Gastroenterology Journals

Description of the country: Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea, 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 “kanji” that makes up Japan's name mean "sun origin", and it is often called the "Land of the Rising Sun". The country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. The population of 126 million is the world's tenth largest.

Geography of the country: Geographically, the whole country consists of four major islands, they are, Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. Altogether, the country is having 6,852 islands. Together they are often known as the Japanese archipelago. Japan has 108 active volcanoes. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunami, occur several times each century. About 73 percent of Japan is forested, mountainous, and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial, or residential use. Japan's highest mountain is Mount Fuji, with an elevation of 3,776 m (12,388ft). Japan's forest cover rate is 68.55% since the mountains are heavily forested. Japan is substantially prone to earthquakes and tsunami, having the highest natural disaster risk in the developed world.

Status of economy, research and development: According to the International Monetary Fund, the country's per capita GDP (PPP) was at $38,490, the 28th highest in 2014,down from the 22nd position in 2012. The Japanese economy is forecasted by the Quarterly Tankan survey of business sentiment conducted by the Bank of Japan. Due to a volatile currency exchange rate, Japan's GDP as measured in dollars fluctuates widely. is the world's third largest automobile manufacturing country, has the largest electronics goods industry, and is often ranked among the world's most innovative countries leading several measures of global patent filings. Japan today now focuses primarily on high-tech and precision goods, such as optical instruments, hybrid vehicles, and robotics. Japan is one of the leading nations in the fields of scientific research, technology, machinery, and medical research with the world's third largest budget for research and development at $130 billion USD, and over 677,731 researchers.

Status about the different subjects in which extensive research is going on: Japan is a world leader in fundamental scientific research, having produced twenty-one Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry or medicine and three Fields medalists. There are 21 noble laureates from this country. Satoshi Omura is a Japanese biochemist (Noble prize winner), was a long-standing member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Antibiotics, becoming Editor-in-Chief during 2004-2013. Japan promotes free access to 4,832 medical journals. According to journals rankings, Japan has highest ranking for the list of gastroenterology journals. The top-ranking universities in Japan are the University of Tokyo (ranked 30 in the world, 1 in Asia), Kyoto University (ranked 52 in the world, 5 in Asia), Osaka University, Japan Science and Technology Agency. The Institute of Medical Science in Tokyo is the leading Institution in medical research in Japan. Japan leads the world in robotics production and use, possessing more than 20% (300,000 of 1.3 million) of the world's industrial robots as of 2013. In the 21st century, in the field of natural science, the number of Japanese winners of the Nobel Prize has been second behind the U.S. Japan has particularly excelled in medical research in the streams of nuclear medicine, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, and rheumatology.