Some curious facts about Japan

 

Geography and history:

The total area of ​​Japan is 377,835 km² (62nd in the world). This is about 45 times less than the territory of the Russian Federation, with an almost equal population. The coastline is 29 751 km² (6th in the world), and the Japanese character owes this characteristic to the island character of their country. The highest point in Japan - 3,776 meters (Mount Fuji) - a sacred place for every Japanese, privately owned by a Shinto temple, which houses a donation from a shogun dating from 1609.

 

Japan is a state in East Asia, which is located in the Pacific Ocean and consists of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands: Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku account for 97% of the total area.

Forests cover 66% of the territory; commercial deforestation is prohibited. The country has more than 200 volcanoes, 70% of the country's territory is mountains.

Japan experiences up to 1,500 earthquakes per year. Almost all of them are just weak tremors, but strong earthquakes are not uncommon here. It is all about the location of the island archipelago at the junction of three massive tectonic plates at once. When the plates are moving, an earthquake occurs. In 2011, the plates moved very actively, which led to a large-scale disaster. That earthquake was the strongest in the history of observations - its magnitude was 9.0 points. But due to the fact that Japanese engineers and builders learned to resist the elements, they managed to avoid great casualties and destruction. But in 1923, the Kanto earthquake (in Japan it is customary to assign proper names to significant natural disasters) with a magnitude of “only” 7.9 points, claimed the lives of 143 thousand inhabitants.

 

Japan still remains a monarchy, only now constitutional. Formally, this is the last and only empire on the planet. The emperor performs the symbolic function of the unity of the people and the state, and all laws are adopted by a bicameral parliament. The imperial dynasty in Japan was never interrupted. The current emperor Naruhito is a direct descendant of Jimmu, who founded Japan in 660 BC. Emperor Naruhito ascended the throne in 2019, inheriting the throne from his father, Emperor Akihito.

 

"I swear here in the name of the happiness of the people and world peace, next to the people and according to the constitution, to serve Japan and its people as its symbol. May the wisdom and efforts of the people lead to the further flourishing of our country. I wish that she could to contribute to peace and friendship with the international community and the well-being of mankind", - said the emperor.

 

In Japan, it is forbidden to have a regular army and take part in armed conflicts (following the results of World War II).

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Traditions and mentality:

98.4% of the country's population are ethnic Japanese. According to statistics, the capital of Japan is the safest metropolis in the world, and the local police are incorruptible. At the same time, the country has the highest suicide rate: 24.4 out of 100,000 Japanese citizens, according to probability theory, will sooner or later take over. It happens that suicides are committed “for company” or by decision of the head of the family.

Coming to work on time is a sign of bad taste. You must be in place at least half an hour before it begins. It is not very customary to take annual leave here, and they often stay up late at work. The Japanese do not know how to relax, 3 - 4 days off in a row - count, rested for the whole year. In Japanese, the word "karoshi" is translated as "death from overwork." Every year, doctors state this cause of death for more than 10 thousand people.

The Japanese have very low social benefits by age. Benefits for needy old people do not exceed $ 300. It is understood that every Japanese should worry ahead of time about his old age. The concept of "senior citizen" does not exist. By law, a contract of employment is concluded with a person for life, and the employee can hold office as long as his health allows him to cope with his duties.

There are no migrant workers in the country, except for expat experts on a short contract. The recipe is simple: the minimum wage allowed to hire a foreign worker in Japan exceeds the average salary for the Japanese. It is not profitable for employers to hire foreigners. Thus, for highly paid specialists, the path to the country remains open, and unskilled labor from among migrant workers does not dump the salaries of local residents.

Many Japanese people draw and sing well. In part, the school education system is affecting - children are first taught to sing and draw, and only then writing and arithmetic. In Japan, the school year begins on the first of April, after sakura blossom. In Japanese, months have no names, they are indicated by ordinal numbers.

There are no landfills in Japan - all garbage is recycled. There are no litter bins on the streets.

Instead of signing in this country they put a personal seal - hanko. Almost every Japanese has his own seal, and is used everywhere, many times during the day.

 

Japanese youth movements and subcultures are distinguished by extreme extravagance - “acid” colors in clothes and shoes, outlandish hairstyles and catchy accessories.

 

If the Japanese laughed - this is the first sign that he is nervous. With a smile it is customary to meet negative and sad news, and a prolonged silence indicates respect.

 

At the meeting, the Japanese for each category of interlocutors assign their own angle of greeting. The boss should bow at an angle of 45 degrees, customers 30 and colleagues 15.

 

To apologize or repent, in Japan it is customary to shave their heads.

 

In Japan, the central heating system is only in Hokkaido Prefecture - the northernmost of the large islands. In other regions, residents solve the problem of heating independently, using electric air conditioners and heaters - electric, oil or gas. In almost every Japanese house, with the advent of cold weather, they get a “kotatsu” - a hybrid of a table, electric stove and blankets. Modern “kotatsu” are mobile, stylish and multifunctional pieces of furniture that are widely used in housing stock (especially in poorly insulated houses) and in other areas of public life, for example, in transport. Having sat down at the "kotatsu", the Japanese eat and drink tea, socialize, watch TV, play, spend their free time and even sleep under them. The Japanese say that, having gathered under a common blanket, children literally learn to "not pull the blanket over themselves."

 

There are no floors and rooms in hospitals at number four. This is because the hieroglyph “4” is very similar to the hieroglyph “death”. Fours are avoided in house and car numbers.

 

There are no "tips" in principle, which is unusual for non-Japanese. It is believed that while the client pays the assigned price for the service, he remains equal with the seller. If the buyer tries to leave the extra money, he thereby depreciates the service or product provided to him, thereby insulting the seller, reducing the equal exchange to delivery.

 

The only Japanese survivor of the death of the Titanic was Masabumi Hosono. After returning to Japan, he was branded a coward due to the fact that he had dishonored himself by not staying on a sinking ship.

 

Economy:

GDP of $ 4.513 trillion. per year (3rd place in the world, after the USA and China)

GDP per person is $ 36,317 per year (26th place in the world).

GDP growth - 1.2% per year.

Inflation is -0.30% per year. Yes, deflation, price reduction.

Unemployment 2.7% (133rd in the world from the highest).

Labor force 66.7 million people (52.33% of the population) (8th place in the world).

 

The peak of the recovery in the Japanese economy occurred 30 years ago: in the global index, the share of Japanese companies was 44%, in the ranking of the top 10 largest banks in the world 7 were Japanese, and 40 out of 271 billionaires were Japanese. Subsequently, due to intensive development, aggressive export and overproduction, the economic growth rate slowed down.

 

Now the Japanese economy is the third in the world. Japan is a member of the Group of Seven (Group of Seven, “G7”) - an international club that unites countries with the largest economies of the planet: Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, the USA and France. In terms of GDP, the country is in 3rd place in the world and 2 among Asian countries. This is a serious achievement, but earlier the country's position was even more significant.

 

Since 1960, per capita GDP has grown 75 times (from $ 610 dollars to $ 45,903). The population of the country over the same period increased by only 40%. Japan's exports grew 155 times; in the 1960s and 80s, annual growth averaged 17% each. In the last third of the twentieth century, the main advantage of Japanese exports was the low price, therefore, all over the world they used Japanese small cars, precision optics, electronics, televisions and cameras. Thirty years later, the Chinese will choose the same path of development, taking advantage of cheap labor.

 

The Japanese live longer and longer, but this has become a problem for the country, because the elderly have increased in the country and the birth rate is low. If in the 1960s there were an average of 2 children in each family, now it is 1.3. In 1995, in Japan, there were 87.3 million people aged 15 to 64, and in 2015 there were 78.9 million such people of working age, while the number of people over 65 increased from 18.3 to 31 million.

 

Coffee is especially popular in Japan; the country imports over 85% of the annual production of coffee in Jamaica. Fish and seafood are also extremely popular. Own catch is not enough to satisfy demand, so Japan imports half of China's catch, whose share in the global production of “seafood” is 35%. Well, the most popular food is rice. As a rule, it is eaten as part of different dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

 

40% of exports are automobiles. Since the 1980s, Japan has consistently been in the top 10 global car manufacturers. Only very recently has she lost primacy, losing to China.

 

Economic policy aims to sell the world quality and sophisticated products. Technological and expensive goods prevail in industrial exports: optics, robots, and electronic products. Now the production of bulk and inexpensive goods is transferred to Chinese branches and other countries of Southeast Asia, but Japan traditionally carries out technically complex assembly and production itself.

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Demography:

The population is 127 million people (10th place in the world).

The population density is 339 people / km² (36th place in the world).

Population growth -0.08% per year (222 place in the world). A negative increase with a tendency to increase is a serious “bell”.

The average life expectancy is 83.7 years (1st place in the world).

The median age is 44.2 years (2nd place in the world).

1.01 million people are born annually (23rd place in the world).

Greater Tokyo is the largest metropolitan area in the world. Its population is almost 30 million people. 8.5 million people live in Tokyo itself.

Attitude to marriage in Japan is very balanced. Here, they rarely marry and marry before the age of 30, and the average age of childbearing in Japanese women is 34 years.

 

Japan leads in the number of centenarians, in the number of mass suicides, leads in the global ranking of table tennis, in hybrid automotive industry. Japan occupies a leading position in the quality of medical services, leads in the field of aging populations and declining birth rates, Japanese cars lead in the reliability rating, Japan is one of the leading countries in the field of scientific research, especially in high technology, biomedicine and robotics, by the number of all kinds festivals, holidays and competitions. Japan leads the world in the amount of financial assistance provided annually to other countries, Japan leads in terms of property ownership abroad, leads in innovation and design, and maintains a leading position in the production of consumer electronics and electronic equipment.

 

Japan is an amazing country that must be visited!!!