Epidemiology of breast cancer in Japan

The mortality and incidence of breast cancer are high in Western industrialized countries and relatively low in developing countries in Asia and other parts of the world. In Japan the mortality of breast cancer has gradually been increasing, but is still much lower compared with that of Western countries. Within Japan the mortality of breast cancer is higher in urban areas than in non-urban areas. The future estimation of cancer incidence in Japan predicts that breast cancer will become a leading cancer in the near future.