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General information of Japan

Genral infomarion about Japan

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General information of Japan

Country name
Japan (Nihon or Nippon in Japanese pronunciation)

National flag
It show the image of the sun rising.
This first appeared in 8th century and
officially became the national flag in 1990.

Land area
377,923k㎡

Population
About 127,720,000 (2007)

Capital city
Tokyo

System of government
Constitutional Monarchy

Ethnic composition
Japanese race (Yamato race) 98.5%
and small groups for example, Ainu, Wiruta, Nibuhu etc.

Religion
Shinto and Buddhism are the majority,
but not many Japanese people are conscious about religion.
Sum of Christians, Muslims and other religions is less than 1%.

Language
Japanese (not many people speak English)

Currency
Japanese Yen

National holidays

January 1	New Year's Day
Second Monday of January	Coming-of-Age Day
February 11	National Foundation Day
March 20 or 21	Vernal Equinox Day
April 29	Day of Showa
May 3	Constitution Day
May 4	Greenery Day
May 5	Children's Day
Third Monday of July	Marine Day
Third Monday of September	Respect-for-Senior Citizens Day
September 22 or 23	Autumnal Equinox Day
Second Mondy of October	National Sports Day
November 3	Culture Day
November 23	Labor Thanksgiving Day
December 23	The Emperor's Birthday

Business hour
Bank　9am-3pm　(Closed on Sat. Sun. & National holiday)
　*Some banks open after 3pm or on Saturday.
Post office　9am-5pm (Closed on Sat. Sun. & National holiday)
　*Time differs by the service. Some post offices open on Sat. & Sun.
Opening hours of Shops and Restaurants differ by the shops.
Many shops are closed on Sat. & Sun. in the business district.

Voltage and plug
100V. Frequency is 50Hz in Eastern Japan, 60Hz in Western Japan.
Plug type is A (Same as in USA)

Custom of Tipping
There is no custom of tipping.

Drinking water
You can drink tap water. Tap water in Japanese generally is soft water
(it doesn't include too much lime and mineral).

Climate
Most of the areas are in Temperate Zone,
but some areas belong to Subpolar or Subtropical Zone.
There are four seasons,
and there are a lot of temperature differences between summer & winter.

Summer:
Generally high temperature and high humidity.
Lots of rain and Taihoon.

Winter:
Snow on the Sea of Japan side.
Fine and dry on the Pacific Ocean side.

Average temperature and precipitation
Tokyo

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
max(C)	9.8	10.0	12.9	18.4	22.7	25.2	29.0	30.8	26.8	21.6	16.7	12.3
min(C)	2.1	2.4	5.1	10.5	15.1	18.9	22.5	24.2	20.7	15.0	9.5	4.6
prec(mm)	49	60	115	130	128	165	162	155	209	163	93	40

Sapporo (Hokkaido)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
max(C)	-0.9	-0.3	3.5	11.1	17.0	21.1	25.0	26.1	22.0	15.8	8.1	2.1
min(C)	-7.7	-7.2	-3.5	2.7	7.8	12.4	17.1	18.5	13.6	6.9	0.9	-4.4
prec(mm)	111	96	80	61	55	51	67	137	138	124	103	105

Naha (Okinawa)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
max(C)	19.1	19.2	21.3	24.0	26.4	29.2	31.3	30.9	29.9	27.5	24.2	20.9
min(C)	14.3	14.3	16.2	18.9	21.5	24.6	26.4	26.1	25.1	22.7	19.5	16.1
prec(mm)	115	125	160	181	234	212	176	257	200	163	124	101

Time difference and Daylight saving time
There is no Daylight saving time in Japan.
Example of Time difference (winter)
England: +9 hours
France, Italy: +8 hours
China: +1 hour
Los Angeles: -17 hours
New York: -14 hours
(During summer, you have to subtract 1 hour from above mentioned time)

Postage from Japan
Post card: 70 yen for airmail, 60 yen for seamail (all over the world).
Letter & packag: It differs by the destination, weight and size.

Immigration
Passport, Visa and Disembarkation card are required.
You can receive Disembarkation card in the airplane.
But visitors from countries exempt from tourist visas are exceptional.
If you stay more than 90 days,
you have to register as alien at the city hall.

How to make an international call
It differs by the telephone company.
For example, if you use KDDI,
Afrer 001-010, you dial (coutry code)-(area code)-(number)
*Normally, you have to delite first 0 of the area code.
For example, if you call to France, you dial,
001-010-33-X-XX-XX-XX-XX

Tax
Consumption tax rate is 5%.
If you buy goods at the duty free shop, you will be exempted from the tax.
But there are not many duty free shops in Japan.

Safety and trouble
Japan is said one of the most safe countries,
but you may stumble into crime, trouble or injury.
Emergency call numbers are as follows.
*Police: 110
*Fire & Ambulance:　119

Age limit
You have to be more than 20 years old for drinking alcohol and smoking.

Metrogical system
Japan apply metric system for length, dimention, cubage and weight.
The size of clothes and shoes may be different from foreign countries.

Other remarks
Recently, a lot of places have become non-smoking,
for example: in the train, platform, some restaurants and so on.