---
title: "Japan vs Panama — area, population, currency"
description: "Japan is 377,915 km² with 123,366,734 people; Panama is 75,420 km² with 4,571,189. Area, density, currency, languages and time zones side by side."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-panama/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Japan vs Panama

**Japan vs Panama: Japan is larger; Japan has more people**

377,915 km² vs 75,420 km² · 123,366,734 vs 4,571,189

Japan is 5.0 times larger than Panama — 377,915 against 75,420 km². Japan is 27 times more populous than Panama — 123,366,734 against 4,571,189 people.

## Side by side

|  | Japan | Panama |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Tokyo | Panama City |
| Area | 377,915 km² | 75,420 km² |
| Population | 123,366,734 (2025) | 4,571,189 (2025) |
| Density | 326.4 /km² | 60.6 /km² |
| Currency | Japanese yen (JPY) | Panamanian balboa (PAB) |
| Official languages | Japanese | Spanish |
| Time zones | UTC+09:00 | UTC-05:00 |
| Calling code | +81 | +507 |
| Drives on the | left | right |
| Continent | Asia | North America |
| ISO codes | JP / JPN | PA / PAN |

## Population density

Japan is 5.4 times more densely populated than Panama — 326 against 61 people per km². Density is where area and population interact, and it often reverses the impression the headline figures give — a large country with a small population can feel emptier than a small crowded one by an enormous margin.

## Practical differences

- They drive on opposite sides — Japan on the left, Panama on the right.
- Different currencies: the Japanese yen and the Panamanian balboa.
- Different continents — Asia and North America.

## Japan

A 2023 government survey using digital mapping counted 14,125 islands, more than double the long-quoted figure of 6,852. About three-quarters of the land is mountain, so nearly everyone lives on a narrow band of coastal plain. Japan sits where four tectonic plates meet and records a fifth of the world's magnitude-6-and-above earthquakes.

## Panama

The canal is 82 km long and lifts ships 26 m up to Gatún Lake and back down, using gravity-fed fresh water rather than pumps. Because the isthmus curves, a ship going from the Atlantic to the Pacific travels roughly south-east. The Darién Gap is the only break in the 30,000 km Pan-American Highway.

> Neutral facts only. Nothing here addresses politics, government, economics or which country is preferable in any respect — population is the one figure that dates, and it carries its year.

## Common questions

### Is Japan bigger than Panama?

Japan is larger — 377,915 km² against 75,420 km².

### Which has more people, Japan or Panama?

Japan, with 123,366,734 against 4,571,189.

### What is the time difference between Japan and Panama?

Japan is UTC+09:00 and Panama is UTC-05:00. Daylight saving shifts the gap during the year in places that observe it.

## Related pages

- [Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country/japan/)
- [Panama](https://atoneplace.net/country/panama/)
- [India vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-japan/)
- [India vs Panama](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-panama/)
- [China vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-japan/)
- [China vs Panama](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-panama/)
- [Japan vs United States](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-united-states/)
- [Japan vs United Kingdom](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-united-kingdom/)
- [Japan vs New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-new-zealand/)
- [Japan vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-russia/)
- [Japan vs Mexico](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-mexico/)
- [Japan vs Spain](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-spain/)
- [Japan vs South Korea](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-south-korea/)
- [Japan vs Netherlands](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-netherlands/)

## Sources

- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/) [Public domain (US Government)]
- World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/) [CC BY 4.0]