Japan

Japan, officially the State of Japan, Nippon or Nihon (日本?) And Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku (日本国?), Respectively, is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies in the Sea of ​​Japan, east of China, Korea and Russia, and northern Taiwan. Etymologically, the kanji (ideograms or) that make up Japan's name mean "country (国, Kuni) Original (本, Hon) from the Sun (日, hi)"; this is how Japan is designated as the "Land of the Rising Sun".

Japan form since 1945, an archipelago of 6,852 islands over 100 m2, including the four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, accounting for 95% of the land area. The archipelago stretches over three thousand kilometers. Most of the islands are mountainous, many volcanic; for example, Japan's highest peak, Mount Fuji (3,776 m), is a volcano (inactive since 1707). Japan is the tenth most populous country, with about 127 million to 377 488 km2 (337 inhab. / Km 2), most of which focused on the narrow coastal plains. Greater Tokyo, which includes the capital Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan region in the world, with over 35 million inhabitants. The city was the first global financial center in 1990.


Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan begins with brief appearances in Chinese history texts from the first century. Japan's history is characterized by periods of great influence in the outside world followed by long periods of isolation. Since adopting its constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament, the Diet.

Japan is the third largest economy in the world in nominal GDP and the third for GDP at purchasing power parity. It is also the fourth largest exporter and sixth importing country in the world. Major player in international trade and sparing power he has accumulated a net creditor position vis-a-vis the rest of the world (in) more than 325,000 yens7 billion, placing it in first place before the China8. It is a developed country with a very high standard of living (tenth highest HDI) and the longest life expectancy in the world (according to UN estimates) 9. But this idyllic picture should not obscure important issues facing the future of the country: Japan suffers from one of the world's lowest birth rates, well below the replacement level générations10. The country is currently démographique11 decline. It is also the country for which the weight of the gross public debt is the largest in the world12, the latter amounted in 2013 to 250% of PIB13.

Japan is a constitutional monarchy. Governed by the 1947 Constitution, where the Emperor (天皇, Tennō?) No longer occupies a place of honor, while the bulk of political power is vested in a bicameral parliament, the Diet (国会, Kokkai?) . Executive power is vested in the cabinet (内閣, Naikaku?), Responsible to the Diet, headed by Prime Minister (総 理 大臣, Sori daijin?) And composed of ministers of state (国務 大臣, Kokumu daijin?) To all be civilians. The prime minister is chosen in the Diet by peers before being appointed by the emperor. It has the power to appoint and dismiss other ministers, a majority must be a member of Parliament. The constitution assigns sovereignty, which previously returned to the emperor, the Japanese people.

The legislative branch, and thus the Diet is first made ​​everything a lower chamber, the House of Representatives (衆議院, SHUGI-in?) Of 480 seats, of which 300 members are elected by the single-mode to turn and 180 by regional proportional. Representatives are elected for four years by universal suffrage (must have twenty years to vote). The upper house, called the House of Councillors (参議院, Sangi-in?) Of 242 members, is composed of persons elected for a term of six years, renewed by half every three years. There is universal suffrage and secret ballot. The voting system is mixed: 146 councilors are elected by a block voting within the prefectures, and 96 advisers on national proportional.

Politics has long been dominated after the end of the American occupation by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has provided all the Prime Ministers of the country from 1955 to 1993, from 1996 to 2009 and since 2012, which -Ci, liberal conservative, governs alone or in coalition, including the Kōmeitō, party under the influence of Sōka Gakkai, whose members are mostly from between 1999 and 2009 and since 2012 the main opposition party has long was the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) until one suffers the loss of its traditional electorate as a result of its alliance from 1994 to 1998 with the LDP in a grand coalition and its transformation in 1996 social Party -démocrate (PSD). Since the 1990s, the non-Communist opposition was led by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), founded in 1996 and reformed in 1998, consisting of former dissidents as former PSJ that the LDP and positioning themselves at the center even the center-left of the Japanese political spectrum with a near Third way social liberal ideology.

 He eventually came to power after the parliamentary elections of August 30, 2009 and its president, Yukio Hatoyama, has become the 60th Prime Minister of Japan on September 16, 2009 Naoto Kan succeeded him June 4, 2010, before leaving his instead turn to Yoshihiko Noda on September 2, 2011 and heads a bipartisan coalition government with the people's New Party (NPP, center-right). However, he lost the majority in the next parliamentary elections on December 16, 2012, in favor of the return of the PLD-Kōmeitō coalition. Shinzō Abe, already prime minister from 2006 to 2007, has thus returned to head the government Dec. 26, 2012.