How Modern Japan Is Described in Textbooks around the World

(Select a Country to review excerpts)

Europe ……………  Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, UK
Asia ………………   China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, Vietnam
North America ……  Mexico, USA
South America ……  Brazil

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EUROPE

France
Title: Geography: Special Course Guide
Pages: 166-176
Publisher: Nathan, Paris, France, 2004


Excerpt:

Chapter: The Japanese Megalopolis

The Major Characteristics
The Japanese Megalopolis has around 100 million people, around three-fourths of the Japanese population. The unique configuration of Japan is composed of a straight band of 1200 km between Tokyo & its surrounding areas on the island of Honshu & Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu. That is the world’s 3rd largest concentration in population after the Northeastern US and Northwestern Europe. The Japanese Megalopolis is structured upon three major urban spaces: Tokyo, Osaka – Kobe – Kyoto & Nagoya. This area was developed in the late 60’s as large spaces were required for industrial development. The maritime axis of the Shinkansen is of prime importance.

The rebalancing of post WW2 and the failure of decentralization
After WW2 two sectors developed strongly. Steel works and ship construction fueled by the reconstruction and the development in exports. Most manufacturing sites were based upon being near to the clients rather than costs. Automobile production, notably that of Toyota in the 1960’s, was established notably in Nagoya. Much of the electronics industry, mechanical and precision instruments starting from 1980’s began to be based outside of the Megalopolis where the land was cheap, labor force (notably women) was available though their laboratories, while the head offices were kept in the Tokyo.

Always dominant role of Tokyo
The region of Tokyo contains 28% of industrial activities. The industrial activities are very diverse ranging from metal industries in Chiba & Kawasaki to traditional activities like leather printing. The region of Osaka - Kobe – Kyoto (Kansai) comes second with around 20% of the industrial activities, usually the heavy industries like metallurgies, chemical, mechanical & textile.

World’s largest urban area
The area has a population of around 35 million, around one quarter of the Japanese population, concentrated in an area of around 13,500 km2. It exerts its influence all over the country. The demographic growth is caused not only by the increase in the number of the young population but also due to the movement of Japanese notably from islands of Hokkaido and the north of Honshu.

Fast changing and mutating
Over the last twenty years, lots of construction has been done without conserving the old structures. The city is very highly modern in spite of the difficulties faced by many living there.

Tokyo - the Control center & International relations

1. An international city
The number of the companies based in Tokyo has been constantly increasing. More than 50 % of Japanese companies and 5 of the 7 major banks are based in Tokyo. Tokyo is also home to the most prestigious universities along with laboratories. Besides the major financial services companies, the major Japanese companies are also based in Tokyo, notably Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba, NEC & Fujitsu.

2. First Asian financial center
Tokyo is third in the world after New York & London in terms of the financial transactions and has around 78% of the quoted shares and 88% of the market capitalization.

3. Number 1 know-how & Intellectual capital of Japan
The Tokyo metropolis contains more than 100 universities, around 50% of total Japanese students, 46% of the total R & D centers. In 1963, the technology hub of Tsukuba was created around 60 km from Tokyo. It has around 46,000 scientific researchers and students on 285 km square.