With which countries does Japan trade the most?
Japan's biggest trading partner is the United States, which takes 27.8% of Japan's exports and supplies 22.3% of its imports. Next come China, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and Germany.

It is no longer appropriate to think of world trade simply as the exchange of finished products. Japan is one of the countries at the center of economic globalization, whereby the process of production itself spans several countries.

Blouses sold in Japan featuring cartoon characters, for instance, show how complex the international division of labor has become. Japanese companies make polyester and other synthetic fibers out of petroleum products imported from the Middle East, Italian firms weave the fibers into fabric, and Chinese factories produce the blouses using Japanese designs.



Japan's Exports by Destination and Commodity, 1997
(US$ million)
Foodstuffs Textiles Chemical products Nonmetallic mineral products Metal and metal products Machinery and equipment Others Total
United States 351 676 5,614 1,218 4,278 94,345 10,610 117,092
Republic of Korea 186 609 3,757 542 3,019 15,708 2,264 26,085
Taiwan 391 521 3,883 534 2,769 17,127 2,326 27,551
Hong Kong 468 1,029 2,189 408 2,053 17,696 3,398 27,241
Singapore 98 158 1,085 274 1,385 14,951 2,309 20,260
China 109 2,545 2,205 337 2,433 11,748 2,312 21,689
Germany - 227 1,006 163 273 14,915 1,398 17,982
Thailand 106 216 1,199 239 2,029 9,810 1,013 14,612
Malaysia - 129 943 306 1,542 10,711 888 14,519
Britain - 134 620 110 588 11,132 1,122 13,706
Other 500 2,075 7,464 1,033 6,410 92,274 10,403 120,158
Total 2,209 8,319 29,965 5,164 26,779 310,417 38,042 420,895



Japan's Imports by Source and Commodity, 1997
(US$ million)
Foodstuffs Textile materials Metal ores and scrap Other raw materials Fossil fuels Chemical products Machinery and equipment Others Total
United States 14,242 409 483 6,166 1,365 7,172 35,481 10,375 75,693
China 5,038 192 276 1,197 2,415 1,477 8,760 22,491 41,846
Republic of Korea 1,644 10 44 175 1,510 1,099 4,951 5,157 14,590
Australia 3,032 410 2,354 864 5,575 203 384 1,764 14,586
Taiwan 1,286 82 95 354 21 617 5,837 4,214 12,506
Indonesia 1,370 - 843 635 6,845 251 972 3,713 14,629
Germany 364 6 10 104 22 2,474 7,817 1,617 12,414
Canada 1,907 - 451 4,138 1,214 403 751 948 9,812
Malaysia 183 56 107 1,547 2,758 336 4,435 1,959 11,381
Thailand 2,319 38 46 924 5 307 3,474 2,460 9,573
Other 14,763 330 3,897 13,201 40,498 9,306 22,143 17,536 121,674
Total 46,148 1,533 8,606 29,305 62,228 23,645 95,005 72,234 338,704

Source: Ministry of Finance, customs clearance statistics.