Population wise Japan ranks tenth worldwide and the recent census of 2002 declare that there are about 127 million Japanese people in the world living in Japan and in other parts of the planet. The Japanese population is facing a steady decline in the recent years as the birth rate has dropped considerably. The western influence on the oriental culture of Japan has led to the shrinkage of family tradition and small households have become the latest trend. The young population of Japan is also low in comparison to the other nations due to the lack of interest in conception by the young couples.
People of Japan all over the world have a homogenous and identical culture, tradition and language. The national language of Japan is Japanese which is of the Altaic language group. The Japanese language is comparatively easy to enunciate and pronounce. The main religions which are practiced by most of the people of Japan are Buddhism and Shinto. Religions do not play a big role in the everyday life of Japanese people and sometimes both the religions are practiced at a time by few of them.
The population of Japan is high in comparison to the area of the country thus the density is also relatively high. Most of the people are urban residents and concentration is limited to the cities. The low lands by the coasts give shelter to a mass of people in Japan. The parts of the world other than their native land where Japanese people has most emigrated are Latin American countries and United States.
Japanese people encompass the ethnic community who can trace their roots to the island nation of Japan on the Pacific Ocean. Japanese people refer to the Japanese residing on the Japanese archipelago and to those who have emigrated from their country of origin. All those Japanese people who do not reside in their ancestral land are referred to by the name of Nikkeijin or more popularly as the Nikkei people. In the whole class of Japanese people we might also include all those Yamato Japanese people who are ethnically Japanese rather than by nationality. The total number of Japanese people worldwide is almost 130 million.
The Japanese are a homogeneous group who consider themselves as a unified community wherein there is no room for social disparity. The Japanese are not very comfortable with the western system of society. They like to follow their own culture in all spheres of life. Japanese people lay a lot of stress on customs and follow them strictly. The Japanese are a very industrious community and the idea of dependency is looked down upon.
The Japanese people are also very particular about their traditional language and so most of the Japanese do not take interest in learning foreign languages. In their religious practices the Japanese people follow the centuries old religions of Shinto and Buddhism although today some other new and diverse religions have also become popular in the island nation.
Although Japanese people living in Japan are culturally very conscious but their counterparts in foreign nations have adapted themselves to the cultures of the nations where they reside. The Nikkei who are mostly found in the Hawaii and the US are more comfortable using English than their original mother tongue although some of them later on learn Japanese.
Japanese people, with their deep faith and strong cultural roots, form a very disciplined and industrious community.
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