ABSTRACT
Japan is an archipelago in Far East Asia consisting of over 3,000 islands. The largest four islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, which account for 97% of the country’s land mass. Japan’s current population is estimated to be 127.4 million, the 10th largest in the world. The greater Tokyo area is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents. Japanese society is linguistically and culturally homogeneous. Over 95% of the population is ethnically Japanese, with only a small population of foreigners, including Koreans, Chinese, Filipinos, and Brazilian Japanese. Ninety-nine percent of the people speak Japanese as their first language. The two major religions, Buddhism and Shintoism (ancestor worship), are practiced by 84% to 96% of the Japanese population.
