However, it lacks any laws against discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity and does not have a national human rights institution. The Special Assault Team comprises national-level counter-terrorism tactical units that cooperate with territorial-level Anti-Firearms Squads and Counter-NBC Terrorism Squads. In December 2022, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed the government to increase spending by 65% until 2027. The deployment of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan marked the first overseas use of Japan’s military since World War II. The military is governed by the Ministry of Defense, and primarily consists of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. Japan is the third highest-ranked Asian country in the 2024 Global Peace Index.
Human rights
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.
The country hosted the official 2006 Basketball World Championship and https://www.richyfox.co.uk/ co-hosted the 2023 Basketball World Championship. Popular Japanese beverages include sake, a brewed rice beverage that typically contains 14–17% alcohol and is made by multiple fermentation of rice. Japanese curry, since its introduction to Japan from British India, is so widely consumed that it can be termed a national dish, alongside ramen and sushi.
Population
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 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, 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.
Law enforcement
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.
Japanese comics, known as manga, developed in the mid-20th century and have become popular worldwide. 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. Japanese television dramas are viewed both within Japan and internationally. Kumi-daiko (ensemble drumming) was developed in post-war Japan and became very popular in North America. The popular folk music, with the guitar-like shamisen, dates from the 16th century.
Languages
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is Japan’s national space agency; it conducts space, planetary, and aviation research, and leads development of rockets and satellites. Japan is a leading robotics producer, supplying 38% of the world’s 2024 total, down from 55% in 2017. The country has produced twenty-two Nobel laureates in either physics, chemistry or medicine, and three Fields medalists. Japan’s service sector accounts for about 69.8% of its total economic output as of 2023update.
- Because of its far-flung outlying islands, Japan’s exclusive economic zone is the eighth-largest in the world, covering 4,470,000 km2 (1,730,000 sq mi).
- As of 2023update, Japan’s labor force is the world’s tenth-largest, consisting of over 69.2 million workers.
- Japan’s neighbors include the Republic of Korea, China and Russia.
- The northernmost region, Hokkaido, has a humid continental climate with long, cold winters and very warm to cool summers.
- Responding to rising concerns, the government introduced environmental protection laws in 1970.
- The high-speed Shinkansen (bullet trains) that connect major cities are known for their safety and punctuality.
- After Yoritomo’s death, the Hōjō clan came to power as regents for the shōgun.
The resignation of the shōgun led to the Boshin War and the establishment of a centralized state nominally unified under the emperor (the Meiji Restoration). Modern Japan’s economic growth began in this period, resulting in roads (Kaidō) and water transportation routes, as well as financial instruments such as futures contracts, banking and insurance of the Osaka rice brokers. When open war broke out, Ieyasu defeated rival clans in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Tokugawa Ieyasu served as regent for Hideyoshi’s son Toyotomi Hideyori within the Council of Five Elders and used his position to gain political and military support. During the 16th century, Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries reached Japan for the first time, initiating direct commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West (see Nanban trade and Nanban art).
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.
- 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.
- It has one of the world’s highest life expectancies, but is undergoing a population decline.
- The country’s manufacturing output is the fourth highest in the world as of 2023update.
- Other human rights issues include the treatment of marginalized groups, such as ethnic minorities, refugees and asylum seekers.
- The Jinshin War of 672, a bloody conflict between Prince Ōama and his nephew Prince Ōtomo, became a major catalyst for further administrative reforms.
- The true aim of the reforms was to bring about greater centralization and to enhance the power of the imperial court, which was also based on the governmental structure of China.
Beginning in 2000, Japan implemented the Happy Monday System, which moved a number of national holidays to Monday in order to obtain a long weekend. Japanese animated films and television series, known as anime, were largely influenced by Japanese manga and have become highly popular globally. Many Japanese media franchises have gained considerable global popularity and are among the world’s highest-grossing media franchises. Popular music in post-war Japan has been heavily influenced by American and European trends, which has led to the evolution of J-pop.
The war cost Japan millions of lives and many of its conquered territories, including de jure parts of Japan such as Korea, Taiwan, Karafuto, and the Kurils. Throughout areas occupied by Japan during the war, numerous abuses were committed against local inhabitants. In 1940, the Empire invaded French Indochina, after which the United States placed an oil embargo on Japan.
Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji and the lyrics of Japan’s national anthem “Kimigayo” were written during this time. This marked the beginning of the Heian period (794–1185), during which a distinctly indigenous Japanese culture emerged. A smallpox epidemic in 735–737 is believed to have killed as much as one-third of Japan’s population. The period is characterized by the appearance of a nascent literary culture with the completion of the Kojiki (712) and Nihon Shoki (720), as well as the development of Buddhist-inspired artwork and architecture.