- published: 02 Feb 2016
- views: 11961283
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 Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The 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. 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 parliament called the Diet.
Owari mo miezu hashiri nukeru
Yasuragi wa tooku sugata mo naku
Kodoku wo fuujikomete
Tozashikakeru manazashi
Habataku mono o mukaeru sora
Shihaisareru no o osoreyashinai
Akogareru mabayusa wa
Subete o kaeru tame ni
Dare mo yurusazu ni
Doko he yukeru darou?
Hikari no moto Yami wa umare
Shinjitsu wa itsuwari ni yureru
Kokoro o tsukisasu
Fureta yoru o koorasete mo
Yume to iu yokubou no kage o
Yobitsuzukeru
Kimi no tsumi to itami o
Shinjite iku
Zenbu hoshii to sasayaku koe
Nakushiteku koto ni oitsukezu ni
Saki made motomeru yubi
Tsumetasa ni kizukanai
Ai o nokosu nara
Tometa kuchibiru ni
Hikari dake ga yami o unde
Nukumori wa utagai kasanete
Tadoritsuku omoi
Kawasu mune ni chikau mono ga
Eien no kizu de kamawanai
Kizami tsukete
Toki ni kizuku hazama ni
Kieru mae ni
Hikari no moto yami wa umare
Shinjitsu wa itsuwari ni yureru
Kokoro o tsukisasu
Fureta yoru o koorasete mo
Yume to iu yokubou no kage o
Yobitsuzukeru
Kimi no tsumi to itami o
Shinjite iku