Japan

Japan is an East Asian island country in the Pacific Ocean, east of Korea and the Chinese mainland. Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa are its main islands, joined by over 14,000 smaller ones between the Sea of Japan and the open ocean.

Tokyo is the capital, and Japanese is the de facto national language. The Jōmon culture of hunter-gatherers took shape around 14,500 BC, and the Yayoi people later brought wet-rice farming and metalwork from the Korean Peninsula. Buddhism arrived from Baekje in 552. The imperial court settled at Heijō-kyō, today Nara, in 710 and moved to Heian-kyō, now Kyoto, in 794, where Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji. From 1185 samurai governments ruled from Kamakura, and Zen Buddhism spread among the warrior class.

Tokugawa Ieyasu became shogun in 1603 and ruled from Edo, the later Tokyo, and in 1639 the shogunate closed the country to most foreign contact. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 returned power to the emperor, and Japan set out to industrialize and modernize. A new constitution in 1947 made it a constitutional monarchy in which the emperor has a ceremonial role and the National Diet, with two chambers, makes the laws. The country has 47 prefectures and covers 377,975 km2 (145,937 sq mi), much of it mountainous and forested.

Toyota, Honda, Hitachi and SoftBank are among its large firms, and Japan builds cars, electronics and robots for export. Shinkansen bullet trains link the main cities. Noh, kabuki and bunraku are its traditional theaters, Bashō shaped the haiku, and ukiyo-e prints influenced European art in the 19th century. Manga, anime and the film Godzilla carried its popular culture abroad, while sushi, ramen and matcha tea from the tea ceremony are part of its cooking. Sumo is the traditional national sport, and Tokyo hosted the Summer Olympics in 1964.