3. Economy

Asia has the second largest nominal GDP of all continents, after Europe, but the largest when measured in purchasing power parity. As of 2011, the largest economies in Asia are China, Japan, India, South Korea and Indonesia. Based on Global Office Locations 2011, Asia dominated the office locations with 4 of top 5 were in Asia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai. Around 68 percent of international firms have office in Hong Kong.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of India have been growing rapidly, both with an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. Other recent very high growth nations in Asia include Israel, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Cyprus and the Philippines, and mineral-rich nations such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman.

Asia is the largest continent in the world and it is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum, forests, fish, water, rice, copper and silver. Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, India, the Philippines, and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in the area of multinational corporations, but increasingly the PRC and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan have operations in Asia's developing countries to take advantage of its abundant supply of cheap labour and relatively developed infrastructure.

4. Population.

F oreign Asia is the largest region in the world for the population. China and India are countries-giants; their population exceeds 1 billion of people. In addition, 4 Asian states (Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan) enter into the first ten countries of the world with population in 100 million of people. Five countries (Vietnam, the Philippines, Iran, Turkey and Thailand) have from 50 million to 100 million of people, another ten states (Myanmar, Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iraq, Nepal, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Yemen and Sri Lanka) from 20 million to 50 million of people. Population of the rest countries is rather small. Two of them are from 10 million to 20 million (Syria, Cambodia), population of ten is more than 10 million of people. The smallest states of Foreign Asia with the population in 1 million of people are: Bahrain, Brunei, Qatar, Cyprus, Butane and Maldives. Maldives that take the168^th part for the population are inferior to China in 3490 times.

In foreign Asia there are all known forms of government: from 39 sovereign states 26 are related to the republic (mainly presidential) and 13 – to monarchies. For example China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Syria, Israel.

Among nine constitutional monarchies of foreign Asia are one empire (Japan), four kingdoms (Butane, Jordan, Cambodia and Thailand), two emirates (Kuwait and Bahrain) and one sultanate (Malaysia). Brunei, Qatar, UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia are related to five absolute monarchies. Two countries of foreign Asia are related to the theocratic monarchies. They are Saudi Arabia and Brunei.

Lesson 17

Theme 17: Japan

1. Geographical location.

2. Population.

3. Concept description of the economy (industry and agriculture).

1. Geographical location

J apan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why the country is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands, the four largest being Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. Together, these four islands hold about 97 percent of the country's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with more than 126 million people. Honshū's Greater Tokyo Area includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures. It is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 30 million residents.

About 73 percent of Japan is forested, mountainous, and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial, or residential use. As a result, the habitable zones, mainly located in coastal areas, have extremely high population densities. Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

The islands of Japan are located in a volcanic zone on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Japan has 108 active volcanoes. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunami, occur several times each century.

Climate varies from tropical in south to cool temperate in north. Natural resources are negligible mineral resources, fish. With virtually no energy natural resources, Japan is the world's largest importer of coal and liquefied natural gas, as well as the second largest importer of oil.