Other+Characteristics

Some other interesting facts about Japan are: -Raw horse meat is a popular family dinner in Japan. -Over 70% of Japan consists of mountains. -A musk melon can sell for over 31,473 yen which equals about $300.00. -The literacy rate in Japan is almost 100%. -There are vending machines in Japan that dispense beer. -Japanese people have an average life-expectancy that is 4 years longer than Americans. -Some men in Japan shave their heads as a form of apology. -Japan has the second lowest homicide rate in the world. -Japan has produced 15 Nobel laureates, 3 Fields medalists and one Gauss Prize laureate. -Younger sumo-wrestlers are traditionally required to clean and bathe the veteran sumo-wrestlers at their wrestling “stables”…including all the hard-to-reach places. -Japan’s unemployment rate is less than 4%. -Japan consists of over 6,800 islands. -Animated Japanese films and television shows account for 60% of the world’s animation-based entertainment. -21% of the Japanese population is elderly, the highest proportion in the world. -In the past, the Japanese court system has had a conviction rate as high as 99%!\ -Japanese prisons (as of 2003) operated at an average of 117% capacity.