This article is about the country. For other uses, see Japan (disambiguation).

Japan Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku

Flag

Imperial Seal

Anthem: More

Kimigayo (

Government Seal of Japan:

(Go-Shichi no Kiri?)

Capital (and largest city)

Tokyo (de facto)

3541 N 13946 E

Official language(s)

None[1]

Recognised regional languages

Aynuitak, Ryukyuan languages, Eastern Japanese, Western Japanese, and several other Japanese dialects

National language

Japanese

Ethnic groups

98.5% Japanese, 0.5% Korean, 0.4% Chinese, 0.6% other[2]

Demonym

Japanese

Government

Unitary parliamentary democracy andconstitutional monarchy

- Emperor

Akihito

- Prime Minister

Naoto Kan (DPJ)

Legislature

Diet of Japan

- Upper House

House of Councillors

- Lower House

House of Representatives

Formation February 11, 660 BC[3]

- National Foundation Day

- Meiji Constitution

November 29, 1890

- Current constitution

May 3, 1947

- Treaty of San Francisco April 28, 1952

Area 377,944 km2 [4](61st) 145,925 sq mi

- Total

- Water (%)

0.8

Population 127,960,000[5] (10th)

- 2011 estimate

- 2004 census

127,333,002

- Density

337.1/km2 (36th) 873.1/sq mi

GDP (PPP)

2010 estimate $4.309 trillion[6]

- Total

- Per capita

$33,804[6]

GDP (nominal)

2010 estimate $5.458 trillion[6]

- Total

- Per capita

$42,820[6]

Gini

37.6 (2008)[7]

HDI (2010)

0.884[8] (very high) (11th)

International Symbol Pronounced(Yen) Currency Japanese Symbol (or in Traditional Kanji) Pronounced (En)(JPY)

Time zone - Summer (DST)

JST (UTC+9) not observed (UTC+9)

Date formats

yyyy-mm-dd yyyy Era yy m d m d (CE1988)

Drives on the

left

ISO 3166 code

JP

Internet TLD

.jp

Calling code

81

Japan (

G

SQ; Japanese:
[9]

Nihon or Nippon, officially

Nippon-koku or Nihon-

koku) 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 andRussia, 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 "sunorigin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands.[10] The four largest islands are Honsh , Hokkaid , Ky sh and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is thelargest 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. In the late 19th and early

20th centuries victory 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, which brought to an end in 1945 by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with anemperor and an elected parliament called the Diet. A major economic power,
[2]

Japan has the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP

[11]

and

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 force in self-defense and peacekeeping roles. After Singapore, Japan has the lowest homicide (including attempted homicide) rate in the world. mortality rate.[13][14]
[12]

According to both UN and WHO estimates, Japan has

the longest life expectancy of any country in the world. According to the UN, it has the third lowest infant