Japan

**Japan** (日本, *Nihon, Nippon*) is a main character in the series Hetalia: Axis Powers. His name is **Honda Kiku** (本田菊) or Kiku Honda. His country's full name is State of Japan (日本国), it was once formerly called the Rising Sun/Japanese Empire during WWII.

His Birthday is on February 11th.

## Appearance

He is a short, slim man with black hair, dark brown eyes, and is often depicted wearing a white naval uniform with black and gold accents. His first appearance in both the anime and the published manga shows him briefly wearing a more ornate version, with gold epaulets and frog clasps down in the front of the jacket. When he first appeared in the webcomic series, he wore a standard gray/black uniform until sometime after joining the Axis.

In some of his official art, his hair is dark brown and his eyes are a lighter brown.

## Personality

A shy, quiet, and hard-working man, Japan does not know very much about the outside world and needs time to adjust to other people. He is very curious and interested in learning things from other nations. His distinct island customs may seem mysterious to others, although he finds them perfectly normal. He tends to have the behavior of an "old man" and was a hikikomori for a long time (Japan had spent about 250 years in isolation keeping only contact with Netherlands). Though he appears horrified at the idea of nudity or intimate contact, he has erotic woodcuts in his possession, which he tries to hide secretly between his non-erotic books. Japan also voiced his preference for 2D girls over 3D girls to England, Greece, and France in one strip, hinting that he has an otaku side. His otaku side is further shown when he decides to buy a *Shonen Jump* magazine in his preparations for the New Year.

Japan seems to be fond of food in general, very similar to China's fondness, his country's food in particular, as evidenced by his annoyance of having his salted salmon taken off Germany's diet plan. He expressed dismay at the increase of the price of eggs due to a bad economy. He also had the urge to touch the Italy brothers' *ahoge*s due to them reminding him of vegetables. It is said that cockroaches are one of the things that Japan hates the most, to the extent where he could cry over them. Although he appears relatively calm most of the time, it is suggested that his anger would be the "scariest". However, it is shown that it is hard for him to get that angry, as he is mostly able to only summon an "unpleasant feeling".

He loves animals, especially cats, and owns a white dog called Pochi that resembles an Akita or Shiba Inu, both Japanese breeds. He also eventually gets a rabbit and a guinea pig. He tends to have a weakness for things that are soft and fluffy.

## Trivia

His birthday, **February 11th**, corresponds to the date of **National Foundation Day** in Japan, which celebrates the foundation of Japan in 660 BC by Emperor Jimmu.

Although being younger than China, Japan has expressed his old age on more than one occasion. In **Salted Salmon, Germany and I**, Japan explains how he no longer enjoys his birthday, suffers from high blood pressure which causes him to wake up early and wander his neighborhood, and has hip pains.