Portal:Japan

Coordinates: 36°30′N 139°00′E / 36.5°N 139°E / 36.5; 139
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Imperial Seal of Japan
Imperial Seal of Japan

Japan 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 four main islands being Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, and Kyushu. Tokyo is the country's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto.

The Japanese archipelago has been inhabited since the Upper Paleolithic (30,000 BC). Between the fourth and ninth centuries AD, the kingdoms of the region 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 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. 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 one of the world's longest life expectancies but has a population decline due to its very low birth rate.

Japan is a cultural superpower as the culture of Japan is well known around the world, including its art, cuisine, film, music, and popular culture, which encompasses prominent manga, anime, and video game industries. (Full article...)

Skyscrapers of Shinjuku's Nishi-Shinjuku district
Skyscrapers of Shinjuku's Nishi-Shinjuku district
Tokyo is the most populated of Japan's 47 sub-national prefectures. In Tokyo, there are 45 buildings and structures that stand taller than 180 metres (591 ft). The tallest structure in the prefecture is Tokyo Skytree, a broadcasting, restaurant, and observation tower that rises 634 metres (2,080 ft), which was completed in 2012. It also stands as the tallest structure in Japan and the tallest tower in the world. The tallest building and second-tallest overall structure in Tokyo is the 248-metre-tall (814 ft) Midtown Tower, which was completed in 2007. The prefecture's second tallest building is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, which rises 48 stories and 243 metres (797 ft) in height. Overall, of the 25 tallest buildings and structures in Japan, 18 are in Tokyo. Skyscrapers are a relatively recent phenomenon in Japan. Due to aesthetic and engineering concerns, Japan's Building Standard Law set an absolute height limit of 31 metres until 1963, when the limit was abolished in favor of a Floor Area Ratio limit. Following these changes in building regulations, the Kasumigaseki Building was constructed and completed in 1968. Double the height of Japan's previous tallest building—the 17-story Hotel New Otani Tokyo—the Kasumigaseki Building is regarded as Japan's first modern high-rise building, rising 36 stories and 156 metres (512 ft) in height. A booming post-war Japanese economy and the hosting of the 1964 Summer Olympics helped lead to a building boom in Tokyo during the 1960s and 70s. Construction continued through the 1980s and 90s as the Japanese asset price bubble rose and fell. Tokyo is divided into two sections: Western Tokyo and the special wards of Tokyo. All of the prefecture's tallest buildings are within the 23 special wards, which comprise the area formerly incorporated as Tokyo City. (Full article...)

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On this day...

May 24:

Events

  • 670 - The Horyuji Temple burned down. (Japanese Date: Thirtieth Day of the Fourth Month, 670)
  • 905 - The imperial rescript of Kokin Wakashū compiled. (Japanese Date: Eighteenth Day of the Fourth Month, 905)
  • 1878 - The first impaired school in Japan opened in Kyoto.
  • 1900 - The Meiji government banned men and women of mixed bathing for more than twelve years of age.
  • 1903 - Kobe Golf Club perform its opening ceremony in Kobe and Rokko Mountain, which became Japan's first golf course.
  • 1926 - Tokachidake eruption killed 144 people. It caused a large explosion, which is located in the center of Hokkaido, such as Furano pioneer village in the muddy water jet which flowed instantly, and became a catastrophe of 144 dead.
  • 1942 - Professional baseball extended 28 times in Nagoya versus ocean warfare.
  • 1949 - A law is promulgated change people's age calculation from the traditional "Kazoedoshi Formula" to "How to Count the Full". By promulgation, infants born on December will be two years old in January, it can receive a distribution of sweets, and there was a defect such that reduced the distribution to be calculated sixty generations to reverse. A newspaper reported that "people became a rejuvenated thing".
  • 1955 - Emperor Hirohito watched his first sumo in Kokugikan.
  • 1956 - The Anti-Prostitution Act is promulgated.
  • 1960 - Large damage to the Sanriku region in the tsunami of the Chilean earthquake. 139 people are dead or missing during the disaster.

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Fukuzawa in 1891

Fukuzawa Yukichi (福澤 諭吉, January 10, 1835 – February 3, 1901) was a Japanese educator, philosopher, writer, entrepreneur and samurai who founded Keio University, the newspaper Jiji-Shinpō [jp], and the Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases.

Fukuzawa was an early advocate for reform in Japan. His ideas about the organization of government and the structure of social institutions made a lasting impression on a rapidly changing Japan during the Meiji period. He appears on the current 10,000-Japanese yen banknote. (Full article...)

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Flag of Hiroshima Prefecture
Hiroshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Hiroshima. The area around Hiroshima, formerly divided into Bingo and Aki provinces, has been a center of trade and culture since the beginning of Japan's recorded history. Hiroshima is a traditional center of the Chūgoku region and was the seat of the Mōri clan until the Battle of Sekigahara. Hiroshima is home to two UNESCO World Heritage sites: the Atomic Dome in Hiroshima, one of the few remnants of prewar Hiroshima following the atomic bombing in 1945 and Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima, famed for filling with water and appearing to "float" during high tide. Located on the island of Okunoshima (city of Takehara), are the remains of a toxic gas factory linked to Unit 731. Different types of chemical weapons were produced there during the first part of the Shōwa era like mustard gas, yperite, lewisite and cyanide. These weapons were used against Chinese soldiers and civilians and during the experiments on humans by Shiro Ishii's units. Hiroshima prefecture lies in the middle of Chūgoku, facing Shikoku across the Seto Inland Sea. Most of the prefecture consists of mountains leading towards Shimane Prefecture, but rivers produce rich plains near the coast, and the prefecture also includes many small islands in the Inland Sea. The sheltered nature of the Inland Sea makes Hiroshima's climate very mild.

Did you know... – show different entries

Kyoto Tower

  • ... that the 430-foot-tall (131 m) Kyoto Tower (pictured) is the tallest man-made structure in the city of Kyoto, Japan?

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The following are images from various Japan-related articles on Wikipedia.

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36°30′N 139°00′E / 36.5°N 139°E / 36.5; 139