results in
acid rain; acidification of lakes and reservoirs degrading water
quality and threatening aquatic life; Japan's appetite for fish and
tropical timber is contributing to the depletion of these resources in
Asia and elsewhere
natural hazards: many dormant and some active volcanoes; about 1,500
seismic occurrences (mostly tremors) every year; tsunamis
international agreements: party to - Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94,
Wetlands, Whaling; signed, but not ratified - Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Desertification, Law of the Sea

Note: strategic location in northeast Asia

@Japan:People

Population: 125,506,492 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 16% (female 9,955,603; male 10,542,973)
15-64 years: 69% (female 43,377,425; male 43,843,645)
65 years and over: 15% (female 10,514,017; male 7,272,829) (July 1995
est.)

Population growth rate: 0.32% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 10.66 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 7.46 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 4.3 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 79.44 years
male: 76.6 years
female: 82.42 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.56 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Japanese (singular and plural)
adjective: Japanese

Ethnic divisions: Japanese 99.4%, other 0.6% (mostly Korean)

Religions: observe both Shinto and Buddhist 84%, other 16% (including
0.7% Christian)

Languages: Japanese

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1970 est.)
total population: 99%

Labor force: 65.87 million (December 1994)
by occupation: trade and services 54%, manufacturing, mining, and
construction 33%, agriculture, forestry, and fishing 7%, government 3%
(1988)

@Japan:Government

Names:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Japan

Digraph: JA

Type: constitutional monarchy

Capital: Tokyo

Administrative divisions: 47 prefectures; Aichi, Akita, Aomori, Chiba,
Ehime, Fukui, Fukuoka, Fukushima, Gifu, Gumma, Hiroshima, Hokkaido,
Hyogo, Ibaraki, Ishikawa, Iwate, Kagawa, Kagoshima, Kanagawa, Kochi,
Kumamoto, Kyoto, Mie,