the-gnosis.com

This is a translation of a part of a book by Akira Ikegami called Is Japan Really a Society with Large Social Disparity? This book is interesting in that it takes what the author perceives as Japanese common sense and tests whether it is true or not.  If I have time I intend to translate a few more essays in this book.  The first essay I have selected is a bit of “common sense” that is not only prevalent in Japan but also in the rest of the world.   It is the idea that Japan is a “small island nation”.  If you want to see just how prevalent it is just do a little Google search yourself.

Japanese Common Sense #20 – Land Area

Japan is a Small Island Nation

“Japan is a small island nation” so….?

Japan is a small island nation so….  This is an expression that I have been hearing for a while now.  When you look at a world map huge nations like America, China, and Russia really stick out.

We can’t help but compare ourselves to those large nations and end up thing that Japan is a small island nation.  But is this piece of common sense actually correct?

The land area of Japan is 378,000 square kilometers.  This of course includes the four northern islands, Liancourt Rocks, and the Senkaku Islands.

If you list all of the 193 nations and regions of the world in order of land area Japan is 60^th.  This places it in the top third percentile.

How about that?  It’s not as small as you may have thought.

Let’s also compare territorial waters.  Japan’s territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles (22.2 kilometers) from its coast.  Countries have a right to the sea and the seabed within their territorial waters.  This means that the fishing resources and oil resources in the seabed belong to that nation.

Japan is surrounded by the sea so its territorial waters and exclusive economic waters are large.  If you add these into its area it becomes 4,510,000 square kilometers; making it the 6^th largest nation in the world.

Returning to the discussion of land area, let’s look at Japans position among Asian countries.  Among all the 48 nations and regions in Asia, Japan is 16^th.  This places it in the top third percentile.  The nations larger than Japan are places like China, India, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Iran, Mongolia, and so on.

Now some of you may be thinking, “What? Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia are also part of Asia?”  When we say Asia we usually think of East and South East Asia and forget the rest.  Kazakhstan is in Central Asia and Saudi Arabia is in West Asia.

A Big Country in Europe

If Japan were located in Europe how would it rank among European nations?

Of the 43 nations of Europe Japan would be the 6^th largest nation.  Number one is Russia.  Now some of you may be thinking, “What? Russia is part of Europe?”  Whether Russia is part of Asia or Europe is an issue filled with lots of philosophical problems but if you have to put it in one, it’s probably Europe.  Russia is an enormous nation but the other European countries are a bit cozy.

France and Spain are box-shaped so they appear to be big but if you bunched up the long and narrow northern and southern parts of Japan it would be a large nation (not that that is anything to brag about).  England and Italy are among the European nations that are smaller than Japan.

Japan is a big country, isn’t it?

Japan Loses Out in a Feeling of Spaciousness

But in order feel like you are in a big country you need a certain amount of a feeling of spaciousness.  Japan has a population density of 342 people per square mile.  This is pretty high.

While Japan’s population density is low compared to places in Asia like Singapore with 6334 people per square mile, Maldives with 1104 people per square mile, and Bahrain with 1048 people per square mile with its population density as high as it is, it won’t feel spacious.

Although main European countries like England with 246 people per square mile, Germany with 232 per square mile, Italy with 193 per square mile have a smaller land area than Japan they have a lower population density so they feel spacious.

Also 61% of Japan’s land area is covered by mountains and the amount of land that people can use is small so this also creates a lack of feeling of spaciousness.  This is very different from the large hilly land of Europe.

Japan will, however, gain a feeling of spaciousness if its current population decline continues.

In Terms of Population Japan is a Big Country

Next let’s compare Japan’s population with other countries of the world.  As of 2006 Japan’s population is 127,680,000.  It is 10^th in the world.

China and India have populations over 1 billion, America’s population is just about at 300 million and Indonesia’s population is over 200 million, leaving a sizable gap between their populations and Japan’s. However Brazil, Pakistan, Russia, Bangladesh, and Nigeria are all in the 100 millions with no sizable difference from Japan.

Japan is a pretty big country.

So the common sense notion that Japan is a small island nation is false.  It’s actually somewhere around “big island nation” and “pretty big country”.  Preconceptions are pretty scary aren’t they?

Summary

The expression “Japan is a small island nation” is a very Japanese in its humility but in actuality Japan’s land area is pretty big and its population is more than enough to make it a large nation.

But it’s probably best not to act like a “big country” in the end anyway.