Japan
constitutional monarchyIndependence 660 BC (traditional founding by Emperor Jimmu)
Japan as the 1999 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 106 fields, one of 36 editions from 1990 to 2025.
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Geography
Eastern Asia, island chain between the North Pacific | Ocean and the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean Peninsula
18 fieldsLand useshare of 377,835 sq km
Location
Eastern Asia, island chain between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean Peninsula
Natural hazards
- many dormant and some active volcanoes;
- about 1,500 seismic occurrences (mostly tremors) every year;
- tsunamis
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
Environment--international agreements
- party to:
- Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertication, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
- signed, but not ratified:
- Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
People
15 fieldsPer 1,000 population(1999 est.)
Age structure
- 0-14 years:
- 15% (male 9,697,851; female 9,242,027)
- 15-64 years:
- 68% (male 43,405,024; female 43,023,885)
- 65 years and over:
- 17% (male 8,686,347; female 12,126,943) (1999 est.)
Sex ratio
- at birth:
- 1.05 male(s)/female
- under 15 years:
- 1.05 male(s)/female
- 15-64 years:
- 1.01 male(s)/female
- 65 years and over:
- 0.72 male(s)/female
- total population:
- 0.96 male(s)/female (1999 est.)
Government
Constitutional monarchy; Emperor AKIHITO (since 7 January 1989); Prime Minister Keizo OBUCHI (since 30 July 1998)
18 fieldsLegislature, 500 seatsseats by party
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
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
Executive branch
- chief of state:
- Emperor AKIHITO (since 7 January 1989)
- head of government:
- Prime Minister Keizo OBUCHI (since 30 July 1998)
- cabinet:
- Cabinet appointed by the prime minister
- elections:
- none;
- the monarch is hereditary;
- the Diet designates the prime minister;
- the constitution requires that the prime minister must command a parliamentary majority, therefore, following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition in the House of Representatives usually becomes prime minister
Legislative branch
bicameral Diet or Kokkai consists of the House of Councillors or Sangi-in (252 seats; one-half of the members elected every three years--76 seats of which are elected from the 47 multi-seat prefectural districts and 50 of which are elected from a single nationwide list with voters casting ballots by party; members elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms) and the House of Representatives or Shugi-in (500 seats--200 of which are elected from 11 regional blocks on a proportional representation basis and 300 of which are elected from 300 single-seat districts; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
- elections:
- House of Councillors--last held 12 July 1998 (next to be held NA July 2001);
- House of Representatives--last held 20 October 1996 (next to be held by October 2000)
- election results:
- House of Councillors--percent of vote by party--NA;
- seats by party--LDP 102, DPJ 47, JCP 23, Komeito 22, SDP 13, Liberal Party 12, independents 26, others 7;
- note--the distribution of seats as of January 1999 is as follows--LDP 104, DPJ 56, Komeito 24, JCP 23, SDP 14, Liberal Party 12, independents 5, others 14;
- House of Representatives--percent of vote by party--NA;
- seats by party--LDP 240, NFP 142, DPJ 52, JCP 26, SDP 15, Sun Party 10, others 15;
- note--the distribution of seats as of January 1999 is as follows--LDP 266, DPJ 94, Komeito/Reform Club 52, Liberal Party 39, JCP 26, SDP 14, independents 5, others 4
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
Liberal Democratic Party or LDP president, Hirohisa FUJII, secretary general]; Japan Communist Party Katsuyuki ISHIDA, secretary general]
note: subsequent to the last legislative elections, the New Frontier Party or NFP and the Sun Party disbanded; the DPJ was formed by former members of the SDP and Sakigake and,
in April 1998, was joined by three additional parties which had formed after the NFP disbanded; New Peace Party and Komei merged to form Komeito in November 1998
International organization participation
AfDB, APEC, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, CCC, CE (observer), CERN (observer), CP, EBRD, ESCAP, FAO, G- 5, G- 7, G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MTCR, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, UN Security Council (temporary), UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNRWA, UNU, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US
- chief of mission:
- Ambassador Kunihiko SAITO
- chancery:
- 2520 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
- consulate(s) general:
- Hagatna (Guam), Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Kansas City (Missouri), Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Portland (Oregon), San Francisco, and Seattle
- consulate(s):
- Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands)
Diplomatic representation from the US
- chief of mission:
- Ambassador Thomas S. FOLEY
- embassy:
- 10-5, Akasaka 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8420
- mailing address:
- Unit 45004, Box 258, APO AP 96337-5004
- consulate(s) general:
- Naha (Okinawa), Osaka-Kobe, Sapporo
- consulate(s):
- Fukuoka, Nagoya
Economy
31 fieldsGDP--composition by sector(1997)
Trading partnersexports left, imports right
Electricity
Economy--overview
Government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery of high technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation (1% of GDP) have helped Japan advance with extraordinary rapidity to the rank of second most powerful economy in the world. 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; this guarantee is 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 1992-95 largely because of the aftereffects of overinvestment during the late 1980s and contractionary domestic policies intended to wring speculative excesses from the stock and real estate markets. Growth picked up to 3.9% in 1996, largely a reflection of stimulative fiscal and monetary policies as well as low rates of inflation. But in 1997-98 Japan experienced a wrenching recession, centered about financial difficulties in the banking system and real estate markets and exacerbated by rigidities in corporate structures and labor markets. In early 1999 output has started to stabilize as emergency government spending begins to take hold. The crowding of habitable land area and the aging of the population are two major long-run problems.
Labor force--by occupation
trade and services 50%, manufacturing, mining, and construction 33%, utilities and communication 7%, agriculture, forestry, and fishing 6%, government 3% (1994)
Industries
among world's largest and technologically advanced producers of steel and nonferrous metallurgy, heavy electrical equipment, construction and mining equipment, motor vehicles and parts, electronic and telecommunication equipment, machine tools, automated production systems, locomotives and railroad rolling stock, ships, chemicals; textiles, processed foods
Agriculture--products
- rice, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit;
- pork, poultry, dairy products, eggs;
- fish
Exports--commodities
manufactures 96% (including machinery 50%, motor vehicles 19%, consumer electronics 3%)
Exchange rates
yen (Y) per US$1--113.18 (January 1999), 130.91 (1998), 120.99 (1997), 108.78 (1996), 94.06 (1995), 102.21 (1994)
Communications
6 fieldsTelephone system
excellent domestic and international service
- domestic:
- NA
- international:
- 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)
Television broadcast stations
- 7,549 (consisting of 6,995 non-government and non-commercial stations, of which 95 are main stations of 1 kW or greater power and 6,900 are low-power stations, and 554 commercial stations of which 113 are main stations and 441 are repeaters);
- note--in addition, US Forces are served by 3 TV stations and 2 TV cable stations (1997)
Transportation
10 fieldsMerchant marine, 713 ships by type(1998 est.)
Airports by runway lengthpaved only
Networkskm
Railways
- total:
- 23,670.7 km
- standard gauge:
- 2,893.1 km 1.435-m gauge (entirely electrified)
- narrow gauge:
- 89.8 km 1.372-m gauge (89.8 km electrified);
- 20,656.8 km 1.067-m gauge (10,383.6 km electrified);
- 31 km 0.762-m gauge (3.6 km electrified) (1994)
Highways
- total:
- 1.16 million km
- paved:
- 859,560 km (including 6,070 km of expressways)
- unpaved:
- 300,440 km (1996 est.)
Ports and harbors
Akita, Amagasaki, Chiba, Hachinohe, Hakodate, Higashi-Harima, Himeji, Hiroshima, Kawasaki, Kinuura, Kobe, Kushiro, Mizushima, Moji, Nagoya, Osaka, Sakai, Sakaide, Shimizu, Tokyo, Tomakomai
Military
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (Army), Japan | Maritime Self-Defense Force (Navy), Japan Air Self-Defense Force | (Air Force)
7 fieldsMilitary branches
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (Army), Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (Navy), Japan Air Self-Defense Force (Air Force)
Transnational Issues
1 fieldDisputes--international
- islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan, and the Habomai group occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia, claimed by Japan;
- Liancourt Rocks (Takeshima/Tokdo) disputed with South Korea;
- Senkaku-shoto (Senkaku Islands) claimed by China and Taiwan
Cite this entry
Central Intelligence Agency. “Japan.” The World Factbook 1999. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/japan/1999.