Текст 7. Japan is an island country in East Asia
ECONOMY: JAPAN Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of China, Korea, and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. Its capital is Tokyo, one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that people were living on the islands of Japan as early as the upper paleolithic period. The written history of Japan begins with brief appearances in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Japanese history has been marked by alternating periods of long isolation and radical influence from the outside world. Its culture today is a mixture of outside and internal influences. At over 377,873 square kilometres, Japan is the 62nd largest country by area. It encompasses over 3,000 islands, the largest of which are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. Most of Japan’s islands are mountainous, and many are volcanic, including the highest peak, Mount Fuji. It ranks 10th in the world by population, with nearly 128 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, with over 30 million residents, is the largest metropolitan area in the world. Since it adopted its constitution on May 3, 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament, the Diet, which is one of the oldest legislative bodies in Asia. Japan has the world’s second largest economy, and is the sixth largest exporter and importer and is a member of the G8, G4, and APEC.
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