From 1868, the Meiji period launched economic expansion. Meiji rulers embraced the concept of a free market economy and adopted British and North American forms of free enterprise capitalism. Japanese went to study overseas and Western scholars were hired to teach in Japan. Many of today's enterprises were founded at the time. Japan emerged as the most developed nation in Asia.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, overall real economic growth has been called a "Japanese miracle": a 10% average in the 1960s, a 5% average in the 1970s and a 4% average in the 1980s.[60] Growth slowed markedly in the 1990s, largely because of the after-effects of Japanese asset price bubble and domestic policies intended to wring speculative excesses from the stock and real estate markets. Government efforts to revive economic growth met with little success and were further hampered by the global slowdown in 2000.[61] The economy showed strong signs of recovery after 2005. GDP growth for that 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.[62]
Japan is the second largest economy in the world,[63] after the United States, at around US$5 trillion in terms ofnominal GDP[63] and third after the United States and China in terms of purchasing power parity.[64] Banking,insurance, real estate, retailing, transportation, telecommunications and construction are all major industries.[65]Japan has a large industrial capacity and is home to some of the largest, leading and most technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronic equipment, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemicals, textiles andprocessed foods.[61] The service sector accounts for three quarters of the gross domestic product.
As of 2001, Japan's shrinking labor force consisted of some 67 million workers.[66] Japan has a low unemployment rate, around 4%. Japan's GDP per hour worked is the world's 19th highest as of 2007.[67]Big Mac Index shows that Japanese workers get the highest salary per hour in the world. Some of the largest enterprises in Japan include Toyota, Nintendo, NTT DoCoMo, Canon, Honda, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Sony, Nippon Steel, Tepco, Mitsubishi and 711.[68] It is home to some of the world's largest banks, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange (known for its Nikkei 225 and Topix indices) stands as the second largest in the world by market capitalization.[69] Japan is home to 326 companies from the Forbes Global 2000 or 16.3% (as of 2006).
Japan ranks 12th of 178 countries in the Ease of Doing Business Index 2008 and it has one of the smallest governments in the developed world. Japanese variant of capitalism has many distinct features. Keiretsuenterprises are influential. Lifetime employment and seniority-based career advancement are relatively common in Japanese work environment.[70][71] Japanese companies are known for management methods such as "The Toyota Way".Shareholder activism is rare.[72] Recently, Japan has moved away from some of these norms.[73][74] In the Index of Economic Freedom, Japan is the 5th most laissez-faire of 30 Asian countries.[75]
Japan's exports amounted to 4,210 U.S. dollars per capita in 2005. Japan's main export markets are theUnited States 22.8%, the European Union 14.5%, China 14.3%, South Korea 7.8%, Taiwan 6.8% and Hong Kong 5.6% (for 2006). Japan's main exports are transportation equipment, motor vehicles, electronics, electrical machinery and chemicals.[61] Japan's main import markets are China 20.5%, U.S. 12.0%, theEuropean Union 10.3%, Saudi Arabia 6.4%, UAE 5.5%, Australia 4.8%, South Korea 4.7% and Indonesia4.2% (for 2006). Japan's main imports are machinery and equipment, fossil fuels, foodstuffs (in particularbeef), chemicals, textiles and raw materials for its industries.[76] By market share measures, domestic markets are the least open of any OECD country.[71] Junichiro Koizumi administration commenced some pro-competition reforms and foreign investment in Japan has soared recently.[77]
Japan's business culture has many indigenous concepts such as nemawashi, nenko system, salaryman, and office lady. Japan's housing market is characterized by limited land supply in urban areas. This is particularly true for Tokyo, the world's largest urban agglomeration GDP. More than half of Japanese live in suburbs or more rural areas, where detached houses are the dominant housing type. Agricultural businesses in Japan often utilize a system of terrace farming and crop yields are high. 13% of Japan's land is cultivated. Japan accounts for nearly 15% of the global fish catch, second only to China.[61] Japan's agricultural sector is protected at high cost.[78]
Infrastructure
As of 2005, one half of energy in Japan is produced from petroleum, a fifth from coal, and 14% from natural gas.[79] Nuclear power produces a quarter of Japan's electricity.[80]
Japan's road spending has been large.[81] The 1.2 million kilometers of paved road are the main means of transportation.[82] Japan has left-hand traffic. A single network of high-speed, divided, limited-access toll roads connects major cities and are operated by toll-collecting enterprises. New and used cars are inexpensive. Car ownership fees and fuel levies are used to promote energy-efficiency. However, at just 50% of all distance travelled, car usage is the lowest of all G8 countries.[83]
Dozens of Japanese railway companies compete in regional and local passenger transportation markets; for instance, 7 JR enterprises, Kintetsu Corporation, Seibu Railway and Keio Corporation. Often, strategies of these enterprises contain real estate or department stores next to stations. Some 250 high-speedShinkansen trains connect major cities. Japanese trains are known for their punctuality.[84]
There are 173 airports and flying is a popular way to travel between cities. The largest domestic airport,Haneda Airport, is Asia's busiest airport. The largest international gateways are Narita International Airport (Tokyo area), Kansai International Airport (Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto area) and Chūbu Centrair International Airport (Nagoya area). The largest ports include Port of Yokohama andNagoya Port.
Science and technology
Japan is one of the leading nations in the fields of scientific research, particularly technology, machineryand biomedical research. Nearly 700,000 researchers share a US$130 billion research and developmentbudget, the third largest in the world.[85] For instance some of Japan's more prominent technological contributions are found in the fields of electronics, automobiles, machinery, earthquake engineering,industrial robotics, optics, chemicals, semiconductors and metals. Japan leads the world in roboticsproduction and use, possessing more than half (402,200 of 742,500) of the world's industrial robots used for manufacturing.[86] It also produced QRIO, ASIMO and AIBO. Japan is the world's largest producer of automobiles[87] and home to six of the world's fifteen largest automobile manufacturers and seven of theworld's twenty largest semiconductor sales leaders as of today.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is Japan's space agency that conducts space and planetary research, aviation research, and development of rockets and satellites. It is a participant in theInternational Space Station and the Japanese Experiment Module (Kibo) was added to the International Space Station during Space Shuttle assembly flights in 2008.[88] It has plans in space exploration, such as launching the Venus Climate Orbiter (PLANET-C) in 2010[89][90], developing the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter to be launched in 2013[91][92], and building a moonbase by 2030.[93] On September 14, 2007, it launched lunar orbit explorer "SELENE" (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) on an H-IIA (Model H2A2022) carrier rocket from Tanegashima Space Center. SELENE is also known as Kaguya, the lunar princess of the ancient folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.[94] Kaguya is the largest lunar probe mission since the Apollo program. Its mission is to gather data on the moon's origin and evolution. It entered into a lunar orbit on October 4,[95][96] flying in a lunar orbit at an altitude of about 100 km (62 mi).[97]
Demographics
Japan's population is estimated at around 127.3 million.[98] Japanese society is linguistically and culturally homogeneous with small populations of foreign workers. Zainichi Koreans,[99] Zainichi Chinese, Filipinos,Japanese Brazilians,[100] Japanese Peruvians are amongst the small minorities resident in Japan.[101] In 2003, there were about 136,000 Western expatriates in Japan.[102] The most dominant native ethnic groupis the Yamato people; the primary minority groups include the indigenous Ainu[103] and Ryukyuan, as well as social minority groups like the burakumin.[104]
Japan has one of the highest life expectancy rates in the world, at 81.25 years of age as of 2006.[105] The Japanese population is rapidly aging, the effect of a post-war baby boom followed by a decrease in births in the latter part of the twentieth century. In 2004, about 19.5% of the population was over the age of 65.[106]
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. Many Japanese youth are increasingly preferring not to marry or have families as adults.[107]Japan's population is expected to drop to 100 million by 2050 and to 64 million by 2100.[106] Demographers and government planners are currently in a heated debate over how to cope with this problem.[107]Immigration and birth incentives are sometimes suggested as a solution to provide younger workers to support the nation's aging population.[108][109]
The highest estimates for the amount of Buddhists and Shintoists in Japan is 84-96%, representing a large number of believers in a syncretism of both religions.[8][110] However, these estimates are based on people with an association with a temple, rather than the number of people truly following the religion.[111]Professor Robert Kisala (Nanzan University) suggests that only 30 percent of the population identify themselves as belonging to a religion.[111]
Taoism and Confucianism from China have also influenced Japanese beliefs and customs. Religion in Japan tends to be syncretic in nature, and this results in a variety of practices, such as parents and children celebrating Shinto rituals, students praying before exams, couples holding a wedding at a Christian church and funerals being held at Buddhist temples. A minority (2,595,397, or 2.04%) profess toChristianity.[112] In addition, since the mid-19th century, numerous religious sects (Shinshūkyō) have emerged in Japan, such as Tenrikyo andAum Shinrikyo (or Aleph).
More than 99% of the population speaks Japanese as their first language.[98] It is an agglutinative language distinguished by a system ofhonorifics reflecting the hierarchical nature of Japanese society, with verb forms and particular vocabulary which indicate the relative status of speaker and listener. According to a Japanese dictionary Shinsen-kokugojiten, Chinese-based words make up 49.1% of the total vocabulary, indigenous words are 33.8% and other loanwords are 8.8%.[113] The writing system uses kanji (Chinese characters) and two sets of kana(syllabaries based on simplified Chinese characters), as well as the Latin alphabet and Arabic numerals. The Ryukyuan languages, also part of the Japonic language family to which Japanese belongs, are spoken in Okinawa, but few children learn these languages.[114] The Ainu languageis moribund, with only a few elderly native speakers remaining in Hokkaidō.[115] Most public and private schools require students to take courses in both Japanese and English.[116]
| Core City | Prefecture | Population | Core City | Prefecture | Population | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tokyo | Tokyo | 8,483,050 |  Tokyo  Yokohama | 8 | Fukuoka | Fukuoka | 1,474,764 | ||
| 2 | Yokohama | Kanagawa | 3,579,133 | 9 | Kawasaki | Kanagawa | 1,327,009 | |||
| 3 | Osaka | Osaka | 2,628,776 | 10 | Saitama | Saitama | 1,176,269 | |||
| 4 | Nagoya | Aichi | 2,215,031 | 11 | Hiroshima | Hiroshima | 1,159,391 | |||
| 5 | Sapporo | Hokkaidō | 1,880,875 | 12 | Sendai | Miyagi | 1,028,214 | |||
| 6 | Kobe | Hyōgo | 1,525,389 | 13 | Kitakyushu | Fukuoka | 993,483 | |||
| 7 | Kyoto | Kyoto | 1,474,764 | 14 | Chiba | Chiba | 924,353 | |||
| Source: 2005 Census | ||||||||||
Education and health
Primary, secondary schools and universities were introduced into Japan in 1872 as a result of the Meiji Restoration.[117] Since 1947, compulsory education in Japan consists of elementary school and middle school, which lasts for nine years (from age 6 to age 15). Almost all children continue their education at a three-year senior high school, and, according to the MEXT, about 75.9% of high school graduates attend auniversity, junior college, trade school, or other post-secondary institution in 2005.[118] Japan's education is very competitive,[119] especially for entrance to institutions of higher education. The two top-ranking universities in Japan are the University of Tokyo and Keio University.[120] The Programme for International Student Assessment coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Japanese knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds as the 6th best in the world.[121]
In Japan, healthcare services are provided by national and local governments. Payment for personal medical services is offered through a universal health care insurance system that provides relative equality of access, with fees set by a government committee. People without insurance through employers can participate in a national health insurance program administered by local governments. Since 1973, all elderly persons have been covered by government-sponsored insurance.[122]Patients are free to select physicians or facilities of their choice.[123]
Culture and recreation
Japanese culture has evolved greatly over the years, from the country's original Jōmon culture to its contemporary culture, which combines influences from Asia, Europe and North America. Traditional Japanese arts include crafts (ikebana, origami, ukiyo-e, dolls, lacquerware,pottery), performances (bunraku, dance, kabuki, noh, rakugo), traditions (games, tea ceremony, Budō, architecture, gardens, swords) andcuisine. The fusion of traditional woodblock printing and Western art led to the creation of manga, a typically Japanese comic book format that is now popular within and outside Japan.[124] Manga-influenced animation for television and film is called anime. Japanese-made video game consoles have prospered since the 1980s.[125]
Japanese music is eclectic, having borrowed instruments, scales and styles from neighboring cultures. Many instruments, such as the koto, were introduced in the ninth and tenth centuries. The accompanied recitative of the Noh drama dates from the fourteenth century and the popular folk music, with the guitar-like shamisen, from the sixteenth.[126] Western music, introduced in the late nineteenth century, now forms an integral part of the culture. Post-war Japan has been heavily influenced by American and European modern music, which has led to the evolution of popular band music called J-pop.[127]
Karaoke is the most widely practiced cultural activity. A November 1993 survey by the Cultural Affairs Agency found that more Japanese had sung karaoke that year than had participated in traditional cultural pursuits such as flower arranging or tea ceremony.[128]
The earliest works of Japanese literature include two history books the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki and the eighth century poetry bookMan'yōshū, all written in Chinese characters.[129] In the early days of the Heian period, the system of transcription known as kana (Hiraganaand Katakana) was created as phonograms. The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is considered the oldest Japanese narrative.[130] An account of Heian court life is given by The Pillow Book written by Sei Shōnagon, while The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki is often described as the world's first novel. During the Edo period, literature became not so much the field of the samurai aristocracy as that of the chōnin, the ordinary people. Yomihon, for example, became popular and reveals this profound change in the readership and authorship.[130] The Meiji era saw the decline of traditional literary forms, during which Japanese literature integrated Western influences. Natsume Sōseki and Mori Ōgai were the first "modern" novelists of Japan, followed by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Yasunari Kawabata, Yukio Mishima and, more recently, Haruki Murakami. Japan has two Nobel Prize-winning authors — Yasunari Kawabata (1968) and Kenzaburo Oe (1994).[130]
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