japan

Japan (/dʒəˈpæn/; Japanese: 日本 Nippon [nip̚põ̞ɴ] or Nihon [nihõ̞ɴ]; formally 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, "State of Japan") is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The kanji that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin", and Japan is often called the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, which make up about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan's population of 126 million is the world's tenth largest. Approximately 9.1 million people live in Tokyo, the capital city of Japan, which is the second largest city proper in the OECD. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the world's largest metropolitan area with over 35 million residents and the world's largest urban agglomeration economy.
Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly Imperial China, followed by periods of isolation, later from Western European influence, has characterized Japan's history. From the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a long period of isolation in the early 17th century, which was only ended in 1853 when a United States fleet pressured Japan to open to the West. Nearly two decades of internal conflict and insurrection followed before the Meiji Emperor was restored as head of state in 1868 and the Empire of Japan was proclaimed, with the Emperor as a divine symbol of the nation. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victories in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an Emperor and an elected legislature called the National Diet.
Japan is a member of the UN, the G7, the G8, and the G20. Japan is a great power. The country has the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the world's fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the world's fifth-largest exporter and fifth-largest importer. Although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the world's eighth largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a developed country with a high standard of living and Human Development Index whose population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate of any country.
Japan is ranked first in the Country Brand Index and is the highest-ranked Asian country in the Global Peace Index.
^ 法制執務コラム集「法律と国語・日本語」 (in Japanese). Legislative Bureau of the House of Councillors. Retrieved January 19, 2009.
^
^ According to legend, Japan was founded on this date by Emperor Jimmu, the country's first Emperor.
^ "Japan Statistical Yearbook 2010" (PDF). Statistics Bureau. p. 17. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
^ "U.S. and World Population Clock". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
^ "Population Count based on the 2010 Census Released" (PDF). Statistics Bureau of Japan. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
^
^ "World Factbook: Gini Index". CIA. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
^ "2015 Human Development Report" (PDF). 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
^ "「東京都の人口（推計）」の概要（平成26年2月1日現在） (2014)". Tokyo Metropolitan Government (JPN). Retrieved March 20, 2014.
^ "The Seven Great Powers". American-Interest. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
^ T. V. Paul, James J. Wirtz, Michel Fortmann (2005). "Great+power" Balance of Power. United States of America: State University of New York Press, 2005. pp. 59, 282. ISBN 0-7914-6401-6. Accordingly, the great powers after the Cold War are Britain, China, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, and the United States p.59
^ Baron, Joshua (January 22, 2014). Great Power Peace and American Primacy: The Origins and Future of a New International Order. United States: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-137-29948-7.
^ "SIPRI Yearbook 2012–15 countries with the highest military expenditure in 2011". Sipri.org. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
^ "WHO Life expectancy". World Health Organization. June 1, 2013. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
^ "WHO: Life expectancy in Israel among highest in the world". Haaretz. May 2009. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
^ "Table A.17" (PDF). United Nations World Population Prospects, 2006 revision. UN. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
^ FutureBrand | News | FutureBrand launches the Country Brand Index 2014–15
^ Institute for Economics and Peace (2015). Global Peace Index 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015

View More On Wikipedia.org