The country’s military, the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), is restricted by Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which renounces Japan’s right to declare war or use military force in international disputes. From the 12th century, actual power was held by military aristocrats known as shōgun and feudal lords called daimyō, enforced by warrior nobility named samurai. English has taken a major role in Japan as a business and international link language, and is a compulsory subject at the junior and senior high school levels.
Government and politics
Minority ethnic groups in the country include the indigenous Ainu and Ryukyuan people. Japan is an ethnically and culturally homogeneous society, with the Japanese people forming 97.4% of the country’s population. Japan has a population of over 123 million, of whom nearly 120 million are Japanese nationals (2024 estimates). Since privatization in 1987, dozens of Japanese railway companies compete in regional and local passenger transportation markets; major companies include seven JR enterprises, Kintetsu, Seibu Railway and Keio Corporation. The Japanese agricultural sector accounts for about 1.2% of the country’s total GDP as of 2018update. Japan is widely considered to be a great power due to its economic power and political, cultural, and military influence.
More recent major quakes are the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, which triggered a large tsunami. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunami, occur several times each century; the 1923 Tokyo earthquake killed over 140,000 people. As of 2014update, approximately 0.5% of Japan’s total area is reclaimed land (umetatechi). Honshu has the highest population density at 450 persons/km2 (1200/sq mi) as of 2010update, while Hokkaido has the lowest density of 64.5 persons/km2 as of 2016update. The Ryukyu Islands, which include Okinawa, are a chain to the south of Kyushu. In 2011, Japan suffered one of the largest earthquakes in its recorded history—the Tōhoku earthquake—triggering the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
In 1936, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany; the 1940 Tripartite Pact made it one of the Axis powers. This process accelerated in the 1930s, spawning several radical nationalist groups that shared a hostility to liberal democracy and a dedication to expansion in Asia. The Japanese population doubled from 35 million in 1873 to 70 million by 1935, with a significant shift to urbanization. Adopting Western political, judicial, and military institutions, the Cabinet organized the Privy Council, introduced the Meiji Constitution (November 29, 1890), and assembled the Imperial Diet.
National Flag and Anthem
The earliest works of Japanese literature include the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki chronicles and the Man’yōshū poetry anthology, all from the 8th century and written in Chinese characters. It was not until after World War II that Japanese architects made an impression on the international scene, firstly with the work of architects like Kenzō Tange and then with movements like Metabolism. People without insurance through employers can participate in a national health insurance program administered by local governments. Throughout the latest century, Western customs originally related to Christianity, including Western style weddings, Valentine’s Day and Christmas, have become popular as secular customs among many Japanese. Few children learn these languages, but local governments have sought to increase awareness of the traditional languages. The Japanese language is Japan’s de facto national language and the primary written and spoken language of most people in https://www.richyfox.co.uk/ the country.
About Japan
The Nara period (710–784) marked the emergence of a Japanese state centered on the Imperial Court in Heijō-kyō (modern Nara). These legal reforms created the ritsuryō state, a system of Chinese-style centralized government that remained in place for half a millennium. These reforms culminated with the promulgation of the Taihō Code, which consolidated existing statutes and established the structure of the central and subordinate local governments.
- It spent 1.4% of its total GDP on its defence budget and maintained the tenth-largest military budget in the world in 2024.
- The Special Assault Team comprises national-level counter-terrorism tactical units that cooperate with territorial-level Anti-Firearms Squads and Counter-NBC Terrorism Squads.
- Modern Japan’s economic growth began in this period, resulting in roads (Kaidō) and water transportation routes, as well as financial instruments such as futures contracts, banking and insurance of the Osaka rice brokers.
- The early 20th century saw a period of Taishō democracy (1912–1926) overshadowed by increasing expansionism and militarization.
- Kumi-daiko (ensemble drumming) was developed in post-war Japan and became very popular in North America.
- Japan has the world’s fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP, after that of the United States, China, Germany and India; and the fifth-largest by PPP-adjusted GDP.
Climate
The resignation of the shōgun led to the Boshin War and the establishment of a centralized state nominally unified under the emperor (the Meiji Restoration). Modern Japan’s economic growth began in this period, resulting in roads (Kaidō) and water transportation routes, as well as financial instruments such as futures contracts, banking and insurance of the Osaka rice brokers. When open war broke out, Ieyasu defeated rival clans in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Tokugawa Ieyasu served as regent for Hideyoshi’s son Toyotomi Hideyori within the Council of Five Elders and used his position to gain political and military support. During the 16th century, Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries reached Japan for the first time, initiating direct commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West (see Nanban trade and Nanban art).
- A century later, the Book of Wei records that the kingdom of Yamatai (which may refer to Yamato) unified most of these kingdoms.
- Between the 4th and 6th centuries, its kingdoms were united under an emperor in Nara and later in Heian-kyō.
- Japan has a large cooperative sector, with three of the world’s ten largest cooperatives, including the largest consumer cooperative and the largest agricultural cooperative as of 2018update.
- As of 2025update, over 29.3% of the population is over 65, or more than one in four out of the Japanese population.
- These legal reforms created the ritsuryō state, a system of Chinese-style centralized government that remained in place for half a millennium.
- The country hosted the official 2006 Basketball World Championship and co-hosted the 2023 Basketball World Championship.
- Popular music in post-war Japan has been heavily influenced by American and European trends, which has led to the evolution of J-pop.
Around 14,500 BC (the start of the Jōmon period), a Mesolithic to Neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer culture characterized by pit dwelling and rudimentary agriculture emerged. The old Malay name for Japan, Japang or Japun, was borrowed from a southern coastal Chinese dialect and encountered by Portuguese traders in Southeast Asia, who brought the word to Europe in the early 16th century. In the 13th century, Marco Polo recorded the Early Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of the characters 日本國 as Cipangu. The characters 日本 mean ‘sun origin’, which is the source of the popular Western epithet “Land of the Rising Sun”. Nihon is typically used in everyday speech and reflects shifts in Japanese phonology during the Edo period.
Languages
Japan is in the top three globally for both automobile production and export, and is home to Toyota, the world’s largest automobile company by production. The country’s manufacturing output is the fourth highest in the world as of 2023update. Japan maintains one of the world’s largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly 15% of the global catch, prompting critiques that Japan’s fishing is leading to depletion in fish stocks such as tuna. Japan has a large cooperative sector, with three of the world’s ten largest cooperatives, including the largest consumer cooperative and the largest agricultural cooperative as of 2018update. In 2024, Japan was the world’s eight-largest exporter and sixth-largest importer. The Japanese yen is the world’s third-largest reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro.
Government and politics
The war cost Japan millions of lives and many of its conquered territories, including de jure parts of Japan such as Korea, Taiwan, Karafuto, and the Kurils. Throughout areas occupied by Japan during the war, numerous abuses were committed against local inhabitants. In 1940, the Empire invaded French Indochina, after which the United States placed an oil embargo on Japan.
Beginning in 2000, Japan implemented the Happy Monday System, which moved a number of national holidays to Monday in order to obtain a long weekend. Japanese animated films and television series, known as anime, were largely influenced by Japanese manga and have become highly popular globally. Many Japanese media franchises have gained considerable global popularity and are among the world’s highest-grossing media franchises. Popular music in post-war Japan has been heavily influenced by American and European trends, which has led to the evolution of J-pop.
The country hosted the official 2006 Basketball World Championship and co-hosted the 2023 Basketball World Championship. Popular Japanese beverages include sake, a brewed rice beverage that typically contains 14–17% alcohol and is made by multiple fermentation of rice. Japanese curry, since its introduction to Japan from British India, is so widely consumed that it can be termed a national dish, alongside ramen and sushi.
