EXAM QUICK REFERENCE

EJU Japan and the World exam quick reference

This subject tests basic understanding of contemporary society and logical judgment, not volume of memorization. Chapters 1–16 map strictly onto the syllabus's three parts, chapter 17 handles this subject's real difficulty — figures and options — and chapter 18 covers institution names, era names, and katakana place names.

Organized strictly by the three parts of JASSO's 2026 syllabus; official items are not copied, and current affairs appear only where they bear directly on institutions.

Exam time: 80 minutes
Parts: 3 parts
Answer language: Japanese or English
Questions: 50

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QUICK REFERENCE

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Showing 96 items

Democracy and the protection of rights

001民主政治democratic governmentEssential

Core note: A system in which the people, or their representatives, exercise political power, grounded in popular sovereignty.
Exam area: Democracy and the protection of rights
Decision focus: The difference between the rule of law and formal legalism is frequently tested.

003法の支配the rule of lawEssential

Core note: Power itself is subject to law — fundamentally different from mere rule by law in its protection of rights.
Exam area: Democracy and the protection of rights
Decision focus: The difference between the rule of law and formal legalism is frequently tested.

004三権分立separation of powersEssential

Core note: Montesquieu's design of mutual checks among legislature, executive, and judiciary to prevent concentrated power.
Exam area: Democracy and the protection of rights
Decision focus: The difference between the rule of law and formal legalism is frequently tested.

005基本的人権の種類categories of fundamental rightsEssential

Core note: Liberty, equality, social, participation, and benefit rights; social rights are a twentieth-century development.
Exam area: Democracy and the protection of rights
Decision focus: The difference between the rule of law and formal legalism is frequently tested.

006世界人権宣言と国際人権規約the Universal Declaration and the International CovenantsFrequent

Core note: The Declaration is non-binding; the two Covenants adopted in 1966 legally bind their parties.
Exam area: Democracy and the protection of rights
Decision focus: The difference between the rule of law and formal legalism is frequently tested.

The Constitution and the branches

007日本国憲法の三大原則the three principles of the Constitution of JapanEssential

Core note: Popular sovereignty, respect for fundamental human rights, and pacifism; promulgated 1946 and in force from 1947.
Exam area: The Constitution and the branches
Decision focus: The lower house's precedence shows up in four specific areas.

008象徴天皇制the symbolic emperor systemEssential

Core note: The Emperor is the symbol of the state and the unity of the people, performing only constitutional acts with cabinet advice and approval.
Exam area: The Constitution and the branches
Decision focus: The lower house's precedence shows up in four specific areas.

009平和主義と第9条pacifism and Article 9Essential

Core note: Renounces war, forces, and belligerency; the status of the Self-Defense Forces remains a long-standing constitutional question.
Exam area: The Constitution and the branches
Decision focus: The lower house's precedence shows up in four specific areas.

010国会the DietEssential

Core note: The sole legislative organ and highest organ of state power, comprising the House of Representatives, which prevails, and the House of Councillors.
Exam area: The Constitution and the branches
Decision focus: The lower house's precedence shows up in four specific areas.

011内閣と議院内閣制the cabinet and parliamentary governmentEssential

Core note: The cabinet is collectively responsible to the Diet; a no-confidence vote forces either resignation or dissolution.
Exam area: The Constitution and the branches
Decision focus: The lower house's precedence shows up in four specific areas.

012裁判所と違憲審査権the courts and judicial reviewEssential

Core note: A three-tier system with judicial independence; the Supreme Court is called the guardian of the Constitution.
Exam area: The Constitution and the branches
Decision focus: The lower house's precedence shows up in four specific areas.

Political participation and local autonomy

013選挙制度the electoral systemEssential

Core note: The lower house combines single-member districts with proportional representation; the upper house pairs districts with a proportional tier.
Exam area: Political participation and local autonomy
Decision focus: In local government both the chief executive and the assembly are directly elected.

014政党と政党政治parties and party politicsFrequent

Core note: The governing party forms the cabinet while the opposition scrutinizes it; coalition government has been a durable feature of postwar Japan.
Exam area: Political participation and local autonomy
Decision focus: In local government both the chief executive and the assembly are directly elected.

015世論とマスメディアpublic opinion and mass mediaFrequent

Core note: Media act as a fourth estate shaping politics, alongside concerns about bias and information literacy.
Exam area: Political participation and local autonomy
Decision focus: In local government both the chief executive and the assembly are directly elected.

016地方自治local autonomyEssential

Core note: Called the school of democracy; both chief executives and assembly members are directly elected by residents.
Exam area: Political participation and local autonomy
Decision focus: In local government both the chief executive and the assembly are directly elected.

017直接請求権rights of direct demandFrequent

Core note: Residents may demand ordinances, audits, assembly dissolution, or recall, each with a statutory signature threshold.
Exam area: Political participation and local autonomy
Decision focus: In local government both the chief executive and the assembly are directly elected.

018一票の格差vote-value disparityFrequent

Core note: The gap in voters per seat across districts, repeatedly held to be in an unconstitutional state by the Supreme Court.
Exam area: Political participation and local autonomy
Decision focus: In local government both the chief executive and the assembly are directly elected.

International politics and organizations

019主権国家と国際法sovereign states and international lawEssential

Core note: The Peace of Westphalia established the sovereign-state system; international law rests on treaties and custom.
Exam area: International politics and organizations
Decision focus: The difference between the League and the UN is a standing item.

020国際連合the United NationsEssential

Core note: Founded in 1945 to succeed the League of Nations; the Assembly gives one vote per state and the Security Council maintains peace.
Exam area: International politics and organizations
Decision focus: The difference between the League and the UN is a standing item.

021安全保障理事会と拒否権the Security Council and the vetoEssential

Core note: Five permanent members hold a veto, so a single objection blocks any substantive resolution.
Exam area: International politics and organizations
Decision focus: The difference between the League and the UN is a standing item.

022冷戦と地域紛争the Cold War and regional conflictEssential

Core note: A bipolar order of US-Soviet rivalry; ethnic and religious conflict surfaced more visibly after it ended.
Exam area: International politics and organizations
Decision focus: The difference between the League and the UN is a standing item.

023軍縮と核不拡散disarmament and non-proliferationFrequent

Core note: The NPT, CTBT, and Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons form the principal framework.
Exam area: International politics and organizations
Decision focus: The difference between the League and the UN is a standing item.

024日本の外交と安全保障Japanese foreign and security policyFrequent

Core note: Built around the Japan-US Security Treaty, alongside UN-centered diplomacy and economic engagement with Asia.
Exam area: International politics and organizations
Decision focus: The difference between the League and the UN is a standing item.

How the market works

025希少性と機会費用scarcity and opportunity costEssential

Core note: Limited resources against unlimited wants mean every choice carries the value of the best alternative forgone.
Exam area: How the market works
Decision focus: Market failure is the rationale for government intervention.

026需要と供給demand and supplyEssential

Core note: As price rises demand falls and supply rises; the equilibrium price is where they meet.
Exam area: How the market works
Decision focus: Market failure is the rationale for government intervention.

027価格の自動調節機能the price mechanismEssential

Core note: Adam Smith's invisible hand: price movements steer the allocation of resources.
Exam area: How the market works
Decision focus: Market failure is the rationale for government intervention.

028市場の失敗market failureEssential

Core note: Public goods, externalities, asymmetric information, and monopoly prevent efficient allocation.
Exam area: How the market works
Decision focus: Market failure is the rationale for government intervention.

029独占・寡占と独占禁止法monopoly, oligopoly, and antitrustFrequent

Core note: When few firms dominate, prices turn downwardly rigid; Japan's Fair Trade Commission enforces the Antimonopoly Act.
Exam area: How the market works
Decision focus: Market failure is the rationale for government intervention.

030資本主義の発展the development of capitalismEssential

Core note: From laissez-faire through the Depression to the mixed economy, then neoliberalism and its reappraisal.
Exam area: How the market works
Decision focus: Market failure is the rationale for government intervention.

Economic agents and firms

031家計householdsEssential

Core note: The unit supplying labor and capital and consuming; disposable income determines consumption and saving.
Exam area: Economic agents and firms
Decision focus: The separation of ownership and management defines the joint-stock company.

032企業の形態forms of enterpriseFrequent

Core note: Private, public, and mixed enterprises; among private firms the joint-stock company predominates.
Exam area: Economic agents and firms
Decision focus: The separation of ownership and management defines the joint-stock company.

033株式会社the joint-stock companyEssential

Core note: Raises capital by issuing shares, with limited shareholder liability and a separation of ownership from management.
Exam area: Economic agents and firms
Decision focus: The separation of ownership and management defines the joint-stock company.

034政府の役割the role of governmentEssential

Core note: Supplying public goods, redistributing income, and stabilizing the economy — the three functions of public finance.
Exam area: Economic agents and firms
Decision focus: The separation of ownership and management defines the joint-stock company.

035企業の社会的責任corporate social responsibilityFrequent

Core note: Firms owe duties to the environment, consumers, and communities beyond profit, now framed through the SDGs and ESG.
Exam area: Economic agents and firms
Decision focus: The separation of ownership and management defines the joint-stock company.

036中小企業とベンチャーsmall and medium enterprises and start-upsFrequent

Core note: SMEs are the great majority of Japanese firms, and the dual structure with large firms is a long-noted issue.
Exam area: Economic agents and firms
Decision focus: The separation of ownership and management defines the joint-stock company.

National income and the business cycle

037国内総生産（GDP）gross domestic productEssential

Core note: The sum of value added produced domestically in a year — the basic measure of economic size.
Exam area: National income and the business cycle
Decision focus: GDP is a flow and national wealth a stock.

038三面等価の原則the three-approach identityEssential

Core note: National income measured by production, distribution, and expenditure is necessarily equal.
Exam area: National income and the business cycle
Decision focus: GDP is a flow and national wealth a stock.

039経済成長率the economic growth rateEssential

Core note: The rate of GDP increase; nominal figures must be deflated before comparison.
Exam area: National income and the business cycle
Decision focus: GDP is a flow and national wealth a stock.

040景気循環the business cycleEssential

Core note: Four recurring phases — boom, contraction, trough, recovery — classified by length into Kitchin, Juglar, and other cycles.
Exam area: National income and the business cycle
Decision focus: GDP is a flow and national wealth a stock.

041インフレーションとデフレーションinflation and deflationEssential

Core note: Sustained price rises or falls; a deflationary spiral is falling prices and shrinking activity reinforcing each other.
Exam area: National income and the business cycle
Decision focus: GDP is a flow and national wealth a stock.

042国富とフロー・ストックnational wealth, flows, and stocksFrequent

Core note: GDP is a flow over a period while national wealth is the stock accumulated at a point in time.
Exam area: National income and the business cycle
Decision focus: GDP is a flow and national wealth a stock.

Finance

043貨幣の機能the functions of moneyEssential

Core note: Medium of exchange, unit of account, store of value, and means of payment.
Exam area: Finance
Decision focus: Be able to give an example of each of the three central-bank functions.

044直接金融と間接金融direct and indirect financeEssential

Core note: Raising funds through securities is direct finance and through banks indirect; Japan long relied on the latter.
Exam area: Finance
Decision focus: Be able to give an example of each of the three central-bank functions.

045日本銀行の三機能the three functions of the Bank of JapanEssential

Core note: Bank of issue, bankers' bank, and the government's bank.
Exam area: Finance
Decision focus: Be able to give an example of each of the three central-bank functions.

046金融政策monetary policyEssential

Core note: Chiefly open-market operations adjusting money and rates; ultra-low rates and quantitative easing followed the bubble's collapse.
Exam area: Finance
Decision focus: Be able to give an example of each of the three central-bank functions.

047信用創造credit creationFrequent

Core note: Repeated bank lending expands total deposits to a multiple of the original deposit.
Exam area: Finance
Decision focus: Be able to give an example of each of the three central-bank functions.

048金融の自由化と決済手段の多様化financial liberalization and payment diversificationFrequent

Core note: Barriers between financial businesses fell after the Big Bang, and electronic and code-based payments have spread rapidly.
Exam area: Finance
Decision focus: Be able to give an example of each of the three central-bank functions.

Public finance and social security

049財政の三機能the three functions of public financeEssential

Core note: Resource allocation, income redistribution, and economic stabilization.
Exam area: Public finance and social security
Decision focus: The regressivity of consumption tax is a standing point of argument.

050直接税と間接税direct and indirect taxesEssential

Core note: Income tax and the like are direct and progressive; consumption tax is indirect and regressive.
Exam area: Public finance and social security
Decision focus: The regressivity of consumption tax is a standing point of argument.

051財政政策とビルト・イン・スタビライザーfiscal policy and automatic stabilizersEssential

Core note: Progressive taxation and unemployment insurance dampen cycles automatically, without discretionary action.
Exam area: Public finance and social security
Decision focus: The regressivity of consumption tax is a standing point of argument.

052国債と財政赤字government bonds and fiscal deficitsEssential

Core note: Construction bonds are distinguished from deficit-financing bonds; Japan's debt-to-GDP ratio is the highest among advanced economies.
Exam area: Public finance and social security
Decision focus: The regressivity of consumption tax is a standing point of argument.

054少子高齢化と社会保障declining birthrate, aging, and social securityEssential

Core note: Fewer workers support each older person, straining pension and health financing.
Exam area: Public finance and social security
Decision focus: The regressivity of consumption tax is a standing point of argument.

Japan's economic history and industries

055戦後改革と復興postwar reform and recoveryEssential

Core note: The three great reforms — dissolving the zaibatsu, land reform, and labor reform — plus priority production and the Dodge Line.
Exam area: Japan's economic history and industries
Decision focus: Remember each phase by what ended what.

056高度経済成長the high-growth eraEssential

Core note: Roughly ten percent annual growth from the mid-1950s to 1973, alongside pollution and regional imbalance.
Exam area: Japan's economic history and industries
Decision focus: Remember each phase by what ended what.

057石油危機と安定成長the oil crises and stable growthEssential

Core note: The 1973 oil crisis ended high growth and pushed Japan toward energy efficiency and assembly industries.
Exam area: Japan's economic history and industries
Decision focus: Remember each phase by what ended what.

058バブル経済とその崩壊the bubble economy and its collapseEssential

Core note: Post-Plaza yen appreciation and low rates inflated land and share prices; the collapse brought prolonged stagnation and bad loans.
Exam area: Japan's economic history and industries
Decision focus: Remember each phase by what ended what.

059産業構造の高度化the shift in industrial structureEssential

Core note: The center of gravity moves from primary through secondary to tertiary industry — the Petty-Clark law.
Exam area: Japan's economic history and industries
Decision focus: Remember each phase by what ended what.

060日本の農業と食料自給率Japanese agriculture and food self-sufficiencyFrequent

Core note: Small holdings with part-time and aging farmers; calorie-based self-sufficiency has long stayed below forty percent.
Exam area: Japan's economic history and industries
Decision focus: Remember each phase by what ended what.

The international economy

061比較生産費説the theory of comparative advantageEssential

Core note: Ricardo showed that specializing where relative cost is lower and trading benefits both sides.
Exam area: The international economy
Decision focus: Be able to state instantly how a stronger yen affects exports and imports.

062自由貿易と保護貿易free versus protected tradeFrequent

Core note: List argued for infant-industry protection; tariffs and non-tariff barriers are the main instruments.
Exam area: The international economy
Decision focus: Be able to state instantly how a stronger yen affects exports and imports.

063外国為替相場the foreign exchange rateEssential

Core note: A stronger yen favors imports and hurts exports; major economies floated from 1973.
Exam area: The international economy
Decision focus: Be able to state instantly how a stronger yen affects exports and imports.

064国際収支the balance of paymentsEssential

Core note: Comprises the current, capital-transfer, and financial accounts, recording a country's external transactions.
Exam area: The international economy
Decision focus: Be able to state instantly how a stronger yen affects exports and imports.

065WTOと地域経済統合the WTO and regional integrationEssential

Core note: GATT became the WTO, with the EU, USMCA, ASEAN, and the TPP forming layers of regional integration.
Exam area: The international economy
Decision focus: Be able to state instantly how a stronger yen affects exports and imports.

066南北問題と発展途上国the North-South divide and developing countriesFrequent

Core note: The economic gap between advanced and developing countries; disparities among the latter are the South-South problem.
Exam area: The international economy
Decision focus: Be able to state instantly how a stronger yen affects exports and imports.

Contemporary society

067地球環境問題global environmental problemsEssential

Core note: Warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, and biodiversity loss; the Paris Agreement set nationally determined targets.
Exam area: Contemporary society
Decision focus: Be able to match the three labor rights to the three labor laws.

068資源・エネルギー問題resource and energy issuesEssential

Core note: Fossil fuels are finite and unevenly distributed; Japan's energy self-sufficiency is very low and renewables are rising.
Exam area: Contemporary society
Decision focus: Be able to match the three labor rights to the three labor laws.

069私法と契約・消費者保護private law, contracts, and consumer protectionEssential

Core note: Freedom of contract and its limits; cooling-off rules and the Consumer Contract Act protect the weaker party.
Exam area: Contemporary society
Decision focus: Be able to match the three labor rights to the three labor laws.

070雇用と労働employment and laborEssential

Core note: The three labor laws guarantee the three labor rights; as lifetime employment weakened, non-regular work expanded.
Exam area: Contemporary society
Decision focus: Be able to match the three labor rights to the three labor laws.

071情報社会と科学技術the information society and technologyFrequent

Core note: The digital divide, personal-data protection, and the ethics raised by artificial intelligence.
Exam area: Contemporary society
Decision focus: Be able to match the three labor rights to the three labor laws.

072国際社会と平和international society and peaceFrequent

Core note: The focus widened from state security to human security, foregrounding poverty, disease, and refugees.
Exam area: Contemporary society
Decision focus: Be able to match the three labor rights to the three labor laws.

Geography I: the physical environment

073プレートと大地形plates and major landformsEssential

Core note: Plate boundaries create mountain belts, trenches, and volcanoes; Japan sits where four plates meet.
Exam area: Geography I: the physical environment
Decision focus: Compute time differences at one hour per fifteen degrees of longitude.

074河川・海岸の地形fluvial and coastal landformsFrequent

Core note: Alluvial fans, deltas, river terraces, and ria coasts, together with how each is used.
Exam area: Geography I: the physical environment
Decision focus: Compute time differences at one hour per fifteen degrees of longitude.

075気候区分climate classificationEssential

Core note: Köppen's system divides climates by temperature and precipitation into tropical, arid, temperate, cold, and polar.
Exam area: Geography I: the physical environment
Decision focus: Compute time differences at one hour per fifteen degrees of longitude.

076植生と土壌vegetation and soilsFrequent

Core note: Climate zones correspond to characteristic vegetation and soils such as chernozem and tropical latosols.
Exam area: Geography I: the physical environment
Decision focus: Compute time differences at one hour per fifteen degrees of longitude.

077自然災害と防災natural disasters and mitigationEssential

Core note: Earthquakes, tsunami, typhoons, and eruptions; hazard maps are a key tool.
Exam area: Geography I: the physical environment
Decision focus: Compute time differences at one hour per fifteen degrees of longitude.

078地図・時差と経緯度maps, time zones, and coordinatesEssential

Core note: Mercator preserves angles and Mollweide area; every fifteen degrees of longitude is one hour.
Exam area: Geography I: the physical environment
Decision focus: Compute time differences at one hour per fifteen degrees of longitude.

Geography II: population, industry, and regions

079人口問題と人口構成population issues and structureEssential

Core note: Population pyramids run from expansive through stationary to contractive, with developing-country growth alongside advanced-country decline.
Exam area: Geography II: population, industry, and regions
Decision focus: Bind each region to its representative industry.

080都市化と都市問題urbanization and urban problemsFrequent

Core note: Overcrowding and depopulation, suburbanization and inner-city hollowing, and slums in developing countries.
Exam area: Geography II: population, industry, and regions
Decision focus: Bind each region to its representative industry.

081農業地域と農業形態agricultural regions and systemsEssential

Core note: The distribution of subsistence, mixed, Mediterranean, commercial grain, and dairy farming.
Exam area: Geography II: population, industry, and regions
Decision focus: Bind each region to its representative industry.

082工業立地と工業地域industrial location and regionsEssential

Core note: Raw-material, market, and coastal orientations; Japan's Pacific Belt is the classic case.
Exam area: Geography II: population, industry, and regions
Decision focus: Bind each region to its representative industry.

083世界の諸地域the world's regionsEssential

Core note: The physical and economic character of East, Southeast, South, and West Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania.
Exam area: Geography II: population, industry, and regions
Decision focus: Bind each region to its representative industry.

084日本の地誌the geography of JapanFrequent

Core note: The landforms, climate, and industries from Hokkaido to Kyushu and Okinawa — a standing item in this subject.
Exam area: Geography II: population, industry, and regions
Decision focus: Bind each region to its representative industry.

History I: the advance of modernization

085産業革命the Industrial RevolutionEssential

Core note: Beginning in late-eighteenth-century Britain, mechanized industry displaced handicraft and created capitalists and workers.
Exam area: History I: the advance of modernization
Decision focus: Learn European changes paired with Japan's responses.

086市民革命the bourgeois revolutionsEssential

Core note: The English, American, and French revolutions established human rights and popular sovereignty.
Exam area: History I: the advance of modernization
Decision focus: Learn European changes paired with Japan's responses.

087帝国主義と植民地imperialism and coloniesEssential

Core note: Late-nineteenth-century powers competed for colonies, partitioning Africa and subordinating much of Asia.
Exam area: History I: the advance of modernization
Decision focus: Learn European changes paired with Japan's responses.

088明治維新the Meiji RestorationEssential

Core note: Abolishing domains, reforming land tax, and promoting industry, culminating in the 1889 Constitution.
Exam area: History I: the advance of modernization
Decision focus: Learn European changes paired with Japan's responses.

089日本の産業革命と近代化Japan's industrializationFrequent

Core note: Light industry led with textiles, and heavy industry followed the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars.
Exam area: History I: the advance of modernization
Decision focus: Learn European changes paired with Japan's responses.

090アジアの近代化と抵抗modernization and resistance in AsiaFrequent

Core note: The Self-Strengthening Movement, the Hundred Days' Reform, the Xinhai Revolution, and the Indian National Congress.
Exam area: History I: the advance of modernization
Decision focus: Learn European changes paired with Japan's responses.

History II: the world wars and after

091第一次世界大戦とヴェルサイユ体制the First World War and the Versailles systemEssential

Core note: Total war transformed state and society; the Versailles Treaty and the League shaped the postwar order.
Exam area: History II: the world wars and after
Decision focus: The syllabus stops after the Cold War; there is no need to chase current news.

092世界恐慌the Great DepressionEssential

Core note: Beginning in the United States in 1929, it produced the New Deal, bloc economies, and fascism as divergent responses.
Exam area: History II: the world wars and after
Decision focus: The syllabus stops after the Cold War; there is no need to chase current news.

093第二次世界大戦the Second World WarEssential

Core note: Fought from 1939 to 1945, with the Atlantic Charter and Yalta laying the groundwork for the postwar order.
Exam area: History II: the world wars and after
Decision focus: The syllabus stops after the Cold War; there is no need to chase current news.

094戦後の国際秩序と冷戦the postwar order and the Cold WarEssential

Core note: The UN and Bretton Woods were established while US-Soviet rivalry produced NATO against the Warsaw Pact.
Exam area: History II: the world wars and after
Decision focus: The syllabus stops after the Cold War; there is no need to chase current news.

095脱植民地化とアジア・アフリカdecolonization in Asia and AfricaEssential

Core note: Asian and African states won independence, marked by Bandung in 1955 and the Year of Africa in 1960.
Exam area: History II: the world wars and after
Decision focus: The syllabus stops after the Cold War; there is no need to chase current news.

096冷戦後の世界とグローバル化the post-Cold War world and globalizationEssential

Core note: After the Soviet collapse, integration and regional conflict advanced together, with terrorism, refugees, and globalization as shared problems.
Exam area: History II: the world wars and after
Decision focus: The syllabus stops after the Cold War; there is no need to chase current news.