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Japan
Japan
world's eighth largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan
ranks high in metrics of prosperity such as the Human Development Index, with the Japanese
population enjoying the highest life expectancy of any country in the world and the infant
mortality rate being the third lowest globally.
Japanese culture has evolved greatly from its origins. Contemporary culture
combines influences from Asia, Europe and North America. Traditional Japanese arts include
crafts such as ceramics, textiles, lacquerware, swords and dolls; performances of bunraku,
kabuki, noh, dance, and rakugo; and other practices, the tea ceremony, ikebana, martial arts,
calligraphy, origami, onsen, Geisha and games. Japan has a developed system for the
protection and promotion of both tangible and intangible Cultural Properties and National
Treasures. Eighteen sites have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, fourteen
of which are of cultural significance.