At over 377,873 square kilometres, Japan is the 62nd largest country by area. It encompasses over 3,000 islands, the largest of which are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. Most of Japan's islands are mountainous, and many are volcanic, including the highest peak, Mount Fuji. It has the world's 10th largest population, with nearly 128 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, with over 30 million residents, is the largest metropolitan area in the world.

Archaeological research indicates that people were living on the islands of Japan as early as the upper paleolithic period. The written history of Japan begins with brief appearances in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Japanese history has been marked by alternating periods of long isolation and radical influence from the outside world. Its culture today is a mixture of outside and internal influences.

Since it adopted its constitution on May 3, 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament, the Diet, which is one of the oldest legislative bodies in Asia. Japan is an economic world power with the world's second largest economy, and is the sixth largest exporter and importer and is a member of the United Nations, G8, G4, and APEC.

History

Jomon and Yayoi eras

The first signs of civilization appeared around 10,000 BC with the Jōmon culture, characterized by a mesolithic to neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer lifestyle of pit dwelling and a rudimentary form of agriculture. The Jomon people made decorated clay vessels, often with plaited patterns. Some of the oldest surviving examples of pottery in the world may be found in Japan, although the specific dating is disputed.

The Yayoi period, starting around 300 BC, marked the influx of new practices such as rice farming and iron and bronze-making brought by migrants from Korea and China. [3] Japan first appears in written history in 57 AD, in China's Book of Later Han, as "the people of Wa, formed from more than one hundred tribes." In the 3rd century, according to China's Book of Wei, the most powerful kingdom in Japan was called Yamataikoku.

Government and politics

In academic studies, Japan is generally considered a constitutional monarchy, based largely upon the British system with strong influences from European continental civil law countries such as Germany and France. For example, in 1896 the Japanese government established Minpo, the Civil Code, on the French model. With post-World War II modifications, the code remains in effect in present-day Japan.

Military

Japan's military is restricted by Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan of 1947, which states that "Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes." Thus, Japan's current constitution prohibits the use of military force to wage war against other countries.

Japan's military is governed under Japan Defense Agency (JDA) and primarily consists of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. The military budget of Japan is less than one percent of its GDP, though it is estimated to be the sixth largest in the world, at around $45 billion per year. The forces have been recently used in peacekeeping operations and Japan's recent deployment of non-combat troops to Iraq marked the first overseas use of its military since World War II.

Prefectures and local government

Japan has 47 prefectures. Each has an elected governor and legislature, and an administrative bureaucracy. While there exist eight commonly defined regions of Japan, the prefecture is the largest administrative subdivision. The former city of Tokyo is further divided into 23 special wards, which have the same powers as cities.

Japan is currently undergoing administrative reorganization by merging many of the cities, towns, and villages with each other. This process will reduce the number of sub-prefecture administrative regions, and is expected to cut administrative costs.

Geography

Japan, a country of islands, extends along the eastern or Pacific coast of Asia. The main islands, running from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu (or the mainland), Shikoku, and Kyushu. Naha in the Ryukyu archipelago is over 600 kilometers (375 mi) to the southwest of Kyushu. In addition, about 3,000 smaller islands may be counted in the full extent of the archipelago.

Japan is the 19th most densely populated country in the world. About 70 to 80% of the country is forested, mountainous [9][10],and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial, or residential use, due to the generally steep elevations, climate, and risk of landslides caused by earthquakes, soft ground, and heavy rain. This has resulted in an extremely high population density in the habitable zones that are mainly located in coastal areas.

Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, at the juncture of three tectonic plates, gives Japan frequent low-intensity earth tremors and occasional volcanic activity. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunamis, occur several times each century. The most recent major quakes include the 2004 Chuetsu Earthquake and the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. Hot springs are numerous, and have been developed as resorts.

Economy

Japan is an economic world power, with its free-market economy ranking 2nd by market exchange rates (with GDP at over $4.5 trillion in 2005) and is the largest Asian economy. The country has very limited natural resources to sustain economic development, since most of the islands are volcanic and mountainous. As a result it is dependent on other nations for most of its raw materials.

Government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery of high technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation have helped Japan advance with extraordinary speed to become the second largest economy in the world. From the 1960s to the 1980s, overall real economic growth was 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 largely due to the after-effects of over-investment during the late 1980s and 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 to 2001 by the slowing of the global economy.

However, the economy saw signs of strong recovery in 2005. GDP growth for the year was 2.8%, with an annualized fourth quarter expansion of 5.5%, surpassing the growth rates of the US and European Union during the same period. Unlike previous recovery trends, domestic consumption has been the dominant factor in leading the growth. Hence, the Japanese government predicts that recovery will continue in 2006.

Distinguishing characteristics of the Japanese economy include the cooperation of manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and banks in closely-knit groups called keiretsu(these being Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Fuyo, Mitsui, Dai-Ichi Kangyo and Sanwa); the powerful enterprise unions and shuntō; cosy relations with government bureaucrats, and the guarantee of lifetime employment (shushin koyo) in big corporations and highly unionized blue-collar factories. Recently, Japanese companies have begun to abandon some of these norms in an attempt to increase profitability.

Demographics

Population

Japan's population is estimated at around 128,085,000 people. Japanese society is linguistically and culturally homogeneous with only small populations of foreigners. Japan has indigenous minority groups such as the Ainu and Ryukyuans, and social minority groups like the burakumin.

Japan has the highest life expectancy in the world: 85.2 years for women and 78.3 years for men (in 2002). However, the Japanese population is rapidly aging, the effect of a postwar baby boom followed by a decrease in births in the latter part of the 20th century. In 2004, about 19.5% of the population was over the age of 65.The changes in the demographic structure have created a number of social issues, particularly a potential decline in the workforce population and increases in the cost of social security benefits such as the public pension plan. If its birth and death rates remain at the current levels, Japan's population has passed its peak and its population will continue to decline. 2006 is expected to be the first year that the population actually begins to decline.  At these rates, Japan's population is expected to drop to 100 million by 2050, and to 64 million by 2100. Demographers and government planners are currently in a heated debate over how to cope with this problem. Immigration and birth incentives are sometimes suggested as a solution to provide younger workers to support the nation's aging population. Immigration, however, is not popular as recent increased crime rates are often attributed to foreigners living in Japan.