Facts About Japan
Japan is the 10th largest country in the world with a population of about 127 million people residing in a geographical area just a little smaller than the state of California. Japan’s capital is Tokyo and the greater Tokyo-Yokohama area has a population of 33 million people making it the largest metropolitan area in the world. To put that into prospective, California’s total population is about 38 million.
Full name: Japan (Nihon or Nippon, literally means “the sun’s origin”)
Population: About 127.9 million
Capital: Tokyo
Area: 377,864 sq km (145,894 sq miles)
Major religions: both Shinto and Buddhist 84%, other 16% (including Christian 0.36%)
Life expectancy: highest in the world, 79 years (men) 86 years (women)
Ethnic groups: Japanese 98.5%, Koreans 0.5%, Chinese 0.4%, other 0.6%
note: up to 230,000 Brazilians of Japanese origin migrated to Japan in the 1990s to work in industries; some have returned to Brazil (2004)
Major industries: High-tech electronic products, motor vehicles, office machinery, chemicals, steel, textiles, processed foods
International dialing code: +81
Internet domain: .jp
