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Country Info
Location
Far East.
Area 377,864 sq km (145,894 sq miles).
Population 127.8 million (UN estimate 2006).
Population Density 343 per sq km (13,800 per sq km in central Tokyo).
Capital Tokyo.
Population: (central Tokyo): 8.4 million (census, 2005).
Government
Constitutional monarchy.
Language
Japanese is the official language. Some English is spoken in Tokyo, but is less
usual in other big cities.
Religion
Shintoism and Buddhism (most Japanese follow both religions, although religion
does not play a major everyday role in most Japanese lives, with frequent temple
visits being more usually attributed to tourism). There is a Christian minority,
and in the island of Okinawa, some people believe in Niraikanai, a paradise that
lies beyond the sea.
Time
GMT + 9.
Electricity
100 volts AC, 60Hz in the west (Osaka); 100 volts AC, 50Hz in eastern Japan and
Tokyo. Plugs are flat two-pin plugs.
Head of Government
Prime Minister Taro Aso since 2008.
Head of State
Emperor Akihito since 1989.
Recent History
The LDP (Liberal Democratic Party, or Jiyu Minshu-to) has been in power almost
continually since its foundation in 1955. Prime Minister Taro Aso, the LDP's
leader, was elected in September 2008 following the resignation earlier that
month of Yasuo Fukuda, who had held the post for less than a year.
In October 2002, the Koizumi government finally unveiled plans to tackle the
country's financial crisis. Barring unemployment, which reached an unprecedented
6%, the program had begun to show results by late 2003 as government measures
began to take effect.
In September 2006, when his term as president of the ruling LDP ended, Koizumi
stepped down and was replaced by Abe, his former chief cabinet secretary. Under
Abe, the economic improvements have continued, with Japan moving out of negative
inflation, ending a five-year period of stagnant or falling prices.
However, in September 2007, Shinzo Abe announced his resignation admitting that
ministerial scandals and defeat at the polls had destroyed the public's trust in
him. He was replaced by veteran politician Yasuo Fukuda.
Telephone
Country code: 81. Three companies provide international communications services:
KDDI, IDC and ISD, each possessing their own international access number (001,
0061 and 0041, respectively, so to call the UK, for example, you would use 0061
44). Credit cards can also be used directly in some phone boxes. Phone boxes are
found virtually everywhere in Japan. They are green and grey, and accept coins
and magnetic pre-paid cards. IC phone boxes accept IC cards only.
Mobile Telephone
The Japanese mobile network uses PDC (Personal Digital Cellular System)
technology, which is not compatible with GSM or other mobile services. Visitors
can hire handsets from companies such as NTT or Sony Finance. For
UK travelers, mobiles can also be hired before departure from companies such as
Adam Phones (website:
www.adamphones.com). Coverage is good.
Internet
Internet is available; there are many Internet cafes in Tokyo and in the main
cities in Japan. Most Tokyo hotels have Wi-Fi access. The new grey telephones
have modular sockets for computer network access.
Media
Japan’s broadcasting scene is advanced and vibrant, and very competitive, with
established public and commercial outlets competing for audiences. Many millions
now watch satellite and cable pay-TV services, including those provided by
NHK. High-definition TV (HDTV) now has a dedicared NHK channel and is
growing in popularity. Digital terrestrial TV broadcasting is in the process of
being introduced, also. Newspaper readership is extremely high, and national
dailies have circulations in the millions. The press in Japan is free to
criticize the government, although freelance journalists find access to
information difficult.
Post
Letters can be taken to the central post office in front of Tokyo Station or the
International Post Office, near exit A-2 Otemachi subway station, which provide
English-speaking personnel. Airmail to Europe takes four to six days.
Post office hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1700 (1900 at bigger branches). Some main
post offices are 0900-1500 on Saturdays, 0900-1230 on Sundays.
Press
• The English-language daily newspapers in Tokyo include Daily Sports,
Yomiuri Shimbun, The Japan Times and The Mainichi Daily News.
Radio
• NHK is a public broadcaster that operates a news- and speech-based
radio station, as well as a cultural and educational network, a classical
music-based network and an external service, Radio Japan.
• Inter FM, J-Wave and Tokyo FM are all commercial stations.
• TBS Radio is operated by the Tokyo Broadcasting System.
Below are listed Public Holidays for the January -
December period.
2010
1 Jan New Year's Day.
11 Jan Coming of Age Day.
11 Feb National Foundation Day.
20 Mar Vernal Equinox.
29 Apr Showa Day.
3 May Constitution Memorial Day.
4 May Greenery Day.
5 May Children's Day.
19 Jul Marine Day.
20 Sep Respect for the Aged Day.
23 Sep Autumnal Equinox.
11 Oct Sports Day.
3 Nov Culture Day.
23 Nov Labor Thanksgiving Day.
23 Dec Birthday of the Emperor.
Note
(a) With the exception of New Year Bank Holidays, if a holiday falls on a
Sunday, the following day is treated as a holiday instead.
(b) When there is a
single day between two national holidays, it is also taken as a holiday.
(c)
Between 29 December and 3 January government offices and many shops and offices
are closed.
Contact Information:
Embassy of Japan in the UK
101-104 Piccadilly, London W1J 7JT, UK
Tel: (020) 7465 6500 or 6565 (visa section).
Website:
www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0930-1330 and 1430-1730; 0930-1330 and 1430-1630
(consular section).
Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) in the UK
Heathcoat House, 20 Saville Row, London W1S 3PR, UK
Tel: (020) 7734 9638.
Website:
www.seejapan.co.uk
Embassy of Japan in the USA
2520 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008, USA
Tel: (202) 238 6700 or 6800 (visa section).
Website:
www.us.emb-japan.go.jp
Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) in the USA
1 Rockefeller Plaza, Suite 1250, New York, NY 10020, USA
Tel: (212) 757 5640.
Website:
www.japantravelinfo.com
The earliest recorded history of Japan dates back to the reign of the emperor
Jimmu during the sixth century BC. Japan was subject to strong Chinese and
Korean influence thereafter, but was unable to develop a strong centralized
State based on the Chinese model. Political and economic power was in the hands
of a group of noble dynasties which operated on a largely feudal basis. The 12th
century AD saw the emergence of the shogun, a military governor drawn
from one of the great families, who ruled with the consent of the others,
although most of their energies were devoted to internecine warfare. Only an
external threat such as the attempted Mongol invasions in the late 13th century
would unite the various families against the common enemy. This helped create a
latent national consciousness which slowly developed over the next 300 years.
The actual unification of Japan began during the Tokugawa period (1600-1868),
during which a national administrative hierarchy was forged from the family
structures of the ruling class. During this period the shogun retained
supreme executive power. One of the hallmarks of this period from an outsider’s
perspective was Japan’s unyielding resistance to foreign influence; despite its
powerful position in the region, which brought it into contact with the European
imperial powers, Japan conducted a kind of anti-foreign policy. In the late 19th
century, as the Tokugawa regime eventually declined into inertia and profligacy,
a new breed of rulers took control and embarked on a program of rapid
industrialization, establishing a Western-style system of administration in the
process.
The military was the main driving force behind this process. However, formal
executive power was in the hands of the Emperor, who inherited his position and
was treated by most of his subjects as a demi-god – all-powerful and remote.
Japan’s imperial ambitions in the Far East developed during this period,
exemplified by the occupation of Korea in 1905 after the defeat of its main
imperial rival, Russia, in a war that had begun the previous year. The Japanese
took little active part in World War I, despite a formal declaration of war on
Germany, but Japanese factories produced munitions and supplies for the Allies
throughout. In the 1920s and 1930s, Japan resumed its expansionist regional
policies (despite economic difficulties caused by the global recession) with
China as the main target. Japan’s subsequent collision with the British, who had
substantial political and economic interests in China, contributed to her
alliance with Germany in World War II.
Between 1938 and 1941, Japan’s forces occupied China and South-East Asia and
expelled the British from Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. At its zenith, the
Japanese empire, which carried the Orwellian title ‘Co-Prosperity Zone’,
stretched as far south as Indonesia and eastwards far into the Pacific. The
American entry into the war in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
turned the balance against the Japanese, who were slowly pushed back over the
following four years, finally surrendering after the nuclear attacks on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan was occupied by American troops, and in 1946, the
Americans imposed the constitution that governs Japan today.
The years from 1950 to 1990 were a period of exceptional economic growth which
took Japan from the brink of annihilation to the world’s second most powerful
economy. This remarkable achievement was not matched, however, in the political
arena, where the government’s domestic policies were frequently self-serving and
bordering on the corrupt. Foreign policy, meanwhile, was all but non-existent
until the demands of international trade forced the government to address the
outside world. Throughout the East Asian region – most of which had been
occupied by the Japanese during the 1930s and 40s – there was still strong
resentment, especially in China and the Koreas, of Japan’s brutal treatment of
its subject populations. This was compounded by the fact that, in stark contrast
to the de-nazification process which transformed post-war Germany, Japan was
(and, to some extent, still is) in a state of denial about this period of its
history.
Japan’s main postwar political party has been the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP,
or Jiyu Minshu-to), which was formed in 1955 from a coalition of center-right
groups. It held a continuous grip on political power from then until 1993. The
defining feature of the LDP is its factional make-up. Most modern political
parties are broad alliances of groups which may differ on specific policies or
methods but subscribe to the overall objectives articulated by the party
leadership. In the LDP, by contrast, the greater interests of the party were
subordinate to the interests of the factions. Thus the factional leaders of the
LDP have often enjoyed even more power than senior ministers. Successive
Japanese governments have frequently been beholden to the whims of these faction
leaders.
The latest phase of Japan’s political development dates roughly from 1989. In
that year, Japan acquired a new Emperor when Akihito succeeded his father,
Hirohito. The role and status of the Emperor remains a sensitive issue. While
Hirohito was never fully rehabilitated because of his knowledge of Japanese war
crimes, Akihito represents a new generation of Emperor because he has adopted
the more personable style of European monarchs, rather than taken on the
inaccessible demi-god status of his predecessors.
The accession of Akihito coincided with the first indications that the Japanese
economic expansion was stalling. The 1990s brought other important changes as
Japan was adopting a more substantial foreign policy consistent with its
economic muscle. A modification to the constitution in 1992 allowed Japanese
troops to be posted overseas, albeit in a peacekeeping role only. A decade
later, this is still a controversial subject: the Koizumi government (see
below) plan to send Japanese peacekeepers to Iraq sparked furious national
debate. In February 2004, Japanese troops finally entered Iraq for humanitarian
work, and they look set to remain indefinitely, although a rough deadline is
sketched in for December 2004. There are still many, however, who contend that
this very act undermines their pacifist constitution.
More generally, Japan now enjoys substantial influence throughout Asia and
Australasia through its investments and aid programs. As a member of the G8
group of the world’s most powerful states, Japan started to exert substantial
influence on the world stage. Relations with most of its neighbors and trading
partners have undergone some degree of improvement, although there have been
regular trade disputes, particularly with the USA and the European Union. The
only major territorial dispute is with the Russian Federation over the Kurile
Islands off the coast of Hokkaido: this has yet to be resolved.
In July 1993, the LDP lost control of the Diet for the first time since 1955. It
found itself in opposition to a seven-party coalition comprised of leftists,
centrists and LDP defectors under the leadership of Morihiro Hosakawa, head of
the Nihon Shinto (New Japan Party). The unwieldy coalition collapsed
after a year, allowing the LDP to recover power. The LDP was now led by
ex-finance minister Ryutaro Hashimoto who had made his name as a tough and
effective trade negotiator. At the next general election in October 1996, the
LDP was reconfirmed as the party of government.
The 1997 Asian currency crisis exposed deep structural and administrative
problems in Japan. Six years later, despite the abundant evidence of Japan’s
continuing financial malaise, the problems have still not been properly fully
addressed by successive governments. In the immediate aftermath of the crisis,
LDP faction leaders turned on the incumbent Hashimoto (who was also deeply
unpopular in the country) and he was ignominiously turfed out of office. Two
transitional leaders, ex-Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi and faction leader
Yoshiro Mori, then held the premiership in quick succession. After scraping
through the November 2000 general election, the LDP was about to recall
Hashimoto when an unlikely would-be savior appeared in the form of Junichiro
Koizumi, a former minister with a huge popular following by virtue of his
flamboyant personal style and evident determination to break with the past. The
LDP’s overwhelming victory in upper house parliamentary elections in July 2001
secured his position.
In October 2002, the Koizumi government finally unveiled plans to tackle the
country’s financial crisis. Barring unemployment, which has reached an
unprecedented 6 per cent, the program had begun to show results by late 2003 as
government measures began to take effect. This was the main reason for Koizumi’s
successful re-election campaign that saw the LDP returned as the largest party.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won an overwhelming victory in lower house
elections in Septemebr 2005, giving his party and its coalition ally a key
two-thirds majority in the new Parliament. Mr Koizumi promised to push on with
post office reform, which he had put at the heart of his campaign. He said he
still intended to step down in September 2006, when his term as President of the
ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ends; resigning from that post would see
him giving up as Prime Minister as well.
Government
The Japanese parliament is the bicameral Kokkai (or Diet). The upper
house (Sangi-in) has 252 members directly elected from constituencies for
six-year terms (half of which are renewed every three years). The lower house (Shugi-in)
has 500 members elected for four-year terms partly by single-seat
constituencies, partly by proportional representation. The Diet approves the
appointment of a prime minister who holds executive power with the assistance of
a cabinet of ministers. The appointment of the prime minister is formally
entrusted to the Emperor who is head of State but has negligible constitutional
powers.
Economy
After suffering massive destruction during WWII, Japan was the economic
phenomenon of the late 20th century. At US$4.2 trillion, the country’s GDP ranks
second in the world after the USA. The structure of the Japanese domestic
economy revolves around a group of large multi-product corporations (many of
which are global household names), linked in loose alliances with banks and
finance houses.
The model worked superbly until the early 1990s, when competition from abroad
and excessive lending by the banks began to exert pressure. The extent of the
problem became apparent with the 1991 property crash and, more spectacularly,
the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
In the following years the economy stagnated, remaining at 0% inflation for a
few years. Unemployment, a comparative novelty in a country where jobs were
typically guaranteed for life, reached 5.4%.
From 2003, the economy showed signs of recovery. Unemployment peaked at 5.4% in
2002, went to 5.3% in 2003 (its first improvement in 13 years), and as of June
2007, it stood at 3.7%. In 2005, the economy grew by 2.6%. Interest rates now
stand at 0.75%. Agriculture accounts for just 2% of the GDP.
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