Introduction

Welcome
This is the blog made by Reza Fauzi and Thio Budi U.
For the first post, we will give you introduction about Japan.

Japan

Area: 377,780 square kilometres (142,771 square miles)
Population: 127,692,000
Capital City: Tokyo
People: 98.3% Japanese; 1.7 % other (mostly Chinese or ethnic Korean)
Language: Japanese
Religion(s): 80% of Japanese adhere to more than one religion: Shinto (106.8 million), Buddhism (89.2 million), Christianity (3.0 million), others (9.8 million)
Currency: Yen
Major Political Parties: DPJ - Democratic Party of Japan; LDP - Liberal Democratic Party; New Komeito; JCP - Japan Communist Party; SDP - Social Democratic Party
Government: Representative democracy with a bicameral (two chamber) parliament (the Diet). Executive power rests with the Prime Minister and his cabinet. The emperor is head of state, although his function is purely symbolic.
Head of State: Emperor Akihito, ascended to throne 7 January 1989.
Prime Minister: Shinzo Abe, since 16 December 2012.
Foreign Minister: Fumio Kishida, since 26 December 2012.
Economic Information: Despite several years of low growth, Japan was only overtaken by China as the second largest economy in the world in 2010, although it has a much higher per capita income. A period of stronger, export led growth starting in mid-2002 came to an end in 2008 with the global recession. Successive governments implemented five fiscal stimulus packages between them, totalling over 5% of GDP. The economy started to recover in the second half of 2009, spurred by a recovery in global demand for Japanese exports and by support from government policies. The economy then weakened with the focus of policy shifting to how to deal with the massive Government debt and a possible consumption tax hike. The Tohoku earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster of March 2011 had a sharp negative impact. The Bank of Japan estimates that it will reduce growth by 1%, to 0.6% this fiscal year. But reconstruction is expected to help growth return to 2.9% in fiscal 2012.
Membership of International groups/organisations: United Nations (UN), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), World Trade Organisation (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Group of 8 (G8), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Bank (World Bank), Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), African Development Bank (AFDB), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), Asia Development Bank (ADB), Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol), International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Maritime Organisation (IMO), International Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (ITSO), International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Universal Postal Union (UPU), International Whaling Commission (IWC), World Health Organisation (WHO), plus various others. (www.fco.gov.uk)