The culture of Japan is well known around the world, particularly its popular culture as expressed in animation, art, comics, cuisine, fashion, films, music, television, and video games. It has one of the world’s highest life expectancies, but is undergoing a population decline. Since the collapse of the Japanese asset price bubble in the early 1990s, it has experienced a prolonged period of economic stagnation referred to as the Lost Decades. It underwent rapid economic growth in the following decades and became one of the first major non-NATO allies of the U.S. The Meiji period saw Japan pursue rapid industrialization, modernization, militarism, and overseas colonization. In 1853, an American fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West, which led to the end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868.
Population
Minority ethnic groups in the country include the indigenous Ainu and Ryukyuan people. Japan is an ethnically and culturally homogeneous society, with the Japanese people forming 97.4% of the country’s population. Japan has a population of over 123 million, of whom nearly 120 million are Japanese nationals (2024 estimates). Since privatization in 1987, dozens of Japanese railway companies compete in regional and local passenger transportation markets; major companies include seven JR enterprises, Kintetsu, Seibu Railway and Keio Corporation. The Japanese agricultural sector accounts for about 1.2% of the country’s total GDP as of 2018update. Japan is widely considered to be a great power due to its economic power and political, cultural, and military influence.
Main Industries
The Jinshin War of 672, a bloody conflict between Prince Ōama and his nephew Prince Ōtomo, became a major catalyst for further administrative reforms. It 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. Despite early resistance, Buddhism was promoted by the ruling class, including figures like Prince Shōtoku, and gained widespread acceptance beginning in the Asuka period (592–710). A century later, https://www.richyfox.co.uk/ the Book of Wei records that the kingdom of Yamatai (which may refer to Yamato) unified most of these kingdoms. The Yayoi period saw the introduction of innovative practices including wet-rice farming, a new style of pottery, and metallurgy from China and Korea. Clay vessels from the period are among the oldest surviving examples of pottery.
Health
Between the 4th and 6th centuries, its kingdoms were united under an emperor in Nara and later in Heian-kyō. Japan’s neighbors include the Republic of Korea, China and Russia.
The Ryukyu and Nanpō Islands have a subtropical climate, with warm winters and hot summers. Precipitation is not heavy, but the islands usually develop deep snowbanks in the winter. The northernmost region, Hokkaido, has a humid continental climate with long, cold winters and very warm to cool summers.
More recent major quakes are the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, which triggered a large tsunami. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunami, occur several times each century; the 1923 Tokyo earthquake killed over 140,000 people. As of 2014update, approximately 0.5% of Japan’s total area is reclaimed land (umetatechi). Honshu has the highest population density at 450 persons/km2 (1200/sq mi) as of 2010update, while Hokkaido has the lowest density of 64.5 persons/km2 as of 2016update. The Ryukyu Islands, which include Okinawa, are a chain to the south of Kyushu. In 2011, Japan suffered one of the largest earthquakes in its recorded history—the Tōhoku earthquake—triggering the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
In 1936, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany; the 1940 Tripartite Pact made it one of the Axis powers. This process accelerated in the 1930s, spawning several radical nationalist groups that shared a hostility to liberal democracy and a dedication to expansion in Asia. The Japanese population doubled from 35 million in 1873 to 70 million by 1935, with a significant shift to urbanization. Adopting Western political, judicial, and military institutions, the Cabinet organized the Privy Council, introduced the Meiji Constitution (November 29, 1890), and assembled the Imperial Diet.
Land Area
- It was not until after World War II that Japanese architects made an impression on the international scene, firstly with the work of architects like Kenzō Tange and then with movements like Metabolism.
- These reforms culminated with the promulgation of the Taihō Code, which consolidated existing statutes and established the structure of the central and subordinate local governments.
- Immigration and birth incentives are sometimes suggested as a solution to provide younger workers to support the nation’s aging population.
- Since 1973, all elderly persons have been covered by government-sponsored insurance.
- Ishirō 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.
- Clay vessels from the period are among the oldest surviving examples of pottery.
The country’s military, the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), is restricted by Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which renounces Japan’s right to declare war or use military force in international disputes. From the 12th century, actual power was held by military aristocrats known as shōgun and feudal lords called daimyō, enforced by warrior nobility named samurai. English has taken a major role in Japan as a business and international link language, and is a compulsory subject at the junior and senior high school levels.
Western classical music, introduced in the late 19th century, forms an integral part of Japanese culture. Confucian ideals remain evident in the Japanese concept of society and the self, and in the organization of the government and the structure of society. Natsume Sōseki and Mori Ōgai were significant novelists in the early 20th century, followed by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, Kafū Nagai and, more recently, Haruki Murakami and Kenji Nakagami. During the Edo period, the chōnin (“townspeople”) overtook the samurai aristocracy as producers and consumers of literature. In the early Heian period, the system of phonograms known as kana (hiragana and katakana) was developed.
Foreign relations
- Around 14,500 BC (the start of the Jōmon period), a Mesolithic to Neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer culture characterized by pit dwelling and rudimentary agriculture emerged.
- Japan is an ethnically and culturally homogeneous society, with the Japanese people forming 97.4% of the country’s population.
- The changes in demographic structure have created several social issues, particularly a decline in the workforce population and an increase in the cost of social security benefits.
- With a population of over 123 million as of 2025, it is the world’s 11th most populous country.
- Historically influenced by Chinese law, the Japanese legal system developed independently during the Edo period through texts such as Kujikata Osadamegaki.
- In 645, the government led by Prince Naka no Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari devised and implemented the far-reaching Taika Reforms.
Executive power is instead wielded by the prime minister and the Cabinet, whose sovereignty is vested in the Japanese people. In 2020, the government of Japan announced a target of carbon-neutrality by 2050. Japan ranks 20th in the 2018 Environmental Performance Index, which measures a country’s commitment to environmental sustainability. Responding to rising concerns, the government introduced environmental protection laws in 1970. Japan has nine forest ecoregions which reflect the climate and geography of the islands.
By 2015, Japan had become the world’s fourth-largest PC game market by revenue, behind China, the United States, and South Korea. However, Japan’s video game sector remains a major industry; in 2014, Japan’s consumer video game market grossed $9.6 billion, with $5.8 billion coming from mobile gaming. The Japanese shipbuilding industry faces increasing competition from its East Asian neighbors, South Korea and China; a 2020 government initiative identified this sector as a target for increasing exports.
Language
Statutory law originates in the legislature, and the constitution requires that the emperor promulgate legislation passed by the Diet without giving him the power to oppose legislation. Japan is a unitary state and constitutional monarchy in which the power of the emperor (Tennō) is limited to a ceremonial role. In the period of rapid economic growth after World War II, environmental policies were downplayed by the government and industrial corporations; as a result, environmental pollution was widespread in the 1950s and 1960s.
The prime minister as the head of government has the power to appoint and dismiss Ministers of State, and is appointed by the emperor after being designated from among the members of the Diet. During the Meiji period (1868–1912), the Empire of Japan emerged as the most developed state in Asia and as an industrialized world power that pursued military conflict to expand its sphere of influence. The succeeding Ashikaga shogunate failed to control the feudal warlords (daimyō) and a civil war began in 1467, opening the century-long Sengoku period (“Warring States”). Super GT is the most popular national racing series in Japan, while Super Formula is the top-level domestic open-wheel series. Karate, which originated in the Ryukyu Kingdom, is popular across the world and has been included in the Olympic Games.
