Home > Statistics > Handbook > Chapter 8 Science and Technology/ Information and Communication
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"RIBA (Robot for Interactive Body Assistance)," the world's first nursing-care robot, developed jointly by the RIKEN-TRI Collaboration Center for Human-Interactive Robot Research. With its human-like arms, it can perform a sequence of moves to carry a person, from lifting the person up from a bed or wheelchair to moving and setting the person down, thus lightening the caregiver workload.
Japan ranks second among major industrialized countries, following the U.S.A., in terms of expenditure on science and technology, and this expenditure supports its position as a technology-based country. Researchers in the fields of science and technology (including social sciences and humanities) as of the end of March 2010 totaled 840,000. The total research and development (R&D) spending in fiscal 2009 amounted to 17.2 trillion yen, down for the second consecutive year. Relative to GDP, R&D spending fell below the level of the previous fiscal year, to 3.62 percent.
As of the end of March 2010, the number of researchers in business enterprises amounted to 490,000 persons, while the number of researchers in universities and colleges was 309,000 persons. In terms of R&D expenditures in fiscal 2009, business enterprises spent 12.0 trillion yen (69.5 percent of total R&D expenditures), while universities and colleges spent 3.5 trillion yen (20.6 percent).
Universities and colleges spend more than 90 percent of their R&D expenditure on natural sciences for basic research and applied research, while business enterprises allocate over 70 percent for development purposes.
Japan drives its science and technology policy from a long-term perspective based on the Science and Technology Basic Law, established in 1995. Now in its third phase (2006 to 2010), research is promoted in the four priority fields that were specifically so-designated. Of the total research spending in fiscal 2009, approximately 40 percent was spent in these four priority fields to be promoted: life sciences (15.7 percent), information technology (15.5 percent), environmental science and technology (6.0 percent), and nanotechnology and materials (5.3 percent).
The researchers at business enterprises totaled 490,000 persons at the end of March 2010. Approximately 90 percent of them, or 430,000 persons, were in the manufacturing industries; the largest number was in the information and communication electronics equipment industry, followed by the motor vehicle, parts and accessories industry, then by the electrical machinery, equipment and supplies industry. In terms of R&D expenditures in fiscal 2009, business enterprises spent 12.0 trillion yen. Of this amount, 10.4 trillion yen was spent by the manufacturing industries; the motor vehicle, parts and accessories industry spent the most, followed by the information and communication electronics equipment industry, then by the medical and pharmaceutical industry.
Technology trade is defined as export or import of technology by business enterprises with other countries, such as patents and expertise. In fiscal 2009, Japan earned 2,015 billion yen from technology exports, which was down 9.4 percent from the previous fiscal year, thus marking the second consecutive year of decrease; of the total receipts, 70.8 percent was from overseas parent/subsidiary companies. Meanwhile, Japan paid 535 billion yen for technology imports. This was down 10.9 percent from the previous fiscal year, marking the second consecutive year of decrease; of this figure, 13.8 percent was payments to overseas parent/subsidiary companies.
In fiscal 2009, Japan exported 2,015 billion yen of technologies; major destinations for export were: the U.S.A. (718 billion yen, or 35.6 percent of total exports), followed by China (279 billion yen), Thailand (151 billion yen), and the U.K. (114 billion yen). On the other hand, Japan imported 535 billion yen of technologies, mainly from the U.S.A. (385 billion yen, or 72.0 percent of total imports), followed by Germany (23 billion yen), the U.K. (23 billion yen), and France (18 billion yen).
The total number of patent applications remained robust in and after 1998 as more than 400,000 applications were submitted every year, but a gradual drop has been seen since 2006. In 2009, there were 348,596 applications (down 10.8 percent from the previous year).
Approximately 140 countries, including Japan, have joined the international patent system of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as of October 2010. In 2010, the number of international patent applications made based on the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) was 163,000, of which Japan filed 32,156, an increase of 7.9 percent over the previous year.
The U.S.A. ranked first among major countries/organizations with which Japanese filed patent applications in 2008, with 82,396 filings. The number of Japanese-filed patent applications in China has been on an upward trend since 2002. It reached 30,302 in 2009, nearly double the 2002 figure of 15,511.
The number of Internet users has been growing steadily since the start of commercial Internet use in 1993. As of the end of 2010, the number of people who had used the Internet in the past year (those aged 6 years and over; covering any and all types of Internet connection devices used, including PCs, cell phones, personal handyphone systems, mobile information terminals and game machines) totaled 94.62 million, or 78.2 percent of the population aged 6 years and over. An observation by age group showed that the individual Internet user rate exceeded 90 percent in people in their 10s to 40s, although the rate dropped as the age went up.
Currently, mobile networks are expanding. The number of people accessing the Internet via cell phones and other mobile devices at the end of 2010 was estimated to be 78.78 million, accounting for 83.8 percent of the people aged 6 years and over who have accessed the Internet.
Among enterprises, the Internet user rate at the end of 2010 was 98.8 percent (down 0.7 percentage point from the previous year).
As of the end of March 2010, the contracts of broadband (connection) service subscriptions totaled 33.02 million, marking an 8.9-percent annual increase. Among broadband subscribers, the number of DSL (digital subscriber line) subscribers reached 9.74 million, accounting for 29.5 percent of the total.
The number of broadband subscribers in Japan, as an indication of the spread of its use, was 31.71 million in 2009, the third largest after China (103.98 million) and the U.S.A. (81.15 million).
Meanwhile, IP phone services (voice phone services that use Internet Protocol technology across part or all of the communication network), which use broadband circuits as access lines, entered full-scale use between 2002 and 2003. As of the end of March 2011, the total number of IP phone subscribers was 25.66 million.
Subscribers for Internet connection service using cable television networks (cable Internet) as of the end of March 2010 totaled 5.31 million (up 29.3 percent from the previous year).
FTTH (fiber to the home) service, using optical fiber, provides an ultra-high speed network capable of communicating faster than a DSL or cable Internet connection. As of the end of March 2010, the number of FTTH (connection) subscribers was 17.80 million, marking an 18.5-percent increase over the past year. Internet users currently not using it are highly interested in switching to FTTH, given its faster communication speed and falling fees. This service is therefore expected to further grow in the future.
The number of fixed phone subscription contracts was 34.54 million (down 8.9 percent year-on-year) at the end of March 2011. Meanwhile, the number of mobile phone subscribers (cell phones and personal handyphone systems) totaled 116.30 million at the end of March 2010, marking a rise by 6.0 percent year-on-year to 123.29 million at the end of March 2011.
As of the end of March 2010, there were, nationwide, 24,531 post offices run by Japan Post Network Co., Ltd. and 188,326 mailboxes set up and serviced by Japan Post Service Co., Ltd.
Japan Post Service Co., Ltd. handled 22.27 billion pieces of domestic mail (letters and parcels) in fiscal 2010 (a 2.6-percent decrease from the previous fiscal year).
Meanwhile, the total number of international mail (including letters, express mail services (EMS) and parcels) sent in fiscal 2010 amounted to 54.16 million pieces (a decrease of 11.7 percent from the previous fiscal year), representing an enormous decrease from that of fiscal 1995 (122.8 million). This decline is attributable to the shift of business mails to e-mails.
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