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| Common name | Japan | | Local name |
Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku | | Name |
Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku | | Capital | Tokyo (de facto) | | Largest city | capital | | Official languages | None | | Regional languages | Aynu itak, Eastern Japanese, Western Japanese, Ryukyuan, and several other Japanese dialects | National language
National Scripts
| Japanese
Kanji
Hiragana
Katakana | | Ethnic groups | 98.5% Japanese, 0.5% Korean, 0.4% Chinese, 0.6% other | | Demonym | Japanese | | Government | Constitutional monarchy with Parliamentary democracy | | Emperor | Akihito | | Prime Minister | Naoto Kan (DP) | | Legislature | National Diet | | Upper House | House of Councillors | | Lower House | House of Representatives | | Formation | Formation | | National Foundation Day | February 11, 660 BC | | Meiji Constitution | November 29, 1890 | | Current constitution | May 3, 1947 | Treaty of
San Francisco |
April 28, 1952 | | Total Area | 377944 km2 (145925 sqmi) sq mi (978875 km2) (61st) | | Water % | 0.8 | | Population Est. | 127420000 (10th) | | Population census | 127333002 (2004) | | Density (pop.) | 337.1/km2 (36th) (873.1/sq mi) | | GDP PPP | $4.267 trillion (2010) (3rd) | | GDP (PPP) per capita | $33,478[ (23rd)] | | GDP (nominal) | $5.273 trillion[ (2010) (2nd)] | | GDP (nominal) per capita | $41,366[ (17th)] | | Gini | 38.1 (2002) | | HDI | (+) 0.960 (2007) (very high) (10th) | | Currency | International Symbol ¥ Pronounced (Yen)
Japanese Symbol (or in Traditional Kanji) Pronounced (JPY) | | Time zone | JST (UTC+9) | | - Summer (DST) | not observed (UTC) | | Date formats | yyyy-mm-dd
yyyy年m月d日
Era yy年m月d日 (CE−1988) | | Drives on the | left | | Internet TLD | .jp | | Calling code | 81 |
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| | Title | Largest cities of Japan |
| City Type | Core City |
| Subdivision Type | Prefecture |
| Image1 | Hokkaido Sapporo Odori Park.jpg |
| Image2 | Kiyomizu-dera and Kyoto at night.jpg |
| City1 | Tokyo |
| City1 Div | Tokyo |
| City1 Pop | 8,483,050 |
| City2 | Yokohama |
| City2 Div | Kanagawa Prefecture|Kanagawa |
| City2 Pop | 3,579,133 |
| City3 | Osaka |
| City3 Div | Osaka Prefecture|Osaka |
| City3 Pop | 2,628,776 |
| City4 | Nagoya |
| City4 Div | Aichi Prefecture|Aichi |
| City4 Pop | 2,215,031 |
| City5 | Sapporo |
| City5 Div | Hokkaidō |
| City5 Pop | 1,880,875 |
| City6 | Kobe |
| City6 Div | Hyōgo Prefecture|Hyōgo |
| City6 Pop | 1,525,389 |
| City7 | Kyoto |
| City7 Div | Kyoto Prefecture|Kyoto |
| City7 Pop | 1,465,917 |
| City8 | Fukuoka, Fukuoka|Fukuoka |
| City8 Div | Fukuoka Prefecture|Fukuoka |
| City8 Pop | 1,450,149 |
| City9 | Kawasaki, Kanagawa|Kawasaki |
| City9 Div | Kanagawa Prefecture|Kanagawa |
| City9 Pop | 1,327,009 |
| City10 | Saitama, Saitama|Saitama |
| City10 Div | Saitama Prefecture|Saitama |
| City10 Pop | 1,176,269 |
| City11 | Hiroshima |
| City11 Div | Hiroshima Prefecture|Hiroshima |
| City11 Pop | 1,159,391 |
| City12 | Sendai |
| City12 Div | Miyagi Prefecture|Miyagi |
| City12 Pop | 1,028,214 |
| City13 | Kitakyushu |
| City13 Div | Fukuoka Prefecture|Fukuoka |
| City13 Pop | 993,483 |
| City14 | Chiba, Chiba|Chiba |
| City14 Div | Chiba Prefecture|Chiba |
| City14 Pop | 924,353 |
| City15 | Sakai, Osaka|Sakai |
| City15 Div | Osaka Prefecture|Osaka |
| City15 Pop | 835,333 |
| City16 | Niigata, Niigata|Niigata |
| City16 Div | Niigata Prefecture|Niigata |
| City16 Pop | 813,847 |
| City17 | Hamamatsu |
| City17 Div | Shizuoka Prefecture|Shizuoka |
| City17 Pop | 804,067 |
| City18 | Shizuoka, Shizuoka|Shizuoka |
| City18 Div | Shizuoka Prefecture|Shizuoka |
| City18 Pop | 710,944 |
| City19 | Sagamihara, Kanagawa|Sagamihara |
| City19 Div | Kanagawa Prefecture|Kanagawa |
| City19 Pop | 701,568 |
| City20 | Okayama, Okayama|Okayama |
| City20 Div | Okayama Prefecture|Okayama |
| City20 Pop | 696,172 |
| Source | 2005 Census |
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|} is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for 97% of Japan's land area. Most of the islands are mountainous, many volcanic; for example, Japan’s highest peak, Mount Fuji, is a volcano. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people were living on the islands of Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan begins with brief appearances in Chinese history texts from the first century A.D. Influence from the outside world followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. Since adopting its constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.
A major economic power,
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