57 Facts About Japan

Japan is the eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the most densely populated and urbanized.

Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions.

Japan has been inhabited since the Upper Paleolithic period, though the first written mention of the archipelago appears in a Chinese chronicle finished in the 2nd century AD.

Between the 4th and 9th centuries, the kingdoms of Japan became unified under an emperor and the imperial court based in Heian-kyo.

Amidst a rise in militarism and overseas colonization, Japan invaded China in 1937 and entered World War II as an Axis power in 1941.

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Under the 1947 constitution, Japan has maintained a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature, the National Diet.

Japan is a highly developed country, and a great power in global politics.

Japan has the world's highest life expectancy, though it is experiencing a decline in population.

The culture of Japan is well known around the world, including its art, cuisine, music, and popular culture, which encompasses prominent comic, animation and video game industries.

Name "Japan" is based on Chinese pronunciations of and was introduced to European languages through early trade.

Japan first appears in written history in the Chinese Book of Han, completed in 111 AD.

Far-reaching Taika Reforms in 645 nationalized all land in Japan, to be distributed equally among cultivators, and ordered the compilation of a household registry as the basis for a new system of taxation.

Japan was appointed by Emperor Go-Yozei in 1603 and established the Tokugawa shogunate at Edo .

World War I allowed Japan, which joined the side of the victorious Allies, to capture German possessions in the Pacific and in China.

In 1931, Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria; following international condemnation of the occupation, it resigned from the League of Nations two years later.

In 1936, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany; the 1940 Tripartite Pact made it one of the Axis Powers.

In 1947, Japan adopted a new constitution emphasizing liberal democratic practices.

The Allied occupation ended with the Treaty of San Francisco in 1952, and Japan was granted membership in the United Nations in 1956.

Japan is substantially prone to earthquakes, tsunami and volcanic eruptions because of its location along the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Climate of Japan is predominantly temperate but varies greatly from north to south.

Japan has nine forest ecoregions which reflect the climate and geography of the islands.

Japan is the world's fifth largest emitter of carbon dioxide.

Japan is a unitary state and constitutional monarchy in which the power of the Emperor is limited to a ceremonial role.

Naruhito is the Emperor of Japan, having succeeded his father Akihito upon his accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019.

In 1896, Japan established a civil code based on the German Burgerliches Gesetzbuch, which remains in effect with post–World War II modifications.

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The Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947, is the oldest unamended constitution in the world.

Japan is divided into 47 prefectures, each overseen by an elected governor and legislature.

Japan is a member of the G7, APEC, and "ASEAN Plus Three", and is a participant in the East Asia Summit.

In 2019, Japan had the fourth-largest diplomatic network in the world.

Japan has close economic and military relations with the United States, with which it maintains a security alliance.

Japan is a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a multilateral security collaboration reformed in 2017 aiming to limit Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region, along with the United States, Australia and India, reflecting existing relations and patterns of cooperation.

In 2015, Japan agreed to settle the comfort women dispute with South Korea by issuing a formal apology and paying money to the surviving comfort women.

Japan is engaged in several territorial disputes with its neighbors.

Japan has strained relations with China and Taiwan over the Senkaku Islands and the status of Okinotorishima.

Japan is the second-highest-ranked Asian country in the 2022 Global Peace Index, after Singapore.

Government of Japan has been making changes to its security policy which include the establishment of the National Security Council, the adoption of the National Security Strategy, and the development of the National Defense Program Guidelines.

In May 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan wanted to shed the passiveness it has maintained since the end of World War II and take more responsibility for regional security.

Domestic security in Japan is provided mainly by the prefectural police departments, under the oversight of the National Police Agency.

Japan was the world's fourth-largest exporter and importer in 2021.

Japan has a large cooperative sector, with three of the world's ten largest cooperatives, including the largest consumer cooperative and the largest agricultural cooperative as of 2018.

Japan ranked sixth in the Global Competitiveness Report in 2019.

Japan has a large industrial capacity and is home to some of the "largest and most technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemical substances, textiles, and processed foods".

Japan is the third-largest automobile producer in the world as of 2017 and is home to Toyota, the world's largest automobile company.

Japan is a leading nation in scientific research, particularly in the natural sciences and engineering.

Japan has the second highest number of researchers in science and technology per capita in the world with 14 per 1000 employees.

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Japan lacks significant domestic reserves and has a heavy dependence on imported energy.

Japan is the world's fastest aging country and has the highest proportion of elderly citizens of any country, comprising one-third of its total population; this is the result of a post–World War II baby boom, which was followed by an increase in life expectancy and a decrease in birth rates.

Japan is one of the top-performing OECD countries in reading literacy, math and sciences with the average student scoring 520 and has one of the world's highest-educated labor forces among OECD countries.

Japan has one of the world's highest suicide rates, which is considered a major social issue.

However, Japan has the lowest rate of heart disease in the OECD, and the lowest level of dementia among developed countries.

Japan has a developed system for the protection and promotion of both tangible and intangible Cultural Properties and National Treasures.

Since the 19th century, Japan has incorporated much of Western modern architecture into construction and design.

Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries globally.

Ishiro Honda's Godzilla became an international icon of Japan and spawned an entire subgenre of kaiju films, as well as the longest-running film franchise in history.

Japan has one of the most successful football teams in Asia, winning the Asian Cup four times, and the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2011.

Japan hosted the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 1964 and the Winter Olympics in Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998.

Japan is the most successful Asian Rugby Union country and hosted the 2019 IRB Rugby World Cup.