Where does the country of Japan get its name from?
The English term "Japan" dates back to a 16th century English translation of a Portuguese book which named the country using an old Malaysian name borrowed from a southern coastal Chinese dialect. The explorer Marco Polo wrote the name as Cipangu in the 13th century based on early Chinese pronunciation. Interestingly, Japanese refer to their own nation as "Nihon" or in official government uses as "Nippon" which is written on banknotes or postage stamps. Both terms are is derived from the Chinese pronunciation of two characters which mean "sun origin" which was adopted in 8th century Japanese literature.