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Politics of Japan

Politics of Japan are conducted in a framework of a dominant-party bicameral parliamentary constitutional monarchy, in which the Emperor is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government and the head of the Cabinet, which directs the executive branch.

Legislative power is vested in the National Diet, which consists of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors. The House of Representatives has eighteen standing committees ranging in size from 20 to 50 members and The House of Councillors has sixteen ranging from 10 to 45 members.

Judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court and lower courts, and sovereignty is vested in the people of Japan by the 1947 Constitution, which was written during the Occupation of Japan primarily by American officials and had replaced the previous Meiji Constitution. Japan is considered a constitutional monarchy with a system of civil law.

Politics in Japan in the post-war period has largely been dominated by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has been in power almost continuously since its foundation in 1955, a phenomenon known as the 1955 System. Of the 31 prime ministers since the end of the country's occupation, 24 as well as the longest serving ones have been members of the LDP. Consequently, Japan has been described as a de facto one-party state. According to the V-Dem Democracy indices, Japan was the 23rd most electoral democratic country in the world as of 2023.

Legitimacy
The creation and ratification of this current document has been widely viewed by many geopolitical analysts and historians as one that was forced upon Japan by the United States after the end of World War II.

Although this "imposition" claim arose originally as a rallying cry among conservative politicians in favour of constitutional revision in the 1950s, and that it wasn't "inherently Japanese", it has also been supported by the research of several independent American and Japanese historians of the period.

A competing claim, which also emerged from the political maelstrom of the 1950s revision debate, holds that the ratification decision was actually the result of apparent "collaboration" between American occupation authorities, successive Japanese governments of the time, and private sector "actors".

Government
Article 1 of the Constitution of Japan (日本国憲法, Nihon-koku kenpō) defines the Emperor (天皇, Tennō) to be "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people". He performs ceremonial duties and holds no real power. Political power is held mainly by the Prime Minister, Cabinet, and other elected members of the National Diet. The Imperial Throne is succeeded by a paternal male member of the Imperial House as designated by the Imperial Household Law.

The chief of the executive branch and head of government, the Prime Minister (内閣総理大臣, Naikaku Sōri-Daijin), is appointed by the Emperor as directed by the National Diet. They are a member of either house of the National Diet and must be a civilian. The Cabinet (内閣, Naikaku) members are nominated by the Prime Minister, and are also required to be civilian. With the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in power, it has been convention that the President of the party serves as the Prime Minister.

Legislature
Japanese constitution states that the National Diet (国会, Kokkai), its law-making institution, shall consist of two Houses, namely the House of Representatives (衆議院, Shūgiin) and the House of Councillors (参議院, Sangiin). The Diet shall be the highest organ of state power, and shall be the sole law-making organ of the State. It states that both Houses shall consist of elected members, representative of all the people and that the number of the members of each House shall be fixed by law. Both houses pass legislation in identical form for it to become law. Similarly to other parliamentary systems, most legislation that is considered in the National Diet is proposed by the cabinet. The cabinet then relies on the expertise of the bureaucracy to draft actual bills.

The lower house, the House of Representatives, the most powerful of the two, holds power over the government, being able to force its resignation. The lower house also has ultimate control of the passage of the budget, the ratification of treaties, and the selection of the Prime Minister. Its power over its sister house is, if a bill is passed by the lower house (the House of Representatives) but is voted down by the upper house (the House of Councillors), the ability to override the decision of the House of Councillors. Members of the lower house, as a result of the Prime Minister's power to dissolve them, more frequently serve for less than four years in any given terms.

The upper house, the House of Councillors, is very weak and bills are sent to the House of Councillors only to be approved, not made. Members of the upper house are elected for six-year terms with half the members elected every three years.

It is possible for different parties to control the lower house and the upper house, a situation referred to as a "twisted Diet", something that has become more common since the JSP took control of the upper house in 1989.

Political parties and elections
Several political parties exist in Japan. However, the politics of Japan have primarily been dominated by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 1955, with the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) playing an important role as the opposition several times. The DPJ was the ruling party from 2009 to 2012 with the LDP as the opposition. The LDP was the ruling party for decades since 1955, despite the existence of multiple parties. Most of the prime ministers (presidents of the LDP) were elected from inner factions of the LDP.

Policy making
Despite an increasingly unpredictable domestic and international environment, policy making conforms to well established postwar patterns. The close collaboration of the ruling party, the elite bureaucracy and important interest groups often make it difficult to tell who exactly is responsible for specific policy decisions.

Policy development in Japan
After a largely informal process within elite circles in which ideas were discussed and developed, steps might be taken to institute more formal policy development. This process often took place in deliberation councils (shingikai). There were about 200 shingikai, each attached to a ministry; their members were both officials and prominent private individuals in business, education, and other fields. The shingikai played a large role in facilitating communication among those who ordinarily might not meet.

Given the tendency for real negotiations in Japan to be conducted privately (in the nemawashi, or root binding, process of consensus building), the shingikai often represented a fairly advanced stage in policy formulation in which relatively minor differences could be thrashed out and the resulting decisions couched in language acceptable to all. These bodies were legally established but had no authority to oblige governments to adopt their recommendations. The most important deliberation council during the 1980s was the Provisional Commission for Administrative Reform, established in March 1981 by Prime Minister Suzuki Zenko. The commission had nine members, assisted in their deliberations by six advisers, twenty-one "expert members," and around fifty "councillors" representing a wide range of groups. Its head, Keidanren president Doko Toshio, insisted that the government agree to take its recommendations seriously and commit itself to reforming the administrative structure and the tax system.

In 1982, the commission had arrived at several recommendations that by the end of the decade had been actualized. These implementations included tax reform, a policy to limit government growth, the establishment in 1984 of the Management and Coordination Agency to replace the Administrative Management Agency in the Office of the Prime Minister, and privatization of the state-owned railroad and telephone systems. In April 1990, another deliberation council, the Election Systems Research Council, submitted proposals that included the establishment of single-seat constituencies in place of the multiple-seat system.

Another significant policy-making institution in the early 1990s was the Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council. It consisted of a number of committees, composed of LDP Diet members, with the committees corresponding to the different executive agencies. Committee members worked closely with their official counterparts, advancing the requests of their constituents, in one of the most effective means through which interest groups could state their case to the bureaucracy through the channel of the ruling party.

Post-war political developments in Japan
Political parties had begun to revive almost immediately after the Allied occupation began because of surrender of Japan in World War II. Left-wing organizations, such as the Japan Socialist Party and the Japanese Communist Party, quickly reestablished themselves, as did various conservative parties. The old Rikken Seiyūkai and Rikken Minseitō came back as, the Liberal Party (Nihon Jiyūtō) and the Japan Progressive Party (Nihon Shimpotō) respectively. The first postwar general election was held in 1946 (women were given the franchise for the first time in 1946), and the Liberal Party's vice president, Yoshida Shigeru (1878–1967), became prime minister.

For the 1947 general election, anti-Yoshida forces left the Liberal Party and joined forces with the Progressive Party to establish the new Democratic Party (Minshutō). This divisiveness in conservative ranks gave a plurality to the Japan Socialist Party, which was allowed to form a cabinet, which lasted less than a year. Thereafter, the socialist party steadily declined in its electoral successes. After a short period of Democratic Party administration, Yoshida returned in late 1948 and continued to serve as prime minister until 1954.

Even before Japan regained full sovereignty, the government had rehabilitated nearly 80,000 people who had been purged, many of whom returned to their former political and government positions. A debate over limitations on military spending and the sovereignty of the Emperor ensued, contributing to the great reduction in the Liberal Party's majority in the first post-occupation elections (October 1952). After several reorganizations of the armed forces, in 1954 the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) were established under a civilian director. Cold War realities and the hot war in nearby Korea also contributed significantly to the United States-influenced economic redevelopment, the suppression of communism, and the discouragement of organized labor in Japan during this period.

Continual fragmentation of parties and a succession of minority governments led conservative forces to merge the Liberal Party (Jiyūtō) with the Japan Democratic Party (Nihon Minshutō), an offshoot of the earlier Democratic Party, to form the Liberal Democratic Party (Jiyū-Minshutō; LDP) in November 1955, called 1955 System. This party continuously held power from 1955 through 1993, except for a short while when it was replaced by a new minority government. LDP leadership was drawn from the elite who had seen Japan through the defeat and occupation. It attracted former bureaucrats, local politicians, businessmen, journalists, other professionals, farmers, and university graduates.

In October 1955, socialist groups reunited under the Japan Socialist Party (JSP), which emerged as the second most powerful political force. It was followed closely in popularity by the Komeito, founded in 1964 as the political arm of the Soka Gakkai (Value Creation Society), until 1991, a lay organization affiliated with the Nichiren Shōshū Buddhist sect. The Komeito emphasized the traditional Japanese beliefs and attracted urban laborers, former rural residents, and women. Like the Japan Socialist Party, it favored the gradual modification and dissolution of the Japan-United States Mutual Security Assistance Pact.

Political developments since 1990
The LDP domination lasted until the National Diet Lower House general election on 18 July 1993, in which LDP failed to win a majority. A coalition of new parties and existing opposition parties formed a governing majority and elected a new non-LDP prime minister, Morihiro Hosokawa (leader of Japan New Party), in August 1993. His government's major legislative objective was political reform, consisting of a package of new political financing restrictions and major changes in the electoral system. The coalition succeeded in passing landmark political reform legislation in January 1994.

In April 1994, Prime Minister Hosokawa resigned. Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata (leader of Japan Renewal Party) formed the successor coalition government, Japan's first minority government in almost 40 years. Prime Minister Hata resigned less than two months later. Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama (leader of JSP) formed the next government in June 1994 with the coalition of JSP, the LDP, and the small New Party Sakigake. The advent of a coalition containing the JSP and LDP shocked many observers because of their previously fierce rivalry.

Prime Minister Murayama served from June 1994 to January 1996. He was succeeded by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto (president of the LDP), who served from January 1996 to July 1998. Prime Minister Hashimoto headed a loose coalition of three parties until the July 1998 Upper House election, when the two smaller parties cut ties with the LDP. Hashimoto resigned due to a poor electoral performance by the LDP in the Upper House elections. He was succeeded as party president of the LDP and prime minister by Keizō Obuchi, who took office on 30 July 1998. The LDP formed a governing coalition with the Liberal Party in January 1999, and Obuchi remained prime minister. The LDP-Liberal coalition expanded to include the New Komeito Party in October 1999.

Political developments since 2000
Prime Minister Obuchi suffered a stroke in April 2000 and was replaced by Yoshirō Mori. After the Liberal Party left the coalition in April 2000, Prime Minister Mori welcomed a Liberal Party splinter group, the New Conservative Party, into the ruling coalition. The three-party coalition made up of the LDP, New Komeito, and the New Conservative Party maintained its majority in the Diet following the June 2000 Lower House elections.

After a turbulent year in office in which he saw his approval ratings plummet to the single digits, Prime Minister Mori agreed to hold early elections for the LDP presidency in order to improve his party's chances in crucial July 2001 Upper House elections. On 24 April 2001, riding a wave of grassroots desire for change, maverick politician Junichiro Koizumi defeated former prime minister Hashimoto and other party stalwarts on a platform of economic and political reform.

Koizumi was elected as Japan's 56th Prime Minister on 26 April 2001. On 11 October 2003, Prime Minister Koizumi dissolved the lower house and he was re-elected as the president of the LDP. Likewise, that year, the LDP won the general election, even though it suffered setbacks from the new opposition party, the liberal and social-democratic Democratic Party (DPJ). A similar event occurred during the 2004 Upper House election as well.

In a strong move, on 8 August 2005, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called for a snap general election to the lower house, as threatened, after LDP stalwarts and opposition DPJ parliamentarians defeated his proposal for a large-scale reform and privatization of Japan Post, which besides being Japan's state-owned postal monopoly is arguably the world's largest financial institution, with nearly 331 trillion yen of assets. The election was scheduled for 11 September 2005, with the LDP achieving a landslide victory under Junichiro Koizumi's leadership.

The ruling LDP started losing hold in 2006. No prime minister except Koizumi had good public support. On 26 September 2006, the new LDP President Shinzo Abe was elected by a special session of the National Diet to succeed Junichiro Koizumi as the next prime minister. He was Japan's youngest post-World War II prime minister and the first born after the war. On 12 September 2007, Abe surprised Japan by announcing his resignation from office. He was replaced by Yasuo Fukuda, a veteran of LDP.

In the meantime, on 4 November 2007, the leader of the main opposition party, Ichirō Ozawa announced his resignation from the post of party president, after controversy over an offer to the DPJ to join the ruling coalition in a grand coalition, but has since, with some embarrassment, rescinded his resignation.

On 11 January 2008, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda forced a bill allowing ships to continue a refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of US-led operations in Afghanistan. To do so, PM Fukuda used the LDP's overwhelming majority in the Lower House to ignore a previous "no-vote" of the opposition-controlled Upper House. This was the first time in 50 years that the Lower House voted to ignore the opinion of the Upper House. Fukuda resigned suddenly on 1 September 2008, just a few weeks after reshuffling his cabinet. On 1 September 2008, Fukuda's resignation was designed so that the LDP did not suffer a "power vacuum". It thus caused a leadership election within the LDP, and the winner, Tarō Asō (Shigeru Yoshida's grandson) was chosen as the new LDP president on 24 September 2008, he was appointed as the 92nd Prime Minister after the House of Representatives voted in his favor in the extraordinary session of the National Diet.

Later, on 21 July 2009, Prime Minister Asō dissolved the House of Representatives and general election was held on 30 August. The election results for the House of Representatives were announced on 30 and 31 August 2009. The opposition party DPJ led by Yukio Hatoyama (Ichirō Hatoyama's grandson), won a majority by gaining 308 seats (10 seats were won by its allies the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party). On 16 September 2009, the leader of DPJ, Hatoyama was elected by the House of Representatives as the 93rd Prime Minister of Japan.

Political developments since 2010
On 2 June 2010, Hatoyama resigned due to lack of fulfillments of his policies, both domestically and internationally and soon after, on 8 June, Akihito, Emperor of Japan ceremonially swore in the newly elected DPJ's leader, Naoto Kan as the 94th prime minister. Kan suffered an early setback in the 2010 Japanese House of Councillors election. In a routine political change in Japan, DPJ's new leader and former finance minister of Kan Cabinet, Yoshihiko Noda was cleared and elected by the National Diet as 95th prime minister on 30 August 2011. He was officially appointed as prime minister in the attestation ceremony by Emperor Akihito at the Tokyo Imperial Palace on 2 September 2011.

Noda dissolved the lower house on 16 November 2012 (as he failed to get support outside the Diet on various domestic issues i.e. consumption tax, nuclear energy) and general election was held on 16 December. The results were in favor of the LDP, which won an absolute majority in the leadership of former prime minister Shinzo Abe. He was appointed as the 96th Prime Minister of Japan on 26 December 2012. With the changing political situation, earlier in November 2014, Prime Minister Abe called for a fresh mandate for the Lower House. In an opinion poll the government failed to win public trust due to bad economic achievements in the two consecutive quarters and on the tax reforms.

The general election was held on 14 December 2014, and the results were in favor of the LDP and its ally New Komeito. Together they managed to secure a huge majority by winning 325 seats for the Lower House. The opposition, DPJ, could not manage to provide alternatives to the voters with its policies and programs. "Abenomics", the ambitious self-titled fiscal policy of the current prime minister, managed to attract more voters in this election, many Japanese voters supported the policies. Shinzō Abe was sworn as the 97th prime minister on 24 December 2014 and would go ahead with his agenda of economic revitalization and structural reforms in Japan.

Prime Minister Abe was elected again for a fourth term after the 2017 general election. It was a snap election called by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Abe's ruling coalition won a clear majority with more than two-thirds of 465 seats in the lower house of Parliament (House of Representatives). The opposition was in deep political crisis.

In July 2019, Japan had a national election. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Prime Minister Abe won a majority of seats in the upper house of Parliament (House of Councillors). However, Abe failed to achieve the two-thirds majority, and the ruling coalition could not amend the constitution.

Political developments since 2020
On 28 August 2020 following reports of ill-health, Abe resigned citing health concerns, triggering a leadership election to replace him as prime minister. Abe was the longest-serving Prime Minister in the political history of Japan.

After winning the leadership of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, a close ally of his predecessor, was elected as the 99th prime minister of Japan by the National Diet on 16 September 2020. He became the first prime minister appointed by Emperor Naruhito at the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Suga's response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, as the architect of the GoTo tourism program criticised for helping the virus spread, along with high case numbers in April 2021 ahead of the Tokyo Olympics has since negatively affected perceptions of his administration. On 2 September 2021, Suga announced that he would not seek reelection as LDP President, effectively ending his term as prime minister. On 4 October 2021, Fumio Kishida took office as new prime minister. Kishida was elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) previous week. He was officially confirmed as the 100th prime minister following a parliamentary vote with appointment by Emperor Naruhito at Tokyo Imperial Palace. On 31 October 2021, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) held onto its single party majority in the general election.

On 8 July 2022, former prime minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed at a campaign rally in Nara for the 2022 Japanese House of Councillors election. State funeral of Abe was held on 27 September at Nippon Budokan.

title: Politics of Japan


text:
Economy of Japan

The economy of Japan is a highly developed/advanced social market economy, often referred to as an East Asian model. It is the fourth-largest economy in the world by nominal GDP behind the United States, China, and Germany, and the fourth-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) as well, after India instead of Germany. It constituted 4.2% of the world's economy on a nominal basis in 2022. According to the IMF, the country's per capita GDP (PPP) was at $54,184 (2024). Due to a volatile currency exchange rate, Japan's nominal GDP as measured in dollars fluctuates sharply.

Being a founding member of the G7 and an early member of the OECD, Japan was the first country in Asia to achieve a developed country status. In 2018, Japan was the fourth-largest in the world both as an importer and as an exporter. The country also has the world's fourth-largest consumer market. Generally, Japan runs an annual trade surplus and has a considerable net international investment surplus. The country has the world's second-largest foreign-exchange reserves, worth $1.4 trillion. Japan has the third-largest financial assets in the world, valued at $12 trillion, or 8.6% of the global GDP total as of 2020. Japan is the world's largest creditor nation. Japan has a highly efficient and strong social security system, which comprises roughly 23.5% of GDP. The Tokyo Stock Exchange is the world's fifth-largest stock exchange by market capitalisation.

Japan has a highly service-dominated economy, which contributes approximately 70% of GDP, with most of the remainder coming from the industrial sector. The automobile manufacturing industry, which is the second largest in the world, dominates the industrial sector, with Toyota being the world’s largest manufacturer of cars. Japan is often ranked among the world’s most innovative countries, leading several measures of global patent filings. However, its manufacturing industry has lost its world dominance since the 1990s. In 2022, Japan spent around 3.7% of GDP on research and development. As of 2022, 47 of the Fortune Global 500 companies are based in Japan.

Long having been an agricultural country, one study estimates that Japan’s economy was among the top ten in the world by size during the second millennium before the industrial revolution started. Industrialisation in Japan began in the second half of the 19th century with the Meiji Restoration, initially focusing on the textile industry and later on heavy industries. The country rapidly built its colonial empire and the third most powerful navy in the world. After the defeat in the Second World War, Japan’s economy recovered and developed further rapidly, primarily propelled by its lucrative manufacturing exporting industries. It became the second largest economy in the world in 1968 and remained so until 2010, and on a nominal per capita basis, the most high-income among the G7 countries in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1995, Japan’s share of the world’s nominal GDP was 17.8%, reaching approximately 71% of that of the United States.

The Plaza Accord in 1985, an agreement among major economies to devalue the American dollar relative to the Japanese yen, led to a rapid appreciation of the yen. The burst of the Japanese asset price bubble in the early 1990s has resulted in a long period of economic stagnation known as the “Lost Decades”, characterised by extremely low or negative growth and deflation. From 1995 to 2007, the country’s GDP fell from $5.33 trillion to $5.04 trillion in nominal terms. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Bank of Japan set out to encourage economic growth through a novel policy of quantitative easing, aiming to end deflation and eventually achieve 2% inflation. The increased international economic tension brought about by events such as the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022 finally helped the country achieve the inflation target, and the negative interest policy since 2016 was ended in March 2024.

As of 2021, Japan has significantly higher levels of public debt than any other developed nations at approximately 260% of GDP. 45% of this debt is held by the Bank of Japan, and most of the remainder is also held domestically. Japanese economy faces considerable challenges posed by an ageing and declining population, which peaked at 128.5 million people in 2010 and has fallen to 122.6 million people in 2024. In 2022, the country's working age population consisted of approximately 59.4% of the total population, which was the lowest rate among all the OECD countries. Projections show that the population will continue to fall, potentially to below 100 million by the middle of the 21st century.

History
The economic history of Japan is one of the most studied. Major milestones in modern Japan's economic progress include:

 * the foundation of the Tokugawa shogunate based in Edo (in 1603), initiating a period of internal economic development
 * the Meiji Restoration (in 1868) leading to Japan becoming the first non-European modern world power
 * the Japan's defeat in World War II (in 1945), after which the island nation rose to become the world's second-largest economy
 * the Lost Decades (the 1990s, 2000s and arguably 2010s), during which the country struggled to get out of deflation and extremely low or negative growth

Edo period (1603–1868)
The beginning of the Edo period coincides with the last decades of the Nanban trade period, marked by intense interaction with European powers. Japan built its first Western-style warships, such as the San Juan Bautista, and commissioned around 350 Red Seal Ships for intra-Asian commerce. Japanese adventurers, such as Yamada Nagamasa, were active throughout Asia.

To eradicate Christian influence, Japan entered a period of isolation called sakoku in the 1630s, which led to economic stability and mild progress. In the 1650s, Japanese export porcelain production increased significantly due to a civil war in China, mainly in Kyushu. This trade dwindled by the 1740s under renewed Chinese competition but resumed after Japan’s mid-19th century opening.

Economic development during the Edo period included urbanisation, increased commodity shipping, and expanded domestic and foreign commerce. The construction trades, banking facilities, and merchant associations flourished. Daimyō-led authorities (han) oversaw rising agricultural production and rural handicrafts. By the mid-18th century, Edo had a population of over 1 million, while Osaka and Kyoto each had more than 400,000 inhabitants, becoming centres for trade and handicraft production. Rice, the economy’s base, was taxed at about 40% of the harvest and sold at the fudasashi market in Edo. Daimyō used forward contracts similar to modern futures trading to sell rice before harvest.

During the sakoku period, Japan studied Western sciences and techniques (rangaku) through Dutch traders in Dejima, including geography, medicine, natural sciences, astronomy, and mechanical sciences. Japan reopened its economy to the West after being pressured by the United States twice in 1853 and 1854.

Pre-war period (1868–1945)
Since the mid-19th century, after the Meiji Restoration, the country was opened up to Western commerce and influence and went through a period of economic development that extended through to the First World War. Economic developments of the prewar period began with the "Rich State and Strong Army Policy" by the Meiji government. During the Meiji period (1868–1912), leaders inaugurated a new Western-based education system for all young people, sent thousands of students to Europe and the United States, and hired more than 3,000 Westerners to teach modern science, mathematics, technology, and foreign languages in Japan (Oyatoi gaikokujin). The government also built an extensive railway network, improved roads, and inaugurated a land reform program to prepare the country for further development.

To promote industrialization, the government decided that, while it should help private business to allocate resources and to plan, the private sector was best equipped to stimulate economic growth. The greatest role of government was to help provide good economic conditions for business. In short, government was to be the guide and business the producer. In the early Meiji period, the government built factories and shipyards that were sold to entrepreneurs at a fraction of their value. Many of these businesses grew rapidly into the larger conglomerates such as Mitsubishi. Government emerged as chief promoter of private enterprise, enacting a series of pro-business policies.

Post-war period (1945–1989)

Japan underwent significant economic transformation and rapid recovery and growth, emerging from the devastation of the Second World War to become a global economic powerhouse. The immediate post-war period saw Japan slowly recovering as a democratic nation under the Allied Occupation. The Korean War (1950-1953), which happened in its now divided former colony, boosted the economy, as Japan served as a major supply hub for U.S. forces. By the 1950s and 1960s, Japan’s economy had entered a period of high growth, often referred to as the 'Japanese Economic Miracle'. Key factors in this growth included government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, advanced technology, and a focus on export-oriented manufacturing. Japan’s economy diversified from textiles to steel, shipbuilding, and eventually electronics and automobiles, with companies such as Toyota, Sony, Hitachi and Honda becoming household names worldwide.

In 1968, Japan became the world’s second-largest economy, a position it held until it was surpassed by China in 2010. The government played a crucial role through policies that promoted industrial expansion and technological advancement. Japan’s emphasis on quality control and continuous improvement (kaizen) further boosted its international competitiveness. By the 1980s, Japan was leading in a wide range of industries, including automotive and consumer electronics, and was known for its formidable trade surplus and wealth. However, the late 1980s also saw the infamous Plaza Accord and the formation of an asset price bubble, with inflated real estate and stock market prices, setting the stage for the economic stagnation of the 'Lost Decades' that followed.

Heisei period (1989–2019)
Japan bonds.webp in 1990 Zero interest-rate policy started in 1995

]] [[File:Japan money supply and inflation.webp|thumb|300px|Japan money supply and inflation (year over year)

]] Growth slowed markedly in the late 1990s also termed the Lost Decade after the collapse of Japanese asset price bubble. As a consequence Japan ran massive budget deficits (added trillions in Yen to Japanese financial system) to finance large public works programs.

By 1998, Japan's public works projects still could not stimulate demand enough to end the economy's stagnation. In desperation, the Japanese government undertook "structural reform" policies intended to wring speculative excesses from the stock and real estate markets. Unfortunately, these policies led Japan into deflation on numerous occasions between 1999 and 2004. The Bank of Japan used quantitative easing to expand the country's money supply in order to raise expectations of inflation and spur economic growth. Initially, the policy failed to induce any growth, but it eventually began to affect inflationary expectations. By late 2005, the economy finally began what seems to be a sustained recovery. GDP growth for that year was 2.8%, with an annualized fourth quarter expansion of 5.5%, surpassing the growth rates of the US and European Union during the same period. Unlike previous recovery trends, domestic consumption has been the dominant factor of growth.

Japanese Bond Market.webp started in 2014.

]] Despite having interest rates down near zero for a long period of time, the quantitative easing strategy did not succeed in stopping price deflation. This led some economists, such as Paul Krugman, and some Japanese politicians, to advocate the generation of higher inflation expectations. In July 2006, the zero-rate policy was ended. In 2008, the Japanese Central Bank still had the lowest interest rates in the developed world, but deflation had still not been eliminated and the Nikkei 225 has fallen over approximately 50% (between June 2007 and December 2008). However, on 5 April 2013, the Bank of Japan announced that it would be purchasing 60–70 trillion yen in bonds and securities in an attempt to eliminate deflation by doubling the money supply in Japan over the course of two years. Markets around the world have responded positively to the government's current proactive policies, with the Nikkei 225 adding more than 42% since November 2012. The Economist has suggested that improvements to bankruptcy law, land transfer law, and tax laws will aid Japan's economy. In recent years, Japan has been the top export market for almost 15 trading nations worldwide.

In December 2018, a free trade agreement between Japan and the European Union was cleared to commence in February 2019. It creates the world's largest free trade zone valued at 1/3rd of global gross domestic product. This reduces tariffs on Japanese cars by 10%, duties by 30% on cheese and 10% on wines and opens service markets.

2020–21 recession
In early January 2020, Japanese economy began to suffer from the COVID-19 pandemic. In early April, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a state of emergency. Less than a quarter of Japanese people expected living conditions to improve in the coming decades. In October 2020 during the pandemic, Japan and the United Kingdom formally signed the first free-trade agreement post-Brexit, which will boost trade by approximately £15.2 billion. It enables tariff-free trade on 99% of exports to Japan. On 15 February 2021, the Nikkei average breached the 30k benchmark, the highest since November 1991. It was due to strong corporate earnings, GDP data and optimism over the COVID-19 vaccination program in the country.

Post-recession (2021–present)
At the end of March 2022, the Ministry of Finance announced that the national debt reached precisely 1.017 million billion yen. The total public debt of the country, which includes debts contracted by local governments, represents 1.210 million billion yen (9,200 billion dollars) which is nearly 250% of Japan's GDP. Economist Kohei Iwahara said such an exceptional debt to GDP level is only possible because Japanese hold most of the debt: "“Japanese households hold most of their savings in bank accounts (48%) and these sums are used by commercial banks to buy Japanese government bonds. Thus, 85.7% of these bonds are held by Japanese investors.”

The Bank of Japan's main policy aim since the Lost Decades started had been to end deflation and eventually achieve 2% inflation. The increased international economic tension brought about by events such as the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022 finally helped the country achieve the much-anticipated inflation target of 2%, and the negative interest policy since 2016 was ended in March 2024. However, while other major economies focus on suppressing inflation by raising interest rates, Japan aims to firmly establish inflation by maintaining low rates. As a side effect, the Japanese yen has become extremely weak, hitting a 37.5-year low of 161 yen/USD in July 2024. Furthermore, the real effective exchange rate in May 2024, when the 2020 average is set at 100, is 68.65, the lowest level since the start of the Bank of Japan statistics in January 1970, due to a combination of low inflation in Japan and a relatively low trade share. This devaluation of the currency caused Japan to lose its status as the world’s third largest economy to Germany in nominal terms, which was approximately half the size of the country's economy a decade earlier. The Asahi Shimbun and other media outlets also reported that the impact of these sharp falls in the value of the currency had turned the Japanese yen into a junk currency.

Factors such as an apparent end to the 30-year struggle against deflation, improvements in corporate governance, and high corporate profits boosted the stock market. Consequently, both the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indices surpassed the record highs they reached more than 30 years ago in 2024. The market capitalisation of the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s prime section exceeded a quadrillion yen for the first time in July 2024.

GDP composition
Industries by GDP value-added 2012. Values are converted using the exchange rate on 13 April 2013.

Development of main indicators
The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2021 (with IMF staff estimates in 2024–2029). Inflation under 5% is in green.

Agriculture
The Japanese agricultural sector accounts for about 1.1% (2017) of the total country's GDP. Only 12% of Japan's land is suitable for cultivation. Due to this lack of arable land, a system of terraces is used to farm in small areas. This results in one of the world's highest levels of crop yields per unit area, with an overall agricultural self-sufficiency rate of about 50% on fewer than 56,000 km2 (14 million acres) cultivated.

Japan's small agricultural sector, however, is also highly subsidized and protected, with government regulations that favor small-scale cultivation instead of large-scale agriculture as practiced in North America. There has been a growing concern about farming as the current farmers are aging with a difficult time finding successors.

Rice accounts for almost all of Japan's cereal production. Japan is the second-largest agricultural product importer in the world. Rice, the most protected crop, is subject to tariffs of 777.7%.

Although Japan is usually self-sufficient in rice (except for its use in making rice crackers and processed foods) and wheat, the country must import about 50% of its requirements of other grain and fodder crops and relies on imports for half of its supply of meat. Japan imports large quantities of wheat and soybeans. Japan is the 5th largest market for the European Union's agricultural exports. Over 90% of mandarin oranges in Japan are grown in Japan. Apples are also grown due to restrictions on apple imports.

Fishery

Japan ranked fourth in the world in 1996 in tonnage of fish caught. Japan captured 4,074,580 metric tons of fish in 2005, down from 4,987,703 tons in 2000, 9,558,615 tons in 1990, 9,864,422 tons in 1980, 8,520,397 tons in 1970, 5,583,796 tons in 1960 and 2,881,855 tons in 1950. In 2003, the total aquaculture production was predicted at 1,301,437 tonnes. In 2010, Japan's total fisheries production was 4,762,469 fish. Offshore fisheries accounted for an average of 50% of the nation's total fish catches in the late 1980s although they experienced repeated ups and downs during that period.

Coastal fishing by small boats, set nets, or breeding techniques accounts for about one third of the industry's total production, while offshore fishing by medium-sized boats makes up for more than half the total production. Deep-sea fishing from larger vessels makes up the rest. Among the many species of seafood caught are sardines, skipjack tuna, crab, shrimp, salmon, pollock, squid, clams, mackerel, sea bream, sauries, tuna and Japanese amberjack. Freshwater fishing, including salmon, trout and eel hatcheries and fish farms, takes up about 30% of Japan's fishing industry. Among the nearly 300 fish species in the rivers of Japan are native varieties of catfish, chub, herring and goby, as well as such freshwater crustaceans as crabs and crayfish. Marine and freshwater aquaculture is conducted in all 47 prefectures in Japan.

Japan maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly 15% of the global catch, prompting some claims that Japan's fishing is leading to depletion in fish stocks such as tuna. Japan has also sparked controversy by supporting quasi-commercial whaling.

Industry
Japanese manufacturing and industry is very diversified, with a variety of advanced industries that are highly successful. Industry accounts for 30.1% (2017) of the nation's GDP. The country's manufacturing output is the third highest in the world.

Industry is concentrated in several regions, with the Kantō region surrounding Tokyo, (the Keihin industrial region) as well as the Kansai region surrounding Osaka (the Hanshin industrial region) and the Tōkai region surrounding Nagoya (the Chūkyō–Tōkai industrial region) the main industrial centers. Other industrial centers include the southwestern part of Honshū and northern Shikoku around the Seto Inland Sea (the Setouchi industrial region); and the northern part of Kyūshū (Kitakyūshū). In addition, a long narrow belt of industrial centers called the Taiheiyō Belt is found between Tokyo and Fukuoka, established by particular industries, that have developed as mill towns.

Japan enjoys high technological development in many fields, including consumer electronics, automobile manufacturing, semiconductor manufacturing, optical fibers, optoelectronics, optical media, facsimile and copy machines, and fermentation processes in food and biochemistry. However, many Japanese companies are facing emerging rivals from the United States, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Automobile manufacturing

Japan is the third biggest producer of automobiles in the world. Toyota is currently the world's largest car maker, and the Japanese car makers Nissan, Honda, Suzuki, and Mazda also count for some of the largest car makers in the world. By number, Japan is the world's largest exporter of cars as of 2021.

Mining and petroleum exploration
Japan's mining production has been minimal, and Japan has very little mining deposits. However, massive deposits of rare earths have been found off the coast of Japan. In the 2011 fiscal year, the domestic yield of crude oil was 820 thousand kiloliters, which was 0.4% of Japan's total crude processing volume.

In 2019, Japan was the 2nd largest world producer of iodine, 4th largest worldwide producer of bismuth, the world's 9th largest producer of sulfur and the 10th largest producer of gypsum.

Services

Japan's service sector accounts for 68.7% (2017) of its total economic output. Banking, insurance, real estate, retailing, transportation, and telecommunications are all major industries such as Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho, NTT, TEPCO, Nomura, Mitsubishi Estate, Aeon, Mitsui Sumitomo, Softbank, JR East, Seven & i Holdings, KDDI and Japan Airlines counting as one of the largest companies in the world. Four of the five most circulated newspapers in the world are Japanese newspapers. The Koizumi government set Japan Post, one of the country's largest providers of savings and insurance services for privatization by 2015. The six major keiretsus are the Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Fuyo, Mitsui, Dai-Ichi Kangyo and Sanwa. Japan is home to 251 companies from the Forbes Global 2000 or 12.55% (as of 2013).

Tourism

In 2012, Japan was the fifth most visited country in Asia and the Pacific, with over 8.3 million tourists. In 2013, due to the weaker yen and easier visa requirements for southwest Asian countries, Japan received a record 11.25 million visitors, which was higher than the government's projected goal of 10 million visitors. The government hopes to attract 40 million visitors a year by the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Some of the most popular visited places include the Shinjuku, Ginza, Shibuya and Asakusa areas in Tokyo, and the cities of Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto, as well as Himeji Castle. Hokkaido is also a popular winter destination for visitors with several ski resorts and luxury hotels being built there.

Japan's economy is less dependent on international tourism than those of other G7 countries and OECD countries in general; from 1995 to 2014, it was by far the least visited country in the G7 despite being the second largest country in the group, and as of 2013 was one of the least visited countries in the OECD on a per capita basis. In 2013, international tourist receipts was 0.3% of Japan's GDP, while the corresponding figure was 1.3% for the United States and 2.3% for France.

Infrastructure

In 2018, Japan ranked 5th overall in the World Bank's Logistics Performance Index, and 2nd in the infrastructure category.

In 2005, one half of Japan's energy was produced from petroleum, a fifth from coal, and 14% from natural gas. Nuclear power in Japan made a quarter of electricity production but due to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster there has been a large desire to end Japan's nuclear power program. In September 2013, Japan closed its last 50 nuclear power plants nationwide, causing the nation to be nuclear free. The country has since then opted to restart a few of its nuclear reactors.

Japan's spendings on roads has been considered large. The 1.2 million kilometers of paved road are one of the major means of transportation. Japan has left-hand traffic. A single network of speed, divided, limited-access toll roads connects major cities and are operated by toll-collecting enterprises. New and used cars are inexpensive, and the Japanese government has encouraged people to buy hybrid vehicles. Car ownership fees and fuel levies are used to promote energy-efficiency.

Rail transport is a major means of transport in Japan. Dozens of Japanese railway companies compete in regional and local passenger transportation markets; for instance, 6 passenger JR enterprises, Kintetsu Railway, Seibu Railway, and Keio Corporation. Often, strategies of these enterprises contain real estate or department stores next to stations, and many major stations have major department stores near them. The Japanese cities of Fukuoka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo and Yokohama all have subway systems. Some 250 high-speed Shinkansen trains connect major cities. All trains are known for punctuality, and a delay of 90 seconds can be considered late for some train services.

There are 98 passenger and 175 total airports in Japan, and flying is a popular way to travel. The largest domestic airport, Tokyo International Airport, is Asia's second busiest airport. The largest international gateways are Narita International Airport (Tokyo area), Kansai International Airport (Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto area), and Chūbu Centrair International Airport (Nagoya area). The largest ports in Japan include Nagoya Port, the Port of Yokohama, the Port of Tokyo and the Port of Kobe.

About 84% of Japan's energy is imported from other countries. Japan is the world's largest liquefied natural gas importer, second largest coal importer, and third largest net oil importer. Given its heavy dependence on imported energy, Japan has aimed to diversify its sources. Since the oil shocks of the 1970s, Japan has reduced dependence on petroleum as a source of energy from 77.4% in 1973 to about 43.7% in 2010 and increased dependence on natural gas and nuclear power. In September 2019, Japan will invest 10 billion on liquefied natural gas projects worldwide, in a strategy to boost the global LNG market and reinforce the security of energy supply. Other important energy source includes coal, and hydroelectricity is Japan's biggest renewable energy source. Japan's solar market is also currently booming. Kerosene is also used extensively for home heating in portable heaters, especially farther north. Many taxi companies run their fleets on liquefied natural gas. A recent success towards greater fuel economy was the introduction of mass-produced hybrid vehicles. Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, who was working on Japan's economic revival, signed a treaty with Saudi Arabia and UAE about the rising prices of oil, ensuring Japan's stable deliveries from that region.

Finance

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is the third largest stock exchange in the world by market capitalization, as well as the 2nd largest stock market in Asia, with 2,292 listed companies. The Nikkei 225 and the TOPIX are the two important stock market indexes of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Osaka Stock Exchange, another major stock exchange in Japan, merged on 1 January 2013, creating one of the world's largest stock exchanges. Other stock exchanges in Japan include the Nagoya Stock Exchange, Fukuoka Stock Exchange and Sapporo Securities Exchange.

Labor force
The unemployment rate in December 2013 was 3.7%, down 1.5 percentage points from the claimed unemployment rate of 5.2% in June 2009 due to the strong economic recovery.

In 2008 Japan's labor force consisted of some 66 million workers—40% of whom were women—and was rapidly shrinking. One major long-term concern for the Japanese labor force is its low birthrate. In 2005, the number of deaths in Japan exceeded the number of births, indicating that the decline in population had already started. While one countermeasure for a declining birthrate would be to increase immigration, Japan has struggled to attract potential migrants despite immigration laws being relatively lenient (especially for high-skilled workers) compared to other developed countries. This is also apparent when looking at Japan's work visa programme for "specified skilled worker", which had less than 3,000 applicants, despite an annual goal of attracting 40,000 overseas workers, suggesting Japan faces major challenges in attracting migrants compared to other developed countries regardless of its immigration policies. A Gallup poll found that few potential migrants wished to migrate to Japan compared to other G7 countries, consistent with the country's low migrant inflow.

In 1989, the predominantly public sector union confederation, SOHYO (General Council of Trade Unions of Japan), merged with RENGO (Japanese Private Sector Trade Union Confederation) to form the Japanese Trade Union Confederation. Labor union membership is about 12 million.

As of 2019 Japan's unemployment rate was the lowest in the G7. Its employment rate for the working-age population (15–64) was the highest in the G7.

Law and government
Japan ranks 27th of 185 countries in the ease of doing business index 2013.

Japan has one of the smallest tax rates in the developed world. After deductions, the majority of workers are free from personal income taxes. Consumption tax rate is 10%, while corporate tax rates are high, second highest corporate tax rate in the world, at 36.8%. However, the House of Representatives has passed a bill which increased the consumption tax to 10% in October 2015. The government has also decided to reduce corporate tax and to phase out automobile tax.

In 2016, the IMF encouraged Japan to adopt an income policy that pushes firms to raise employee wages in combination with reforms to tackle the labor market dual tiered employment system to drive higher wages, on top of monetary and fiscal stimulus. Shinzo Abe has encouraged firms to raise wages by at least three per cent annually (the inflation target plus average productivity growth).

Shareholder activism is rare despite the fact that the corporate law gives shareholders strong powers over managers. Under Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, corporate governance reform has been a key initiative to encourage economic growth. In 2012 around 40% of leading Japanese companies had any independent directors while in 2016 most all have begun to appoint independent directors.

The government's liabilities include the second largest public debt of any nation with debt of over one quadrillion yen, or 8,535,340,000,000 in USD. Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan has called the situation 'urgent'.

Japan's central bank has the second largest foreign-exchange reserves after the People's Republic of China, with over one trillion US Dollars in foreign reserves.

Overview
Nemawashi (根回し), or "consensus building", in Japanese culture is an informal process of quietly laying the foundation for some proposed change or project, by talking to the people concerned, gathering support and feedback, and so forth. It is considered an important element in any major change, before any formal steps are taken, and successful nemawashi enables changes to be carried out with the consent of all sides.

Japanese companies are known for management methods such as "The Toyota Way". Kaizen (改善, Japanese for "improvement") is a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life. When applied to the workplace, Kaizen activities continually improve all functions of a business, from manufacturing to management and from the CEO to the assembly line workers. By improving standardized activities and processes, Kaizen aims to eliminate waste (see Lean manufacturing). Kaizen was first implemented in several Japanese businesses during the country's recovery after World War II, including Toyota, and has since spread to businesses throughout the world. Within certain value systems, it is ironic that Japanese workers labor amongst the most hours per day, even though kaizen is supposed to improve all aspects of life. According to the OECD, annual hours worked per employee is below the OECD average and in the middle among G7 countries.

Some companies have powerful enterprise unions and shuntō. The Nenko System or Nenko Joretsu, as it is called in Japan, is the Japanese system of promoting an employee based on his or her proximity to retirement. The advantage of the system is that it allows older employees to achieve a higher salary level before retirement and it usually brings more experience to the executive ranks. The disadvantage of the system is that it does not allow new talent to be combined with experience and those with specialized skills cannot be promoted to the already crowded executive ranks. It also does not guarantee or even attempt to bring the "right person for the right job".

Relationships between government bureaucrats and companies are often close. Amakudari (天下り) is the institutionalised practice where Japanese senior bureaucrats retire to high-profile positions in the private and public sectors. The practice is increasingly viewed as corrupt and a limitation on efforts to reduce ties between the private sector and the state that prevent economic and political reforms. Lifetime employment (shūshin koyō) and seniority-based career advancement have been common in the Japanese work environment. Japan has begun to gradually move away from some of these norms.

Salaryman (サラリーマン) refers to someone whose income is salary based; particularly those working for corporations. Its frequent use by Japanese corporations, and its prevalence in Japanese manga and anime has gradually led to its acceptance in English-speaking countries as a noun for a Japanese white-collar businessman. The word can be found in many books and articles pertaining to Japanese culture. Immediately following World War II, becoming a salaryman was viewed as a gateway to a stable, middle-class lifestyle. In modern use, the term carries associations of long working hours, low prestige in the corporate hierarchy, absence of significant sources of income other than salary, wage slavery, and karōshi. The term salaryman refers almost exclusively to males.

An office lady, often abbreviated OL (Japanese: オーエル Ōeru), is a female office worker in Japan who performs generally pink collar tasks such as serving tea and secretarial or clerical work. Like many unmarried Japanese, OLs often live with their parents well into early adulthood. Office ladies are usually full-time permanent staff, although the jobs they do usually have little opportunity for promotion, and there is usually the tacit expectation that they leave their jobs once they get married.

Freeter (フリーター) is a Japanese expression for people between the age of 15 and 34 who lack full-time employment or are unemployed, excluding homemakers and students. They may also be described as underemployed or freelance workers. These people do not start a career after high school or university but instead usually live as parasite singles with their parents and earn some money with low skilled and low paid jobs. The low income makes it difficult for freeters to start a family, and the lack of qualifications makes it difficult to start a career at a later point in life.

Karōshi (過労死), which can be translated quite literally from Japanese as "death from overwork", is occupational sudden death. The major medical causes of karōshi deaths are heart attack and stroke due to stress.

Sōkaiya (総会屋), (sometimes also translated as corporate bouncers, meeting-men, or corporate blackmailers) are a form of specialized racketeer unique to Japan, and often associated with the yakuza that extort money from or blackmail companies by threatening to publicly humiliate companies and their management, usually in their annual meeting (総会). Sarakin (サラ金) is a Japanese term for moneylender, or loan shark. It is a contraction of the Japanese words for salaryman and cash. Around 14 million people, or 10% of the Japanese population, have borrowed from a sarakin. In total, there are about 10,000 firms (down from 30,000 a decade ago); however, the top seven firms make up 70% of the market. The value of outstanding loans totals 100 billion. The biggest sarakin are publicly traded and often allied with big banks.

The first "Western-style" department store in Japan was Mitsukoshi, founded in 1904, which has its root as a kimono store called Echigoya from 1673. When the roots are considered, however, Matsuzakaya has an even longer history, dated from 1611. The kimono store changed to a department store in 1910. In 1924, Matsuzakaya store in Ginza allowed street shoes to be worn indoors, something innovative at the time. These former kimono shop department stores dominated the market in its earlier history. They sold, or rather displayed, luxurious products, which contributed for their sophisticated atmospheres. Another origin of Japanese department store is that from railway company. There have been many private railway operators in the nation, and from the 1920s, they started to build department stores directly linked to their lines' termini. Seibu and Hankyu are the typical examples of this type. From the 1980s onwards, Japanese department stores face fierce competition from supermarkets and convenience stores, gradually losing their presences. Still, depāto are bastions of several aspects of cultural conservatism in the country. Gift certificates for prestigious department stores are frequently given as formal presents in Japan. Department stores in Japan generally offer a wide range of services and can include foreign exchange, travel reservations, ticket sales for local concerts and other events.

Keiretsu
A keiretsu (系列) is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. A keiretsu unequivocally exists as an identical form of business structure to the affiliate, or an associate. It is a type of business group. The prototypical keiretsu appeared in Japan during the "economic miracle" following World War II. Before Japan's surrender, Japanese industry was controlled by large family-controlled vertical monopolies called zaibatsu. The Allies dismantled the zaibatsu in the late 1940s, but the companies formed from the dismantling of the zaibatsu were reintegrated. The dispersed corporations were re-interlinked through share purchases to form horizontally integrated alliances across many industries. Where possible, keiretsu companies would also supply one another, making the alliances vertically integrated as well. In this period, official government policy promoted the creation of robust trade corporations that could withstand pressures from intensified world trade competition.

The major keiretsu were each centered on one bank, which lent money to the keiretsu 's member companies and held equity positions in the companies. Each central bank had great control over the companies in the keiretsu and acted as a monitoring entity and as an emergency bail-out entity. One effect of this structure was to minimize the presence of hostile takeovers in Japan, because no entities could challenge the power of the banks.

There are two types of keiretsu: vertical and horizontal. Vertical keiretsu illustrates the organization and relationships within a company (for example all factors of production of a certain product are connected), while a horizontal keiretsu shows relationships between entities and industries, normally centered on a bank and trading company. Both are complexly woven together and sustain each other.

The Japanese recession in the 1990s had profound effects on the keiretsu. Many of the largest banks were hit hard by bad loan portfolios and forced to merge or go out of business. This had the effect of blurring the lines between the keiretsu: Sumitomo Bank and Mitsui Bank, for instance, became Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in 2001, while Sanwa Bank (the banker for the Hankyu-Toho Group) became part of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, now known as MUFG Bank. Additionally, many companies from outside the keiretsu system, such as Sony, began outperforming their counterparts within the system.

Generally, these causes gave rise to a strong notion in the business community that the old keiretsu system was not an effective business model, and led to an overall loosening of keiretsu alliances. While the keiretsu still exist, they are not as centralized or integrated as they were before the 1990s. This, in turn, has led to a growing corporate acquisition industry in Japan, as companies are no longer able to be easily "bailed out" by their banks, as well as rising derivative litigation by more independent shareholders.

Mergers and acquisitions
Japanese companies have been involved in 50,759 deals between 1985 and 2018. This cumulates to a total value of 2,636 bil. USD which translates to 281,469.9 bil. YEN. In the year 1999 there was an all-time high in terms of value of deals with almost 220 bil. USD. The most active year so far was 2017 with over 3,150 deals, but only a total value of 114 bil. USD (see graph "M&A in Japan by number and value").

Here is a list of the most important deals (ranked by value in bil. USD) in Japanese history: Among the top 50 deals by value, 92% of the time the acquiring nation is Japan. Foreign direct investment is playing a much smaller role than national M&A in Japan.

Other economic indicators
Net international investment position: 266,223 / billion (1st)

Industrial production growth rate: 7.5% (2010 est.)

Investment (gross fixed): 20.3% of GDP (2010 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: Agriculture products: rice, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit, pork, poultry, dairy products, eggs, fish
 * Lowest 10%: 4.8%
 * Highest 10%: 21.7% (1993)

Export commodities: machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, semiconductors, chemicals

Import commodities: machinery and equipment, fuels, foodstuffs, chemicals, textiles, raw materials (2001)

Exchange rates: Japanese Yen per US$1 – 88.67 (2010), 93.57 (2009), 103.58 (2008), 117.99 (2007), 116.18 (2006), 109.69 (2005), 115.93 (2003), 125.39 (2002), 121.53 (2001), 105.16 (January 2000), 113.91 (1999), 130.91 (1998), 120.99 (1997), 108.78 (1996), 94.06 (1995)

Electricity:
 * Electricity – consumption: 925.5 billion kWh (2008)
 * Electricity – production: 957.9 billion kWh (2008 est.)
 * Electricity – exports: 0 kWh (2008)
 * Electricity – imports: 0 kWh (2008)

Electricity production by source:
 * Fossil Fuel: 69.7%
 * Hydro: 7.3%
 * Nuclear: 22.5%
 * Other: 0.5% (2008)

Electricity standards:
 * 100 volts at 50 Hz from the Ōi River (in Shizuoka) Northward;
 * 100 volts at 60 Hz Southward

Oil:
 * production: 132700 oilbbl/d (2009) (46th)
 * consumption: 4363000 oilbbl/d (2009) (3rd)
 * exports: 380900 oilbbl/d (2008) (64th)
 * imports: 5033000 oilbbl/d (2008) (2nd)
 * net imports: 4620000 oilbbl/d (2008 est.)
 * proved reserves: 44120000 oilbbl (1 January 2010 est.)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Economy of Japan


text:
Communications in Japan

The nation of Japan currently possesses one of the most advanced communication networks in the world. For example, by 2008 the Japanese government's Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry stated that about 75 million people used mobile phones to access the Internet, said total accounting for about 82% of individual Internet users.

Telephone services
Telephones and ISDN – main lines in use: 52.3981 million (2007)

IP phone lines in use: 16.766 million (2007)

Mobile and PHS lines in use: 105.297 million (2007)
 * international: satellite earth stations – 5 Intelsat (4 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), 1 Intersputnik (Indian Ocean region), and 1 Inmarsat (Pacific and Indian Ocean regions); submerged cables to China, Philippines, Russia, and US (via Guam)

Mobile phone services
There are four nationwide mobile phone service providers: NTT Docomo, KDDI, SoftBank, and Rakuten Mobile.

Radio and television broadcasting
Radio broadcast stations: AM 190, FM 88, shortwave 24 (1999)

Radios: 120.5 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 7,108 (plus 441 repeaters; note – in addition, US Forces are served by 3 TV stations and 2 TV cable services) (1999)

Televisions: 86.5 million (1997)

Amateur radio: 446,602 licensed stations as of October 2011. See Amateur radio call signs of Japan.

Internet services

 * Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 357 (1999)
 * Internet Service Providers via Cable network: 334 (June 2004)
 * Number of Portable Phone Users with the Internet Access: 71,044,000 (June 2004)

Number of Broadband Users by Access (April 2005)
 * Number of the xDSL Users: 13,675,840 lines
 * Number of the FTTH Users: 2,852,205 lines
 * Number of the CATV Service Users: 2,959,712 lines

Number of Broadband Users by Access (June 2004)
 * Number of the xDSL Users: 12,068,718 lines
 * Number of the FTTH Users: 1,417,483 lines
 * Number of the CATV Service Users: 2,702,000 lines
 * Number of the Dial-up Users: 17,730,000 lines

Number of Broadband Users by Access (June 2002)
 * Number of the xDSL Users: 3,300,926 lines
 * Number of the FTTH Users: 84,903 lines
 * Number of the CATV Service Users: 1852000 lines
 * Number of the Dial-up Users: 20,390,000 lines

Country code (Top-level domain): JP

Postal services
Japan's first modern postal service got started in 1871, with mail professionally traveling between Kyoto and Tokyo as well as the latter city and Osaka. This took place in the midst of the rapid industrialization and social reorganization that the Meiji period symbolized in Japanese history. Given how the nation's railroad technology was in its infancy, Japan's growing postal system relied heavily on human-powered transport, including rickshaws, as well as horse-drawn methods of delivery. For example, while commemorating the 50th anniversary of Japan's postal service, the country's 1921 government released decorative postcards depicting intrepid horseback riders carrying the mail.

In communication terms, British technicians had already been employed in assisting with Japanese lighthouses, and the country's budding mail system looked to hybridize British ideas with local practicalities. Shipping along the nation's coastline in particular demonstrates a key instance of how the Japanese economy developed: the government closely working with private companies to industrially expand in a way that met social needs while also allowing for large profits. Mitsubishi's contract for mail transport by sea proved lucrative enough that it assisted with the firm becoming one of the famous "zaibatsu".

Since 2007, the nation's post offices have been managed by the firm Japan Post Network, which, in turn, is a part of the larger Japan Post Holdings conglomerate. As of December 2017, the smaller company has been managed by CEO Koji Furukawa. The simple Japanese postal mark, predating mass literacy in the nation, is still used to this day.

General background and history
An example of the dawn of modern Japanese communications is the shift in newspaper publication. News vendors of the Tokugawa period, taking place from 1603 to 1867, typically promoted publications by reading the contents aloud and handed out papers that were printed from hand-graven blocks. Widespread adoption of movable type took place as Japanese society modernized. In particular, Yomiuri Shimbun, a national daily newspaper that became the country's largest by circulation, was founded in 1874 and designed to be read in detail using standard Japanese vernacular. Five such dailies got started early in the Meiji period, taking place from 1868 to 1912. Yomiuri specifically took direct influence from American publications controlled by William Randolph Hearst.

The first such mass newspaper to be founded was the Nagasaki Shipping List & Advertiser, established in 1861 in Nagasaki by the Englishman A.W. Hansard. Its first issue ran 22 June of that year. The newspaper, which notably discussed matters in the English language, laid the groundwork for Hansard's later publication Japan Herald.

The broadcast industry has been dominated by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (Nippon Hoso Kyokai—NHK) since its founding in 1925.

In the postwar period, NHK's budget and operations were under the purview of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, the Broadcasting Law of 1950 provides for independent management and programming by NHK. Television broadcasting began in 1953, and color television was introduced in 1960. Cable television was introduced in 1969. In 1978 an experimental broadcast satellite with two color television channels was launched. Operational satellites for television use were launched between 1984 and 1990. Television viewing spread so rapidly that, by 1987, 99 percent of Japan's households had color television sets and the average family had its set on at least five hours a day. Starting in 1987, NHK began full-scale experimental broadcasting on two channels using satellite-to-audience signals, thus bringing service to remote and mountainous parts of the country that earlier had experienced poor reception. The new system also provided twenty-four hours a day, nonstop service.

In the late 1980s, NHK operated two public television and three radio networks nationally, producing about 1,700 programs per week. Its general and education programs were broadcast through more than 6,900 television stations and nearly 330 AM and more than 500 FM radio transmitting stations. Comprehensive service in twenty-one languages is available throughout the world.

Rapid improvements, innovations, and diversification in communications technology, including optical fiber cables, communications satellites, and fax machines, led to rapid growth of the communications industry in the 1980s. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, owned by the government until 1985, had dominated the communications industry until April 1985, when new common carriers, including Daini Denden, were permitted to enter the field. NTT Worldwide Telecommunications Corp (Kokusai Denshin Denwa Company, commonly known as KDD, now part of KDDI Inc.) lost its monopoly hold on international communications activities in 1989, when Nihon Kokusai Tsushin and other private overseas communications firms began operations.

In 1992 Japan also had more than 12,000 televisions stations, and the country had more than 350 radio stations, 300 AM radio stations and 58 FM. Broadcasting innovations in the 1980s included sound multiplex (two-language or stereo) broadcasting, satellite broadcasting, and in 1985 the University of the Air and teletext services were inaugurated.

Japan has been the world leader in telecommunications in the 1980s, but this position that has been challenged by the United States' dot-com industry in the 1990s and the emerging tiger states in Asia. While the United States is leading in digital content, South Korea is leading in broadband access, India is leading in software, and Taiwan is leading in research and development.

Japan went into the 21st century after achieving widespread saturation with telecommunication devices. For instance, by 2008 the government's Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry stated that about 75 million people used mobile phones to access the Internet, accounting for about 82% of individual internet users.

title: Communications in Japan


text:
Transport in Japan

Transport in Japan is modern and highly developed. Japan's transport sector stands out for its energy efficiency: it uses less energy per person compared to other countries, thanks to a high share of rail transport and low overall travel distances. Transport in Japan is also very expensive in international comparison, reflecting high tolls and taxes, particularly on automobile transport. Japan's spending on roads has been large. The 1,200,000 km of paved road are the main means of transport. Traffic in Japan drives on the left. A single network of high-speed, divided, limited-access toll roads connects major cities, which are operated by toll-collecting enterprises.

Dozens of Japanese railway companies compete in regional and local passenger transport markets; for instance, seven JR Group companies, Kintetsu Railway, Seibu Railway, and Keio Corporation. Often, strategies of these enterprises contain real estate or department stores next to stations. Some 250 high-speed Shinkansen trains connect major cities. All trains are known for punctuality.

There are 176 airports, and the largest domestic airport, Haneda Airport, was by passenger traffic the third-busiest in Asia and the fourth-busiest in the world in 2018, but not in the top ten in 2022. The largest international gateways are Narita International Airport (Tokyo area), Kansai International Airport (Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto area), and Chūbu Centrair International Airport (Nagoya area). The largest ports include Nagoya Port.

Railway

In Japan, railways are a major means of passenger transport, especially for mass and high-speed transport between major cities and for commuter transport in metropolitan areas. Seven Japan Railways Group companies, state-owned until 1987, cover most parts of Japan. There also are railway services operated by private rail companies, regional governments, and companies funded by both regional governments and private companies.

Total railways of 27,182 km include several track gauges, the most common of which is narrow gauge, with 22,301 km of track of which 15,222 km is electrified.

Fukuoka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, and Yokohama have subway systems.

Most Japanese people traveled on foot until the later part of the 19th century. The first railway was built between Tokyo's Shimbashi Station and Yokohama's former Yokohama Station (now Sakuragichō Station) in 1872. Many more railways developed soon afterward.

Modern Japan is home to one of the world's most developed transport networks. Mass transport is well developed in Japan, but the road system lags and is inadequate for the number of cars owned in Japan. This is often attributed to the fact that road construction is difficult in Japan because of its very high population density, and the limited amount of available usable land for road construction.

Shinkansen (bullet train)
The Shinkansen, or "bullet trains", as they are known colloquially, are the high-speed rail trains that run across Japan. The 2387 km of 8 Shinkansen lines run on completely separate lines from their commuting train counterparts, with a few exceptions. Shinkansen takes up a large portion of the long-distance travel in Japan, with the whole system carrying over 10 billion passengers in its lifetime. 1,114,000 journeys are made daily, with the fastest train being the JR East E5 and E6 series trains, which operate at a maximum speed of 320 km/h. Shinkansen trains are known to be very safe, with no accident-related deaths or injuries from passengers in their 50-plus year history. Shinkansen trains are also known to be very punctual, following suit with all other Japanese transport; in 2003, the average delay per train on the Tokaido Shinkansen was a mere 6 seconds. Japan has been trying to sell its Shinkansen technology overseas, and has struck deals to help build systems in India, Thailand, and the United States.

The first Shinkansen line opened between Tokyo and Osaka in 1964, and trains can now make the journey in 2 hours and 25 minutes. Additional Shinkansen lines connect Tokyo to Aomori, Niigata, Kanazawa, and Hakodate and Osaka to Fukuoka and Kagoshima, with new lines under construction to Tsuruga and Sapporo. A separate line heads out to Nagasaki, albeit through a separate relay service.

Japan has been developing maglev technology trains, and broke the world maglev speed record in April 2015 with a train traveling at the speed of 603 km/h. The Chūō Shinkansen, a commercial maglev service, is currently under construction from Tokyo to Nagoya and Osaka, and when completed in 2045 will cover the distance in 67 minutes, half the time of the current Shinkansen.

Road

According to Japan Statistical Yearbook 2015, Japan in April 2012 had approximately 1,215,000 km of roads made up of 1,022,000 km of city, town and village roads, 129,000 km of prefectural roads, 55,000 km of general national highways and 8,050 km of national expressways. The Foreign Press Center/Japan cites a total length of expressways at 7,641 km (fiscal 2008). A single network of high-speed, divided, limited-access toll roads connects major cities on Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. Hokkaido has a separate network, and Okinawa Island has a highway of this type. In the year 2005, the toll collecting companies, formerly Japan Highway Public Corporation, have been transformed into private companies in public ownership, and there are plans to sell parts of them. This policy aims to encourage competition and decrease tolls.

Road passenger and freight transport expanded considerably during the 1980s as private ownership of motor vehicles greatly increased along with the quality and extent of the nation's roads. Bus companies including the JR Bus companies operate long-distance bus services on the nation's expanding expressway network. In addition to relatively low fares and deluxe seating, the buses are well utilized because they continue service during the night when air and train services are limited.

The cargo sector grew rapidly in the 1980s, recording 274.2 billion tonne-kilometres in 1990. The freight handled by motor vehicles, mainly trucks, in 1990, was over 6 billion tonnes, accounting for 90 percent of domestic freight tonnage and about 50 percent of tonne-kilometers.

Recent large infrastructure projects were the construction of the Great Seto Bridge and the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line (opened 1997).

Road safety
Road fatalities have decreased in Japan, due in part to stricter enforcement of drunk driving laws:
 * 2004 saw 7,358 deaths on Japanese roads,
 * 2017 had 3,694 deaths for 125 million population,
 * 2019 saw 3,215 deaths, the lowest it has been since 1948, with a rate of 25.4 deaths per million lower than many European nations, and close to the UK's rates.

In Tokyo, road safety is 13 killed per million.

Air

In 2013, Japan had the fourth largest passenger air market in the world with 105,913,000 passengers. In 2013 Japan had 98 airports. The main international gateways are Narita International Airport (Tokyo area), Kansai International Airport (Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto area), and Chūbu Centrair International Airport (Nagoya area). The main domestic hub is Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport), by passenger traffic the third-busiest in Asia and the fourth-busiest in the world in 2018, but not in the top ten in 2022; other major traffic hubs include Osaka International Airport, New Chitose Airport outside Sapporo, and Fukuoka Airport. 14 heliports are estimated to exist (1999).

The two main airlines are Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways. Other passenger carriers include Skymark Airlines, Solaseed Air, Air Do, StarFlyer and Fuji Dream Airlines. United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, formerly Northwest Airlines, are major international operators from Narita Airport.

Domestic air travel in Japan has historically been highly regulated. From 1972, the three major domestic airlines (JAL, ANA, and JAS) were allocated certain routes, with JAL and ANA sharing trunk routes, and ANA and JAS sharing local feeder routes. JAL and JAS have since been merged to help compete with ANA. JAL also had a flag-carrier monopoly on international routes until 1986. Airfares were set by the government until 2000, although carriers had the freedom to adjust the standard fares starting in 1995 (when discounts of up to 50% were permitted). Today, fares can be set by carriers, but the government retains the ability to veto fares that are too high.

Maritime
There are 1770 km of waterways in Japan; seagoing craft ply all coastal inland seas.

There are some 994 ports in Japan as of April 2014. There are overlapping classifications of these ports, some of which are multi-purpose, e.g. cargo, passenger, naval, and fishery. The five designated "super" container ports are Yokkaichi, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kobe, and Osaka. 23 are designated major/international, 125 designated as important, while there are also purely fisherman ports.

The twenty-three major seaports designated as special, important ports by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism: Chiba, Fushiki/Toyama, Himeji, Hiroshima, Kawasaki, Kitakyushu, Kobe, Kudamatsu, Muroran, Nagoya, Niigata, Osaka, Sakai/Senpoku, Sendai/Shiogama, Shimizu, Shimonoseki, Tokyo, Tomakomai, Wakayama, Yokkaichi, and Yokohama.

Japan has 988 ships of or over on its national ship register, totaling. However, only 17% of Japanese-owned capacity is registered in Japan. UNCTAD estimates that 224 million dwt of tonnage is controlled by Japanese owners, making Japan the second largest beneficial owner of tonnage after Greece.

Ferries connect Hokkaido to Honshu, and Okinawa Island to Kyushu and Honshu. They also connect other smaller islands and the main islands. The scheduled international passenger routes are to China, Russia, South Korea, and Taiwan. Coastal and cross-channel ferries on the main islands decreased in routes and frequencies following the development of bridges and expressways but some are still operating (as of 2007).

Pipelines
Japan has 84 km of pipelines for crude oil, 322 km for petroleum products, and 1,800 km for natural gas.

By region

 * Transport in Greater Tokyo
 * Transport in Keihanshin
 * Transport in Greater Nagoya
 * Transport in Fukuoka-Kitakyushu

title: Transport in Japan


text:
Foreign relations of Japan

The foreign relations of Japan (日本の国際関係) are handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.

Japan maintains diplomatic relations with every United Nations member state except for North Korea, in addition to UN observer states Holy See, as well as Kosovo, Cook Islands and Niue.

Japanese foreign relations had earliest beginnings in the 14th century and after their opening to the world in 1854 with the Convention of Kanagawa. Japan rapidly modernized and built a strong military. It was imperialistic seeking control of nearby areas—with major wars against China and Russia. It gained control of parts of China and Manchuria, as well as Korea and islands such as Taiwan and Okinawa. It lost in World War II and was stripped of all of its foreign conquests and possessions. See History of Japanese foreign relations. American general Douglas MacArthur, acting for the Allied powers, supervised occupied Japan 1945–51. Since occupation ended diplomatic policy has been based on close partnership with the United States and seeking trade agreements, In the Cold War, Japan was demilitarized but it allied with the U.S. in the confrontation with the Soviet Union. It played a major support role in the Korean War (1950–1953). In the rapid economic developments in the 1960s and 1970s, Japan was one of the major economic powers in the world.

By the 1990s Japan participated in the Peacekeeping operations by the UN, and sent troops to Cambodia, Mozambique, Golan Heights and the East Timor. After the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, Japanese naval vessels have been assigned to resupply duties in the Indian Ocean to the present date. The Ground Self-Defense Force also dispatched their troops to Southern Iraq for the restoration of basic infrastructures.

Foreign policy
Beyond its immediate neighbors, Japan has pursued a more active foreign policy in recent years, recognizing the responsibility which accompanies its economic strength. Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda stressed a changing direction in a policy speech to the National Diet: "Japan aspires to become a hub of human resource development as well as for research and intellectual contribution to further promote cooperation in the field of peace-building." This follows the modest success of a Japanese-conceived peace plan which became the foundation for nationwide elections in Cambodia in 1998.

Links

 * Foreign relations of Meiji Japan
 * International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919)
 * Diplomatic history of World War I
 * International relations (1919–1939)
 * Causes of World War II
 * Diplomatic history of World War II
 * Cold War
 * History of Sino-Japanese relations, China
 * France–Japan relations
 * Germany–Japan relations
 * Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, 1930–1945
 * History of Japan–Korea relations
 * Japan–North Korea relations
 * Japan–South Korea relations
 * Japanese foreign policy on Southeast Asia
 * Japan–Russia relations
 * Japan–Soviet Union relations
 * Japan–United Kingdom relations
 * Japan–United States relations

Diplomatic relations
List of countries which Japan maintains diplomatic relations with:

Africa
Japan is increasingly active in Africa. In May 2008, the first Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize will be awarded at Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV), which signals a changing emphasis in bilateral relations.

Americas
Japan has continued to extend significant support to development and technical assistance projects in Latin America.

Southeast Asia
By 1990 Japan's interaction with the vast majority of Asia-Pacific countries, especially its burgeoning economic exchanges, was multifaceted and increasingly important to the recipient countries. The developing countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regarded Japan as critical to their development. Japan's aid to the ASEAN countries totaled US$1.9 billion in Japanese fiscal year (FY) 1988 versus about US$333 million for the United States during U.S. FY 1988. As of the late 1980s, Japan was the number one foreign investor in the ASEAN countries, with cumulative investment as of March 1989 of about US$14.5 billion, more than twice that of the United States. Japan's share of total foreign investment in ASEAN countries in the same period ranged from 70 to 80 percent in Thailand to 20 percent in Indonesia.

In the late 1980s, the Japanese government was making a concerted effort to enhance its diplomatic stature, especially in Asia. Toshiki Kaifu's much publicized spring 1991 tour of five Southeast Asian nations—Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines—culminated in a 3 May major foreign policy address in Singapore, in which he called for a new partnership with the ASEAN and pledged that Japan would go beyond the purely economic sphere to seek an "appropriate role in the political sphere as a nation of peace." As evidence of this new role, Japan took an active part in promoting negotiations to resolve the Cambodian conflict.

In 1997, the ASEAN member nations and the People's Republic of China, South Korea and Japan agreed to hold yearly talks to further strengthen regional cooperation, the ASEAN Plus Three meetings. In 2005 the ASEAN plus Three countries together with India, Australia and New Zealand held the inaugural East Asia Summit (EAS).

South Asia
In South Asia, Japan's role is mainly that of an aid donor. Japan's aid to seven South Asian countries totaled US$1.1 billion in 1988. Except for Pakistan, which received heavy inputs of aid from the United States, all other South Asian countries received most of their aid from Japan as of the early 1990s. Four South Asian nations—India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka—are in the top ten list of Tokyo's aid recipients worldwide as of the early 1990s. A point to note is that Indian Government has received no aid since the 2004 Tsunami that struck India but Indian registered NGOs look to Japan for much investment in their projects.

Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu signaled a broadening of Japan's interest in South Asia with his swing through the region in April 1990. In an address to the Indian parliament, Kaifu stressed the role of free markets and democracy in bringing about "a new international order," and he emphasized the need for a settlement of the Kashmir territorial dispute between India and Pakistan and for economic liberalization to attract foreign investment and promote dynamic growth. To India, which was very short of hard currency, Kaifu pledged a new concessional loan of ¥100 billion (about US$650 million) for the coming year.

Europe

In what became known as the Tenshō embassy, the first ambassadors from Japan to European powers reached Lisbon, Portugal in August 1584. From Lisbon, the ambassadors left for the Vatican in Rome, which was the main goal of their journey. The embassy returned to Japan in 1590, after which time the four nobleman ambassadors were ordained by Alessandro Valignano as the first Japanese Jesuit fathers.

A second embassy, headed by Hasekura Tsunenaga and sponsored by Date Masamune, was also a diplomatic mission to the Vatican. The embassy left 28 October 1613 from Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of Japan, where Date was daimyō. It traveled to Europe by way of New Spain, arriving in Acapulco on 25 January 1614, Mexico City in March, Havana in July, and finally Seville on 23 October 1614. After a short stop-over in France, the embassy reached Rome in November 1615, where it was received by Pope Paul V. After return travel by way of New Spain and the Philippines, the embassy reached the harbor of Nagasaki in August 1620. While the embassy was gone, Japan had undergone significant change, starting with the 1614 Osaka Rebellion, leading to a 1616 decree from the Tokugawa shogunate that all interaction with non-Chinese foreigners was confined to Hirado and Nagasaki. In fact, the only western country that was allowed to trade with Japan was the Dutch Republic. This was the beginning of "sakoku", where Japan was essentially closed to the western world until 1854.

Modern era
The cultural and non-economic ties with Western Europe grew significantly during the 1980s, although the economic nexus remained by far the most important element of Japanese – West European relations throughout the decade. Events in West European relations, as well as political, economic, or even military matters, were topics of concern to most Japanese commentators because of the immediate implications for Japan. The major issues centered on the effect of the coming West European economic unification on Japan's trade, investment, and other opportunities in Western Europe. Some West European leaders were anxious to restrict Japanese access to the newly integrated European Union, but others appeared open to Japanese trade and investment. In partial response to the strengthening economic ties among nations in Western Europe and to the United States–Canada–Mexico North American Free Trade Agreement, Japan and other countries along the Asia-Pacific rim began moving in the late 1980s toward greater economic cooperation.

On 18 July 1991, after several months of difficult negotiations, Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu signed a joint statement with the Dutch prime minister and head of the European Community Council, Ruud Lubbers, and with the European Commission president, Jacques Delors, pledging closer Japanese – European Community consultations on foreign relations, scientific and technological cooperation, assistance to developing countries, and efforts to reduce trade conflicts. Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials hoped that this agreement would help to broaden Japanese – European Community political links and raise them above the narrow confines of trade disputes.

Disputed territories
Japan has several territorial disputes with its neighbors concerning the control of certain outlying islands.

Japan contests Russia's control of the Southern Kuril Islands (including Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan, and the Habomai group) which were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945. South Korea's assertions concerning Liancourt Rocks (Japanese: "Takeshima", Korean: "Dokdo") are acknowledged, but not accepted by Japan. Japan has strained relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (Taiwan) over the Senkaku Islands; and with the People's Republic of China over the status of Okinotorishima.

title: Foreign relations of Japan


text:
Talk:Japan

Semi-protected edit request on 24 June 2024
103.3.220.150 (talk) 09:26, 24 June 2024 (UTC) Formation = February 11 660 BC/539 AD
 * Not done, please provide reliable sources mentioning the sovereignty event. CMD (talk) 10:05, 24 June 2024 (UTC)

Citation style
Nikkimaria, why did you revert here? You have undone several citation improvements for no reason. What are you objecting to here?   Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 15:34, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

 * I do not agree that the changes were improvements - most were just adding clutter, and some were misinterpreting what was being cited. For example, the citation for this site was edited to add a publication date of 1891 - that's the creation date of the artwork, but what's actually being cited there is the description provided by the website. Nikkimaria (talk) 17:15, 6 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Anything else? Because that's easily addressed.   Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 18:30, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

 * Yes, everything else - I kept the changes that I agreed were improvements. Nikkimaria (talk) 18:34, 6 July 2024 (UTC)
 * That's clearly nonsense. Removing "url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/radiocaron-dates-and-archaeology-of-the-late-pleistocene-in-the-japanese-islands/580E3E8E6F7C0E9E65D9FA8EC7FB6553" for example, removes clutter from citations, and maintains the link provided by free, which brings to you the exact same link. Compare e.g.,
 * with
 * Likewise the link to "A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower" should be on the chapter, not the book, because the link is for the chapter, not the book.
 * Likewise Proceedings of the International Conference on Social Modeling and Simulation, Plus Econophysics Colloquium is not a journal, and should not be cited through cite journal.
 * Likewise proper title case is "China Overtakes Japan as the World's Biggest Exporter of Passenger Cars", not "China Overtakes Japan As The World's Biggest Exporter Of Passenger Cars"
 * etc. etc. etc.   Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 18:53, 6 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Likewise proper title case is "China Overtakes Japan as the World's Biggest Exporter of Passenger Cars", not "China Overtakes Japan As The World's Biggest Exporter Of Passenger Cars"
 * etc. etc. etc.   Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 18:53, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

 * The first of these has no impact on the reader. In the second, the link does not go to that chapter so to call it a chapter URL is nonsense. The third change adds an unnecessary extra date and removes a link display, neither of which seems of benefit. The fourth was incorrect both before and after the edit - it should be sentence case, although that is inconsistent throughout at the moment. Etc etc etc. And none of these warrant restoring the disputed changes. Nikkimaria (talk) 19:03, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

 * The link was pointing to PT24 when it should have been PT40 because the reference was clearly to the 2nd chapter covering the Nara period. I've fixed that. I don't see what extra date you're talking about, nor what link you think is removed.   Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 19:08, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

 * And I don't any justification for the botspam - please don't add that again without getting consensus for it. Otherwise I've fixed up the referencing. Nikkimaria (talk) 23:55, 7 July 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Japan