http://abc9002.blogspot.com/ This article is about the country. For other uses, see Japan (disambiguation). "Nippon" redirects here. For other uses, see Nippon (disambiguation).Japan 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku Flag Imperial Seal Anthem: Kimigayo (君が代) Government Seal of Japan 五七桐 (Go-Shichi no Kiri?) Capital (and largest city) Tokyo 35°41′N 139°46′E Official languages None[1] Recognised regional languages Aynu itak, 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 and constitutional monarchy - Emperor Akihito - Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda Legislature Diet - Upper house House of Councillors - Lower house House of Representatives Formation - National Foundation Day 11 February 660 BC[3] - Meiji Constitution 29 November 1890 - Current constitution 3 May 1947 - San Francisco Peace Treaty 28 April 1952 Area - Total 377,944 km2 [4](62nd) 145,925 sq mi - Water (%) 0.8 Population - 2012 estimate 126,659,683[5] (10th) - 2010 census 128,056,026[6] - Density 337.1/km2 (36th) 873.1/sq mi GDP (PPP) 2011 estimate - Total $4.444 trillion[7] (3rd) - Per capita $34,748[7] (25th) GDP (nominal) 2011 estimate - Total $5.866 trillion[7] (3rd) - Per capita $45,870[7] (18th) Gini 37.6 (2008)[8] HDI (2011) 0.901[9] (very high) (12th) Currency Yen (¥) / En (円 or 圓) (JPY) Time zone JST (UTC+9) - Summer (DST) not observed (UTC+9) Date formats yyyy-mm-dd yyyy年m月d日 Era yy年m月d日 (CE−1988) Drives on the left ISO 3166 code JP Internet TLD .jp Calling code 81 For an overview of Japanese topics, see the Index of Japan-related articles or the Japan Portal. See also: Outline of Japan This article contains Japanese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of kanji and kana. Japan i/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally "[the] State of Japan") 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 and Russia, 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 "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, which together comprise about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. Honshū's Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest 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. From the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military dictatorships (shogunates) in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a long period of isolation in the early 17th century, which was only 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, 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 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 Diet. A major economic power,[2] Japan has the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP 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 with the sixth largest military budget,[10] used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. After Singapore, Japan has the lowest homicide rate (including attempted homicide) in the world.[11] According to Japan's health ministry, Japanese women have the second highest life expectancy of any country in the world.[12]

• published: 03 Dec 2012
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