State of Japan

Japan (dʒəˈpæn/; Japanese: 日本 Nippon [nip̚põ̞ɴ] or Nihon [nihõ̞ɴ]; formally 日本国 About this sound 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 it 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. The country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. The population of 126 million is the world's tenth largest. Japanese make up 98,5% of Japan's total population. Approximately 9.1 million people live in the core city of Tokyo, the capital city of Japan, which is the sixth largest city proper in the OECD and the fourth leading global city in the world. 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 and later from Western Europe, 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 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 and is considered 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 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 is a developed country with a high standard of living and Human Development Index whose population enjoys the highest life expectancy, the third lowest infant mortality in the world, and ranked first in the number of Nobel Laureates of any country in Asia. Japan is ranked first in the Country Brand Index, ranked sixth in the Global Competitiveness Report 2015–2016 and is the highest-ranked Asian country in the Global Peace Index. Japan was the first country in Asia to host the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

Geography

Japan has a total of 6,852 islands extending along the Pacific coast of East Asia. The country, including all of the islands it controls, lies between latitudes 24° and 46°N, and longitudes 122° and 146°E. The main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. The Ryukyu Islands, which includes Okinawa, are a chain to the south of Kyushu. Together they are often known as the Japanese archipelago.

About 73 percent of Japan is forested, mountainous, and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial, or residential use. As a result, the habitable zones, mainly located in coastal areas, have extremely high population densities. Japan is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

The islands of Japan are located in a volcanic zone on the Pacific Ring of Fire. They are primarily the result of large oceanic movements occurring over hundreds of millions of years from the mid-Silurian to the Pleistocene as a result of the subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate beneath the continental Amurian Plate and Okinawa Plate to the south, and subduction of the Pacific Plate under the Okhotsk Plate to the north. Japan was originally attached to the eastern coast of the Eurasian continent. The subducting plates pulled Japan eastward, opening the Sea of Japan around 15 million years ago.

Japan has 108 active volcanoes. During the twentieth century several new volcanoes emerged, including Shōwa-shinzan on Hokkaido and Myōjin-shō off the Bayonnaise Rocks in the Pacific. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunami, occur several times each century. The 1923 Tokyo earthquake killed over 140,000 people. More recent major quakes are the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, a 9.0-magnitude quake which hit Japan on March 11, 2011, and triggered a large tsunami. Due to its location in the Pacific Ring of Fire, Japan is substantially prone to earthquakes and tsunami, having the highest natural disaster risk in the developed world.

Info:

Anthem: "Kimigayo" | 君が代
Capital: Tokyo
Official Language: None
National Language: Japanese
Religion: Shinto | Buddhism
Demonym: Japanese
Legislature: National Diet
Area: 377,944 km2
Currency: Yen (¥) / En 円 (JPY)
Time Zone: JST (UTC+9)
Summer (DST): not observed (UTC+9)
Date Format: yyyy-mm-dd |\ yyyy年m月d日 | Era yy年m月d日 (AD−1988)
Drives on the: left
Calling code: +81
ISO 3166 Code: JP
International TLD: .jp

Largest Cities/Towns/Districts of Japan

1. Tōkyō
2. Yokohama
3. Ōsaka
4. Nagoya
5. Sapporo
6. Kōbe
7. Kyōto
8. Fukuoka
9. Kawasaki
10. Saitama
11. Hiroshima
12. Sendai
13. Kitakyūshū
14. Chiba
15. Sakai
16. Niigata
17. Hamamatsu
18. Kumamoto
19. Sagamihara
20. Shizuoka

Flag of Japan

Image result for flag of japan The national flag of Japan is a white rectangular flag with a large red disc representing the sun in the center. This flag is officially called Nisshōki (日章旗 ?, "sun-mark flag") in Japanese, but is more commonly known as Hinomaru (日の丸 ?, "circle of the sun").

Official Website: Japan.go.jp

Did You Know?

• The Japanese who survived the Titanic crash was called a coward in his country for not dying with the other passengers.
• In Japan, 90% of mobile phones are waterproof because youngsters use them even in the shower.
• In Korea and Japan, there is a Cat Cafe where you can go to drink coffee and hang out with cats for hours.
• Japan has 5.52 million vending machines.
• Sleeping on the job is acceptable in Japan, as it's viewed as exhaustion from working hard.
• During WW2, Japan bombed China with fleas infected with bubonic plague.
• Japan and Russia still haven't signed a peace treaty to end World War II due to the Kuril Islands dispute.
• In Japan, teachers and students come together to clean the classrooms and cafeteria.
• The number of Chinese killed by the Japanese during WW2 is greater than the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.
• In Japan, 685 kids were rushed to hospitals in 1997 after an intense Pokemon episode that caused dizziness, vomiting and seizures.
• Around 24 billion pairs of chopsticks are used in Japan each year.
• In Japan, there's a building with a highway passing through it.
• In Japan, there's a festival that is a celebration of the penis and fertility.
• Black cats are considered to bring good luck in Japan.
• In Japan, Ronald McDonald is called Donald McDonald due to a lack of a clear "r" sound in Japanese.
• In Japan, KFC is a typical feast of Christmas Eve.
• Many Hot springs and public bathhouses in Japan ban customers with tattoos from entering.
• In Japan, they use more paper for comics than for toilet paper.
• There's an island in Japan that's full of rabbits.
• During WW2, Japan received Jewish refugees and rejected the resulting Nazi German protests.
• In Japan, there's a train that "floats" above the tracks by magnetism, reaching 500 km/h (311 mph).
• The biggest Japanese community outside of Japan is in Brazil.
• If you commit suicide in Japan by jumping in front of a train, the family of the deceased will be charged a disruption fee.
• There's a town in Spain where 700 people share the surname "Japon" as they are descendants of 17th-century samurais who stayed there after an embassy returned to Japan.
• Argentina has the world's second-highest rate of anorexia, after Japan.
• Norway introduced Salmon Sushi to the Japanese in the 80s.
• 103 countries have abolished the death penalty. Notable exceptions include the U.S., Japan and China.
• Declawing cats is legal in most U.S. states but banned in at least 22 countries including Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
• Most streets in Japan have no name.
• In Japan, there's a 'Crying Sumo' contest, where wrestlers compete to see who can make a baby bawl first.
• In Japan, Burger King has an all-black burger.
• Godzilla is an official Citizen of Japan.
• The Japanese authorities constructed a fence around a volcano at Mount Mihara to stop a trend of over 2000 people committing suicide by jumping in.
• Japan has over 70 flavors of Fanta including 'The Mystery Fruit', 'Genius Energy' and 'Hip Hop' flavor.
• During WW2, a Japanese Consul saved 6,000 Jews from the Holocaust by writing them all Visas to Japan even after the government told him not to.
• About 1 million Japanese men are estimated to be locking themselves in their bedrooms for years, creating social and health problems, a condition called "Hikikomori."
• The 2011 earthquake near Japan increased the Earth's rotation speed, shortening the day by 1.8 microseconds.
• In Japanese, there are at least 20 different ways to say "sorry."
• There were ancient stone tablets in Japan's 2011 tsunami struck areas with inscriptions "Do not build your homes below this point!".
• In Japan, the leading cause of death for men aged 20 to 44 is suicide.
• The first Frenchman known to visit Japan was imprisoned, tortured and killed because he tried to promote Christianity.

References

• Wikipedia
• Wikimedia
• Fact Slides