"Nippon" redirects here. For other uses, see Japan (disambiguation) and Nippon (disambiguation).
Japan
日本国 (Japanese)
Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku
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 Japanese
language
Demonym(s) Japanese
Government Unitary parliamentary constitutional
monarchy
• Emperor Naruhito
• Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
Legislature National Diet
• Upper house House of Councillors
• Lower house House of Representatives
Formation
• Imperial Dynasty February 11, 660 BC
established
• Meiji constitution November 29, 1890
• Current constitution May 3, 1947
Area
• Total 377,975 km2 (145,937 sq mi)[1] (62nd)
• Water (%) 1.4 (as of 2015)[2]
Population
• 2022 estimate 125,440,000[3] (11th)
• 2020 census 126,226,568[4]
• Density 332/km2 (859.9/sq mi) (24th)
GDP (PPP) 2021 estimate
• Total $5.586 trillion[5] (4th)
• Per capita $44,585 (27th)
GDP (nominal) 2021 estimate
• Total $5.378 trillion[5] (3rd)
• Per capita $42,928 (23rd)
Gini (2018) 33.4[6]
medium · 78th
HDI (2019) 0.919[7]
very high · 19th
Currency Japanese yen (¥)
Time zone UTC+09:00 (JST)
Driving side left
Calling code +81
ISO 3166 code JP
Internet TLD .jp
Japan (Japanese: 日本, Nippon or Nihon,[nb 1] and formally 日本国)[nb 2] is an island country in East
Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan,
while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea and Taiwan in the
south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans an archipelago of 6852 islands covering
377,975 square kilometers (145,937 sq mi); the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the
"mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Tokyo is the nation's capital and largest city; other
major cities include Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto.
Japan is the eleventh-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 125.44 million on narrow coastal plains. Japan is divided into 47 administrative
prefectures and eight traditional regions. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan
area in the world, with more than 37.4 million residents.
Japan has been inhabited since the Upper Paleolithic period (30,000 BC), though the first written
mention of the archipelago appears in a Chinese chronicle (the Book of Han) finished in the 2nd
century AD. Between the 4th and 9th centuries, the kingdoms of Japan became unified under an
emperor and the imperial court based in Heian-kyō. Beginning in the 12th century, political power
was held by a series of military dictators (shōgun) and feudal lords (daimyō), and enforced by 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 an isolationist foreign policy. In 1854, a
United States fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West, which led to the end of the
shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868. In the Meiji period, the Empire of
Japan adopted a Western-modeled constitution and pursued a program
of industrialization and modernization. Amidst a rise in militarism and overseas colonization,
Japan invaded China in 1937 and entered World War II as an Axis power in 1941. After suffering
defeat in the Pacific War and two atomic bombings, Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under a
seven-year Allied occupation, during which it adopted a new constitution. Under the 1947
constitution, Japan has maintained a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy with
a bicameral legislature, the National Diet.
Japan is a great power and a member of numerous international organizations, including the United
Nations (since 1956), the OECD, the G20 and the Group of Seven. Although it has renounced its
right to declare war, the country maintains Self-Defense Forces that rank as one of the world's
strongest militaries. After World War II, Japan experienced record growth in an economic miracle,
becoming the second-largest economy in the world by 1972 but has stagnated since 1995 in what is
referred to as the Lost Decades. As of 2021, the country's economy is the third-largest by nominal
GDP and the fourth-largest by PPP. Ranked "very high" on the Human Development Index, Japan
has one of the world's highest life expectancies, though it is experiencing a decline in population. A
global leader in the automotive, robotics and electronics industries, Japan has made significant
contributions to science and technology. The culture of Japan is well known around the world,
including its art, cuisine, music, and popular culture, which encompasses
prominent comic, animation and video game industries.
