17% of the population: over age 65.
15% of the population: ages 0 to 14.
68% of the population: ages 15 to 64.
Life expectancy is 80 years.
99.4% of the people are Japanese with .6%
other (mostly Korean and some Chinese)
Over 126 million people live in Japan.
It has the eighth largest population in the
world.
50% of the population lives on 2% of the
land.
Honshu is the largest and most populated
island.
One quarter of the population of Japan live
in Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures.
84% observe Shinto and Buddhist rites.
Japanese is the language.
English is emphasized as the second
language.
Although Japan is presently having trouble with
its economy, it is one of the most developed countries. Many Japanese companies build many items for
other countries. Japanese products and
technologies are used and admired around the globe.
Currently Japan is experiencing an economic
recession where jobs are scarce and businesses are not as strong as they once
were.
Once working people could get a good job
and expect job security for the rest of their working years. People would get raises based on the length
of time a person was in a company. This
is less common now.
Workers have less security and they can be
replaced with more qualified individuals.
Japan mostly grows rice.
The fishing industry is so important in
Japan. Fish is the most important food.
Japan does not have many natural
resources. It gets most of its products
from other nations.
The government is a parliamentary
democracy.
The head of state is Emperor Akihito.
There are many different climates in
Japan. The north is cold in the winter
and the south is fairly warm.
There’s a 13 hour time difference from New
Jersey.
Japan is over 7500 miles from New Jersey.
Japan is called Nihon or Nippon KoKuo by
the Japanese people. Both of these mean the origin
of the sun. People call Japan “The Land of the Rising Sun.”
The sun flag
is called the Hinomaru. Translated this
means “sun disc.” Since the 17th
century the sun flag having a large red circle on a white background has been
used as the national symbol. The red
circle represents the sun without rays.
The national sport of Japan is baseball.
Japan’s history was filled with a lot of
fighting and war. The samurai were the
warrior soldiers.
China influenced Japan years ago in many
ways.