Fishing industry in Japan

See also: Whaling in Japan

Japan ranked second in the world behind China in tonnage of fish caught—11.9 million tons in
1989, down slightly from 11.1 million metric tons in 1980[citation needed]. After the 1973 energy
crisis, deep-sea fishing in Japan declined, with the annual catch in the 1980s averaging 2 million
tons. Offshore fisheries accounted for an average of 50 % of the nation's total fish catches in the
late 1980s although they experienced repeated ups and downs during that period. Coastal
fisheries had smaller catches than northern sea fisheries in 1986 and 1987. As a whole, Japan's
fish catches registered a slower growth in the late 1980s. By contrast, Japan's import of marine
products increased greatly in the 1980s, and was nearly 2 million tons in 1989.
The Japanese fishing industry, both domestic and overseas, has long been centered on the Tsukiji
fish market, in Tokyo, which is one of the world's largest wholesale markets for fresh, frozen,
and processed seafood.
Japan also has greatly advanced the techniques of aquaculture or sea farming. In this system,
artificial insemination and hatching techniques are used to breed fish and shellfish, which are
then released into rivers or seas. These fish and shellfish are caught after they grow bigger.
Salmon is raised this way.
Japan has more than 2,000 fishing ports, including Nagasaki, in southwest Kyūshū; Otaru,
Kushiro, and Abashiri in Hokkaidō. Major fishing ports on the Pacific coast of Honshū include,
Hachinohe, Kesennuma, and Ishinomaki along the Sanriku coast, as well as Choshi, Yaizu,
Shimizu, and Misaki to the east and south of Tokyo.
Japan is also one of the world's few whaling nations. As a member of the International Whaling
Commission, the government pledged that its fleets would restrict their catch to international
quotas, but it attracted international opprobrium for its failure to sign an agreement placing a
moratorium on catching sperm whales. Currently Japan conducts so-called "research whaling"
for minke whales in the oceans surrounding Antarctica.
Japan - Agriculture
Crop production is vital to Japan despite limited arable land (13% of the total area) and the
highest degree of industrialization in Asia. Steep land (more than 20°) has been terraced for rice
and other crops, carrying cultivation in tiny patches far up mountainsides. With the aid of a
temperate climate, adequate rainfall, soil fertility built up and maintained over centuries, and
such a large farm population that the average farm has an area of only 1.2 ha (3 acres), Japan
has been able to develop intensive cultivation. Agriculture exists in every part of Japan, but is
especially important on the northern island of Hokkaido, which accounts for 10% of national
production. Since World War II (1939–45), modern methods, including commercial fertilizers,
insecticides, hybrid seeds, and machinery, have been used so effectively that harvests increased
substantially through the 1970s. Japan is the second-largest agricultural product importer in the
world (after the US), with total agricultural product imports of $34.6 billion in 2001. At $32.1
billion, Japan had the largest agricultural trade deficit in the world that year.

Japanese mining

Japan possesses very few mining resources. There are coal deposits in Hokkaidō
and Kyūshū (close to Nagasaki). Oil wells have been drilled off the west coast of
Honshū and Japan has oil concessions in North Sakhalin. Iron is scarce outside of
Hokkaidō and northwest Honshū, and iron pyrite has been discovered in Honshū,
Shikoku and Karafuto. A modest quantity of copper and gold is mined around
Honshū, Hokkaidō and Karafuto. Due to its abundant rainfall and high mountains,
Japan is well placed to exploit hydroelectric power. Japanese used 80% of these
energy sources in Asia but only possessed a small proportion of its total of energy
sources