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Geographic coordinates: 36 00 N, 138 00 E

Map references: Asia

  total: 377,835 sq km
  land: 374,744 sq km
  water: 3,091 sq km (Note: includes Bonin Islands (Ogasawara-gunto), Daito-shoto, Minami-jima, Okino-tori-shima, Ryukyu Islands (Nansei-shoto), and Volcano Islands (Kazan-retto))

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than California

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 29,751 km

Maritime claims
  exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate: varies from tropical in south to cool temperate in north

Terrain: mostly rugged and mountainous

Elevation extremes
  lowest point: Hachiro-gata -4 m
  highest point: Fujiyama 3,776 m

Natural resources: negligible mineral resources, fish

Land use
  arable land: 11%
  permanent crops: 1%
  permanent pastures: 2%
  forests and woodland: 67%
  other: 19% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 27,820 sq km (1993 est.)



Environment - international agreements
  signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography - note: strategic location in northeast Asia


Population: 126,549,976 (July 2000 est.)

Age structure
  0-14 years: 15% (male 9,575,637; female 9,105,713)
  15-64 years: 68% (male 43,363,054; female 42,980,253)
  65 years and over: 17% (male 9,024,015; female 12,501,304) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.18% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 9.96 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 8.15 deaths/1,000 population (2000 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

Infant mortality rate: 3.91 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
  total population: 80.7 years
  male: 77.51 years
  female: 84.05 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.41 children born/woman (2000 est.)

  noun: Japanese (singular and plural)
  adjective: Japanese

Ethnic groups: Japanese 99.4%, other 0.6% (mostly Korean)


Languages: Japanese

  definition: age 15 and over can read and write
  total population: 99% (1970 est.)
  male: NA%
  female: NA%


Country name
  conventional long form: none
  conventional short form: Japan

Data code: JA

Government type: constitutional monarchy

Capital: Tokyo


Independence: 660 BC (traditional founding by Emperor Jimmu)


Constitution: 3 May 1947

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

Suffrage: 20 years of age; universal

Executive branch
  chief of state: Emperor AKIHITO (since 7 January 1989)
  head of government: Prime Minister Yoshiro MORI (since 5 April 2000)
  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 (Note: on 3 April 2000, Prime Minister Keizo OBUCHI suffered a stroke and was relieved of his duties; Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio AOKI became acting prime minister; on 5 April 2000, Yoshiro MORI was elected prime minister by a vote in both houses of the Diet, receiving 137 out of 244 votes cast in the House of Councillors ans 335 out of 488 votes cast in the House of Representatives)

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 December 1999 is as follows - LDP 105, DPJ 57, Komeito 24, JCP 23, SDP 13, Liberal Party 12, independents 6, others 12; 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 December 1999 is as follows - LDP 267, DPJ 93, Komeito/Reform Club 48, Liberal Party 39, JCP 26, SDP 14, independents 9, 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: Democratic Party of Japan or DPJ [Yukio HATOYAMA, leader, Tsutomu HATA, secretary general]; Japan Communist Party or JCP [Tetsuzo FUWA, chairman, Kazuo SHII, secretary general]; Komeito [Takenori KANZAKI, president, Tetsuzo FUYUSHIBA, secretary general]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [Yoshiro MORI, president, Hiromu NONAKA, secretary general]; Liberal Party [Ichiro OZAWA, president, Hirohisa FUJII, secretary general]; Reform Club [Tatsuo OZAWA, leader, Katsuyuki ISHIDA, secretary general]; Social Democratic Party or SDP [Takako DOI, chairperson, Sadao FUCHIGAMI, secretary general] (Note: subsequent to the last legislative elections, the New Frontier Party or NFP and the Sun Party disbanded; in late 1997, the LP was formed by former NFP members; 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, NAM (guest), NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, 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 Shunji YANAI
  chancery: 2520 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
  telephone: [1] (202) 238-6700
  FAX: [1] (202) 328-2187
  consulate(s) general: Hagatna (Guam), Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, 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 205, APO AP 96337-5004
  telephone: [81] (3) 3224-5000
  FAX: [81] (3) 3224-5856
  consulate(s): Fukuoka, Nagoya

Flag description: white with a large red disk (representing the sun without rays) in the center






GDP - composition by sector
  agriculture: 2%
  industry: 35%
  services: 63% (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share
  lowest 10%: NA%
  highest 10%: NA%


Labor force: 67.76 million (November 1999)


Unemployment rate: 4.7% (1999 est.)

  revenues: $463 billion



Electricity - production: 995.982 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source
  fossil fuel: 56.68%
  hydro: 8.99%
  nuclear: 31.93%
  other: 2.4% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 926.263 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1998)








Debt - external: $NA


Currency: yen


Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March


Telephones - main lines in use: 60.3 million (1997)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 36.5 million (1998)

Telephone system: excellent domestic and international service
  domestic: NA

Radio broadcast stations: AM 190, FM 88, shortwave 24 (1999)

Radios: 120.5 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 7,108 (plus 441 repeaters; note - in addition, US Forces are served by 3 TV stations and 2 TV cable services) (1999)

Televisions: 86.5 million (1997)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 357 (1999)


  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)

  total: 1,152,207 km
  paved: 863,003 km (including 6,114 km of expressways)
  unpaved: 289,204 km (1997 est.)

Waterways: about 1,770 km; seagoing craft ply all coastal inland seas

Pipelines: crude oil 84 km; petroleum products 322 km; natural gas 1,800 km

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

Merchant marine
  total: 662 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 13,039,488 GRT/18,024,969 DWT
  ships by type: bulk 146, cargo 49, chemical tanker 13, combination bulk 16, combination ore/oil 4, container 25, liquified gas 45, passenger 9, passenger/cargo 2, petroleum tanker 214, refrigerated cargo 22, roll-on/roll-off 48, short-sea passenger 9, vehicle carrier 60 (1999 est.)

Airports: 171 (1999 est.)

Airports - with paved runways
  total: 140
  over 3,047 m: 6
  2,438 to 3,047 m: 34
  1,524 to 2,437 m: 41
  914 to 1,523 m: 28
  under 914 m: 31 (1999 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways
  total: 31
  1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
  914 to 1,523 m: 2
  under 914 m: 28 (1999 est.)

Heliports: 14 (1999 est.)


Military branches: Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (Army), Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (Navy), Japan Air Self-Defense Force (Air Force)

Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age

Military manpower - availability
  males age 15-49: 30,259,247 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service
  males age 15-49: 26,139,516 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually
  males: 771,452 (2000 est.)



Transnational Issues

Disputes - 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


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