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Japan
Area: 377,780 square kilometres (142,771 square miles)
Population: 127,100,000
Capital City: Tokyo
People: 98.7% Japanese; 1.3 % other (mostly ethnic Korean)
Language: Japanese
Religion(s): 80% of Japanese adhere to more than one religion: Shinto (106.2 million), Buddhism (95.8 million), Christianity (1.8 million), others (10.2 million)
Currency: Yen
Major Political Parties: LDP - Liberal Democratic Party; DPJ - Democratic Party of Japan; New Komeito; JCP - Japan Communist Party; SDP - Social Democratic Party
Government: Representative democracy with a bicameral parliament (the Diet). Executive power rests with the Prime Minister and his cabinet. The emperor is head of state, although his function is purely symbolic.
Head of State: Emperor Akihito, ascended to throne 7 January 1989.
Prime Minister: Shinzo Abe (LDP), since 26 September 2006.
Foreign Minister: Taro Aso since 31 October 2005.
Economic Information: Despite several years of low growth, Japan still has the second largest economy in the world. An export-led recovery under way since mid-2002 is becoming more broad-based.
Membership of International groups/organisations: United Nations (UN), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), World Trade Organisation (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Group of 8 (G8), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Bank (World Bank), Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), African Development Bank (AFDB), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), Asia Development Bank (ADB), Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol), International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Maritime Organisation (IMO), International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (ITSO), International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Universal Postal Union (UPU), International Whaling Commission (IWC), World Health Organisation (WHO), plus various others.
GEOGRAPHY
Japan consists of a chain of islands. The main ones are Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu (where Tokyo and Osaka are situated) and Hokkaido. The land is mountainous and volcanic, and only 17% of the total area is cultivable. The highest mountain is Mount Fuji (a dormant volcano) at 3,776 m.
HISTORY
A centralised state has existed in Japan since the 4th century. In the middle of the 19th century, the ruling elite set about developing Japan's industrial and military power, and methodically adopted much from the West. Japan's rapid rise led to a war with China 1894-95, Russia 1904-05, and the annexation of Korea in 1910. Japan appeared to be becoming a liberal democracy in the 1920s, but the Great Depression led to acute economic problems and military domination. Japanese military expansion in China after 1931 led to friction with Western powers and, faced with an oil blockade, Japan started the Pacific War.
The Allied occupation after the Second World War introduced far-reaching political, social and economic reforms before Japan regained full independence when the San Francisco Peace Treaty came into force in April 1952. By 1955, a strong co-operative arrangement was established between a dominant conservative party, the bureaucracy and business, which successfully implemented policies aimed at rapid industrial growth. This concentrated economic activity in some regions and led to policies aimed at ensuring wealth was redistributed to rural areas.
POLITICS
Japan's Diet consists of the House of Representatives, and the lesser powerful House of Councillors. The House of Representatives has 480 members (300 from single seat constituencies and 180 from regional PR blocks); the House of Councillors has 242 members (146 from prefecture-based multimember constituencies, and 96 from a national PR list.). Members of the House of Representatives are elected for a four year term, but the Prime Minister can call an election at his discretion. Members of the House of Councillors serve a fixed six year term, with half of the seats contested every three years. The last general election (House of Representatives) was held on 11 September 2005; the next must be held by September 2009. The next Upper House election will take place in July 2007.
The conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has ruled Japan for most of its post-war history. In power continuously from 1955-1993, they were toppled by a loose coalition of their rivals in 1993. But in 1994 they were back in power as part of a coalition and nearly all governments since then have been LDP-led coalition governments. The current coalition was formed in April 2000 between the LDP and New Komeito, a small party with close ties to the lay Buddhist organisation, Soka Gakkai. The main Opposition party is the "centrist" Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
After a succession of short-lived leaders in the late 1990s, Junichiro Koizumi became Prime Minister in April 2001. His fresh approach was popular with the public allowing him to pursue difficult structural reforms and tackle vested interests within the party. Koizumi dissolved the House of Representatives for a snap general election in September 2005 when members of his own party voted against his flagship reform of postal privatisation. The resulting landslide (296 of 480 seats - the party's largest total since 1986) injected new momentum into Koizumi's reform programme.
Koizumi was succeeded as Prime Minister by Shinzo Abe on 26 September 2006. At 52, Abe is Japan's youngest Prime Minister since WWII and the first to be born after it. Abe has pledged to continue Koizumi's reform line, and to promote stronger political leadership within the policy making process.
ECONOMY
Basic Economic Facts
GDP:US$ 4,567 billion (2005)
GDP per head: US$ 35,757 (2005)
Annual Growth: +2.6% (2005)
Inflation: -0.3% (2005)
Major Industries: High-tech electronic products, motor vehicles, office machinery, chemicals.
Major trading Partners: US, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Germany, Hong Kong
Aid & development: ODA disbursement in 2002 was US$ 13,101 million
Exchange rate: £1 = 222 Yen on 18 October 2006
The post-war Japanese economy experienced miraculous growth, expanding ten-fold from 1955 to 1990 allowing living standards to catch up and surpass those of established Western economies. A number of factors, including low interest rates, banking deregulation and sudden appreciation of the yen, resulted in a stock market and real-estate bubble in the late 1980s. At the end of 1989 the bubble burst; since then stock prices have fallen as much as 75 percent and the value of commercial land in Tokyo is down 85 percent.
The economy then stagnated for more than a decade due to sluggish consumption and weak investment as excesses from the 1980s unwound and Japan adjusted to Asian industrialisation and globalisation. A particular hindrance was the lingering non-performing loan problem that prolonged the life of the weakest companies and hampered economic recovery. Through the 1990s, the Government utilised huge fiscal and monetary stimuli to try to kickstart the economy. During Prime Minister Koizumi's term in office, there was a greater focus on structural reforms in the corporate and public sectors to lift Japan out of its economic malaise, culminating in the passing of legislation to privatise Japan Post, by some measures the largest financial institution in the world. Prime Minister Abe aims to increase Japan's economic growth rate through continued economic reform.
That the economy is recovering strongly is no longer in doubt. The current expansion has now lasted as long as the longest previous expansion, which ended in 1970. Booming exports and business investment and solid growth in private consumption have been driving this, but increasingly, the domestic private sector has taken over from exports as the main driver for growth. The economy is now as close to achieving self-sustaining growth as it has been at any time since 1990.
Japan has the world's fastest ageing population thanks to the highest life expectancy in the world and a low birth rate. As a result, the population has started to shrink. The working-age population is forecast to contract by almost 20 percent over the next two decades if current trends continue. This presents significant challenges - all too familiar in Europe - for the provision of pensions and healthcare in the future.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Japan is increasingly active in international diplomacy, and is a reliable and constructive partner on a wide range of issues including Iraq, Indonesia/East Timor, the Middle East Peace Process, Afghanistan, and in counter-proliferation and the fight against terrorism. Since 11 September 2001 Japan has provided welcome political, economic and logistical support to the international coalition against terrorism and has extended strong civil and military support to reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Japan's Presidency of the G8 in 2000 was regarded domestically as a great success. They will next hold the G8 Presidency in 2008.
Japan's Relations with the US
The US remains Japan's principal foreign policy and economic partner and the security relationship is central to Japan's defence policy. Under Koizumi, Japan took on a more active role in the security relationship. Japanese support for the war on terrorism, along with the absence of major trade frictions, has contributed to a warming of relations which is expected to continue under Abe. The two countries work closely together on North Korea policy.
Japan's Relations with China
Japan normalised relations with China in 1972 and the two countries have strong, and growing, economic links. But there is also considerable friction in the relationship. In China, there are still bitter memories of Japanese actions there in the pre-1945 period, which were magnified by Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni shrine honouring Japan's war dead. Japan worries about the growth in China's defence spending, and competition from Chinese exports to certain sectors in Japan. Prime Minister Abe visited China and South Korea in October 2006.
Japan's Relations with South Korea
Japan's relations with South Korea remain soured by memories of Japanese actions on the peninsula. Relations with the South were normalised under the Basic Treaty in 1965 and had shown signs of warming after President Kim Dae-jung, during his visit to Japan in September 1998, stated publicly that the relationship should look forwards, not back. President Roh Moo-hyun visited Japan in June 2003, but ongoing differences over historical issues led to a suspension of summit meetings until Abe's visit in October 2006.
Japan's Relations with North Korea
Japan has never had diplomatic relations with the DPRK, and the situation between the two nations remains tense. Then Prime Minister Koizumi's bold initiative to visit Pyongyang and meet with Kim Jong II on 17 September 2002 shifted the ground on many long-standing bilateral problems. Most importantly for Japan, Kim admitted for the first time that North Korea had abducted several Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s. A shocked nation was told that eight had died in North Korea, another five were subsequently allowed to return to Japan. In May 2004, in the wake of Koizumi's second visit to Pyongyang and decision to resume humanitarian aid to North Korea, the children of two abductee couples were allowed to join their parents in Japan. However, continued family separations, unanswered questions about deceased abductees, as well as Japan's security concerns over the DPRK's nuclear and missile programmes still stand in the way of a normalisation of relations. Japan is a participant in the Six-Party Talks, which address the North Korean nuclear issue.
Japan's Relations with Asia
The Japanese economy is by far the largest in Asia. Japan made a major contribution to help South-east Asian countries affected by the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. Japan is by far the largest investor and bilateral aid donor in the ASEAN region.
Terrorism
Twenty-four Japanese citizens died in the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. The Japanese reaction was swift. Prime Minister Koizumi presented a package of measures to the Diet that included humanitarian assistance for the countries near Afghanistan and logistical support from the Self Defence Forces for US and other forces involved.
Aid
Japan was the world's largest single aid donor in absolute terms for several years and is now second behind the US. Most goes to Asia and the Pacific, particularly China, Indonesia, and other ASEAN states. Japan was a significant contributor to the aid efforts after the tsunami, giving $500 million as well as providing logistical help on the ground. However, Japan has reduced its aid budget in recent years, reflecting economic difficulties and growing political opposition to the scale of grant aid offered to China.
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Energy Security has been a core goal of Japanese domestic and foreign policy. As a nation that imports 99% of its huge fossil fuel requirements, Japan is particularly vulnerable to external shocks. This vulnerability lies behind the vigour with which Japan has pursued a nuclear programme, investing huge sums in the pursuit of the nuclear fuel cycle. Although Japan currently produces 35% of its electricity in nuclear plants, recent safety scandals and demand concerns (Japanese electricity demand is forecast to peak within 20 years) mean that this programme may not expand much further. Japan has also invested tremendously in the pursuit of 'new energies', and is a world leader in solar, hybrid car and fuel cell technologies. These technologies, as well as nuclear power and Japan's impressive level of energy efficiency, lie at the heart of the country's efforts to reduce its carbon emissions. However, attached though it is to the Kyoto Protocol, Japan is currently slipping behind its targets and is considering what further policies to implement. Japan's own natural environment, while diverse and often exceptionally beautiful, has suffered from the pressures of population density and expansive infrastructure investment.
HUMAN RIGHTS
There has recently been increasing discussion of human rights issues in Japan. The main issues of interest to activists in the past was the treatment of minorities of Japan, including 'lower caste' Japanese, the Ainu race in Hokkaido, and ethnic Korean and Chinese residents in Japan. With the Japanese Government having taken some action to deal with these, the focus has moved on to the rights of children and women. Legislation to counter child abuse, both in Japan and abroad, has been passed and measures are also being introduced to reduce the level of domestic violence. Japan still retains (and carries out) the death penalty and Britain, through the EU, regularly takes this up with the Japanese Government, although there is still overwhelming support for capital punishment in Japan.
HEALTH
Japanese men and women enjoy the highest life expectancy in the world. However, with the Japanese population expected to age rapidly during the next 30 years, the Government is concerned about how it will finance health care for the aged in the future.
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