Japan+Fred+Watts

** Wikispaces Japan **

//Development//

__**Human Development Index**__ 0.953

8th
 * __HDI rank__**

$31,100
 * __GDP per capita__**

- Fishermen - Rice farmers - Cattle ranchers - Horticulturists - Lumberjacks
 * __Primary Sector Jobs__**

- Shipwrights - Automobile assembly line workers - Silicon chip fabricators - Chemical plant workers - Construction worker
 * __Secondary Sector Jobs__**

- Electronics engineers - Computer programmers - Professional investors - Research Scientists - Actors
 * __Tertiary Sector Jobs__**

- Lumber - Rice - Oil - Fish - Pork
 * __Raw Materials__**

- Cars - Robots - Soda - Music players inside other objects - Martial Arts equipment - Books - Cheep plastic toys - Anime - Video games - Fish
 * __Consumer Goods__**


 * __Japanese Education__**

The Japanese education system is amongst the most highly regarded in the world. Early education begins in the home and reading is highly encouraged. There is a well-funded government preschool system that is attended by about 9 out of ten 10 children. Elementary school is almost universal. Junior high is also compulsory. Senior high school is not required but is attended by about 94% of students. Competition to get into college and some private high schools is very intense and many students study in after-school clubs known as Juku.

Men attend college much more frequently then women and college attendance for everyone is about 40%. The most prestigious public universities are the University of Tokyo and the University of Kyoto.

99% universal
 * __Literacy Rate__**

Male: 78.67 years Female: 85.56 years Total: 82.02 years
 * __Life Expectancy__**

2.8 deaths per 1000 live births
 * __Infant Mortality Rate__**

__**Natural Increase Rate**__ -0.88%

__**GDI**__ Japan is 13th in the world at 0.942. Japan has had a strict social system for most of its history in which women stayed at home. After World War 2, most legal barriers to women were repealed. However, the culture of gender roles did not totally fade. Today, there is a popular understanding that women should work in the office until they are married and begin to take care of children.

Women have total access to a public education and rising numbers are entering college, although this number still remains lower than men at a ratio of about thirty-seven percent to men's forty-two percent. Almost exactly half of all adult women participate in the workforce. Modern trends concerning smaller families and longer life spans are altering common marriage relationships and many women are starting to work into their old age. This remarkable life expectancy is also a major factor in improving the GDI score itself.

// Industry //

-Automobiles -Shipbuilding -Pharmaceuticals -Electronics -Rice Farming -Petrochemicals -Tourism -Broadcast Media
 * __Types of Industry__**

__**Site Factors of Industry**__ -Mountanous regions are not favorable for intense development or farming -Relative lack of mineral resources -Prone to earthquakes -Temperate climate -Dense city populations allow easy access to labor and consumers.

__**Situational Factors of Industry**__ -Far from Persian Gulf oil fields -Direct ocean link to America (the best ports are on the nation's east side) -Near Asian economic centers such as Korea and Hong Kong -Archipelago status requries all trade to be sea-based -Bordering major Pacific fishing zones

//Resources// **__Energy Use__** Japan has almost no native sources of oil or natural gas, and yet is one of the world's heaveist users. Oil use results in about 45% of the nation's energy. Natural gas has another 20%. Coal is about 5%, and hydoelectric an impressive 20%. The Japanese are stongly involved in the energy-saving techniques and enviromental concerns, hosting the signing of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The remainder of the nation's energy is produced in nuclear power plants.

Dependence of oil is a very expensive trouble in Japan. The Japanese attempt to solve this both economically and enviromentally by driving smaller cars less often, fueling power grids with liquid natural gas (which is cleaner), using mass transportation, and reserching alternative energy forms.

Pollution in Japan comes from a varaity of sources. The various forms of heavy industry as well as oil and coal use have produced air and water pollution for many decades. Construction causes erosion of fragile natural biomes. Heavy shipping and fishing has leaked debris and grime into some ports and bays. However, Japan is trying hard to combat pollution. Standards exist to keep factory pollution to a minimum. Enviromental improvement efforts are well-established and Japan is a leader in low-impact living. The growth rate is slow which means few new pollution problems are appearing.
 * __Pollution__**

// Conclusion // __**Compared to Germany, Japan has...**__ -a similar GDP per capita -a similar HDI -a similar stake in auto manufacturing -very little cheep land -an excellent sudent math score -very little wheat crops

__**Compared to Argentina, Japan has...**__ -a similar fishing industry -a similarly good education level for the region -a similar use of nuclear power -no oil -a small birth rate -far more money

__**Compared to Israel, Japan has...**__ -a similar educated society -similar air pollution -a similar friendly connection to the US -little military -a large popultion -little interal strife

Japan is a major world power economically, industrially, and in media control. Although they have a fairly minor military, their protection has been guaranteed by the United States military since World War Two both with bases on the home islands and in Guam. Although they are being challenged to various degrees with the same labor problems as Europe and America: outsourceing, weak demand, and an aging population; they have an educated, frugal culture and business intrests who tend to work together for the greater good in tough times. The fragile link to oil is probably their biggest problem at the moment. North Korea is unlikly to escalate any time soon. On a social level, they seem to be doing an impressive job of retaining and even spreading their unique ethnic culture in the modern world. The high levels of stress and underlying disorders caused by it in the nation's youth have led to a number of strange devlopments from internet addiction to teen suicide rates. However, these problems are not inevitable and eventually solutions will be found.

As the world becomes more connected globally, Japan's success will be more dependent upon its trading partners. However, Japan is already is a favorable position in many industries and seems well-prepared to take advantage of new technology and economic developments as they occur. In the near furture, Japan's largest domestic issue will be on how much national pride the people are willing to restore in themselves, even if it means glossing over acts of violence and imperialism from past wars. As powers such as Russia and China expand in the region, the people will have to decide how much they are willing to rebuild a military after half a century of uneasy pacifism. The population of Japan will rise slightly after a decade or so of decline with a renewal in older cultural values. The elderly population will require a significant shift of public resources to cater to them. The allience with the United States will remain strong, as both nations have much to gain. In the next fifty years, Japan will likely put a man on the moon, develop a near perfect cell phone coverage across all inhabited areas of the nation, and participate with significant numbers of armed troops in a peace-keeping opperation in the middle-east to protect oil reserves.

// Resources Used //

GDP, literary rate, life expectancy CIA World Factbook [|https://][|www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.htm]

Energy Use Japan's Nuclear Program http://www.japannuclear.com/nuclearpower/program/sources.html

GDI and treatment of females UN Human Development Reports http://hdrstats.undp.org/countries/data_sheets/cty_ds_JPN.html

Pollution United Nations University http://www.unu.edu/unupbooks/uu35ie/uu35ie00.htm