BASIC FACTS ABOUT JAPAN

Country name: Japan (Nihon/Nippon)

Capital: Tokyo

Area: 377,835 sq km

Population: 127,288,416 (July 2008)

Ethnic groups: Japanese 98,5 %, Koreans 0.5%, Chinese 0.4 %, 230,000 Brazilians of Japanese origin

Religion: Observes both Shinto and Buddhist 84 %, other 16 % (including Christians O.7%)

GDP: $ 4.346 trillion (2007)      
GDP per capita: $ 33,500 (2007)

Administrative divisions:
  47 prefectures: Aichi, Akita, Aomori, Chiba, Ehime, Fukui, Fukuoka, Fukushima, Gifu, Gunma, Hiroshima, Hokkaido, Hyogo, Ibaraki, Ishikawa, Iwate, Kagawa, Kagoshima, Kanagawa, Kochi, Kumamoto, Kyoto, Mie, Miyagi, Miyazaki, Nagano, Nagasaki, Nara, Niigata, Oita, Okayama, Okinawa, Osaka, Saga, Saitama, Shiga, Shimane, Shizuoka, Tochigi, Tokushima, Tokyo, Tottori, Toyama, Wakayama, Yamagata, Yamaguchi, Yamanashi.

Constitution: 3 May 1947

Government type: constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government

Chief of State: His Majesty Emperor Akihito (since 7 January 1989)

Prime Minister: Naoto Kan (from 3 June 2010)

Minister of Foreign Affairs: Katsuya Okada (DPJ).

Parliament:
 Bicameral Diet consists of: the House of Councillors with 242 seats; the House of Representatives with 480 seats.

National day: 23 December (Birthday of His Majesty Emperor Akihito)