This international business study of Japan reviews demographics, economic performance, international trade, industrial activity, foreign investment climate, marketing, and resource issues. The objective of the study is to provide international companies with a sense of the potential of doing business in Japan.
Japan is an Asian island nation whose 127 million inhabitants (as of July 2001) occupy four major islands and a number of smaller islands (CIA, 2001). As a political entity, the country dates back to about 500 B.C. (Hunter, 2001).
The Japanese population is remarkably homogeneous in an ethnic context. Ethnic Japanese account for 99.5 percent of the country's citizens, while most of the remaining one-half of one-percent are ethnic Koreans. Approximately 885 thousand foreigners reside in Japan, while approximately 498 thousand Japanese citizens reside outside of the country. Adjusting for these residence patterns still leaves the resident population of Japan 98.4 percent ethnically Japanese. Japan is also highly unified in a religious context (Hunter, 2001).
Although Japan has no official state religion, approximately 108 million Japanese are adherents of Shintoism. Thus, approximately 85 percent of the Japanese population share the same religious orientation. Buddhism is not incompatible with Shintoism, and approximately 93 million Japanese practice Buddhism (Hunter, 2001). Obviously, a significant overlap exists between the country's Shinto and Buddhist adherents. Rather than divide the country's population, however, the Shinto/Buddhist overlap further unifies the country. While a variety of folkways and accents are found in Japan, these differences are not causes of divisions within the population.
The Japanese economy is in a state of near crisis in the late Fall of 2001, with output falling, the financial sector in disarray, and the government unable to act decisively because of the ability of the poli...