Location

Japan is located in Eastern Asia or Pacific coast of Asia. Japan consists of several thousands of islands, of which Honshu, Hokkaido , Kyushu and Shikoku are the four largest. Japan's closest neighbors are Korea, Russia and China. The Sea of Japan separates the Asian continent from the Japanese archipelago.

Area

The total area of Japan is 377,835 sq km. The land area of Japan is 374,744 sq km. The island is slightly smaller than the size of California. The coastline is about 29,751 km.

(http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112187/japan_geography.htm)

Climate

In Japan there are mainly four seasons:

Spring is probably the best time of year to be in Japan. The temperatures are warm but not hot, there's not too much rain, and March-April brings the justly famous cherry blossoms and is a time of revelry and festivals.

Summer starts with a dreary rainy season in June and turns into a steam bath in July-August, with extreme humidity and the temperature heading as high as 40C. O-Bon (mid-August), when everybody is on the road again, is probably the worst possible time to visit. Avoid, or do as the Japanese do and head to northern Hokkaido or the mountains of Chubu and Tohoku to escape.

Autumn - Fall, starting in September, is a close second to spring. Temperatures become more tolerable, fair days are common and fall colors can be just as impressive as cherry blossoms.

Winter is a good time to go skiing or hot-spring hopping, but as the Japanese have yet to figure out the wonders of central heating, it's often miserably cold indoors. Heading south to Okinawa provides some relief.

(http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/japan/japan_climate.htm)

Population

The population of Japan is about 125,000,000, including approximately two million foreign residents. More than half of the non Japanese population is of Korean descent.

Languages

The official language is Japan, spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic (or Japanese-Ryukyuan) language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none of them has gained unanimous acceptance.

Economy

Japan's industrialized, free-market economy is the second-largest in the world. Its economy is highly efficient and competitive in areas linked to international trade, but productivity is far lower in protected areas such as agriculture, distribution, and services. Japan's reservoir of industrial leadership and technicians, well-educated and industrious work force, high savings and investment rates, and intensive promotion of industrial development and foreign trade produced a mature industrial economy. Japan has few natural resources, and trade helps it earn the foreign exchange needed to purchase raw materials for its economy. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised its growth forecast for the Japanese economy (GDP) to 1.7 per cent for 2010, but has warned of an uncertain economic outlook including worsening labour market conditions, tight financial markets, and global uncertainty for the economy.

( http://www.business-standard.com )

Currency

The yen is the Japanese currency unit. There are four kinds of bills (10,000 yen, 5,000 yen, 2,000 yen 1,000 yen) and six kinds of coins (500 yen, 100 yen, 50 yen, 10 yen, 5 yen, 1 yen) used.

The international country calling code of Japan is +81.