)
Exports: commodities:Share
machinery 50%,
motor vehicles 19%,
consumer electronics 3%
other manufactures 24%
nonmanufactures 4%
Imports: commodities:Share
manufactures 54%,
foodstuffs and raw materials 28%,
fossil fuels 16%

TRADE PARTNERS
ExportsShareImportsShare
US 30%US 24%
EU 18%EU 14%
Southeast Asia 12%Southeast Asia 14%
China 5% China 13%


Communications
& Transportation

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Communications &
Transportation
Telephones
Radio &
Television

Railways
Highways
Shipping
Airports
Other
Transportation

Telephone System
Number of telephones
(1987 est.)
64 million
System Qualityexcellent
Submarine CablesChina, Russia
Guam, Philippines
Communication
Satellites
5 Intelsat
1 Intersputnik
1 Inmarsat

Broadcast Media
MediaStationsReceivers
RadioAM 318
FM 58
Shortwave 0
97 million
(1993 est.)
Television113 main commercial stations
441 commercial repeater stations
95 main non-commercial stations
     of 1 kW or greater power
6,900 non-commercial low-power stations
100 million
(1993 est.)

Railway Lines
GaugeLengthProportion
electrified
All23,670.7 km 
standard gauge
1.435 meter2,893.1 km100%
narrow gauges
1.372 meter89.8 km100%
1.067 meter20,656.8 km50%
0.762 meter31 km12%

Highways
TypeLength
All1.16 million km
Expressway6,070 km
Other paved853,490 km
Unpaved300,440 km

Other Transportation
TypeLength
Waterways1,770 km
Pipelines
Natural gas1,800 km
Petroleum
products
322 km
Crude
Petroleum
84 km

Merchant Marine
ShipsNumber
(1998 est.)
Tonnage
(millions)
All71313.8 GRT
19.3 DWT
Type 
Bulk159
Cargo54
Chemical
Tanker
13
Combination
Bulk
16
Combination
Ore/Oil
4
Container27
Liquified
Gas Tanker
40
Oil Tanker232
Passenger10
Passenger-Cargo2
Refrigerated Cargo27
Roll-on/roll-off Cargo48
Short Sea-Passenger13
Vehicle Carrier68

Airports and Helioports
TypeNumber
Helioports14
Airports170
Total
With paved runways
140
Runway over 3,047 m5
Runway under 914 m31
Total
with unpaved runways
30
Runway 914 to 1,523 m 2
Runway under 914 m 28


Military

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Military
Manpower
Expenditure

Military Manpower Availability
Population
Category
Number
(1999 est.)
males age 15-4930.6 million
 fit for military service26.4 million
males reaching
military age
annually
785 thousand

Military Expenditure (FY98/99)
Dollar Equivalent$42.9 billion
Percent of GDP0.9%

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