• Population: over 127 million; 7th largest in the world
• Density: 333 people / km² (536 people / mile²); one of the heaviest pop. densities in the world
• Concentration: primarily along the Pacific coast of Honshu between the Tokyo and Osaka megacities (Nagoya lies in the middle of these two areas)
• Ethnicity: more than 99% Japanese; more than half of the non Japanese population is Korean
• 2002 Birthrate: 0.11% (lowest postwar birthrate)
• Age 65 and over: 18.5% (the only age bracket that is growing)

Geography

• Area: 234,964 km² (146,000 miles²); about the size of New York state or Italy
• Largest islands: Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku
• Islands: Over 3,000
• Latitude: As far north as Portland, Oregon; as far south as the Bahamas
• Length: over 2,000 km (1,243 miles)
• Width: about 300 km (186 miles)
• Volcanoes: 200; 60 active, including Mt. Fuji

Climate

• Central Japan: temperate to subtropic consisting of four seasons
  Winters are mild (like Virginia, USA)
  Summers are hot and humid (like Houston, Texas, USA)
  Tsuyu, rainy season, lasts about a month from mid-June until mid-July
  Typhoons common in late summer

• Hokkaido (Northern Japan): much colder, especially in Winter when snow storms are common

• Okinawa (Southern Japan): much warmer, tropical climate

• Natural Disasters: earthquakes, typhoons, volcanoes, landslides, tsunami (tidal waves)

• Religions: 84% Buddhists and/or Shinto, the indigenous religion
• Christians: .5% (only 1 in every 200 people)
• 2,362 missionaries in 2000
• 1 missionary per 53,937 people

• Japan's first contact with Christianity was in 1549 through Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier
• Persecution of Christians & Outlaw of Christianity from 1590s - 1853
  In the 1930s & 1940s, many pastors & leaders were imprisoned by hostile Japanese nationalist
• Laws protecting religious freedom were first enacted in 1945

• Pacific Rim Region
• PacRim Japan Oceania
• Japan's Central Mega Cities