NationMaster - Statistics on Japan. facts and figures, stats and information on Japanese economy, crime, people, government, health and education. 45 maps and 739 flags

In 1603, a Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship) ushered in a long period of isolation from foreign influence in order to secure its power. For 250 years this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture. Following the Treaty of Kanagawa with the US in 1854, Japan opened its ports and began to intensively modernize and industrialize. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Japan became a regional power that was able to defeat the forces of both China and Russia. It occupied Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), and southern Sakhalin Island. In 1931-32 Japan occupied Manchuria, and in 1937 it launched a full-scale invasion of China. Japan attacked US forces in 1941 - triggering America's entry into World War II - and soon occupied much of East and Southeast Asia. After its defeat in World War II, Japan recovered to become an economic power and a staunch ally of the US. While the emperor retains his throne as a symbol of national unity, actual power rests in networks of powerful politicians, bureaucrats, and business executives. The economy experienced a major slowdown starting in the 1990s following three decades of unprecedented growth, but Japan still remains a major economic power, both in Asia and globally.

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Planned Japanese Attacks in Papua, 1942	[Tokyo] Tokio Region - West 1879	Japan - Minerals	Japan - Industry and Power
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anonymous 24th May 2005	to 'editor:' The Japanese eat fish, veggies & rice, (and in smaller portions than the U.S.) which is good for you, and they bike & walk a lot to get to places.
Lindsey 24th May 2005	I found only two "landforms". I need four. Are there any other than just "Hachiro" and "Mount Fuji?" (I mean, I'm sure there are, it's just no one ever mentions any others. Can you help? Thanks.
mike knows all. 25th November 2005	i will anwser some of your questions in order. 1. first travel: tokyo, kyoto, hiroshima. Everything else is just repeats. ;) i mean it. dont waste your time traveling other places.and... stay at normal hotels but atleast for 1 night try a real japanese hotel called a ryokan...maybe in kyoto. 2.need to know how Japan became Japan. koreans. ocean was low, crossed over. the first developed as a rice devloping coutnry in the yayoi period. They then started to "borrow" ;) chinese writing and building sytle etc as time progressed. They looked at china as an example and improved on things (the exact thing they "try" to do today.) After moving city capitals around, and fighting between warlords, japan becomes a closed society known as sakoku 鎖国. But they traded heavily with the dutch and china, before world war 1 as a closed society. if the dutch can trade in a closed society, why cant america? and thats why america sent Commander Perry over to japan with battle ships, to... you know.. open up the doors for the USA. Before world 1 and during world war 1 japan is americas biggest trading parter. I cant make that up. Read books! and japan started to learn about this new western inudstry, and became the number 1 exporter of textiles. Eventually, they invade China (insted of russia, where they should have invaded.) loose to america. and i mean loose. America in return, bombed all cities. Actually hiroshima and nagasaki, are just 2 cities destroyed by nukes...but in reality every city was destroyed by regular gun fire and bombs. become under americas belt. They help america during other wars, rebuilt. Formed massive monoloplies like zaibatsu. Then in 1980 japan moves to the car and electronics industry and fludes america with their products. america gets mad, then sits in a hotel and decides to raise japans currency up almost tripple. Now americas cant afford to buy their products right? wrong. They moved over sees to china, malayasia, and america. They bought Rokafella center, and american movie companys. Anyway a bubble happened, where japanese became millionares. Expecially, if you owned land, you were a millionare. Thing is, the bubble burst because of bad banks, and just bad company managment, and people went broke and became homeless. But thats another story. That is how japan became japan. 3.I'm doing a school project on China as a "developing" country and Japan as a "developed" one. Can someone point out what would be good for a comparison?? china -currency is differnet all over -bad water expecially in shangdang provinces and the parts that are away from cities. -different languages -charging people more money who are not chinese -farmers are not educated. -no way to extract resources from land. -2 words...coal mines. = death. -poverty -many place have no electricity -laws are not how they should be. -no heat in homes if you go down south. Japan -clean food -transportation to all locations -no diseases -safe -education is good up until the first year of college. -everything standarized. Here is something you should know about japan: -no heat or pipes in walls. its just wood, cement. winter comes, you buy a gas portable heater. -cops..dont do their job. most are bums off the street. -slave labor. people who lost their jobs after the bubble, end up working for 2 dollars an hour building homes. -cant speak any other language except japanese. 4.I need to know how Japan was involved in World War two. Do you have any helpful information or links? Thanx!=) i think i answered that already. 5. What does japan export and import? now a days? electronics, cars, and some small amounts of poultry and rice. import? haha funny question. everything. they are a country with no resources. They have to import everything from fuel, to yes rice. im not contradicting myslef here. Acutally heres something for your report. I believe it was the president of Matsui who said back before word war 1. yes world war 1! any away he siad "the only way japan to survive as a economic power is to work hard and export finished products."...such as textiles, tv, cars, electronics. sorry if i rambled on. hope that helps/
Abdullah (Bangladesh) 27th May 2006	I need a detailed map of Japan and Niigata. Specially the town of Minami Uonuma in Niigata Prefecture. The internet seems to have only japanese versions of such maps

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