Japan

Japan (日本, Nihon or Nippon^?, officially 日本国) is made up of  6852 islands with the four largest, Honshu (mainland Japan) Kyushu (the Southern Island), Hokkaido (the large Northern Island) and Shikoku. These four islands are home for 97% of the population, which as of 2009 stood at 127,590,000 people.

Japan consists of 47 Prefectures (like Counties or States) and then each Prefecture is divided into cities, towns etc. 70-80% of Japanese land is mountainous and forested making it unfit for residential or agricultural use. This has resulted in cities with high population densities such as Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka.

Japan is a constitutional Monarchy, much like the UK, with the Emperor’s power being very limited. As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the constitution as “the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people”. The real power lies with the Prime Minister and the Japan Parliament, the Diet.  The two main parties in Japanese politics are the social liberal DPJ and the recently ousted conservative focused LDP.

Taoism and Confucianism from China have  influenced Japanese beliefs and customs. Religion in Japan tends to be syncretic in nature, and this results in a variety of practices, such as parents and children celebrating Shinto rituals, students praying before exams, couples holding a wedding at a Christian church and funerals being held at Buddhist temples. A minority (2,595,397, or 2.04%) profess to Christianity.^[117] In addition, since the mid-19th century, numerous religious sects (Shinshūkyō) have emerged in Japan, such as Tenrikyo and Aum Shinrikyo (or Aleph).