Industry of Japan: industries and their development

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Japan (Nihon, or Nippon) is one of the leading economic powers. It is one of the leaders along with the United States and China. It accounts for 70% of East Asia's total product.

Japan's industry has reached a high level of development, especially in the areas of science and education. Among the leaders of the world economy are Toyota Motors, Sony Corporation, Fujitsu, Honda Motors, Toshiba and others.

Current State

Japan is poor in minerals - only reserves of coal, copper and lead-zinc ores matter. Recently, the processing of the resources of the World Ocean has also become relevant - the extraction of uranium from sea water, the extraction of manganese nodules.

In terms of the global economy, the Land of the Rising Sun accounts for approximately 12% of total production. The leading industries in Japan are ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, mechanical engineering (especiallyautomotive, robotics and electronics), chemical and food industries.

Industrial zoning

There are three largest regions within the state:

• Tokyo-Yokohama, which includes Keihin, Eastern Japan, Tokyo prefectures, Kanagawa, Kanto region.
• Nagoya, Tuke refers to it.
• Osaka-Kob (Han-sin).

In addition to the above, there are also smaller areas:

• Northern Kyushu (Kita-Kyushu).
• Kanto.
• East Marine Industrial Region (Tokai).
• Tokyo-Tibe (this includes Kei-yo, Eastern Japan, the Kanto region, and Chiba Prefecture).
• Japan Inland Sea Area (Seto Naikai).
• Industrial area of northern lands (Hokuriku).
• Kashima region (this includes all the same Eastern Japan, Kashima, the Kanto region and Ibaraki prefecture).

More than 50% of manufacturing revenue comes from the Tokyo areas of Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe and Nagoya, as well as Kitakyushu in northern Kyushu.

The most active and stable element of the market in this country is small and medium business. 99% of all Japanese companies belong to this area. However, this is not true for the textile industry. Light industry in Japan (of which the mentioned industry is the leading element) is based on large, well-equipped enterprises.

Agriculture

Agricultural land of the country covers approximately 13% of its territory. Moreover, half of these lands are flood fields used for growing rice. At its core, agriculture here is diversified, and it is based on agriculture, and more precisely, the cultivation of rice, industrial crops, cereals and tea.

However, this is not all that Japan can boast of. Industry and agriculture in this country are actively developed and supported by the government, which pays a lot of attention to them and invests a lot of money in their development. A significant role is also played by horticulture and vegetable growing, sericulture, animal husbandry, forestry and marine crafts.

Rice occupies an important place in the agricultural sector. Vegetable growing is developed mainly in the suburbs, about a quarter of agricultural land is allocated for it. The rest of the area is occupied by industrial crops, fodder grasses and mulberry trees.

About 25 million hectares are covered by forests, in most cases the owners are peasants. Small owners own plots of about 1 ha. Among the major owners are members of the imperial family, monasteries and temples.

Cattle breeding

Cattle breeding in the Land of the Rising Sun began to develop actively only after the Second World War. It has one feature - it is based on imported, imported feed (corn). Own Japanese economy is able to provide no more than a third of all needs.

The center of animal husbandry is Fr. Hokkaido. Pig breeding is developed in the northern regions. In general, the number of cattle reaches 5million individuals, with about half of them being dairy cows.

Fishing

The sea is one of those advantages that Japan can enjoy. Industry and agriculture benefit from the island location of the country multiple benefits: it is an additional route for the delivery of goods, and a help to the tourism sector, and a variety of food.

However, despite the sea, the country has to import a certain amount of products (according to international law, the extraction of marine life is allowed only within the boundaries of territorial waters).

The main objects of fishing are herring, flounder, cod, salmon, halibut, saury, etc. Approximately one third of the catch comes from the waters around the island of Hokkaido. Japan has not bypassed the achievements of modern scientific thought: aquaculture is actively developing here (pearl mussels, fish are grown in lagoons and in rice fields).

Transportation

In 1924, the car park in the country totaled only about 17.9 thousand units. At the same time, there were an impressive number of rickshaws, cyclists and wagons propelled by oxen or horses.

20 years later, the demand for trucks has increased, mainly due to the growing needs of the army. In 1941, 46,706 cars were produced in the country, of which only 1,065 were cars.

Japan's automotive industry began to develop only after the Second World War, the impetus forwas the war in Korea. More favorable conditions were provided by the Americans to those companies that took on military orders.

In the second half of the 50s, the demand for passenger cars also grew rapidly. By 1980, Japan overtook the US to become the world's top exporter. In 2008, this country was recognized as the largest automaker in the world.

Shipbuilding

This is one of the leading industries, employing more than 400 thousand people, including those working directly at factories and in auxiliary enterprises.

The available capacities allow building vessels of all types and purposes, while as many as 8 docks are designed to produce supertankers with a displacement of 400 thousand tons. made in Japan.

The development of Japan's industry in this area began after the Second World War, when in 1947 a planned shipbuilding program began to operate. In accordance with it, companies received very favorable concessional loans from the government, which grew every year as the budget increased.

By 1972, the 28th program provided (with government assistance) the construction of ships with a total displacement of 3304 thousand gross tons. The oil crisis greatly reduced the scale, but the foundation laid by this program in the postwar years served as a stable and successfulindustry growth.

By the end of 2011, the order book for the Japanese was 61 million dwt. (36 million brt.). The market share remained stable at 17% dwt, with the majority of orders being for bulk carriers (specialized ships, a type of bulk carrier for transporting goods like grain, cement, coal in bulk) and a smaller portion for tankers.

At the moment, Japan is still number one in the construction of ships in the world, despite serious competition from South Korean companies. Industry specialization and support from the government have created a foundation that keeps serious companies afloat even in this situation.

Metallurgy

The country has few resources, in connection with which a strategy for the development of the metallurgical complex was developed, aimed at energy and resource saving. Innovative solutions and technologies have allowed enterprises to reduce electricity consumption by more than a third, and innovations have been applied both at the level of individual companies and in the entire industry.

Metallurgy, like other industries, the specialization of the industry of Japan, received active development after the war. However, if other states sought to modernize and update the technologies that already existed in them, the government of this country took a different path. The main efforts (and money) were aimed at equipping enterprises with the most advanced technologies at that time.

The rapid development of the industry lasted for about two decades and peaked in 1973, when 17.27%Japan alone accounts for all of the world's steel production. Moreover, in terms of quality, it claims to be the leader. This was stimulated, among other things, by the import of metallurgical raw materials. After all, more than 600 million tons of coke and 110 million tons of iron ore products are imported annually.

By the mid-90s, Chinese and Korean metallurgical enterprises competed with the Japanese, and the country began to lose its leadership position. In 2011, the situation worsened due to a natural disaster and the disaster at Fukushima-1, but according to approximate estimates, the overall decrease in production rates did not exceed 2%.

Chemical and petrochemical industry

The chemical industry in Japan in 2012 produced products worth 40.14 trillion yen. The country is one of the three world leaders together with the USA and China, having about 5.5 thousand enterprises of the corresponding direction and providing jobs for 880 thousand people.

Inside the country itself, the industry ranks second (its share is 14% of the total), second only to mechanical engineering. The government is developing it as one of the key areas, paying great attention to the development of environmentally friendly, energy and resource-saving technologies.

Manufactured products are sold inside Japan and exported: 75% - to Asia, about 10.2% - to the EU, 9.8% - to North America, etc. The basis of exports is rubber, photographic products and aromatic hydrocarbons, organic and inorganic compounds, etc.

Land of the Rising Sun also imports products(imported in 2012 was about 6.1 trillion yen), mainly from the EU, Asia and the US.

Japan's chemical industry leads in the production of materials for the electronics industry, in particular, about 70% of the world market for semiconductor products and 65% for liquid crystal displays belongs to companies in this island country.

In modern conditions, much attention is paid to the development of the production of carbon fibers and composite materials for the nuclear and aviation industries.

Electronics

Much attention is paid to the development of information and telecommunication sphere. 3D transmission technologies, robotics, next-generation fiber optic and wireless networks, smart grids, and cloud computing are acting as the "main engine of the industry".

In terms of infrastructure, Japan is catching up with China and the United States and is among the top three. In 2012, the total number of Internet users in the country reached 80% of the total population. Forces and funds are directed to the creation of supercomputers, the development of efficient energy management systems and energy-saving technologies.

Energy

Approximately 80% of Japan's energy needs were met through imports. Initially, this role was played by fuel, especially oil, from the countries of the Middle East. In order to reduce dependence on supplies in the Land of the Rising Sun, a number of measures were taken, in particular, in relation to the "peaceful atom".

Research programs in the field of nuclear energy Japan began in 1954. Several laws have been enacted and organizations established to carry out the government's goals in this area. The first commercial nuclear reactor was imported from the UK, starting operation in 1966.

A few years later, the country's utilities purchased the drawings from the Americans and, together with local companies, built objects from them. Japanese companies Toshiba Co., Ltd., Hitachi Co., Ltd. and others began to design and build light water reactors themselves.

In 1975, due to problems with existing stations, an improvement program was started. In accordance with it, the Japanese nuclear industry had to go through three stages by 1985: the first two involved changing existing structures in order to improve their operation and maintenance, and the third required increasing power to 1300-1400 MW and fundamental changes in reactors.

This policy resulted in Japan having 53 operating reactors in 2011, providing more than 30% of the country's electricity needs.

After Fukushima

In 2011, Japan's energy industry was hit hard. As a result of the strongest earthquake in the history of the country and the subsequent tsunami, an accident occurred at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. After a large leak of radioactive elements that followed, 3% of the country's territory was contaminated, the population of the zone around the station (approximately 80 thousand people).people) turned into settlers.

This event forced many countries to think about how acceptable and safe the operation of the atom is.

There was a wave of protest inside Japan demanding to abandon nuclear energy. By 2012, most of the country's stations were switched off. The description of Japan's industry in recent years fits into one sentence: "This country is striving to become green."

Now it actually no longer uses the atom, the main alternative is natural gas. Much attention is also paid to renewable energy: the sun, water and wind.