How to establish continuity between eras – 7

ON THE PARTICULARITIES OF JAPAN AND KEIRETSU

With a population of 127 million, Japan is the third largest national economy in the world, after the United States and China, in terms of nominal GDP, and the fourth largest national economy in the world, after the United States, China and India, in terms of purchasing power parity. Japan’s GDP is 4.841 trillion dollars, with a per capita income of 38,281 dollars.

Japan’s public debt is estimated at 200 percent of the annual gross domestic product – the largest of any nation in the world. The service sector accounts for three quarters of the gross domestic product.

Japan has a large industrial capacity, and is home to some of the largest and most technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronics, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemical substances, textiles, and processed foods. Agricultural businesses in Japan cultivate 13 percent of Japan’s land, and Japan accounts for nearly 15 percent of the global fish catch, second only to China. Japan’s labor force consists of some 66 million workers. Japan has a low unemployment rate of around 4 percent, with almost 17 percent of the population being below the poverty line.

Japan’s main exports are transportation equipment, motor vehicles, iron and steel products, semiconductors, and auto parts. Japan’s main import markets are China, the US, Australia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, and Qatar.

Japan’s main imports are machinery and equipment, fossil fuels, foodstuffs (in particular beef), chemicals, textiles, and raw materials for its industries. By market share measures, domestic markets are the least open of any OECD country.

Photo from the website FREEVISA.COM.UA

Japan ranks 27th of 189 countries in the Ease of Doing Business Index and has one of the smallest tax revenues of the developed world. The Japanese variant of capitalism has many distinct features: the keiretsu system of corporate management that dates back to the 1600 is very influential, and lifetime employment and seniority-based career advancement are relatively common in the Japanese work environment.

Oddly enough, there is no official language in Japan. There are 11 languages in the country, of which Japanese is considered national.