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Research Paper - Ali Kilinc – 900235909Mrs. Mandi SenaENG 191 – 3:30PM – 2042412/1/2008

JapanThe Most Powerful Nation on the Planet

The world has changed more so in the past century than it ever has in the past

millennium. Many countries rose to power, and many countries fell from power. Japan has

taken great leaps in all forms of math, science, sports, health and many more. The list of

breakthroughs is unheard of and the amount of information generated is unprecedented. Many

people around the world see the United States of America as the most powerful country in the

world. Just a century ago, the same image was seen of the United Kingdom. When a country

receives the perception, or “title” of the most powerful country in the world, the country does

not keep that title for long. The United States of America has been dethroned in many areas of

technology, medicine, government infrastructure, currency value, quality of life, and many

others. The list goes on and on. Japan has proven itself to be the most powerful country in the

world, after the United States of America, by demonstrating its excelling efforts in national

health, technology, media, education, and the overall quality of life. (Senaour and Gemma)

Japan has proven itself to be a powerful nation through its healthcare system. The

country of Japan has a national healthcare system available for all of nation’s citizens. The

country offers health insurance to hundreds of millions people, and is in fact compulsory if one

is a citizen of their nation. A multitude of healthcare services are offered free of charge which

include screenings for many different types of illnesses. Aside from that, there are many other

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different types of government subsidized insurances for people of types of income, especially

for the elderly. This allows for the citizens of Japan to live in peace and prosperity knowing that

if something unfortunate were to happen to them, their country would be there to take care of

them. (Imai) This would give Japan’s citizens peace of mind in many ways.

The low obesity rate in Japan allows it to be a very powerful country. The obesity rate

around the world is rising every year with the U.S on top. Oddly, while the U.S is the most

powerful country in the world, they have the highest obesity rate at about 31%. The second

most powerful country in the world, on the other hand, has the lowest obesity rate, at 3%.

That’s about one tenth of America’s rate. The obesity rate is an important factor for any

country because obesity leads to asthma, sleep apnea, heart disease, diabetes, and many other

horrible illnesses. If a person is plagued with many illnesses, they would not live very long, and

if a county is filled with people who are constantly getting sick, or have many illnesses the

peoples’ maximum lifespan and quality of life would decline. Furthermore, when the people of

a nation is not healthy, their health cost to the nation increases; since the people of Japan are

healthier than those of the U.S., the citizens have a lower health cost. Also, the people of Japan

have a healthier diet, mainly consisting of rice and fish, compared to the junk food diet of

Americans, which generally consists of meat and bread. Also coupled with this diet is their

lifestyle which requires more exercise. Even though the people of America exercise more than

people living in Japan, they are more obese. The lifestyle and environment in Japan is healthier

because it requires more walking. These points on general health prove Japan to be a very

powerful country. (Senaour and Gemma)

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The technology sector has proved to be very important in today’s world, and as such

Japan has proven itself in this field. Almost everything that happens in the twenty-first century

is connected in some way to technology. Realizing this, the country of Japan has allocated

fewer tax funds to defense and the military, less than 1%, in lieu of other departments of

advancement. (C.I.A. of U.S.A.) The country uses a cabinet-level system for Science and

Technology to allocate and spend funds on technological development, which leads to rapid

advancement in many fields, a system that the U.S could, and should adopt, but has not as of

2008. (HANE) Many of the world’s technological headquarters are moving out of the U.S and

moving into Japan because they believe that Japan will be the technological capital of the

world. (Anselmo) Japan is leading in many areas of robotics; for example, most of the robots

sold for personal use are sold out of Japan. The Japanese have acclaimed such a reputation with

creating robots that their influence is even apparent in American popular media. In 2007, the

big-budget, American-made movie Transformers, there is a scene where the main character’s

vehicle transforms into a robot; after this happens, the main character says, “It's a robot. You

know, like a super advanced robot. It's probably Japanese. Yeah, it's definitely Japanese.” (Orci

and Kurtzman) The country is also leading in the field of semiconductors, as in parts for

computers and cell phones, as well as sales of other types of machine tools. The leading

destination for Japanese machine tool exports is the U.S. while Japan is the lowest buyer of the

U.S.’s machine tools when compared to countries like China, Germany, Canada, and the U.K.

(KALAFSKY) This means that Japan is selling tons of its machines to the U.S. and Japan is not

buying anything from the U.S. Considering all this, one would to think that Japan is a better

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place to have the headquarters of a technological company instead of the U.S., because Japan is

one of the strongest countries in the world, especially in the fields of machine and technology.

The world of video games is a media sector of the technology industry that makes

billions and billions of dollars each year, and Japan has proven strong in this sector as well. The

video game industry is a fairly new industry as the first games started showing up in the early

nineteen seventies, but nevertheless it proves very important for influencing people around the

world. The first video games were coin-operated arcade machines, but that market quickly rose

and was also quickly losing interest. In a desperate attempt to generate revenue, the video

game industry entered the home market in the late seventies. After only their second iteration

of the home console system, the U.S. based video game industry crashed in 1983 because too

many unoriginal games had flooded into the market. The Japanese company Nintendo revived

the defunct industry with the N.E.S1, also known as the FamiCom2. (Novak) The N.E.S. sold over

forty million units, and the bundled game Super Mario Brothers, in many ways defined how

games were made from then on. (Records) The Japanese continue to dominate the video game

industry in the twenty-first century. As of 2008, the video game industry is in its seventh

generation. The U.S.’s iteration in this generation is the Xbox 360, made by Microsoft, launched

on November 22, 2005. The Japanese iteration into the seventh generation of video games is

the Wii, made by Nintendo, launched on November 19, 2006. Despite being launched one year

after its completion, the Wii has sold close to thirty-five million units, compared to the Xbox

360’s twenty-two million units. (Nintendo) (Elliott) Video games can help in rehabilitating the

elderly, and it can help in schools’ fitness programs. Video games are very important and highly

1 N.E.S.: Nintendo Entertainment System2 FamiCom: Family Computer. The N.E.S. was known as the FamiCom in Japan.

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influential in the twenty-first century, and the country of Japan has proven time and time again

that they can lead this industry.

Another very important point is the quality of life in Japan, which proves it to be a

powerful country. There are many factors which determine quality of life and Japan has made

great strides to improve the quality of life in many parts of the country. For example,

technology plays a huge role in the quality of one’s life. Millions of Japanese citizens no longer

carry any sort of physical money, any ID, any credit cards or any other form of identification.

Millions of citizens no longer have to worry about their security, or their cash being stolen. This

is due to the use of eWallet. This system of information and security is accessed through the

cell phone. It stores credit card information, identification as well as many and all forms of

security required; when the user wants to purchase something or when the user is required to

provide ID, the only thing the user has to do to is to wave their phone, and the RFID3 chip built

inside the phone sends the information to the receiver. The phones also have build in GPS4

chips if stolen. This technology has been implemented, and has been in use for many, many

years; thousands of retail locations all over the country have implemented systems to

accommodate such devices and accept eWallet payments. (Microwave Journal) Another

example of the technologies that improves the quality of life in Japan is the paperless toilet. In

the early nineteen-eighties, an invention revolutionized using the restroom. In Japan, there are

toilet systems that do not require toilet paper for proper hygiene. The paperless toilet utilizes

an automatic water-jet that cleanses the front and rear part of the body with the push of a

button. After the water-jet, an air blower, the same kind used for drying hands, is used to dry

3 RFID: Radio Frequency Identification 4 GPS: Global Positioning System

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the areas. This system does away with traditional toilet paper, improves hygiene because the

areas are actually cleansed with water, and adds convenience because everything is

automated, so the user’s hands do not touch those areas. Furthermore, trees are not wasted

and turned into toilet paper, just to be flushed down the drain. These types of technologies that

every-day, ordinary people of Japan use greatly improve their quality of life and put the people

at ease, once again proving Japan to be a very powerful country. There are many other sectors

which prove Japan’s superiority as a nation though, besides its technology sector.

Finally, with its fantastic education program, Japan is obviously one of the most

powerful countries in the world. Having an educated population is essential to having a

powerful country. The people of Japan, more importantly the younger population, view primary

as well as higher education, an essential part of life and pursue it passionately. The education

system of Japan is fantastic. With the post-war education reform, the country of Japan has

proven itself in many areas of math and science time and time again as the top country in

education. The students of Japan are not as exhausted by attending school as much as the

student in the U.S., and as such, they are more enthusiastic to attend, and they are more

motivated to graduate. The students are not exhausted because they spend less time being

lectured in schools and spend more time studying at their own pace. “Studies have repeatedly

found no correlation between time spent at school and levels of achievement.” (Baines, 2008)

The students in Japan are also assigned less homework when compared to the U.S; yet the

students still score higher in Japan on test scores. On the other hand, although the students

spend fewer hours in school5, but they attend more days of school, as opposed to the U.S.

5 The students of Japan spend a total of about 650 hours in school per year. 3 (hours) X 220 (days) = 660

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average6. Quite different from the U.S education system, attendance to high school in Japan is

not mandatory; despite this, the attendance rate is extraordinarily high. This system of fewer

hours, more days, has proven to be highly effective in Japan because the graduation rate for

high school students is also fantastically high (89%) when compared to the U.S (75%).

(Hirakoka) In addition, in some parts of the Japan the attendance rate for college out of high

school is very amazing, 99% in those areas. (Takeuchi) The education system in Japan is set up

in a way that encourages students to pursue higher education. (Deasy) This is done through a

process where in some areas of the country, if a student graduates from high school, the

student automatically enrolls into a university, such as The University of Tokyo. This type of

education system makes Japan a very powerful country.

The world has changed. The wars never end, and on the one hand, the United States of

America has decided to give a lot of its attention to fighting wars. Japan, on the other hand, has

decided to stay out of wars, and in the meantime, has been playing the catching up game to be

the most powerful country in the world. So far they’ve been succeeding, and they’ve triumphed

over the U.S. in education and technology. The country has even found ways to inspire its

young generation to high school, graduate, and then pursue college; more students graduate

from high school in Japan then they do in the U.S. They proved that their machines and robots

are better than the U.S.’s. The country has even excelling in sports for further consolation; they

won the World Baseball Classic in 2006. (CHASS) The highest import for machines in the U.S is

from Japan. Japan is second in number of millionaires in the whole world, second only to the

U.S. with a higher percentage than the U.S. as well. (Berlin)Taking all of this into consideration,

6 The students of the U.S.A. spend a total of about 1100 hours in a school per year. 6 (hours) X 180 (days) = 1080

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one can easily come to a conclusion; Japan is the close second most powerful country in the

world.

Works CitedAnselmo, Joseph C. "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?" Aviation Week & Space Technology 7 July 2008: 58-58.

Baines, Lawrence. "Learning More By Doing Less." The Educational Digest January 2008: 24.

Berlin, Jeremy. "Millionaires' Club." National Geographic November 2008: 24-24.

C.I.A. of U.S.A. CIA World Fact Book - Japan. 20 November 2008. 25 November 2008 <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html>.

CHASS, MURRAY. "On Baseball; Cuba's Dance Through Classic Ends in Manager's Missteps." (2006): 5.

Deasy, Richard J. "Education in Japan: Suprising Lessons." Educational Leadership (1986): 38-43.

Elliott, Phil. Microsoft Q1 revenue up 9%. 24 October 2008. 25 November 2008 <http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/microsoft-q1-revenue-up-9-per-cent>.

HANE, Gerald. "Science, Technology, and Global Reengagement." Issues in Science and Technology 2008: 85-90.

Hirakoka, Leslie S. "Japan's Educational Order." Kean College (2001): 7-10.

Imai, Yutaka. Health Care Reform in Japan. Economic Report. OECD. Paris Cedex 16, France: SourceOECD, 2002.

KALAFSKY, Ronald V. "Performance And Practice: Examining The Machine Tool Industries Of Japan And The United States." Royal Dutch Geographical Society (2005): 178-194.

Microwave Journal. "E-wallet and GPS Phones on the Rise in Japan." Microwave Journal August 2007: 47.

Nintendo. Consolidated Financial Highlights. Financial Report. Kyoto: Financial Accounting Standards Foundation, 2008.

Novak, Jeanie. "The Video Game Slump & a New Golden Age." Novak, Jeanie. Game Development Essentials: SE. New York: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2008. 18.

Records, Guiness World. "Best Selling Video Games." World Record. 1999.

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Senaour, Benjamin and Masahiko Gemma. "Reducing Obesity: What Americans Can Learn From the Japanese." CHOICES 21 4 2006: 1-4.

Takeuchi, Yo. "Myth and reality in the Japanese educational selection system." Comparative Education 27.1 (1991).

Transformers. By Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Dir. Michael Bay. Perf. Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky. Prod. Michael Bay. DreamWorks SKG, 2007.