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Japan – Basic information

Posted by:

RoYuMi

On:

April 11, 2021

Society

Learn the basic information of Japan, culture and details that will help you on your trip to Japan.

Anthem and National Flag

National flag

Nisshoki, which translates as “rising sun”
(also known as Hinomaru)

Proportion and Position

height : width = 2 : 3
The rising sun or rise at the center of the flag
Diameter: three fifths (3/5) of the height of the flag

National anthem

kimi ga yo

The Rising Sun Flag and “Kimi Ga Yo” are the official national flag and national anthem of Japan, formalized into Law in 1999.

Imperial House of Japan

Japan has an Imperial Family, where the Emperor is the Maximum Representative Figure of Japan within a system of Constitutional Monarchy. In practice, due to legal limitations, the Emperor does not rule the country, although he participates in the official appointment of the Prime Minister.

Official language

Japan has no official national language, but the “de facto” language is Japanese. There is an expectation that all citizens know the language, since it is taught in all public schools in the country.

religions

The most common religions in Japan are Shintoism and Buddhism, although there is a sizeable Christian population. There is also a presence of other religions such as Islam and Judaism, although the majority of their followers are foreign citizens.
Japan constitutionally upholds freedom of religion.

Geography

Japan is located west of the Pacific Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere. Japan’s neighboring countries are the Republic of Korea, China, and Russia.

It has a territory of 377,974.17 square kilometers, divided into 47 Prefectures.

Capital city

Tokyo is the capital city of Japan. The Tokyo metropolitan area is made up of 23 wards. The population of the Tokyo metropolitan area alone is 13,982,622 (April 2020 data), approximately 10% of the total population of Japan.

Population

Japan has a population of 125,929,817, according to data provided by the Japanese Ministry of the Interior and Communications as of April 1, 2020.

The Parlament

The Japanese Parliament, better known as The Diet, is made up of two Chambers. ‘Shugi-in’ House of Representatives (465 members) and ‘Sangi-in’ House of Councilors (245 members)

Coin

The official currency of Japan is the Japanese Yen. It does not have decimals. It has the following denominations: 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10,000.