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Basic Facts – Japan
The Land of the
Rising Sun
Basic Facts – Japan
• Japan is an archipelago off the
east coast of mainland Asia.
The four main islands are
(from north to south)
Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku,
and Kyushu. The Ryukyu
Islands south of the main four
are also part of Japan with the
main one of these islands
being Okinawa.
Basic Facts – Japan
• Japan has one of the most homogeneous
societies in the world.
Basic Facts – Japan
• Japan is very limited in natural resources. It
calls its people its greatest resource.
Basic Facts – Japan
• Because of the lack of
resources, Japan has
developed a mercantile
economy based on trade
(Export-led). They buy
raw materials from
around the world and
sell finished products
around the world.
Basic Facts – Japan
• Japan is remote from the countries with the
most economic ties to it. It is trying to
develop trade with its Asian neighbors but
mistrust from the memories of World War II
domination still linger.
• Other Asian countries are allowing more
Japanese investment today.
Basic Facts –
Japan
• Japan modernized in a
non-western way.
Although the Japanese
copied western
economic, political, and
military technologies,
they kept many of the
traditional Japanese
beliefs and customs.
Basic Facts – Japan
• Japan has one of the largest physiological
population densities in the world. Space is
at a premium in Japan, so an appreciation of
the miniature things and ways to conserve
space has flourished.
Basic Facts – Japan
• Japan’s agriculture is the most modernized
and productive in Asia, but it requires
government subsidies to thrive.
Basic Facts – Japan
• Japan’s diet is fish and rice based.
Aquaculture is growing rapidly in Japan.
Basic Facts – Japan
• Japan’s economy, though currently in a
recession, is one of the strongest in the
world.
GDP 2008
International
Monetary Fund
Basic Facts – Japan
• Since World War II, Japan’s constitution
forbid Japan to engage in a foreign war. Its
small military is for defense only. Japan
depends on the United States for the bulk of
its defense.
Basic Facts – Japan
• The imperial dynasty of Japan stretches
back to before 600 B.C.
His Majesty The
Emperor Akihito of
Japan
Basic Facts – Japan
• The government of Japan is a Constitutional
Parliamentary Monarchy. The government
is fashioned after the British parliamentary
system with the Diet being the legislative
body.
Basic Facts – Japan
• The TokyoYokohama
megalopolis is
the largest
urban
agglomeration
in the world.