Japan has ALWAYS had a high population (relatively). In 1800, Japan had 29 million people similar to Russia or France (some of the most populated countries on earth). In 1940, Japan was at about 72 million compared to Britain at 48 million and Germany at 69 million. Sure there was a huge growth after WW2 (but also, Japan was no where near as developed as Germany or Britain, economically). Japan has been one of the most populated countries in the world since at least 1800. Even going as far back as 1600, the Tokugawa Shogunate was more populated than Russia, or the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. It had 13 million people compared to 8 million in Spain, 4 million in England and 9 million in Russia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_popu... http://pandora11.com/blog-entry-5023.htm...