Background: In 1603 a Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship) ushered in a long period of isolation from foreign influence in order to secure its power. For 250 years this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture. Following the Treaty of Kanagawa with the United States in 1854 Japan opened its ports and began to intensively modernize and industrialize. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries Japan became a regional power that was able to defeat the forces of both China and Russia. It occupied Korea Formosa (Taiwan) and southern Sakhalin Island. In 1933 Japan occupied Manchuria and in 1937 it launched a full-scale invasion of China. Japan attacked US forces in 1941 - triggering America's entry into World War II - and soon occupied much of East and Southeast Asia. After its defeat in World War II Japan recovered to become an economic power 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 starting in the 1990s following three decades of unprecedented growth but Japan still remains a major economic power both in Asia and globally. In 2005 Japan began a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Geographic coordinates: 36 00 N 138 00 E

Map reference: Asia

Area
Total: 377,835 km²
Land: 374,744 km²
Water: 3,091 km²
Note: includes Bonin Islands (Ogasawara-gunto), Daito-shoto, Minami-jima, Okino-tori-shima, Ryukyu Islands (Nansei-shoto), and Volcano Islands (Kazan-retto)
Comparative: slightly smaller than California

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 29,751 km

Maritime claims
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
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

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

Terrain: mostly rugged and mountainous

Elevation
Extremes lowest point: Hachiro-gata -4 m
Extremes highest point: Mount Fuji 3,776 m

Natural resources: negligible mineral resources fish

Land use
Arable land: 12.19%
Permanent crops: 0.96%
Other: 86.85% (2001)

Irrigated land: 26,790 km² (1998 est.)

Natural hazards: many dormant and some active volcanoes; about 1500 seismic occurrences (mostly tremors) every year; tsunamis; typhoons

Geography
Note: strategic location in northeast Asia

Population: 127,333,002 (July 2004 est.)
Growth rate: 0.08% (2004 est.)
Below poverty line: NA

Nationality
Noun: Japanese (singular and plural)
Adjective: Japanese

Ethnic groups
Note: up to 230,000 Brazilians of Japanese origin migrated to Japan in the 1990s to work in industries; some have returned to Brazil (2004)

Languages: Japanese

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

Age structure
0-14 years: 14.3% (male 9,337,867; female 8,876,996)
15-64 years: 66.7% (male 42,697,264; female 42,196,835)
65 years and over: 19% (male 10,169,190; female 14,054,850) (2004 est.)

Median age
Total: 42.3 years
Male: 40.5 years
Female: 44.1 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.08% (2004 est.)

Birth rate: 9.56 births/1000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate: 8.75 deaths/1000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1000 population (2004 est.)

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
International agreements party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.05 male/female
Under 15 years: 1.05 male/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male/female
65 years and over: 0.72 male/female
Total population: 0.96 male/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Total: 3.28 deaths/1000 live births
Male: 3.54 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 3 deaths/1000 live births (2004 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 81.04 years
Male: 77.74 years
Female: 84.51 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.38 children born/woman (2004 est.)

Hivaids
Adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2003 est.)
People living with hivaids: 12,000 (2003 est.)
Deaths: 500 (2003 est.)

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 99%
Male: 99%
Female: 99% (2002)

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 26 April 2001)
Cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the prime minister
Elections: Diet designates prime minister; constitution requires that prime minister commands parliamentary majority; following legislative elections, leader of majority party or leader of majority coalition in House of Representatives usually becomes prime minister; monarch is hereditary

Legislative branch
Elections: House of Councillors - last held 11 July 2004 (next to be held in July 2007); House of Representatives - last held 9 November 2003 (next election by November 2007)
Election results: House of Councillors - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - LDP 115, DPJ 82, Komeito 24, JCP 9, SDP 5, others 7; distribution of seats as of October 2004 - LDP 114, DPJ 84, Komeito 24, JCP 9, SDP 5, others 6: House of Representatives - percent of vote by party - LDP 49.38%, DPJ 36.88%, Komeito 7.09%, JCP 1.88%, SDP 1.25%, NCP .84%; seats by party - LDP 237, DPJ 177, Komeito 34, JCP 9, SDP 6, NCP 4, others 13; distribution of seats as of December 2004: LDP 249, DPJ 177, Komeito 34, JCP 9, SDP 6, others 3, vacant 2
Note: Liberal Party merged with Democratic Party of Japan in September 2003; Conservative New Party merged with Liberal Democratic Party following election in November 2003 (2004)

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 [Katsuya OKADA leader; Tatsuo KAWABATA secretary general]; Japan Communist Party or JCP [Kazuo SHII chairman; Tadayoshi ICHIDA secretary general]; Komeito [Takenori KANZAKI president; Tetsuzo FUYUSHIBA secretary general]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [Junichiro KOIZUMI president; Tsutomu TAKEBE secretary general]; Social Democratic Party or SDP [Mizuho FUKUSHIMA chairperson; Seiji MATAICHI secretary general]

International organization participation: AfDB APEC ARF AsDB ASEAN (dialogue partner) Australia Group BIS CE (observer) CERN (observer) CP EBRD FAO G-5 G-7 G-8 G-10 IADB IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICFTU ICRM IDA IEA IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO Interpol IOC IOM ISO ITU LAIA MIGA NAM (guest) NEA NSG OAS (observer) OECD OPCW OSCE (partner) Paris Club PCA UN UN Security Council (temporary) UNCTAD UNDOF UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNITAR UNMOVIC UNRWA UPU WCL WCO WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTO ZC

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Ryozo KATO
In the us chancery: 2,520 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 238-6,700
In the us fax: [1] (202) 328-2,187
In the us consulates general: Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Hagatna (Guam), Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Portland (Oregon), San Francisco, and Seattle
In the us consulates: Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands)
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Howard H. BAKER, Jr.
From the us embassy: 10-5 Akasaka 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8,420
From the us mailing address: Unit 45,004, Box 258, APO AP 96,337-5,004
From the us telephone: [81] (03) 3,224-5,000
From the us fax: [81] (03) 3,505-1862
From the us consulates general: Naha (Okinawa), Osaka-Kobe, Sapporo
From the us consulates: Fukuoka, Nagoya

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

Economy overview: Government-industry cooperation a strong work ethic mastery of high technology and a comparatively small defense allocation (1% of GDP) 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 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 averaging just 1.7% largely because of the after effects 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 with little success and were further hampered in 2000-2003 by the slowing of the US European and Asian economies. Japan's huge government debt which totals more than 150% of GDP and the ageing 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.' Internal conflict over the proper way to reform the ailing banking system continues.

Real gdp growth rate: 2.7% (2003 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $28,200 (2003 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 1.3%
Industry: 25.4%
Services: 73.3% (2003 est.)

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

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: 3.3% (2003 est.)

Labor force: 66.66 million (2003)
By occupation agriculture: 5%
By occupation industry: 25%
By occupation services: 70% (2002 est.)

Unemployment rate: 5.3% (2003)

Population below poverty line: NA

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 4.8%
Highest 10: 21.7% (1993)

Distribution of family income gini index: 24.9 (1993)

Budget
Revenues: $1.327 trillion
Expenditures: $1.646 trillion, including capital expenditures (public works only) of about $71 billion (2003 est.)

Public debt: 154.6% of GDP (2003)

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March

Inflation rate consumer prices: -0.3% (2003 est.)

Current account balance: $135.9 billion (2003)

Exports: $447.1 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Commodities: motor vehicles semiconductors office machinery chemicals
Partners: US 24.8% China 12.1% South Korea 7.3% Taiwan 6.6% Hong Kong 6.3% (2003)

Imports: $346.6 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Commodities: machinery and equipment fuels foodstuffs chemicals textiles raw materials (2001)
Partners: China 19.7% US 15.6% South Korea 4.7% Indonesia 4.3% (2003)

Debt external: NA (2002 est.)

Exchange rates: yen per US dollar - 115.933 (2003) 125.388 (2002) 121.529 (2001) 107.765 (2000) 113.907 (1999)

Electricity
Production: 1.037 trillion kWh (2001)
Consumption: 964.2 billion kWh (2001)
Exports: 0 kWh (2001)
Imports: 0 kWh (2001)

Natural gas
Production: 2.519 billion m³ (2001 est.)
Consumption: 80.42 billion m³ (2001 est.)
Exports: 0 m³ (2001 est.)
Imports: 77.73 billion m³ (2001 est.)
Proven reserves: 20.02 billion m³ (1 January 2002)

Telephones
Main lines in use: 71.149 million (2002)
Mobile cellular: 86,658,600 (2003)

Telephone system
General assessment: excellent domestic and international service
Domestic: high level of modern technology and excellent service of every kind
International: country code - 81; 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)

Internet
Country code: .jp
Hosts: 12,962,065 (2003)
Users: 57.2 million (2002)

Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $42,488 million (2003)
Percent of gdp: 1% (2003)

Airports: 174 (2003 est.)
With paved runways total: 143
With paved runways over 3047 m: 7
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 37
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 39
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 28
With paved runways under 914 m: 32 (2004 est.)
With unpaved runways total: 31
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 1
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 4
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 26 (2004 est.)

Heliports: 15 (2003 est.)

Pipelines: gas 2,719 km; oil 170 km; oil/gas/water 60 km (2004)

Railways
Total: 23,705 km (16,519 km electrified)
Standard gauge: 3,204 km 1.435-m gauge (3,204 km electrified)
Narrow gauge: 77 km 1.372-m gauge (77 km electrified); 20,393 km 1.067-m gauge (13,227 km electrified); 11 km 0.762-m gauge (11 km electrified) (2003)

Waterways: 1770 km (seagoing vessels use inland seas) (2004)

Merchant marine
Total: 568 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 10,149,196 GRT/12,680,544 DWT
By type: bulk 113, cargo 39, chemical tanker 18, combination bulk 31, combination ore/oil 1, container 14, liquefied gas 53, passenger 8, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 170, refrigerated cargo 6, roll on/roll off 58, short-sea/passenger 7, vehicle carrier 49
Foreign owned: China 1, Panama 1, Philippines 1, Singapore 1
Registered in other countries: 1,989 (2004 est.)

Disputes international: The sovereignty dispute over the islands of Etorofu Kunashiri and Shikotan and the Habomai group known in Japan as the 'Northern Territories' and in Russia as the 'Southern Kuril Islands' occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945 now administered by Russia and claimed by Japan remains the primary sticking point to signing a peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities; intensified media coverage and protests highlight dispute over the fishing-rich Liancourt Rocks (Tok-do/Take-shima) also claimed by South Korea; China and Taiwan have intensified their claims to the Senkaku Islands (Diaoyu Tai) administered by Japan