---
title: "Japan vs United States — area, population, currency"
description: "Japan is 377,915 km² with 123,366,734 people; United States is 9,833,517 km² with 341,784,857. Area, density, currency, languages and time zones side by side."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-united-states/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Japan vs United States

**Japan vs United States: United States is larger; United States has more people**

377,915 km² vs 9,833,517 km² · 123,366,734 vs 341,784,857

United States is 26 times larger than Japan — 9,833,517 against 377,915 km². United States is 2.8 times more populous than Japan — 341,784,857 against 123,366,734 people.

## Side by side

|  | Japan | United States |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Tokyo | Washington, D.C. |
| Area | 377,915 km² | 9,833,517 km² |
| Population | 123,366,734 (2025) | 341,784,857 (2025) |
| Density | 326.4 /km² | 34.8 /km² |
| Currency | Japanese yen (JPY) | United States dollar (USD) |
| Official languages | Japanese | English |
| Time zones | UTC+09:00 | UTC-10:00, UTC-09:00, UTC-08:00, UTC-07:00, UTC-06:00, UTC-05:00 |
| Calling code | +81 | +1 |
| Drives on the | left | right |
| Continent | Asia | North America |
| ISO codes | JP / JPN | US / USA |

## Population density

Japan is 9.4 times more densely populated than United States — 326 against 35 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, United States on the right.
- Different currencies: the Japanese yen and the United States dollar.
- United States spans 6 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
- 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.

## United States

Third or fourth largest country in the world depending on how China's area is counted. It spans six standard time zones across the fifty states, from UTC-10 in Hawaii to UTC-5 on the east coast. Death Valley holds the highest reliably recorded air temperature on Earth, 56.7 °C in 1913, and is 86 m below sea level; Denali, 5,500 km away in Alaska, is 6,190 m.

> 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 United States?

United States is larger — 9,833,517 km² against 377,915 km².

### Which has more people, Japan or United States?

United States, with 341,784,857 against 123,366,734.

### What is the time difference between Japan and United States?

Japan is UTC+09:00 and United States is UTC-10:00, UTC-09:00, UTC-08:00, UTC-07:00, UTC-06:00, UTC-05:00. Daylight saving shifts the gap during the year in places that observe it.

## Related pages

- [Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country/japan/)
- [United States](https://atoneplace.net/country/united-states/)
- [United States vs Vietnam](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/united-states-vs-vietnam/)
- [United States vs Vatican City](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/united-states-vs-vatican-city/)
- [United States vs Venezuela](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/united-states-vs-venezuela/)
- [India vs United States](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-united-states/)
- [India vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-japan/)
- [China vs United States](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-united-states/)
- [China vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-japan/)
- [United Kingdom vs United States](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/united-kingdom-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/)

## 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]