While it can be said that Japanese is only spoken in Japan, and therefore not by that many people, Japan's population in 1985 was 120.75 million people, making it the seventh largest country in the world.
Knowing Japanese will put you in a relatively exclusive group, but not one that is as small as is commonly thought.
Japanese is one of the languages that are considered "Critical", meaning that the supply of speakers not as great as the demand. So, if you can develop fluency in Japanese there will be many opportunities available to you.
With $315 billion dollars in total exports, Japan is the third largest export country in the world behind the United States and Germany.
Japan's economic competitiveness continues to be tops in the world. In 1993 Japan was recognized as the most competitive nation in the international markets.
Japan has the world's tenth largest population, with about 128 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
