ABSTRACT
Japan lies off the east coast of the Asiatic continent, with the Japan Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. The population of Japan is about 123 million people who occupy a land area of some 378,000 square kilometres, hence an average population density of 332 people per square kilometre (1990 figures). It is often said that Japanese society evolved from an agrarian life-style (as distinct from a hunter-gatherer life-style) in which most people lived relatively close together in the fertile plains between mountains, leading to an emphasis on social conformity.
