Geopolitics of Japan

As an economic  power in  East  Asia,  Japan has long struggle to find it’s place in reign in the previous century. After the world war 2,  Japan stay away from world politics. Japan modernised itself but aftereffect of world war makes Japan a peaceful country.  But the rising china makes  Japan worrys about it’s National security. In this report we will know about Geopolitics of Japan

Geography 

Japan is located in east asia. Mainly Japan is is a island. Japan is consist of total 6852 island. Major island are Kyushu, Shikoko, and Hokkaido. As these islhand 97 percent of Japan's landmass and contitute as home island. Roughly 104 million people of the total 126 million people live in the central Honshu island and that is well over 82 percent of the country's population.Another 13 million people reside in the Southeast in the island of Kyushu to East in between Honshu.4 millions people live in Shikoku island.5 million people live in Hokkaido island. One more most wealthy island is Okinawa which stretches from kyushu to Taiwan. Formally Okinawa is recognised as a home island, it’s distinct history, culture and location differs from the remaineder of Japan.  There are thousands of smaller islands that surround the five home  island. 

Photo: Islands of Japan

But the most observsble factor of Japan is mountainous nature of land. In the context of total area, Japan is about the size of Germany or Poland.Howover about 73% of Japan consists of mountains,  forests and wasterland which are unfavourable to human habitation. As a result Japan has a shortage of habitable land. For this the society is confined to thin strips  of coastal plains that surrounds the home island. About 27% of Japan is considered habitable which roughly the size of South Korea.  In comparison Germany and Poland have about 35% arable land. Because of Japan's  rugged geography, the population densely centered the arable plains of largest of these is Kanto plain which is located in central honshu. The kanto plain constitutes four percent of Japan's total territory.But it is home to 35 million people including the capital of  Tokyo.other important plains include the Osaka and Kobe plains. These three territories provides the largest agriculture output and serve as the economic  and political course of Japan. In Japan there is no internal rivers system connecting population zones. More specially Japan has plenty of rivers that are useful for irrigation.

Challenge for Japan

Historically the sea encouraged the local population to develop a dynamic maritime culture in turn of naval tradition.But asserting centralized authority remain a centuries old challenge for historical ruler in modern times. The seto Inland sea serve as the nexus connecting the largest cities of the country. Foreign policy-wise Japan is surrounded by powerful regional players.Such as China,  Russia,  South Korea and even North Korea. Some countries such as Russia pose little threat to Japan since their influence is limited in East Asia that being said Moscow has plan to improve the economic significance of Sakhal island counterbalance Japanese influence. Whether the Russian will actually succeed still remain to be seen.Another Russian risk to Japan are the coral island which seperates the Pacific Ocean  from the sea of Okhotsk. Whoever is full control over,  Island will be able to restrict naval access to the sea of Japan from the north which forms a crucial part of Japan's access to global sea routes. The importantance of Coral island will only increase over time especially since Moscow plan to rely more it’s  nuclear submarine in the future.Tokyo only claims the southern island which have no strategic value on their own. But from Russian point of view,  there is on guarnantee that Tokyo's won't extend it’s claim to nothern coral island. Hence the Russian deny Japanese altogether,  a more immediate issue as the southern tip of the Korean peninsula which sits at a distance of about 190 km from the island of Kyushu.Historically this area has served a land bridge connecting the Japanese Archipelago to main land of Asia. It's allowed for historic foreign ruler to threaten Japan but the Kyushu entry point goes way and it enabled Japanese forces to invade korean peninsula in the 16th 19th and 20th centuries.  Another pathway island  is Okinawa which along with Ryuku Island connects the Japanese home Island to Taiwan from there a South China  sea. Whoever has a foothold in Okinawa will have the advantage to mobillize swifly between Japan and Taiwan.  The importantance of this island is highlighted by the present of US millitary forces. In modern time however Japan's greatest threat is it's declining and aging population between the 70s and 90s the number of retires nearly doubled displaced additional burdens on country's recession in 1990s.

At present Japan experiences some of lowlest fertility rates in the world which is the result of it’s unique social and cultural norms and long term. Japan’s demographic decline is simply unsustainable. It is expected that  by 2050 the country's population will shrink from 126 million in 2017 to 107 million in 2050 and furthermore decline to 83 million by the end  of the century. Meanwhile the segmet of working age,  the citizen will be less than half of the projected number. The extent of demographic decline is simply unmatched in history. Most European countries with same similar demographic problem. For this they balance their needs through immigration.Howover Japan's ethnic homogenous society is somewhat xenophobic and resistant to immigration. As such the country's demographic crisis is for worse than in other comparable nations. Now a smaller number work forces will not necessarily result in industrial output. Since innovation in AI research, robotics automation maintain productivity levels. But demography affects much more than just industrial output. It means a decline in domestic consumption and Corporation profits which  is bound to result in shrinking tax revenue and even less public spending. As the country's income and population continues to decline, the country will have two option. Before it Japan could either end up as a smaller and an older social welfare state secluded in the eastern corner of Asia that is simply incapable of securing it’s geopolitical imperative or it will have to come to term with the inconvenient demographic reality and thus open  up to immigration and there by rejuvenate it’sself both option will be met with opposition and discontent from public.  Yet if history is any indication, Japan has never held back from abrupt changes. Another issue that Japan is the country's lack of natural resources. As a producer of high -end commodities, Japanese industries require vast quantities of mineral resources.  Such as lead, copper, zinc,iron, rubber and more.All of these raw materials are imported from abroad and since the country is an island,  the of import of resources and export of commodities must go by sea. As Japan cannot provide for it’s basic resources, It doesn’t even enough food on it’s soil.According to the Japanese government it can only feeds 66% of the nation.Extra food is actually imported and subsidized by the govt. Another example is the lack of energy security about 90% of Tokyo's energy needs come from foreign sources.  This number rose from 80 percent following the Fukushima nuclear disaster. 

Relations Between China and America

The geo-economics of Japan is determined by it’s dependency on maritime traffic that posses through the Indian Ocean,  the South  China  sea  and straits of Malacca. All of these areas areas are susceptible to foreign influence. As beyond the Japanese Navy's ability of securing them. As such Tokyo follows a subjugated foreign policy in which a maritime independent nation seekd to ally it'self with the global naval power USA. The task of global power is to ensure the security of maritime traffic and return the smaller nation alleviate the needs of the larger power it’s  relationship that based on Self-interest and it has cultivated in the American-Japanese alliance. So to safeguard,  It's maritime shipping lanes Tokyo relies on Washington for naval security and to ensure American cooperation Tokyo must make itself invaluable to Wahington to that extent Japan has helped to preserve the strength of US dollar through favorable exchange rates and it has rendered Humanitarian support in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Now  officials in Tokyo have expressed an aspirations to become militarily and economically independent. However given  the geopolitical circumstances,  it is a process that is gradual and cannot be rushed. For now Japan like many other nation is parts of American hegemony. In return Washington guarantee the maritime security of Tokyo which is essential  to Japan’s statehood that being said. Japan's relationship with United states  has become determental towards China and Russia. China is the more immediate threat. following outcome of world war 2, relations between Bejing and  Tokyo were determined by two essential factors. China supplied To Japan with raw materials and labor-intensive,  manufactured commodities while Japan supplied China  with hugh technology and services. However In the last few decades china underweny an extensive process of industriazation. As such Bejing is now competing with Tokyo for some resources and raw materials to fill their respective economies. In the few decades, china is experted to shift from an export-driven economy to a domestic  consumption economic model which will only accelerate the need for resources. In this context the Chinese Japanese rivalry is also expected to increase in time