‪Japan‬
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 5/2014

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, 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 characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is often referred to as the Land of the Rising Sun.

Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, which together comprise about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. 

Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 126 million people. Honshū's Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.

Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan 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 nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. 

From the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns 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 Diet.

A major economic great power, Japan 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 fourth-largest exporter and fourth-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 ranks high in metrics of prosperity such as the Human Development Index, with Japanese women enjoying the highest life expectancy of any country in the world and the infant mortality rate being the third lowest globally. 

However, Japan is also substantially prone to earthquakes and tsunami, having the highest natural disaster risk in the developed world.

Japan
Nippon-koku
        

Anthem: "Kimigayo" / "君が代"

Capital: Tokyo (35°41′N 139°46′E)

Official languages: 
None

Recognised regional languages:
Aynu itak
• Ryukyuan languages
• Eastern Japanese
• Western Japanese
• several other Japanese dialects

National language: Japanese

Ethnic groups: (2011)
• 98.5% Japanese
•  0.5% Korean
•  0.4% Chinese
•  0.6% other

Demonym: Japanese

Government: 
Unitary parliamentary / constitutional monarchy
• Emperor: Akihito
• Prime Minister
• Deputy Prime Minister

Legislature: National Diet
• Upper house: House of Councillors
• Lower house: House of Representatives

Formation
National Foundation Day:
February 11, 660 BC

Meiji Constitution:
November 29, 1890 

Current constitution:
May 3, 1947 

San Francisco Peace Treaty:
April 28, 1952 

Area:
• Total: 377,944 km2 (62nd) 145,925 sq mi
• Water (%): 0.8

Population: 2012 estimate 126,659,683 (10th) - 2010 census 128,056,026
Density: 337.1/km2 (36th) 873.1/sq mi

GDP (PPP): 2013 estimate
• Total: $4.729 trillion (4th)
• Per capita: $37,135 (21st)

Currency: Yen (¥) / En 円 (JPY)
Time zone: JST (UTC+9) - Summer (DST) not observed (UTC+9)

Date format: yyyy-mm-dd    
Drives on the left
Calling code: +81
ISO 3166 code: JP
Internet TLD: .jp

 
Largest cities or towns in Japan
(2010 Census)

Rank: 1
Name: Tokyo
Prefecture: Tokyo
Population: 8,949,447

Rank: 2
Name: Yokohama
Prefecture: Kanagawa
Population: 3,689,603

Rank: 3
Name: Osaka
Prefecture: Osaka
Population: 2,666,371

Rank: 4
Name: Nagoya
Prefecture: Aichi
Population: 2,263,907

Rank: 5
Name: Sapporo
Prefecture: Hokkaidō
Population: 1,914,434

Rank: 6
Name: Kobe
Prefecture: Hyōgo
Population: 1,544,873

Rank: 7
Name: Kyoto
Prefecture: Kyōto
Population: 1,474,473

Rank: 8
Name: Fukuoka
Prefecture: Fukuoka
Population: 1,463,826

Rank: 9
Name: Kawasaki
Prefecture: Kanagawa
Population: 1,425,678

Rank: 10
Name: Saitama
Prefecture: Saitama
Population: 1,222,910

Rank: 11
Name: Hiroshima
Prefecture: Hiroshima
Population: 1,174,209

Rank: 12
Name: Sendai
Prefecture: Miyagi
Population: 1,045,903

Rank: 13
Name: Kitakyushu
Prefecture: Fukuoka
Population: 977,288

Rank: 14
Name: Chiba
Prefecture: Chiba
Population: 962,130

Rank: 15
Name: Sakai
Prefecture: Osaka
Population: 842,134

Rank: 16
Name: Niigata
Prefecture: Niigata
Population: 812,192

Rank: 17
Name: Hamamatsu
Prefecture: Shizuoka
Population: 800,912

Rank: 18
Name: Kumamoto
Prefecture: Kumamoto
Population: 734,294

Rank: 19
Name: Sagamihara
Prefecture: Kanagawa
Population: 717,561

Rank: 20
Name: Shizuoka
Prefecture: Shizuoka
716,328