party to: Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic
Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea,
Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but
not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography - note: strategic location in northeast Asia

People Japan

Population: 126,974,628 (July 2002 est.)

Age structure: 14.5% (male 9,465,282; female 8,999,888) 15-64 years:
(male 9,664,112; female 13,231,914) (2002 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.15% (2002 est.)

Birth rate: 10.03 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Death rate: 8.53 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05
male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 65 years and over:
0.73 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2002 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 3.84 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: 84.25 years (2002 est.) male: Total fertility
rate: 1.42 children born/woman (2002 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.02% (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 10,000 (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 150 (1999 est.)

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

Ethnic groups: Japanese 99%, others 1% (Korean 51,126, Chinese 24,424,
Brazilian 18,223, Filipino 8,995, other 23,792) (2000)

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

Languages: Japanese

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

Government Japan

Country name: conventional long form: none conventional short form: Japan

Government type: constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government

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, Miyagi, Miyazaki, Nagano, Nagasaki, Nara, Niigata,
Oita, Okayama, Okinawa, Osaka, Saga, Saitama, Shiga, Shimane, Shizuoka,
Tochigi, Tokushima, Tokyo, Tottori, Toyam