Japan

MONETARY UNIT: The yen (¥) of 100 sen is issued in coins of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500 yen, and notes of 500, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 yen. ¥1 = $0.00917 (or $1 = ¥109) as of 2005.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: The metric system is the legal standard.

HOLIDAYS: New Year’s Day, 1 January; Adults’ Day, 15 January; Commemoration of the Founding of the Nation, 11 February; Vernal Equinox Day, 20 or 21 March; Greenery Day, 29 April; Constitution Day, 3 May; Children’s Day, 5 May; Respect for the Aged Day, 15 September; Autumnal Equinox Day, 23 or 24 September; Health-Sports Day, 10 October; Culture Day, 3 November; Labor-Thanksgiving Day, 23 November; Emperor’s Birthday, 23 December.

LOCATION, SIZE, AND EXTENT

Situated off the eastern edge of the Asian continent, the Japanese archipelago is bounded on the n by the Sea of Okhotsk, on the e and s by the Pacific Ocean, on the sw by the East China Sea, and on the w by the Sea of Japan. The total area of Japan is 377,835 sq km (145,883 sq mi). Comparatively, the area occupied by Japan is slightly smaller than the state of California. It extends 3,008 km (1,869 mi) ne–sw and 1,645 km (1,022 mi) se–nw and has a total coastline of 29,751 km (18,486 mi).

The five districts are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū, Shikoku, and Okinawa. Each of the five districts consists of a main island of the same name and hundreds of surrounding islands.