Japan (Nihon or Nippon, officially Nihon-koku or Nippon-koku) is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of China, Korea, and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name literally mean "sun-origin," thus Japan is sometimes identified as the "Land of the Rising Sun," derived from the country's eastward position relative to China. Its capital and largest city is Tokyo.

At 377,872 square kilometers (145,898 sq.mi), Japan is the sixty-second largest country by area. It encompasses over 3,000 islands, the largest of which are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. Most of Japan's islands are mountainous, and many are volcanic, including the highest peak, Mount Fuji. It has the world's 10th largest population, with nearly 128 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, with over 30 million residents, is the largest metropolitan area in the world.

Archaeological research indicates that people were living on the islands of Japan as early as the upper paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan begins with brief appearances in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Japanese history has been marked by alternating periods of long isolation and radical influence from the outside world. Its culture today is a mixture of outside influences and internal developments. Since it adopted its constitution on May 3, 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament, the Diet, which is one of the oldest legislative bodies in Asia.

Japan is an economic world power with the world's second largest economy (by nominal GDP), world's largest international creditor and is the sixth largest exporter and importer and is a member of the United Nations, G8, G4, and APEC.

The first signs of civilization appeared around 10,000 BC with the Jomon culture, characterized by a mesolithic to neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer lifestyle of pit dwelling and a rudimentary form of agriculture. The Jomon people made decorated clay vessels, often with plaited patterns. Some of the oldest surviving examples of pottery in the world may be found in Japan.

The Yayoi period, starting around 300 BC, marked the influx of new practices such as wet-rice farming, iron and bronze-making, and a new style of pottery.

Japan first appears in written history in 57 AD, in China's Book of Later Han, as "the people of Wa, formed from more than one hundred tribes." According to China's Book of Wei, the most powerful kingdom in 3rd century Japan was called Yamataikoku, which was ruled by the legendary Queen Himiko.

Modern Japan
On March 31, 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry and the "Black Ships" of the United States Navy forced the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa. The Boshin War of 1867-1868 led to the resignation of the shogunate, and the Meiji Restoration established a government centered around the emperor. Japan adopted numerous Western institutions, including a modern government, legal system and military. A parliamentary system modeled after the British parliament was introduced, with Ito Hirobumi as first Prime Minister in 1882.

The Meiji era reforms helped transform the Empire of Japan into a world power and embarked on a number of military conflicts to increase access to natural resources, with victories in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), which was the first time that an Asian country defeated an European imperial power. By 1910, Japan controlled Korea and the southern half of Sakhalin. Next year, the unequal treaties Japan had signed with western powers were cancelled.

The early 20th century saw a brief period of "Taisho democracy" overshadowed by the rise of Japanese expansionism and militarization. World War I enabled Japan, which fought on the side of the victorious Allies, to expand its influence in Asia and its territorial holdings in the Pacific. In 1920 Japan joined the League of Nations and became a member of its security council. Japan continued its expansionist policy by occupying Manchuria in 1931. The ensuing criticism from the League prompted its withdrawal in 1933. In 1936, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany, later joining the Axis Powers alliance in 1941.