Japan

Japan

Economic Strength

Japans economy is very good and it is very competitive in areas linked with trade and is one of the largest economies of the world. The reasons they have this is their unbelievable success in Exports. Japan exports cars, electronic devices and computers. Most important single trade partner is the USA, which imports more than one quarter of all Japanese exports. Other major export countries are Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. But Japan did enter an economic downwards spiral but from 2003 began to grow strongly again at 2.0% and this rate has held steady through 2004. The economy saw signs of strong recovery in 2005. Today the GDP growth is estimated at around 2.8% and the GDP per capita is $38,500.

Below is a graph of the GDP growth in Japan.

Patterns of trade

In terms of trade Japan exports much more than it imports. Imports grew by 15.7 percent to 56.95 trillion yen and exports showed an annual increase of 7.3 percent to 65.66 trillion yen. Japans exports consisted of transport equipment, which accounted for the largest portion of the total export value, 23.1 percent, followed by electrical machinery with a 22.2 percent share, and general machinery with a 20.3 percent share. So as you can see most of the money Japan get through trade is from machinery. The imports were from mineral fuels, which accounted for 25.6 percent of the total import value, followed by electrical machinery with a 13.0.

Most of Japans exports go to USA, EU, and china and then followed by China and Taiwan

Strategic position

Japan lies off the east coast of Asia and is surround by thousands of tiny islands and it has four main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu .Japan is a simular size to Germany. Its strategically positioned well and badly. It is positioned well as it is surrounded by water and can spot enemies easily and can attack. This is also a negative as enemies can easily get navy ships close enough to attack Japan. About 85 percent of Japan is covered with mountains. This is also a positive as the hills are also a great defensive tactic

Cultural Values

Japan has many cultural values and beliefs. From cultural clothing like the Kimono meaning "something one wears" to the Japanese cuisine. Modern Japanese enjoy a variety of traditional Japanese food, including the staples of rice and miso soup, as well as many seafood dishes. To their language, the Japanese language is written with a combination of three different types of scripts: Chinese characters Kanji, and two syllabic scripts, Hiragana and Katakana. A large part of Japans culture also comes from art. Painting has been an art in Japan for a very long time. Native Japanese painting techniques are still in use today. The Japanese language uses complicated calligraphy. As in other East Asian countries,