Culture profile: Japan

Japan is one of the world’s most ethnically and culturally homogenous nations. Japan is an island nation located in East Asia and in the
Pacific Ocean.
Moreover, with Tokyo its capital, Japan is not only an island but it is an archipelago composed over
6,000 islands which measures around 378,000 square kilometers.
The major language of this country is the Japanese spoken by more than 127 millions habitants.

After its participation with Allies during the 1st World War, Japan became a military and an economic power. However, its collaboration with Germany and Italy in the 2nd World War against the United States engendered damages more particularly with the American attack and the disasters of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Despite of it, Japan – persevering country – signed treaties with the United States and quickly became one of the largest world powers at this time. Also, after this time of war, Japan’s economy became highly regulated being an economy closed to foreign markets with high quotas, restrictions and so on but the strong power of its competitors like the USA and the EU forced Japan to open its market to the foreign competition. Even if it was difficult for the country, Japan managed to develop a technologically advanced economy thanks to the cooperation of the government and the industry. Nevertheless, in 1997, the financial crisis which affected the Asia was a factor of the economic downturn and it’s only in 2002 that Japan knew an increase. Indeed, this improvement is due to the development of China which became the 1st importing of Japanese products and after thanks to the increase of the interior demand and also with stabilization of bank sector.
Moreover, as I said before, Japan is an island nation and this particular feature allowed the country to naturally protect from invasion but in the same time, to access to the other cultures of the world. This adaptation allowed to Japan has