708-Chaudhari Technical Institute, Gandhinagar - Gujarat ...

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is the third largest stock exchange in the world by
market capitalisation – with a total market capitalization of US$3.8 trillion as of
Dec 2010. Japan Post is also the world’s largest postal savings system, and
quite possibly the world’s largest holder of personal savings – at present it
holds about US$2.1 trillion of household assets in its savings account and
US$1.2 trillion of household assets in its life insurance services.
Agriculture’s contribution to Japan’s economy is fairly small when compared
to Industry and Services. In 2010, Agriculture made up only 1.1 percent of the
nation’s GDP. Although its contribution appears minute, agriculture is still a
highly important component of Japan’s economy and society.
Japan’s agricultural economy is highly subsidized and protected. Only 15
percent of Japanese land is suitable for agriculture, though any available land
is highly cultivated. As such, Japan has one of the highest per hectare crops
yields in the world. Though it has a small agriculture sector, Japan is selfsufficient
in the production of rice and fish, but relies heavily on food imports
such as wheat, corn, sorghum and soybeans from the US.
The 2011 earthquake and tsunami were catastrophic for many of Japan’s
industries. Services contracted by 6 percent since the disaster – with
dampened consumer confidence and interruptions to the economy to blame.
The five major industries that are expected to be the most affected by the
crisis are the natural gas industry, the automobile industry, the semiconductor
industry, the oil industry and the tourism industry. (1)
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