Japan (/dʒəˈpæn/; Japanese: 日本, Nippon [ɲippoꜜɴ] ( listen) or Nihon [ɲihoꜜɴ] ( listen))[a] is an island

country in East Asia. It borders the Sea of Japan to the west, the Pacific Ocean to the east, and stretches from
the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. Part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, Japan is
a stratovolcanic archipelago of nearly 7,000 islands and covers 375,000 square kilometers (145,000 sq mi); its
five main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Tokyo is the
country's capital and most populous city; other major cities include Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka.
Japan is the eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the most densely
populated and urbanized. About three-fourths of the country's terrain is mountainous, concentrating its population
of 126.2 million on narrow coastal plains. The largest urban area is the Greater Tokyo Area, which is also
the most populous metropolitan area in the world with more than 37 million residents.
Archaeological evidence indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, though the
first mentions of the country appear in Chinese texts written in the first century AD. Between the fourth and ninth
centuries, the kingdoms of Japan became gradually unified under an Emperor and imperial court based in Heian-
kyō (modern Kyoto). Beginning in the twelfth century, however, political power came to be held by a succession
of military dictators (shōgun), feudal lords (daimyō), and 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 a policy of
foreign isolationism. This period ended in 1854 when a United States fleet forced Japan to open to the West,
leading to the fall of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868. In the resulting Meiji period,
Japan adopted a Western-style government and pursued a program of rapid industrialization and modernization.
In 1937, the Empire of Japan invaded China, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War; in 1941, it
entered World War II on the side of the Axis powers. After suffering defeats in the Pacific and two atomic
bombings, Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945, coming under a seven-year occupation and adopting a post-
war constitution. Japan has since maintained a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy, with the Emperor
as the head of state and an elected legislature known as the National Diet.
Today, Japan is a member of numerous international institutions, including the United Nations, the OECD, and
the G7. Though it has officially renounced its right to declare war, Japan maintains
a military for peacekeeping and self-defense that has been ranked as the world's fourth most-powerful. Following
World War II, the country experienced decades of record economic growth, becoming the world's second-largest
economy by 1990. As of 2019, the country's economy is the third-largest by nominal GDP and the fourth-largest
by purchasing power parity. Japan is ranked "very high" on the Human Development Index; its citizens enjoy high
rates of tertiary education and longest life expectancy in the world, though its population is currently declining due
to low birth rates. Japan is a global leader in the automotive and electronics industries and has made significant
contributions to contemporary science and technology, notably in the field of robotics. Culturally, Japan is
renowned around the world for its art, cuisine, music, and popular culture, including its
prominent animation and video game industries.