Japan
日本国 or 日本 (Japanese)[a]
Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku
Nippon or Nihon
Flag
Imperial Seal
Anthem: "Kimigayo" (君が代)
("His Imperial Majesty's Reign")
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Government Seal:
Japanese territory in dark green; claimed but uncontrolled territory in
light green
Capital Tokyo
and largest city
35°41′N 139°46′E
National language Japanese
Government Unitary parliamentary
constitutional monarchy
• Emperor Naruhito
• Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga
Legislature National Diet
• Upper house House of Councillors
• Lower house House of Representatives
Formation
• Emperor Kinmei 539 AD[b]
• First constitution November 29, 1890
• Current constitution May 3, 1947
Area
• Total 377,975 km2(145,937 sq mi)[2](61st)
Population
• 2020 estimate 125,960,000[3] (11th)
• 2015 census 127,094,745[4]
• Density 334/km2 (865.1/sq mi) (24th)
GDP (PPP) 2020 estimate
• Total $5.888 trillion[5] (4th)
• Per capita $46,827 (28th)
GDP (nominal) 2020 estimate
• Total $5.413 trillion[5] (3rd)
• Per capita $43,043 (22nd)
Gini (2015) 33.9[6]
medium · 78th
HDI (2018) 0.915[7]
very high · 19th
Currency Japanese yen (¥) (JPY)
Time zone UTC+09:00 (JST)
Driving side left
Calling code +81
ISO 3166 code JP
Internet TLD .jp
Japan (Japanese: 日本, Nippon [ɲippoꜜɴ] ( listen) or Nihon [ɲihoꜜɴ] ( listen)) is an island
country of East Asia in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It borders the Sea of Japan to the west
and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the
south. Japan is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire and comprises an archipelago of 6,852
islands covering 377,975 square kilometers (145,937 sq mi); its five main islands, from north
to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Tokyo is the country's
capital and largest city; other major cities include Osaka and Nagoya.
Japan is the 11th most populous country in the world, as well as one of the most densely
populated and urbanized. About three-fourths of the country's terrain is mountainous,
concentrating its population of 126.2 million on narrow coastal plains. Japan is
administratively divided into 47 prefectures and traditionally divided into eight regions.
The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with more than
37.4 million residents.
The islands of Japan were inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, though the first
mentions of the archipelago appear in Chinese chronicles from the 1st century AD. Between
the 4th and 9th centuries, the kingdoms of Japan became unified under
an emperor and imperial court based in Heian-kyō. Starting in the 12th century, however,
political power was held by a series of military dictators (shōgun), feudal lords (daimyō), and
a class of warrior nobility (samurai). After a century-long period of civil war, the country
was reunified in 1603 under the Tokugawa shogunate, which enacted a foreign policy of
isolation. In 1854, a United States fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West, leading to
the end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868. In the Meiji era,
the Empire of Japan adopted a Western-style constitution and
pursued industrialization and modernization. Japan invaded China in 1937; in 1941, it
entered World War II as an Axis power. After suffering defeat in the Pacific War and two
atomic bombings, Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under an Allied occupation, during
which it adopted a post-war constitution. It has since maintained
a unitaryparliamentary constitutional monarchy with an elected legislature known as
the National Diet.
