Chapter 10 Commerce (PDF:139KB)

1. Wholesale and Retail

The 2009 Economic Census showed that 1.56 million wholesale and retail establishments were in operation in Japan. The number of persons engaged became 12.70 million.

(1) Wholesale Trade

The number of wholesale establishments was 402,000 in 2009. Observed by size of operation in terms of persons engaged, the establishments with less than 20 persons accounted for 89.3 percent of the total. A total of 86.6 percent was corporations, while 13.3 percent was individual proprietorships.

The number of persons engaged in wholesale was 4.13 million in 2009, of which there were 804,000 part-timers and temporary employees, 19.5 percent of the total.

 

(2) Retail Trade

The number of retail establishments in operation totaled 1.15 million in 2009. Observed by size of operation in terms of persons engaged, the establishments with less than 10 persons accounted for 82.5 percent of the total. By type of legal organization, 53.1 percent of retail establishments were corporations, while 46.7 percent were individual proprietorships. The proportion of individual proprietorships was higher in the retail sector than in the wholesale sector.

The number of persons engaged in retail was 8.57 million in 2009, of which 4.51 million part-timers and temporary employees comprised 52.6 percent of the total.

2. Eating and Drinking Places

There were 673,000 eating and drinking places establishments in operation and 4.42 million persons engaged in 2009.