Japan (日本国) as every one knows is an island state located in East Asia. Situated between the Pacific Ocean and the famous Sea of Japan, it stretches out to the east of Republic of China, Koreas and Russian Federation, stretching out from the Okhotsk See in the China Sea.

    The hieroglyphs that collectively bring in up Japan country name maybe translated as 'sun origin', which perhaps is why Japan also is sometimes described as the 'Land of the Rising Sun'. The English Language word for Japan went to the West from first trade routes. The first Mandarin Chinese or maybe Wu Chinese expression for Japan was picked up by Marco Polo as Cipangu. The ancient Malay name for Japan, Jepang (new spelling Jepun, although Indonesian retains ancient spelling), was taken from traditional Chinese language, and this Malay was encountered by several Portuguese merchants in southern Malacca in the sixteenth century. It is believed the Portuguese merchants were the initiative to get this term to Europe. It was originally written down in English Language in 1577 as Giapan.

    The Japan beside of its major island is Honshu, includes 3 other big ones - Hokkaido on the north, Shikoku and southern Kyushu. More than four thousand other islands surround these four.

    Japan really is a constitutional monarchy where the great power of the Emperor is extremely restricted. As a traditional figurehead, he is classified by the Japan constitution as 'the symbolic representation of the country and of the harmony of the nation'. Power is controlled principally by the Prime Minister of Japan and elected members of the Parliament. The Emperor efficiently acts as the person in charge of country on political occasions. Akihito is the current emperor of Japan kingdom.

    There is no more than one language spoken in Japan - Japanese language. However, a lot of Japanese are able to keep a conversation in English, since it is the foreign language that everyone must be study as part of school learning.

    Japan's people currently are more than 120 million. Most Japanese live in heavily settled metropolitan regions. Japan's main largest city is Tokyo. The residential population of the Japanese Capital Metropolitan Area consisting of the Tokyo itself, number of its inner suburbs and the surrounding region is about twelve million.


    More information can be found:

Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Japan (日本, Nihon or Nippon?, officially 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of ...

japan-guide.com - Japan Travel and Living Guide Everything about modern and traditional Japan with emphasis on travel and living related information.

Japan Events - Interactive Calendar of Business, Community and ... Interactive calendar of business, community and networking events in Japan.

History of Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The written history of Japan begins with brief information of Twenty-Four Histories, a collection of Chinese historical texts, in the 1st century AD.

Japan - MSN Encarta Japan, island nation in East Asia, located in the North Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Asian continent. Japan comprises the four main islands of


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China Daily

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Boston Globe

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