Japan (Japanese:日本,Nihon or Nippon) is an island country located in the Pacific Ocean,east of China and Korea,stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south.It is composed of over 3,000 islands,the largest of which are Hokkaidō,Honshū,Shikoku,and Kyūshū.Most of Japan's islands are mountainous,and many are volcanic; the highest peak is Mount Fuji.
Historically,Japan adopted many Chinese and Korean customs and institutions beginning in the 5th and 6th centuries.During the 8th century,the emergence of an indigenous culture sparked a "golden age" in Japan called the Heian period,characterized by aesthetic refinement and aristocratic sophistication.The arts and literature flourished,culminating in Lady Murasaki's writing of The Tale of Genji,the world's first known novel.
From the 12th century to the mid-1800s,Japan was a feudal country led by clans of warriors known as the samurai.The Tokugawa shogunate,established in 1603,began to pursue the Sakoku ("closed country") policy of isolation that lasted for two and a half centuries.The arrival of U.S.Commodore Matthew Perry's "Black Ships" and the signing of the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854,signaled the opening of the country to the West.After the Meiji Restoration of 1868,Japan adopted many European and American customs and institutions.Its culture today is a mixture of these influences along with traditional Japanese culture.
Japan is the world's second-largest economy and one of the world's leading industrialized countries.It is a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament,called the Diet,which is one of the oldest legislatures in Asia.Despite its rugged terrain,Japan is one of the most populous—and one of the most densely populated—countries in the world.Greater Tokyo,with over 30 million residents,is the largest metropolitan area in the world.
Japan's name in the kanji writing system is often translated as "Land of the Rising Sun",and comes from the country's location on the east coast of Asia