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Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, it is bordered to the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands alongside 14,121 smaller islands. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions, and around 75% of its terrain is mountainous and heavily forested, concentrating its agriculture and highly urbanized population along its eastern coastal plains. With a population of almost 123 million as of 2026, it is the world's 11th most populous country. Tokyo is the country's capital and largest city.

The first known habitation of the archipelago dates to the Upper Paleolithic, with the beginning of the Japanese Paleolithic dating to c. 36,000 BC. Between the 4th and 6th centuries, its kingdoms were united under an emperor in Nara and later in Heian-kyō. 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. After rule by the Kamakura and Ashikaga shogunates and a century of warring states, Japan was unified in 1600 by the Tokugawa shogunate, which implemented an isolationist foreign policy. In 1853, an American 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.

The Meiji period saw Japan pursue rapid industrialization, modernization, militarism, and overseas colonization. The country annexed Korea in 1910, invaded China in 1937, and attacked the U.S. and European colonial powers in 1941, thus entering World War II as an Axis power. After being defeated in the Pacific War and suffering the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under Allied occupation. It underwent rapid economic growth in the following decades and became one of the first major non-NATO allies of the U.S. Since the collapse of the Japanese asset price bubble in the early 1990s, it has experienced a prolonged period of economic stagnation referred to as the Lost Decades.

Japan is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature known as the National Diet. Widely considered a great power and the only Asian member of the G7, it maintains one of the world's strongest militaries but has constitutionally renounced its right to declare war. A developed country with one of the world's largest economies by nominal GDP, it is a global leader in the automotive, electronics, and robotics industries, in addition to making significant contributions to science and technology. It has one of the world's highest life expectancies, but is undergoing a population decline. The culture of Japan is well known around the world, particularly its popular culture as expressed in animation, art, comics, cuisine, fashion, films, music, television, theatre and video games. (Full article...)

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A propaganda poster calling on Australians to avenge the sinking of the AHS Centaur
There was considerable Axis naval activity in Australian waters during World War II. A total of 54 German and Japanese warships and submarines entered Australian waters between 1940 and 1945 and attacked ships, ports and other targets. Among the best-known attacks are the sinking of HMAS Sydney by a German raider in November 1941, the bombing of Darwin by Japanese naval aircraft in February 1942, and the Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour in May 1942. In addition, many Allied merchant ships were damaged or sunk off the Australian coast by submarines and mines. The level of Axis naval activity peaked in the first half of 1942 when Japanese submarines conducted anti-shipping patrols off Australia's coast and Japanese naval aviation attacked several towns in northern Australia. The Japanese submarine offensive against Australia was renewed in the first half of 1943 but was broken off as the Allies pushed the Japanese onto the defensive. Few Axis naval vessels operated in Australian waters in 1944 and 1945 and those that did had only a limited impact. Due to the episodic nature of the Axis attacks and the relatively small number of ships and submarines committed, Germany and Japan were not successful in disrupting Australian shipping. (Full article...)

Selected pictures

On this day...

March 22:

Events

Births

In the news

20 March 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that Iran is ready to help the passage of vessels from Japan in the Strait of Hormuz. (Kyodo News)
19 March 2026 – 2026 Iran war
The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom issue a joint statement condemning the Iranian attacks on commercial vessels and expressing their "readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait". (Euronews)
15 March 2026 – Economic impact of the 2026 Iran war
Japan announces it will start releasing 80 million barrels of oil from its reserves, the largest such release in the country's history, in response to disruptions in the oil supply caused by the conflict. (Reuters)
11 March 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis
Two cargo vessels, the Marshall Islands-flagged Star Gwyneth, operated by Star Bulk Carriers, and the Japan-flagged ONE Majesty, operated by Mitsui OSK Lines, are struck by unknown projectiles, with no casualties reported. (Kathimerini)
6 March 2026 – 2020–2026 H5N1 outbreak
The Japanese agriculture ministry confirms a H5N1 bird flu outbreak at a poultry farm in Abira, Hokkaido. (MENAFN)
4 March 2026 –
The Tokyo High Court in Japan orders the dissolution of the Unification Church. (BBC News) (Japan Times)

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Satoshi Kon (今 敏, Kon Satoshi; October 12, 1963 – August 24, 2010) was a Japanese film director, animator, screenwriter and manga artist from Sapporo, Hokkaido, and a member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA). He was a graduate of the Graphic Design department of the Musashino Art University. He is best known for his acclaimed anime films Perfect Blue (1997), Millennium Actress (2001), Tokyo Godfathers (2003), and Paprika (2006), and the TV series Paranoia Agent (2004). In 2010, Kon died of pancreatic cancer at age 46. (Full article...)

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Okayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Okayama. During the Meiji Restoration, Bitchu Province, Bizen Province and Mimasaka Province were combined to form Okayama Prefecture. It borders Hyōgo Prefecture, Tottori Prefecture and Hiroshima Prefecture and faces Kagawa Prefecture in Shikoku across the Seto Inland Sea and includes 90 islands in the sea. There are fifteen cities located in Okayama Prefecture. It is home to the historic town of Kurashiki. Most of the population is concentrated around Kurashiki and Okayama. The small villages in the northern mountain region are aging and declining in population--more than half of the prefectures municipalities are officially designated as depopulated.

Did you know... –

  • ... that the trailer for the Japanese horror film Henge was described by a reviewer as "a minor work of art"?

General images

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

East Asia


Other Countries/Territories

Japan topics

Eras Paleolithic | Jōmon | Yayoi | Kofun | Asuka | Nara | Heian | Kamakura | Muromachi | Azuchi-Momoyama | Edo | Meiji | Taishō | Shōwa | Heisei | Reiwa
History Economic history | Educational history | Military history | Naval history | Sengoku period | Meiji Restoration | Empire of Japan | Occupied Japan | Post-occupation Japan
Politics Constitution | Government | Emperors | Imperial Household Agency | Prime Ministers | Cabinet | Ministries | National Diet (House of Councillors · House of Representatives) | Judicial system | Law of Japan | LGBT rights | Elections | Political parties | Japanese political values | Japan Self-Defense Forces | Foreign relations
Culture Clothing | Customs and etiquette | Education | Festivals | Food | Holidays | Language | Religion | Imperial House of Japan | National symbols of Japan | National Treasure (Japan) | Monuments of Japan | Media of Japan | Honne and tatemae | Kawaii | Yamato-damashii | Wa | Miai | Ishin-denshin | Isagiyosa | Hansei | Amae | Kotodama | Onsen | Geisha | Kimono | Bushido | Shogun | Samurai | Ninja | Yakuza | Mythology | Karaoke
Art Architecture | Cinema | Literature | Music | Pornography | Theatre (Noh · Kabuki · Bunraku) | Anime | Manga | Ukiyo-e | Japanese tea ceremony | Japanese aesthetics | Ikebana | Poetry | Bonsai | Origami
Sports Sumo wrestling | Nippon Professional Baseball | Football J1 League | Super GT | All Japan Road Race Championship | Judo | Karate | Kendo | Kyūdō | Jujutsu | Ninjutsu | Aikido
Economy Japanese Companies | Primary sector | Industry | Tourism | Currency | Tokyo Stock Exchange | Japanese economic miracle | Communications | Transportation (Shinkansen · Tokyo Metro · Railway companies) | Japan Business Federation | Housing in Japan
Science and Technology Consumer electronics in Japan | Japanese automotive industry | Japanese inventions | Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) | Nuclear power in Japan | Japanese robotics
Geography Geography of Japan | Japanese archipelago | Islands of Japan | Cities | Lakes | Rivers | Waterfalls | Mountains | National Parks | Japanese Alps | Mount Fuji | Lake Biwa | Seto Inland Sea | Sea of Japan | EEZ of Japan
Demographics Demographics | Yamato people | Hāfu (half Japanese people) | Ainu people | Japanese people | Japanese names | Aging of Japan
Animals Animals in Japan | Japanese macaque | Japanese raccoon dog (Tanuki) | Japanese Green pheasant | Koi | Japanese Bobtail | Hokkaido dog | Shiba Inu | Akita (dog) | Asian giant hornet | Japanese badger
Other Tokyo | Kyoto | Nara | Osaka | Sapporo | Okinawa | Kinkaku-ji | Kiyomizu-dera | Yakushi-ji temple | Tōdai-ji temple | Sensō-ji temple | Meiji Shrine | Akihabara | Shinjuku | Tokyo Tower | Tokyo Imperial Palace | Himeji Castle | Matsumoto Castle | Osaka Castle | Nagoya Castle | Tokyo Disney Resort

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