Japan

**Japan** ( *Nippon*  or *Nihon* ; formally  ** or *Nihon-koku*, meanin "State o Japan") is a sovereign island naition in Eastren Asie. Locate in the Paceefic Ocean, it lees aff the eastren coast o the Asie Mainland (east Cheenae, Korea, Roushie) an reaks frae the Sea o Okhotsk northle tae the East Cheenae Sea an Taiwan soothwastle.

The kanji that maks up Japan's name means "sun origin". 日 can be rade as *ni* an means sun while 本 can be rade as  *hon*, or *pon* an means origin. Japan is eften refert tae in the Wast bi the faur-kent epithet "Laund o the Risin Sun" in reference tae its Japanese name.

Japan is a stratovolcanic airchipelago conseestin o aboot 6,852 islands. The fower lairgest is Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu an Shikoku, at maks up aboot ninety-seiven percent o Japan's laund aurie an is eften refert tae as hame islands. The kintra is pairtit intae 47 prefecturs in aicht regions. Hokkaido bein the normaist prefectur an Okinawa bein the soothmaist yin. The population o 127&nbsp;million is the warld's tent lairgest. Japanese fowk maks up 98.5% o Japan's tot population. Aboot 9.1 million fowk bide in the core ceety o Tokyo, the caipital o Japan.

Airchaeological resairch indicates that Japan wis indwallt as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention o Japan is in Cheenese history texts frae the 1st century AD. Hank frae ither regions, mainly Cheenae, follaed bi periods o isolation, pairteecularly frae Wastren Europe, haes chairacterised Japan's history. Frae the 12t yearhunner tae 1868, Japan wis ruled bi successive feudal militar shoguns wha ruled in the name o the Emperor.

Japan entered intae a lang period o isolation in the early 17t century, whilk wis endit in 1853 whan a Unitit States fleet pressured Japan tae appen tae the Wast. Efter naur twa decade o internal conflict an insurrection, the Imperial Coort regained its poleetical pouer in 1868 throu the help o several clans frae Chōshū an Satsuma, an the Empire o Japan wis estaiblished. In the late 19t an early 20t centuries, owerhauns in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War an Warld War I alloued Japan tae stend its empire durin a period o waxin militarism.

The Seicont Sino-Japanese War in 1937 stendit tae pairt o World War II in 1941, whilk cam tae an end in 1945 follaein the atomic bombins o Hiroshima an Nagasaki an the Japanese surrender. Efter adoptin its revised constitution on the 3rd Mey 1947 durin the occupation bi the SCAP, Japan haes mainteened a unitar pairlamentary constitutional monarchy wi an Emperor an an electit legislatur cried the Naitional Diet.

Japan is a memmer o the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, an the G20 an is seen as a great pouer. The kintra haes the warld's third maist muckle economy bi nominal GDP an the warld's fift maist muckle economy bi purchasin pouer parity. It is forby the waarld's fowert maist muckle exporter an fowert maist muckle importer. The kintra benefits frae a heichly skillt wirkforce an is amang the maist heichly eddicate kintras in the warld, wi ane o the heichest percentages o its ceetizens hauldin a tertiary eddication degree.

Awtho Japan haes offeecially taen back its richt tae declare war, it mainteens a modren militar wi the warld's aicht maist muckle militar budget, uised for sel-defence an peacekeepin roles. Japan is a developit kintra wi a gey heich staundart o bidin an Human Development Index. Its population injoys the heichest life expectancy an the third lawest infant mortality rate in the warld.

## Public organisations
* Japan Sel-Defence Forces
* Kyoto Varsity
* National Diet Library
* NHK - public TV
* Varsity o Tokyo

## Companies
* Capcom
* Hitachi
* Nintendo
* Sega
* Sony

## References