JAPAN

JAPAN
Japan[a] is an island country in East Asia. It is in the northwest Pacific

Ocean and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, extending from
the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine
Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and
spans an archipelago of 14,125 islands, with the five main islands being
Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa.
Tokyo is the country's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama,
Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto.
Japan has over 125 million inhabitants
and is the 11th most populous country in
the world, as well as one of the most
densely populated. About three-fourths
of the country's terrain is mountainous,
concentrating its highly urbanized
population on narrow coastal plains. Japan is divided into 47
administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions. The Greater
Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world. Japan
has the world's highest life expectancy, although it is experiencing a
population decline due to its very low birth rate.
Japan has
been
inhabited
since the
Upper
Paleolithic
period (30,000 BC). Between the
fourth and ninth centuries AD, the
kingdoms of Japan became unified under an emperor and the imperial
court based in Heian-kyō. Beginning in the 12th century, political power
was held by a series of military dictators (shōgun) and feudal lords
(daimyō), and enforced by a class of warrior nobility (samurai). After a
century-long period of civil war, the country was reunified in 1603
under the Tokugawa shogunate, which enacted an isolationist foreign
policy. In 1854, a United States fleet forced Japan to open trade to the
West, which led to the end of the shogunate and the restoration of
imperial power in 1868. In the Meiji period, the Empire of Japan
adopted a Western-modeled constitution, and pursued a program of
industrialization and modernization. Amidst a rise in militarism and
overseas colonization, Japan invaded China in 1937 and entered World
War II as an Axis power in 1941. After suffering defeat in the Pacific War
and two atomic bombings, Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under
a seven-year Allied occupation, during which it adopted a new
constitution.
Under the 1947 constitution, Japan has maintained a unitary

parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature, the
National Diet. Japan is a developed country and a great power, with
one of the largest economies by nominal GDP. Japan has renounced its
right to declare war, though it maintains a Self-Defense Force that
ranks as one of the world's strongest militaries. A global leader in the
automotive, robotics, and electronics industries, the country has made
significant contributions to science and technology, and is one of the
world's largest exporters and importers. It is part of multiple major
international and intergovernmental
institutions.
The history of Japanese painting exhibits

synthesis and competition between native
Japanese esthetics and imported ideas.[292]
The interaction between Japanese and European art has been
significant: for example ukiyo-e prints, which began to be exported in
the 19th century in the movement known as Japonism, had a significant
influence on the development of modern art in the West, most notably
on post-Impressionism.[292]
Japan comprises 14,125 islands

extending along the Pacific coast of Asia.
[76] It stretches over 3000 km (1900 mi)
northeast–southwest from the Sea of
Okhotsk to the East China Sea.[77][78]
The country's five main islands, from
north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu,
Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa.[79] The
Ryukyu Islands, which include Okinawa,
are a chain to the south of Kyushu. The
Nanpō Islands are south and east of the main islands of Japan. Together
they are often known as the Japanese archipelago.[80] As of 2019,
Japan's territory is 377,975.24 km2 (145,937.06 sq mi).[4] Japan has the
sixth-longest coastline in the world at 29,751 km (18,486 mi). Because
of its far-flung outlying islands, Japan has the eighth-largest exclusive
economic zone in the world, covering 4,470,000 km2 (1,730,000 sq mi).
[81][82]
The climate of Japan is predominantly

temperate but varies greatly from north
to south. The northernmost region,
Hokkaido, has a humid continental
climate with long, cold winters and very
warm to cool summers. Precipitation is
not heavy, but the islands usually develop deep snowbanks in the
winter.[95]
In the Sea of Japan region on Honshu's west coast, northwest winter

winds bring heavy snowfall during winter. In the summer, the region
sometimes experiences extremely hot temperatures because of the
Foehn.[96] The Central Highland has a typical inland humid continental
climate, with large temperature differences between summer and
winter. The mountains of the Chūgoku and Shikoku regions shelter the
Seto Inland Sea from seasonal winds, bringing mild weather year-
round.[95]

JAPAN

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JAPAN

Japan[a] is an island country in East Asia. It is in the northwest Pacific

Under the 1947 constitution, Japan has maintained a unitary

The history of Japanese painting exhibits

Japan comprises 14,125 islands

The climate of Japan is predominantly

In the Sea of Japan region on Honshu's west coast, northwest winter

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