<PAGE> PAGE 1
000 B000000 12/31/95
000 C000000 053192
000 D000000 N
000 E000000 NF
000 F000000 Y
000 G000000 N
000 H000000 N
000 I000000 3.0.a
000 J000000 U
001 A000000 THE JAPAN FUND, INC.
001 B000000 811-1090
001 C000000 2123266200
002 A000000 345 PARK AVENUE
002 B000000 NEW YORK
002 C000000 NY
002 D010000 10154
003 000000 N
004 000000 N
005 000000 N
006 000000 N
007 A000000 N
007 B000000 0
007 C010100 1
007 C010200 2
007 C010300 3
007 C010400 4
007 C010500 5
007 C010600 6
007 C010700 7
007 C010800 8
007 C010900 9
007 C011000 10
018 000000 Y
019 A000000 Y
019 B000000 37
019 C000000 SCUDDERRRR
020 A000001 NOMURA SECURITIES, INC.
020 B000001 13-2642206
020 C000001 343
020 A000002 UBS
020 B000002 13-2932996
020 C000002 324
020 A000003 YAMAICHI INTERNATIONAL
020 B000003 13-5659656
020 C000003 226
020 A000004 DAIWA & CO.
020 C000004 214
020 A000005 NIKKO SECURITIES CO.
020 C000005 187
020 A000006 MORGAN STANLEY
020 B000006 13-5108880
<PAGE> PAGE 2
020 C000006 168
020 A000007 GOLDMAN SACHS
020 B000007 13-2663822
020 C000007 147
020 A000008 BZW SECS
020 C000008 126
020 A000009 SG WARBURG
020 B000009 13-3243112
020 C000009 103
020 A000010 MERRILL LYNCH
020 B000010 13-5674085
020 C000010 98
021 000000 2439
022 A000001 NOMURA SECURITIES
022 B000001 13-2642206
022 C000001 55730
022 D000001 51905
022 A000002 UBS SECURITIES
022 B000002 13-2932996
022 C000002 43711
022 D000002 55021
022 A000003 YAMAICHI INTERNATIONAL
022 B000003 13-5659656
022 C000003 28413
022 D000003 33317
022 A000004 DAIWA & CO.
022 C000004 42385
022 D000004 16765
022 A000005 NIKKO SECURITIES
022 C000005 32448
022 D000005 20403
022 A000006 MORGAN STANLEY
022 B000006 13-5108880
022 C000006 20659
022 D000006 28021
022 A000007 BZW SECS
022 C000007 20279
022 D000007 21729
022 A000008 GOLDMAN SACHS
022 B000008 13-2663822
022 C000008 16971
022 D000008 21807
022 A000009 MERRILL LYNCH
022 B000009 13-5674085
022 C000009 12115
022 D000009 24233
022 A000010 SG WARBURG
022 B000010 13-3243112
022 C000010 14529
022 D000010 17025
023 C000000 352816
<PAGE> PAGE 3
023 D000000 376852
024 000000 N
028 A010000 52341
028 A020000 0
028 A030000 0
028 A040000 30203
028 B010000 39319
028 B020000 0
028 B030000 0
028 B040000 26757
028 C010000 23422
028 C020000 0
028 C030000 0
028 C040000 33737
028 D010000 16967
028 D020000 0
028 D030000 0
028 D040000 20547
028 E010000 14940
028 E020000 0
028 E030000 0
028 E040000 32198
028 F010000 28561
028 F020000 0
028 F030000 0
028 F040000 27004
028 G010000 175550
028 G020000 0
028 G030000 0
028 G040000 170446
028 H000000 0
029 000000 N
030 A000000 0
030 B000000 0.00
030 C000000 0.00
062 A000000 N
062 B000000 0.0
062 C000000 0.0
062 D000000 0.0
062 E000000 0.0
062 F000000 0.0
062 G000000 0.0
062 H000000 0.0
062 I000000 0.0
062 J000000 0.0
062 K000000 0.0
062 L000000 0.0
062 M000000 0.0
062 N000000 0.0
062 O000000 0.0
062 P000000 0.0
<PAGE> PAGE 4
062 Q000000 0.0
062 R000000 0.0
071 A000000 369916
071 B000000 376852
071 C000000 504541
071 D000000 70
072 A000000 12
072 B000000 1983
072 C000000 3004
072 D000000 0
072 E000000 0
072 F000000 3841
072 G000000 0
072 H000000 0
072 I000000 998
072 J000000 432
072 K000000 0
072 L000000 291
072 M000000 189
072 N000000 43
072 O000000 0
072 P000000 0
072 Q000000 0
072 R000000 110
072 S000000 252
072 T000000 0
072 U000000 0
072 V000000 0
072 W000000 57
072 X000000 6213
072 Y000000 0
072 Z000000 -1226
072AA000000 0
072BB000000 31866
072CC010000 0
072CC020000 13959
072DD010000 0
072DD020000 0
072EE000000 5803
073 A010000 0.0000
073 A020000 0.0000
073 B000000 0.1100
073 C000000 0.0000
074 A000000 1
074 B000000 13744
074 C000000 26011
074 D000000 0
074 E000000 0
074 F000000 529766
074 G000000 12023
074 H000000 0
<PAGE> PAGE 5
074 I000000 0
074 J000000 123
074 K000000 0
074 L000000 870
074 M000000 2116
074 N000000 584654
074 O000000 5437
074 P000000 337
074 Q000000 0
074 R010000 0
074 R020000 0
074 R030000 0
074 R040000 30076
074 S000000 0
074 T000000 548804
074 U010000 58139
074 U020000 0
074 V010000 9.44
074 V020000 0.00
074 W000000 0.0000
074 X000000 38464
074 Y000000 0
075 A000000 0
075 B000000 513057
076 000000 0.00
077 A000000 Y
080 A000000 ICI MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY
080 B000000 GULF INSURANCE COMPANY
080 C000000 60000
081 A000000 Y
081 B000000 61
082 A000000 N
082 B000000 0
083 A000000 N
083 B000000 0
084 A000000 N
084 B000000 0
085 A000000 Y
085 B000000 N
SIGNATURE THOMAS F. MCDONOUGH
TITLE ASSISTANT SECRETARY
160 Federal Street Telephone 617 439 4390
Boston, MA 02110
Price Waterhouse LLP
February 7, 1996
To the Board of Directors of
The Japan Fund, Inc.
In planning and performing our audits of the financial statements of The Japan
Fund, Inc. (the "Fund") for the year ended December 31, 1995, we considered its
internal control structure, including procedures for safeguarding securities, in
order to determine our auditing procedures for the purposes of expressing our
opinion on the financial statements and to comply with the requirements of Form
N-SAR, and not to provide assurance on the internal control structure.
The Fund's management is responsible for establishing and maintaining an
internal control structure. In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and
judgements by management are required to assess the expected benefits and
related costs of internal control structure policies and procedures. Two of the
objectives of an internal control structure are to provide management with
reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that assets are appropriately
safeguarded against loss from unauthorized use or disposition and that
transactions are executed in accordance with management's authorization and
recorded properly to permit preparation of financial statements in conformity
with generally accepted accounting principles.
Because of inherent limitations in any internal control structure, errors or
irregularities may occur and not be detected. Also, projection of any evaluation
of the structure to future periods is subject to the risk that it may become
inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the effectiveness of the
design and operation may deteriorate.
Our consideration of the internal control structure would not necessarily
disclose all matters in the internal control structure that might be material
weaknesses under standards established by the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants. A material weakness is a condition in which the design or
operation of the specific internal control structure elements does not reduce to
a relatively low level the risk that errors or irregularities in amounts that
would be material in relation to the financial statements being audited may
occur and not be detected within a timely period by employees in the normal
course of performing their assigned functions. However, we noted no matters
involving the internal control structure, including procedures for safeguarding
securities, that we consider to be material weaknesses as defined above as of
December 31, 1995.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of management and the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
/s/Price Waterhouse LLP
PRICE WATERHOUSE LLP
<TABLE> <S> <C>
<ARTICLE> 6
<LEGEND>
This schedule contains summary financial information extracted from The
Japan Fund, Inc. Annual Report for the fiscal year ended December 31,
1995 and is qualified in its entirety by reference to such financial
statements.
</LEGEND>
<SERIES>
<NUMBER> 1
<NAME> THE JAPAN FUND, INC.
<S> <C>
<PERIOD-TYPE> YEAR
<FISCAL-YEAR-END> DEC-31-1995
<PERIOD-START> JAN-1-1995
<PERIOD-END> DEC-31-1995
<INVESTMENTS-AT-COST> 563,098,003
<INVESTMENTS-AT-VALUE> 581,544,056
<RECEIVABLES> 993,422
<ASSETS-OTHER> 2,116,528
<OTHER-ITEMS-ASSETS> 0
<TOTAL-ASSETS> 584,654,006
<PAYABLE-FOR-SECURITIES> 5,436,795
<SENIOR-LONG-TERM-DEBT> 0
<OTHER-ITEMS-LIABILITIES> 30,413,038
<TOTAL-LIABILITIES> 35,849,833
<SENIOR-EQUITY> 0
<PAID-IN-CAPITAL-COMMON> 571,804,422
<SHARES-COMMON-STOCK> 58,139,460
<SHARES-COMMON-PRIOR> 55,779,456
<ACCUMULATED-NII-CURRENT> 10,531,476
<OVERDISTRIBUTION-NII> 0
<ACCUMULATED-NET-GAINS> (52,013,581)
<OVERDISTRIBUTION-GAINS> 0
<ACCUM-APPREC-OR-DEPREC> 18,445,856
<NET-ASSETS> 548,804,173
<DIVIDEND-INCOME> 3,004,295
<INTEREST-INCOME> 1,982,854
<OTHER-INCOME> 0
<EXPENSES-NET> 6,212,604
<NET-INVESTMENT-INCOME> (1,225,455)
<REALIZED-GAINS-CURRENT> (31,866,410)
<APPREC-INCREASE-CURRENT> (13,959,444)
<NET-CHANGE-FROM-OPS> (47,051,309)
<EQUALIZATION> 0
<DISTRIBUTIONS-OF-INCOME> 0
<DISTRIBUTIONS-OF-GAINS> (5,803,249)
<DISTRIBUTIONS-OTHER> 0
<NUMBER-OF-SHARES-SOLD> 37,050,849
<NUMBER-OF-SHARES-REDEEMED> 35,250,425
<SHARES-REINVESTED> 559,580
<NET-CHANGE-IN-ASSETS> (36,903,080)
<ACCUMULATED-NII-PRIOR> 0
<ACCUMULATED-GAINS-PRIOR> 5,671,452
<OVERDISTRIB-NII-PRIOR> (11,758,799)
<OVERDIST-NET-GAINS-PRIOR> 0
<GROSS-ADVISORY-FEES> 3,840,792
<INTEREST-EXPENSE> 0
<GROSS-EXPENSE> 6,212,604
<AVERAGE-NET-ASSETS> 513,056,897
<PER-SHARE-NAV-BEGIN> 10.50
<PER-SHARE-NII> (.01)
<PER-SHARE-GAIN-APPREC> (.94)
<PER-SHARE-DIVIDEND> 0
<PER-SHARE-DISTRIBUTIONS> .11
<RETURNS-OF-CAPITAL> 0
<PER-SHARE-NAV-END> 9.44
<EXPENSE-RATIO> 1.21
<AVG-DEBT-OUTSTANDING> 0
<AVG-DEBT-PER-SHARE> 0
</TABLE>
