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 more than two centuries this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture. Following the Treaty of Kanagawa with the US 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 1931-32 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 elected politicians - with heavy input from bureaucrats and business executives - wield actual decisionmaking power. 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.

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
Note: with virtually no energy natural resources, Japan is the world's largest importer of coal and liquefied natural gas as well as the second largest importer of oil

Land use
Arable land: 11.64%
Permanent crops: 0.9%
Other: 87.46% (2005)

Irrigated land: 25,920 km² (2003)

Total renewable water resources: 430 km³ (1999)

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: 127,288,416 (July 2008 est.)
Growth rate: -0.139% (2008 est.)

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: 13.7% (male 8,926,439/female 8,460,629)
15-64 years: 64.7% (male 41,513,061/female 40,894,057)
65 years and over: 21.6% (male 11,643,845/female 15,850,388) (2008 est.)

Median age
Total: 43.8 years
Male: 42.1 years
Female: 45.7 years (2008 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.139% (2008 est.)

Birth rate: 7.87 births/1000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate: 9.26 deaths/1000 population (2008 est.)

Net migration rate: NA (2008 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: 1.06 male/female
Under 15 years: 1.06 male/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male/female
65 years and over: 0.74 male/female
Total population: 0.95 male/female (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Total: 2.8 deaths/1000 live births
Male: 3 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 2.58 deaths/1000 live births (2008 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 82.07 years
Male: 78.73 years
Female: 85.59 years (2008 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.22 children born/woman (2008 est.)

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

Education expenditures: 3.5% of GDP (2005)

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

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education
Total: 15 years
Male: 15 years
Female: 15 years (2006)

Country name
Conventional long form: none
Conventional short form: Japan
Local long form: Nihon-koku/Nippon-koku
Local short form: Nihon/Nippon

Government type: constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government

Capital
Name: Tokyo
Geographic coordinates: 35 41 N, 139 45 E
Time difference: UTC+9 (14 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Administrative divisions: 47 prefectures; Aichi Akita Aomori Chiba Ehime Fukui Fukuoka Fukushima Gifu Gunma 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 B.C. (traditional founding by Emperor JIMMU)

National holiday: Birthday of Emperor AKIHITO 23 December (1933)

Constitution: 3 May 1947

Legal system: modeled after German 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 Taro ASO (since 24 September 2008)
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 29 July 2007 (next to be held in July 2010); House of Representatives - last held 11 September 2005 (next election by September 2009)
Election results: House of Councillors - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - DPJ 109, LDP 83, Komeito 20, JCP 7, SDP 5, others 18

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 [Ichiro OZAWA]; Japan Communist Party or JCP [Kazuo SHII]; Komeito [Akihiro OTA]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [Taro ASO]; Social Democratic Party or SDP [Mizuho FUKUSHIMA]

International organization participation: ADB AfDB (nonregional members) APEC APT ARF ASEAN (dialogue partner) Australia Group BIS CE (observer) CERN (observer) CP EAS EBRD FAO G-5 G-7 G-8 G-10 IADB IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICCt ICRM IDA IEA IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO IMSO Interpol IOC IOM IPU ISO ITSO ITU ITUC LAIA MIGA NEA NSG OAS (observer) OECD OPCW OSCE (partner) Paris Club PCA PIF (partner) SAARC (observer) SECI (observer) UN UNCTAD UNDOF UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNITAR UNRWA UNWTO UPU WCL WCO WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WTO ZC

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Ichiro FUJISAKI
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, Agana (Guam), Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Portland (Oregon), San Francisco, Seattle
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador J. Thomas SCHIEFFER
From the us embassy: 1-10-5 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8,420
From the us mailing address: Unit 9,800, Box 300, APO AP 96,303-0300
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 the third-largest economy in the world after the US and China measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis. One notable characteristic of the economy has been how manufacturers suppliers and distributors have worked together 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 have now eroded. Japan's industrial sector is heavily dependent on imported raw materials and fuels. The tiny 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 55% of its food on a caloric basis. 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 and an asset price bubble during the late 1980s that required a protracted period of time for firms to reduce excess debt capital and labor. From 2000 to 2001 government efforts to revive economic growth proved short lived and were hampered by the slowing of the US European and Asian economies. In 2002-07 growth improved and the lingering fears of deflation in prices and economic activity lessened leading the central bank to raise interest rates to 0.25% in July 2006 up from the near 0% rate of the six years prior and to 0.50% in February 2007. In addition the 10-year privatization of Japan Post which has functioned not only as the national postal delivery system but also through its banking and insurance facilities as Japan's largest financial institution was completed in October 2007 marking a major milestone in the process of structural reform. Nevertheless Japan's huge government debt which totals 182% of GDP and the aging of the population are two major long-run problems. Some fear that a rise in taxes could endanger the current economic recovery. Debate also continues on the role of and effects of reform in restructuring the economy particularly with respect to increasing income disparities.

Real gdp purchasing power parity: $4.272 trillion (2007 est.)

Real gdp growth rate: 2% (2007 est.)

Real gdp per capita: $33,500 (2007 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 1.4%
Industry: 26.5%
Services: 72% (2007 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: 1.3% (2007 est.)

Labor force: 66.69 million (2007 est.)
By occupation agriculture: 4.6%
By occupation industry: 27.8%
By occupation services: 67.7% (2004)

Unemployment rate: 3.8% (2007 est.)

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

Distribution of family income gini index: 38.1 (2002)

Budget
Revenues: $1.462 trillion
Expenditures: $1.567 trillion (2007 est.)

Public debt: 170% of GDP (2007 est.)

Inflation rate consumer prices: 0.1% (2007 est.)

Central bank discount rate: 0.75% (31 December 2007)

Commercial bank prime lending rate: 1.88% (31 December 2007)

Stock of domestic credit: $9.653 trillion (31 December 2007)

Market value of publicly traded shares: $4.737 trillion (2005)

Current account balance: $210.5 billion (2007 est.)

Exports: $678.1 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Commodities: transport equipment motor vehicles semiconductors electrical machinery chemicals
Partners: US 20.4% China 15.3% South Korea 7.6% Taiwan 6.3% Hong Kong 5.4% (2007)

Imports: $573.3 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Commodities: machinery and equipment fuels foodstuffs chemicals textiles raw materials
Partners: China 20.5% US 11.6% Saudi Arabia 5.7% UAE 5.2% Australia 5% South Korea 4.4% Indonesia 4.2% (2007)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $954.1 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt external: $1.492 trillion (30 June 2007)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home: $110.8 billion (2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad: $533.1 billion (2007 est.)

Exchange rates: yen (JPY) per US dollar - 117.99 (2007) 116.18 (2006) 110.22 (2005) 108.19 (2004) 115.93 (2003)

Electricity
Production: 1.082 trillion kWh (2007 est.)
Consumption: 982.5 billion kWh (2006 est.)
Exports: 0 kWh (2007 est.)
Imports: 0 kWh (2007 est.)

Natural gas
Production: 3.729 billion m³ (2007 est.)
Consumption: 100.3 billion m³ (2007 est.)
Exports: 0 m³ (2007 est.)
Imports: 95.62 billion m³ (2007 est.)
Proven reserves: 20.9 billion m³ (1 January 2008 est.)

Telephones
Main lines in use: 51.232 million (2007)
Mobile cellular: 107.339 million (2007)

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; numerous submarine cables provide links throughout Asia, Australia, the Middle East, Europe, and US; 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

Internet
Country code: .jp
Hosts: 39.909 million (2008)
Users: 88.11 million (2007)

Military expenditures: 0.8% of GDP (2006)

Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for voluntary military service (2001)

Airports: 176 (2007)
With paved runways total: 145
With paved runways over 3047 m: 7
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 41
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 40
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 28
With paved runways under 914 m: 29 (2007)
With unpaved runways total: 31
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 4
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 27 (2007)

Heliports: 14 (2007)

Pipelines: gas 3,939 km; oil 170 km; oil/gas/water 104 km (2007)

Railways
Total: 23,474 km
Standard gauge: 3,204 km 1.435-m gauge (3,204 km electrified)
Narrow gauge: 77 km 1.372-m gauge (77 km electrified); 20,182 km 1.067-m gauge (13,334 km electrified); 11 km 0.762-m gauge (11 km electrified) (2006)

Roadways
Total: 1,196,999 km
Paved: 949,101 km (includes 7,383 km of expressways)
Unpaved: 247,898 km (2006)

Waterways: 1770 km (seagoing vessels use inland seas) (2007)

Merchant marine
Total: 683
By type: bulk carrier 136, cargo 30, carrier 3, chemical tanker 27, container 11, liquefied gas 59, passenger 12, passenger/cargo 135, petroleum tanker 156, refrigerated cargo 2, roll on/roll off 51, vehicle carrier 61
Registered in other countries: 3,074 (Australia 1, Bahamas 87, Belize 8, Bermuda 2, Burma 1, Cambodia 1, Cayman Islands 13, China 2, Cyprus 21, France 1, Honduras 4, Hong Kong 111, Indonesia 6, Isle of Man 6, Italy 1, South Korea 20, Liberia 116, Malaysia 4, Malta 8, Marshall Islands 17, Nigeria 1, Norway 29, Panama 2,335, Philippines 81, Portugal 15, Saint Kitts and Nevis 3, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 3, Singapore 131, Thailand 4, UK 4, US 7, Vanuatu 29, Vietnam 1, unknown 1) (2008)

Ports and terminals: Chiba Kawasaki Kobe Mizushima Moji Nagoya Osaka Tokyo Tomakomai Yohohama

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; Japan and South Korea claim Liancourt Rocks (Take-shima/Tok-do) occupied by South Korea since 1954; China and Taiwan dispute both Japan's claims to the uninhabited islands of the Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) and Japan's unilaterally declared exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea the site of intensive hydrocarbon prospecting