Japan Japan Japan 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...
This article is part of the series: 21st century of Japan
2000s (2000s)
2010s  (2010s)
2020s  (2020s)
2030s  (2030s)
2040s  (2040s)
2050s  (2050s)
2060s  (2060s)
2070s  (2070s)
2080s  (2080s)
2090s (2090s)

The 2000s in Japan began with hope and optimism for the 21st century

21st century

The 21st century is the current century of the Anno Domini era or the Common Era in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. The century began on January 1, 2001 and will end on December 31, 2100. The years from 2001 to 2010 are historical; the years from 2011 to 2100 are subject to futurology and...

 and ended with the late-2000s recession.

Gaming systems like the PlayStation 3

PlayStation 3

The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

, the Nintendo Wii, and the Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS

The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

 continued to help generate the profits of Japan-based electronic companies like Nintendo

Nintendo

is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....

 and Sony

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

. Video games released and/or developed in Japan would see an improvement with their physics engine, their artificial intelligence

Game artificial intelligence

Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of non-player characters . The techniques used typically draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence...

, and see their graphics become high definition

High-definition video

High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...

. Many young people would live with their parents and spend their time reading manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 and watching anime due to the lack of employment for young people in Japan during this decade.

The average price of gasoline

Gasoline

Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...

 at the end of the 2000s would be $8/gallon; making it unaffordable for most Japanese people to drive long distances unless necessary. Since gasoline prices have risen significantly since the 1990s worldwide, it will be inevitable for gasoline prices to go up to $20/gallon within the course of the 21st century. Starting in the 2000s Japanese residents (in addition to other people) experienced a return to local produce (through local farmers' market

Farmers' market

A farmers' market consists of individual vendors—mostly farmers—who set up booths, tables or stands, outdoors or indoors, to sell produce, meat products, fruits and sometimes prepared foods and beverages...

s instead of expensive grocery store

Grocer

A grocer is a bulk seller of food. Beginning as early as the 14th century, a grocer was a dealer in comestible dry goods such as spices, pepper, sugar, and cocoa, tea and coffee...

s), increased use of renewable energy

Renewable energy

Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...

 (like wind energy

Wind energy

Wind energy is the kinetic energy of air in motion; see also wind power.Total wind energy flowing through an imaginary area A during the time t is:E = ½ m v2 = ½ v 2...

 and solar energy), the exodus from the exurbs

Commuter town

A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...

 to the urban centers (regardless of the crime rates that are prevalent during that era), more electric car

Electric car

An electric car is an automobile which is propelled by electric motor, using electrical energy stored in batteries or another energy storage device. Electric cars were popular in the late-19th century and early 20th century, until advances in internal combustion engine technology and mass...

 sales, and a major shakeup of the airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

 industry. People will abandon medium-haul (defined as lasting from 3–6 hours) and short-haul flights (defined as lasting fewer than 3 hours) in favor of alternate forms of transportation like high-speed rail service

High-speed rail

High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...

 for commuters and bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

es for tourists.

Anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 of the 2000s would include Bleach

Bleach (manga)

is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Noriaki "Tite" Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a —a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki...

, One Piece

One Piece

is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...

, Kirby of the Stars

Kirby: Right Back at Ya!

Kirby: of the stars, known in Japan Kirby right back at ya!', is an anime series based on Nintendo's Kirby franchise. The series was produced by Warpstar Inc., a company formed between a joint investment between Nintendo and HAL Laboratory, Inc.The series, which takes place in a village called...

, Sonic X

Sonic X

is an anime series based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series. It was produced in Japan by TMS Entertainment with the partnership of Sega and was created by Sonic Team and Sonic Project. In the United States, 4Kids currently owns and manages copyright and branding of the series.- Series 1 ...

, Tokyo Mew Mew

Tokyo Mew Mew

, also known as Mew Mew Power, is a Japanese shōjo manga series written by Reiko Yoshida and illustrated by Mia Ikumi. It was originally serialized in Nakayoshi from September 2000 to February 2003, and later published in seven tankōbon volumes by Kodansha from February 2001 to April 2003...

, Ojamajo Doremi, Gurren Lagann, and Kodai Ōja Kyōryū Kingu

Dinosaur King

is a card game from Sega that uses the same gameplay mechanics from Mushiking and uses super-powered dinosaurs instead of beetles. The game was revealed in JAMMA 2005 and is available in Japanese and English versions. A Nintendo DS version has also been released in North America.In the fall of...

. Most of these anime shows mentioned here would also go on to relative success in North America and Europe in the 2000s. For example Tokyo Mew Mew became Mew Mew Power while Ojamajo Doremi became Magical Doremi.

Employment

While people were losing their jobs, technology still was advancing at an exponential rate - making more jobs obsolete as new technologies replaced the old. Manufacturing

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...

 jobs were being replaced with service sector jobs just like they were doing in the Western countries—leading to people being underemployed

Underemployment

Underemployment refers to an employment situation that is insufficient in some important way for the worker, relative to a standard. Examples include holding a part-time job despite desiring full-time work, and overqualification, where the employee has education, experience, or skills beyond the...

 in either minimum wage

Minimum wage

A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...

 or near-minimum wage jobs. There was some economic recovery during this decade; but the spending on cars

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 and whiskey

Whisky

Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and corn...

 had not return to the levels that were reached during the Japanese economic boom of the 1980s. Japanese employers and companies made up for the labor shortages in the 1990s by hiring temporary work

Temporary work

Temporary work or temporary employment refers to a situation where the employee is expected to leave the employer within a certain period of time. Temporary employees are sometimes called "contractual", "seasonal", "interim", "casual staff", "freelance", or "part-time"; or the word may be shortened...

ers without security or job benefits. The American economy

Economy of the United States

The economy of the United States is the world's largest national economy. Its nominal GDP was estimated to be nearly $14.5 trillion in 2010, approximately a quarter of nominal global GDP. The European Union has a larger collective economy, but is not a single nation...

 under President Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

 in the late 2000s and the early 2010s is currently facing the same problems Japan had faced in the 1990s.

As of March 2010, the unemployment rate in Japan is 4.9%; a very low number compared to the unemployment rate during the height of the Lost Decade. The Lost Decade

Lost Decade (Japan)

The is the time after the Japanese asset price bubble's collapse within the Japanese economy, which occurred gradually rather than catastrophically...

 would finally come to a close in the year 2000; marking a decade of economic renewal after a gradual recession.

Cell phone usage

Japan has more multi-function cell phones than any other nation on earth during this decade. Handset

Handset

On a telephone, the handset is a device the user holds to the ear to hear the audio sound. Modern-day handsets usually contain the phone's microphone as well, but in early telephones the microphone was mounted directly on the telephone itself, which often was attached to a wall at a convenient...

s that are available often double as television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

s and subway passes. They can also be used to buy sodas and beer from vending machine

Vending machine

A vending machine is a machine which dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, consumer products and even gold and gems to customers automatically, after the customer inserts currency or credit into the machine....

s or conduct banking. Japanese people of this decade are more likely to send e-mail

E-mail

Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

s, messages and play games on their cell phones instead of using them to talk to people. Teenagers listen to music and surf the Internet for vital information. Girls often go to restrooms to send progress reports about dates to their friends. Poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

s and musicians write down thoughts in their cell phones and memorize them for work or home. Young kids are e-mailed by their parents or their guardians about their wheareabout. Expert cell phone users can type 100 Chinese character

Chinese character

Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...

s per minute (the equivalent of 100 words per minute

Words per minute

Words per minute, commonly abbreviated wpm, is a measure of input or output speed.For the purposes of WPM measurement a word is standardized to five characters or keystrokes. For instance, "I run" counts as one word, but "rhinoceros" counts as two...

 in the English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

).

Young women between the ages of 10 and 19 spend almost one hundred minutes (1.65 hours) a day on a cell phone; compared to the national average of 18 minutes. People use cell phones in Japan to find apartment

Apartment

An apartment or flat is a self-contained housing unit that occupies only part of a building...

s for rent, follow the results of each and every Sumo

Sumo

is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally...

 match, download horoscope

Horoscope

In astrology, a horoscope is a chart or diagram representing the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, the astrological aspects, and sensitive angles at the time of an event, such as the moment of a person's birth. The word horoscope is derived from Greek words meaning "a look at the hours" In...

s, and check out the most popular pop music

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 songs on the charts. Kanji is now used less frequently thanks to cell phones; leading to a dumbing down of the Japanese language. Cell phones in Japan are arguably the world's most advanced. However, most models do not work outside of Japan. Many use their cell phones to tap to into service that send messages about bargain prices. The Japanese even use their cell phones to do grocery shopping. Sales using cell phones have increase by 51.4 billion yen from 2003 to 2004.

Population decline

The 1990s were the final decade where the birth rate

Birth rate

Crude birth rate is the nativity or childbirths per 1,000 people per year . Another word used interchangeably with "birth rate" is "natality". When the crude birth rate is subtracted from the crude death rate, it reveals the rate of natural increase...

 in Japan would exceed the death rate. Young people lacking money and living space to properly reproduce is just one of many reasons the birth rate plummeted starting in the year 2005. It has been suggested that the population of Japan will fall from over 100 million in the 1990s to a mere 95.2 million by the year 2050. However, the most recent rise in the national birth rate of Japan happened on February 2007. Japan will see a 0.9% decline of their population after the year 2025 - lowering their labor force while countries like Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 will see a rise in their labor force by that same year. More than 100000 new jobs were added in Canada by the end of April 2010 alone.

Shimojō

Shimojo, Nagano

is a village located in Shimoina District, Nagano, Japan.Considered to be a "miracle village," the village of Shimojō has defied the declining birthrate noted in Japan as well increasing capital revenue by increasing worker efficiency. In 2003-2005, the village birthrate, "was 2.12...against the...

, a village in the prefecture of Nagano

Nagano Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano...

, has an approximate population of 4169. This village is the only Japanese municipality in this decade to contradict the national population decline in Japan. The birthrate in the area was 2.12 (compared to the national average of 1.25) in 2005. There is a density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

of 110.70 people per square kilometre in Shimojō and the total area of the village is 37.66 sqkm.

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