How many hams in Japan?

[KD7SDB]

I saw an old post recently in which someone said that in Japan, "almost everyone" is a ham. Anybody got any numbers on that?

[N7NBB]

with thanks and a tip of the HAM HAT to:
http://www.jarl.or.jp/English/1_Amateur/A-1-9.htm


Japan  1,350,127
Canada 45,000
U.S.A. 674,652
Russia 38,000
Germany 75,254
Brazil 32,053
England 62,093
Italy  30,000
Spain  59,325
Argentina  29,776

There were many other links that came up just by typing "number of hams in Japan" into GOOGLE.com.  You might try that and get a more up to date listing... this I believe is from 1998.

73
CAM - N7NBB
 

[OBSERVER11]

Impressive numbers!

One big problem in Japan, they have a SERIOUS bootlegger/freebander problem. The problem is so bad that they have specially designed radios that CANNOT be modified.. Look for a little logo on the radio, a triangle with a "J", this indicates a Japanese version.

Think we have a problem with freebanders, imagine what it would be like with one million LICENSED users...

[WJ7P]

Thanks for the data. Now I can calculate:
USA: 1 ham/430 persons
Japan: 1 ham/94 persons

[KA5S]

This is the same drum Wayne Green W2NSD/1 used to beat. It's not QUITE as loud as it seems.

Some years ago I had occasion to deal with a group of Japanese engineers visiting our company. I got to talking to one of them. Found our he was a ham. That's cool except... he had not been on the air since he was in Grade School! And he may have been typical:

From "Japanese Radio Statistics" at
http://www.speroni.com/MPT/Information.html
"The Japanese MPT issues two separate licenses to Amateurs - an Operator License, and a Station License. There are four Operator Classes: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th which are roughly equivalent to the U.S. Extra, General, Tech Plus, and Technician licenses. Operator permits are for life, and the MPT has no way of tracking status of licensees, so the data published really states the cumulative total of Operator licenses that have ever been issued. As a result there are approximately four times as many amateurs with operating licenses in Japan as in the U.S., with a population less than half."

How may inactive hams do WE have with "only" a ten year ticket? Lots. Imagine a lifetime one.  


Cortland

[N2MG]

In many Far East countries, it seems that it is the "norm" for many types of folks to get a amateur license as a sort of rite of passage.  They never actually use it.  I have heard similar (huge) numbers of hams for other East Asian countries, yet you are unlikely to hear them on the air - they probably do not own any equipment.  Even during contests, when lots of clubs fire up, they are rarely heard.

Mike N2MG

[BUFFOON]

Looks like there are 5 times as many hams per capita in Japan than in the US.

Last numbers I saw, the US had about 20-25 times as many lawyers per capita as Japan.

At least we can boast about that!

[NO9E]

I was in Japan in several places. In residential areas with houses, every 10th house seemed to have a 50ft tower with a beam. Not sure whether they were real hams or it was just fashionable to have a tower. I tried to communicate with an owner of an electronics store (non-ham) who had a tower with a few beams including one for 40m. I was not greeted like a ham like in other countries but perhaps it was just a language barrier. Perhaps many installations are for a show or from currently inactive hams.  
Ignacy, NO9E