平和
和平
평화
JAPAN
28 August 2014
Japan - Kyoto

Fast facts on Japan

Here are some fast facts on Japan's population, economy and business that I have prepared for my students at Tokyo's Sophia University.

Here are some fast facts on Japan's population, economy and business that I have prepared for my students at Tokyo's Sophia University.

What is the "take-away"?

In many ways, Japan has fallen off the international radar screen, following its two lost decades, and the dramatic rise of China. This is completely unjustified, since Japan is still a very important country, with a very large economy.

Japan's population

Japan's population is 128 million. It has been basically stable over the past decade, but is predicted to decline gradually from now, and reach 87 million by 2060. There are a number of other countries with declining populations, like Germany and Italy.

This makes Japan the sixth most populous country in Asia after China (1.3 billion), India (1.2 billion), Indonesia (242 million), Pakistan (177 million), and Bangladesh (150 million). Japan has the second biggest population among the world's rich OECD countries, after the US with its 317 million. It has world's tenth highest population, also being exceeded by Brazil (201 million), Nigeria (174 million) and Russia (144 million). Australia's population is way down the list at 23 million.

Japan's fertility rate is 1.4 live births per woman, below the replacement rate of 2.1. Japan is not alone in having a low fertility rate. Several other Asian countries do -- China (1.6), Hong Kong (1.1), Korea (1.4), Singapore (1.3), and Thailand (1.6). Japan's fertility rate is the same as Germany's and Italy's. Australia's is 2.0 and the US's is 2.1.

Japan has the world's highest life expectancy at 83 years (with 86 for women, and 79 for men), equal to Switzerland. Italy, Singapore, Australia and several other countries are just one year behind at 82. Korea is at 81, the US is 79, and China is 76.

Japanese people are well educated, coming eighth in the OECD PISA study on literacy, numeracy and scientific skills. It was behind Shanghai, Korea, Finland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, and New Zealand, just ahead of Australia, and well ahead of the US.

Despite its excellent education scores, Japan has a much lower rank for English language proficiency. According to a 2005/2006 TOEFL test of English as a foreign language, Japan has the worst score in Asia, even worse than North Korea. Japan scores much better in the EF English Proficiency Index, which attempts to rank countries by the average level of English skills amongst adults. But Japan falls in the "moderate proficiency" group, well below the "very high" and "high proficiency" groups.

Japan is experiencing dramatic population aging. Its current population age structure is -- 13% in 0-14 years group, 63% in 15-64 years group, and 24% in over 65 years group. By comparison, in 1970, the figures were 24%, 69% and 7% -- and by 2060 the figures are projected to be 9%, 51% and 40%.

Japan is a highly urbanized country, with 91% of the population living in urban centers. This is typical of advanced countries -- Australia's urban population is 89% of total, Korea's is 83%, and the US's is 82%. By contrast, China's is 51%.

In fact, half of Japan's population lives in: (i) the Greater Tokyo Area which has 36 million, making it by far the world's most populous metropolitan area, with a population density twice that of Bangladesh; and (ii) the Kansai region, which includes Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto, and has 23 million.

Japan's migrant population is 2.2 million (1.7% of total population), twice the 1.1 million of twenty years ago. Elsewhere in Asia, Korea and China have lower immigrant populations, with 1% and 0.1% respectively, while Hong Kong and Singapore both have 39%. Japan's migrant population is low by advanced country standards -- compared with Australia 28%, Canada 21%, US 14%, and France, Germany and the UK which each have 12%.

By country of origin, the largest group Japan's immigrants comes from China, followed by Korea, Brazil, the Philippines, Peru and the United States. About half of the registered foreigners hold permanent resident status, including the so-called “old-comers,” those came to Japan before World War II.

Globally influential Japanese people?

Earlier this year, Time magazine published a special edition announcing the 100 most influential people in the world. This list included 17 Asians, but just one Japanese, Tadashi Yanai, CEO of Uniqlo, "Purveyer of cheerful chic".

This is not fair!

There are many famous and influential living Japanese people, for example: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda; CEO of Softbank Masayoshi Son; CEO of Rakuten Hiroshi Mikitani; author Haruki Murakami; architect Tadao Ando; artist and activist Yoko Ono; and lady golfer Ai Miyazato.

Japan's economy

In 2010, China's economy overtook that of Japan to become the world's second biggest in terms of nominal GDP. But Japan remains well ahead of the world's fourth and fifth economies, Germany and France -- and way ahead of other Asian economies like India (10th), Australia (12th), Korea (15th) and Indonesia (16th).

When it comes to GDP per capita, Japan is ranked 13th in the world with $47,000, behind first placed Luxembourg with over $100,000, fifth placed Australia with $68,000, eleventh placed US with $50,000, but ahead of 33rd placed Korea with $23,000, and 86th placed China with $6,000.

Japan is the world's fourth biggest exporter, behind China, US and Germany, but ahead of Korea (7th) and Australia (21st). But Japan's exports are only 15% of GDP, well below many other countries like Australia's 20%, China's 30% and Korea's 53%.

The stock of inward foreign direct investment into Japan is very small at 3% of GDP, compared with Australia's 40%, China's 10% and Korea's 13%. According to a JETRO survey, the main barriers to foreign direct investment in Japan are: high business costs; peculiarities of the Japanese market; difficulties in foreign language communication; difficulties and complications in administrative procedures and accreditation systems; difficulties in securing human resources; and anxiety about natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis.

By contrast, Japan's stock of outward FDI is much higher at 18% of GDP -- Australia is 28%, China is 5%, and Korea 17%. The inward and outward FDI stocks of the very open US economy are 20% and 32% respectively.

Japan's public debt is now over 200% of GDP, the result of government budget deficits over many years. At the same time, Japan's net foreign assets hit a record high of 266.2 trillion yen ($2.958 trillion) at the end of last year, making it the world's top creditor nation (after China) for the 19th straight year. This is the result of many years of current account surpluses.

Japan only received 8 million tourists last year, compared with the US's 63 million, China's 58 million, Malaysia's 25 million, Korea's 11 million and Australia's 6 million.

Japan's global corporations?

Japan figures significantly in Fortune's Global 500 of the world's largest corporations, with some 62 on the list. But only one of the top 10 list comes from Japan (the top 10 list is Royal Dutch Shell, Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, Sinopec, China National Petroleum, BP, State Grid China, Toyota, Volkswagen and Total). There are more American (132) and Chinese companies (89), but less French (31), German (29), and British (26).

Japan has six brands in the world's top fifty, according to Brandirectory -- Toyota 15th, NTT 16th, Mitsubishi 32nd, Nissan 42nd, Mitsui 45th, Hitachi 48th. (The top five are Apple, Samsung, Google, Microsoft and Walmart). The following Japanese companies are in Forbes magazine's list of the world's most powerful brands -- Toyota 14th, Honda 19th, Canon 35th, Sony 38th, Nintendo 40th, Nissan 76th, Hitachi 84th.

Toyota has just regained the title of world's biggest producer of automobiles, with Honda, Nissan, and Suzuki also in the top 10.

One list of the Top Ten Tech Companies in the World, led by Apple and Samsung, includes Panasonic 6th, Toshiba 7th, and Sony 9th.

Despite its massive foreign exchange reserves, Japan is only ranked as the world's sixth most important global financial center, after London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and Zurich (see The Global Financial Centres Index 13). Only one Japanese bank -- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group -- features in the Banker's top 10 global banks ranked by Tier 1 Capital, whereas four Chinese banks make it.

Japan at the Olympic Games

While the US topped the gold medal tally at the 2012 London Olympics with 46 medals, Japan only won 7, the same as Australia and Kazakhstan, well behind China's 38 and South Korea's 13.

Japan has just won the prize of hosting the 2020 Olympic Games.

Some concluding comments

In many ways, Japan has fallen off the international radar screen, following its two lost decades, and the dramatic rise of China. This is completely unjustified, since Japan is still a very major economy.

The return of Shinzo Abe to power, and his "Abenomics", together with the 2020 Olympic Games, hold the promise of a new more powerful and influential Japan.

Author

John West
Executive Director
Asian Century Institute
www.asiancenturyinstitute.com
Tags: japan, population, ageing, urbanization, TIME's 100 most influential people, GDP, trade, global corporations, Olympic Games

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