Japan

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National name: Nippon

Current government officials

Language: Japanese

Ethnicity/race: Japanese 98.5%, Koreans 0.5%, Chinese 0.4%, other 0.6% 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)

Religions: Shintoism 83.9%, Buddhism 71.4%, Christianity 2%, other 7.8% note: total adherents exceeds 100% because many people belong to both Shintoism and Buddhism (2005)

National Holiday: Birthday of Emperor Akihito, December 23

Literacy rate: 99% (2002 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2011 est.): $4.497 trillion; per capita $35,200. Real growth rate: –0.7%. Inflation: 0.4%. Unemployment: 5.6%. Arable land: 11.64%. Agriculture: rice, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit; pork, poultry, dairy products, eggs; fish. Labor force: 65.93 million; agriculture 3.9%, industry 26.2%, services 69.8% (2011). 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. Natural resources: negligible mineral resources, fish. Exports: $800.8 billion (2011 est.): transport equipment, motor vehicles, semiconductors, electrical machinery, chemicals. Imports: $794.7 billion (2011 est.): machinery and equipment, fuels, foodstuffs, chemicals, textiles, raw materials. Major trading partners: U.S., China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Thailand (2011).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 40.419 million (2009); mobile cellular: 121 million (2009). Broadcast media: a mixture of public and commercial broadcast TV and radio stations; 5 national terrestrial TV networks including 1 public broadcaster; the large number of radio and TV stations available provide a wide range of choices; satellite and cable services provide access to international channels (2008). Internet hosts: 63.466 million (2010). Internet users: 99.182 million (2009).

Transportation: Railways: total: 27,182 km (2009). Highways: total: 1,210,251 km; paved: 973,234 km (includes 7,803 km of expressways); unpaved: 237,017 km (2003). Waterways: 1,770 km (seagoing vessels use inland seas) (2010). Ports and terminals: Chiba, Kawasaki, Kiire, Kisarazu, Kobe, Mizushima, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo, Yohohama. Airports: 175 (2012).

International disputes: 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.

Major sources and definitions

Recent Rulers of Japan