Population-wise, the Scandinavian countries are tiny.  The problem in Japan is the combination of a relatively large population and a small amount of arable land.<p>Sweden, Finland, and Norway have 21.7, 16.2, and 15.6 people per square kilometer, respectively.  Japan has 335.6.  While the Scandinavian countries do have a lower arable land % (5.9, 6.5, 2.7) than Japan (11.6), the ratio of population to arable land is much lower.