ECONOMY OF JAPAN

1. ECONOMY OF JAPAN INDEPTH ANALYSIS BY: KEVIN SAKAI

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS HISTORY PRE WWII WWII POST WWII GEOGRAPHY LOCATION AREA LAND SPECS CLIMATE COMPARISON DEMOGRAPHICS POPULATION PYRAMID ETHNIC GROUPS GOVERNMENT GOVERNMENT SYSTEM VOTING ECONOMY ECONOMIC SYSTEM ECONOMIC SYSTEM COMPARISON NATURAL RESOURCES HUMAN RESOURCES HUMAN RESOURCE COMPARISON CAPITAL RESOURCES CAPITAL RESOURCE COMPARISON GDP SECTORS GDP BREAKDOWN AGRICULTURE GDP BREAKDOWN INDUSTRY GDP BREAKDOWN SERVICES GDP COMPARISON TO CANADA BIBLIOGRAPHY PRODUCTION

3. HISTORY Fun Fact: In recent history, Japan had occupied Korea, the Philippines, China, and other parts of Southeast Asia.

4. PRE WORLD WAR II • Japan had undergone an administrative change when Hirohito militarized the government and dissolved all opposition parties. Although Japan was on the track to becoming a democracy, the great depression and economic strain of the 20s and 30s forced the government into radical change.

5. WORLD WAR II • World War II provided Japan with temporary economic boosts, as well as temporary problems. Before America got involved with the global conflict, Japan’s conquests in the Pacific had forced the US to impose sanctions on them. These sanctions badly damaged a few Japanese industries that relied on trading with the US. In response to these sanctions and embargos, Japan launched a surprise assault on the US naval base of Pearl Harbor. This action would ultimately spell the end for Japan. In order to end the war, the US bombed two Japanese cities; Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The destruction of these cities devastated the economy.

6. POST WORLD WAR II • After World War II, Japan found itself in a situation it had never been in prior, occupied. General Douglas MacArthur had visions of a democratic Japan that would not live under a monarch or emperor. The empire of Japan was dissolved, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, destroyed. Japan had much to do in the way of repairs and rebuilding its former glory. Hirohito, who was emperor before, became a figurehead emperor instead and held little to no power in government. Decisions were made by a complex ad intricate network of the social and governmental elite. • Thanks to the Korean War, Japan had a huge economic boost on account of it being the supplier of UN forces. With the help of this spike in national profit Japan began to emerge as a major player in many economic circles. The production of cars, steel, and electronics climbed rapidly.

7. GEOGRAPHY Fun Fact: Due to Japan’s geographic location, they are prone to frequent earthquakes and tsunamis.

8. LOCATION • Coordinates:36 00 N, 138 00 E • Japan is located at the eastern side of the Pacific Ocean. • It is a small country just west of China and almost directly above Australia. *Information from CIA World Fact Book

9. AREA • Total land area is 377 915 square km. • For perspective, Canada’s land mass is 9 984 670 square km. • The terrain in Japan is prominently mountainous and extremely rugged. • The biggest natural hazard Japan faces are volcanoes, but the area also suffers from frequent earthquakes. *Information from CIA World Fact Book

10. LAND SPECIFICATIONS JAPAN CANADA *Information from CIA World Fact Book

11. CLIMATE COMPARISON JAPAN VANCOUVER *Information from mission.net

12. DEMOGRAPHICS Fun Fact: Japan has the 62nd largest land area, and the 11th largest population.

13. POPULATION PYRAMID *Information from CIA World Fact Book

14. ETHNIC GROUPS JAPAN ANALYSIS Why are ethnic minorities so scarce in Japan? While Japan has a massive tourist industry, it has very few outsiders come in to stay. The land area of the country cannot sustain a much higher population and the crowded lifestyle of the Japanese is too much to handle for many. Potential immigrants are often intimidated by the fast paced and crowded buzz of the streets and this makes Japan a difficult place to live for them. *Information from CIA World Fact Book

15. GOVERNMENT Fun Fact: Japan still retains an emperor for figurative purposes.

16. GOVERNMENT SYSTEM • Japan’s government is a constitutional monarchy and parliament. • It is very reflective of both the German system and North American system. • The parliament in Japan is referred to as the Diet. The Diet contains both the House of Representative and the House of Councilors. • House of Representatives - 480 members • House of Councilors - 242 members • All members of the Diet are elected by the people of Japan • Japan also has a Prime Minister, but unlike in Canada, the Prime Minister is elected by the Diet as opposed to the people. • The Prime Minister is head of the Cabinet, and appoints all of its members. • The final branch of government is the judiciary branch. This consists of all courts from the Supreme Court to family courts. All the judges in the courts are appointed and chosen by the members of the Cabinet. • Finally Japan has an emperor, who has no legitimate power but acts as a figurehead of the state and a symbol of Japan. *Information from japan-guide.com

17. VOTING • The legal voting age in Japan is 20. Once a person is 20, and able to vote, they may vote to elect the members of parliament. This process is very similar to Canada’s, where parties control a given number of seats based on their strength in the election. • Japan used the proportional representation voting system. This means that the number of seats the “winning” party receives is parallel to the ratio of votes that they received, as opposed to preset numbers in order of placement. For example, one party gets 35% of votes and have the highest percentage, they get 35% of seats - not 80%. *Information from japan-guide.com

18. ECONOMY Fun Fact: Japan currently has $4 700 000 000 000 in purchasing power.

19. ECONOMIC SYSTEM • Japan uses a mixed-market economy. • The market dictates prices and the country engages in inter-trading and international trading. • The government provides benefits such as welfare. • It is understandable, given that Japan used to be an empire/monarchy, that they would employ command economy elements in their economy. The reason that the entire country is not command is the fact that Japan was very influenced by US capitalism and also adopted a German governmental system after WWII.

20. ECONOMIC SYSTEM COMPARISON(NOTES)

21. NATURAL RESOURCES • Japan has almost no natural resources. They are one of the largest importers of coal and natural gas because there is no way of obtaining this in the country. • Fish would be the largest natural resource supply in Japan, and it is infamously known that Japanese fisherman fish dolphins. This is primarily out of desperation due to lack of fish even. • Japan does export minerals but this is very negligible and does not carry much weight with the economy.

22. HUMAN RESOURCES • Japan has a total population of 127 000 000. • This massive amount of human resources allows Japan to compensate for its lack of land mass and natural resources. • It is the human resources that drive Japan’s technology and car industry and put Japan on the map in terms on innovations and breakthroughs in the aforementioned fields.

23. HUMAN RESOURCE COMPARISON(DEPENDANCY RATIO) COMPARISON ANALYSIS The graph on the right represents population comparison broken down by dependency ratio. Clearly, Canada’s population overall is much less than that of Japan’s but in this instance another fact is visible. Canada’s independent population is a much greater percentage of its overall population. This is because people in Japan live longer, but get to retire at the same age. The youth dependency portion is consistent for both sides, but because the average life expectancy in Japan is 81 years for males, and 88 years for females, the elderly dependency is far greater. The life expectancy in Canada is 79 years for males and 84 years for females. *Information from CIA World Fact Book

24. CAPITAL RESOURCES • Japan was hit with multiple disasters in the recent past. Both a tsunami and nuclear reactor breakdown greatly damaged the capital resources of Japan and set the economy back quite a bit. • While the natural and human-error disasters did provide Japan with a setback, the country still has a prominent capital field. The density of the land and the efficiency of the technology is unparalleled. Consider the population of Tokyo, the city sustains 13.23 million people in just an area of 2188 square km. • To give a broad idea of Japan’s prominence in capital resources, consider that this tiny country has almost 0.2 million more roadways than the massive country of Canada.

25. CAPITAL RESOURCE COMPARISON (ROADWAYS) COMPARISON ANALYSIS The reasons behind the lopsidedness of these statistics is explainable. Japan is a very small land mass, but has a huge population. Most of the land is densely populated and the country needs a dense network of roadways to support this. Cities in Japan are also very close together, so there are very few agricultural fields when land can be industrialized. In Canada, the land mass is so large that the cities need not have excessive roadways connected each of them because very few people would be willing to use them. This means that cities can be spread out and paved roadways can be used sparcely. *Information from CIA World Fact Book

26. GDP SECTORS *Information from CIA World Fact Book

27. GDP BREAKDOWN (AGRICULTURE) • Agriculture in Japan consists of exportation of wheat, barley, oilseed, fish and fish products, dairy products, lumber and forestry, fruits, vegetables and tobacco. • Considering Japan’s land mass, it is understandable that the majority of its economy is not run on the agricultural sector. • The people per square mile ratio is among the highest in the world, so capital and human resources would obviously be more prominent than natural resources.

28. GDP BREAKDOWN (Industry) • Industry in Japan consists of transportation equipment, minerals (both processed and unprocessed), food products, wood, paper, petroleum, natural gas, and chemicals. • Considering that Japan’s human resources are extremely abundant, it makes sense for people to value the influence of technology. This essentially would make Japan a massive innovator of new technology.

29. GDP BREAKDOWN (SERVICES) • The largest service in Japan is the tourism industry. • While Japan is not a very large country land-wise, it is still a massive tourist destination for travellers. The tourism industry is among the largest economic sector in Japan and it is essential to driving the economy.

30. GDP COMPARISON TO CANADA JAPAN CANADA *Information from CIA World Fact Book

31. BIBLIOGRAPHY • https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html • http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2136.html • http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/constitution_and_government_of_japan/fundamental_e.html • https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ca.html • http://www.mutantfrog.com/2009/08/29/how-japans-proportional-representation-voting-system-works-from-nikkei/ • http://www.mission.net/japan/tokyo/north/page.php?pg_id=1440

32. PRODUCED BY KEVIN SAKAI

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