Japan Information
Japan, officially Nippon-koku (日本国?) is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of China, Korea and Russia. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes identified as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan comprises over 3,000 islands, the largest of which are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku. 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 about 128 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
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, the Diet.
A major economic power, Japan has the world's third largest economy by nominal GDP. It is a member of the United Nations, G8, G4, OECD and APEC, with the world's fifth largest defense budget. It is also the world's fourth largest exporter and sixth largest importer and a world leader in technology and machinery.
More about Japan...Selected article
The Michael Brown Okinawa assault incident was an attempted indecent assault by U.S. Marine Corps Major Michael Brown on a Filipina bartender, Victoria Nakamine, in Okinawa, Japan on November 2, 2002. The case received extensive attention in the Japanese media, especially on Okinawa, and the crime sparked a public debate over the U.S. military presence in Japan, the fairness of the Japanese legal system, and the practices of the Japanese police. The case involved the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan and the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement, the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between Japan and the United States. On July 8, 2004, after a 19-month trial, Brown was convicted by a Japanese court of attempted indecent assault and destruction of private property and received a one-year suspended prison sentence. Based on this incident and others involving crimes committed by U.S. military personnel in Japan, both countries entered into negotiations aimed at modifying the SOFA in July 2003; however, as of 2007, no changes had been made. Early in the morning of November 2, 2002, a female employee of the Camp Courtney officers' club on Okinawa drove up to the Courtney main gate and reported to base security personnel that a Marine Corps major had just attempted to sexually assault her in her car on a deserted road near the back gate of the base. She stated that during the assault the major threw her mobile phone into the nearby Tengan River.| Archive |
Selected picture
| Credit: Torii Kiyonaga |
Onna yu, (Bathhouse women) is a ukiyo-e print by artist Torii Kiyonaga. This copy was printed sometime between 1890 and 1940.
| Archive |
On this day...
Events
- 1923 - The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing about 105,000 people.
Births
Deaths
- 1256 - Kujō Yoritsune, shogun (b. 1218)
Selected quote
| “ | I only included things that everybody likes, like violence, flowers, children, women, friendship and death. | ” |
Selected biography
Pierre Rossier was a pioneering Swiss photographer whose albumen photographs, which include stereographs and cartes-de-visite, comprise portraits, cityscapes, and landscapes. He was commissioned by the London firm of Negretti and Zambra to travel to Asia and document the progress of the Anglo-French troops in the Second Opium War and, although he failed to join that military expedition, he remained in Asia for several years, producing the first commercial photographs of China, the Philippines, Japan and Siam (now Thailand). He was the first professional photographer in Japan, where he trained Ueno Hikoma, Maeda Genzō, Horie Kuwajirō, as well as lesser known members of the first generation of Japanese photographers. In Switzerland he established photographic studios in Fribourg and Einsiedeln, and he also produced images elsewhere in the country. Rossier is an important figure in the early history of photography not only because of his own images, but also because of the critical impact of his teaching in the early days of Japanese photography.| Archive |
In the news
- August 25: Japan nuclear disaster: areas to remain off-limits for decades
- August 16: Japan to use renewable energy
- August 13: Renewed concern over nuclear response following atomic bomb anniversary
- August 8: Boeing rolls out first 787 Dreamliner to go into service
- July 12: Study shows long-term couples more satisfied with relationships and sex lives
- June 22: UN report says 80 per cent of world's refugees live in poor countries
Did you know...
- ... that in the Sakuradamon incident in 1860, Japan's pro-foreign Chief Minister Ii Naosuke was assassinated by xenophobic samurai?
- ... that Imperial Japanese Navy submarine Commander Takakazu Kinashi was awarded the Iron Cross by Adolf Hitler for his role in the sinking of the American aircraft carrier Wasp?
- ... that two of the three character designers of the Japanese visual novel Flyable Heart have illustrated the Shakugan no Shana light novels and manga series, respectively?
- ... that one of the humanoid robots created by Japanese roboticist Tomotaka Takahashi was listed in Time’s Coolest Inventions in 2004?
- ... that the gokenin, Japanese feudal lords at the top of the power pyramid, were named after a semi-slave caste?
Archive More...
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Coordinates: 36°30′N 139°00′E / 36.5°N 139°E
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