The country hosted the official 2006 Basketball World Championship and co-hosted the 2023 Basketball World Championship. Popular Japanese beverages include sake, a brewed rice beverage that typically contains 14–17% alcohol and is made by multiple fermentation of rice. Japanese curry, since its introduction to Japan from British India, is so widely consumed that it can be termed a national dish, alongside ramen and sushi.
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Executive power is instead wielded by the prime minister and the Cabinet, whose sovereignty is vested in the Japanese people. In 2020, the government of Japan announced a target of carbon-neutrality by 2050. Japan ranks 20th in the 2018 Environmental Performance Index, which measures a country’s commitment to environmental sustainability. Responding to rising concerns, the government introduced environmental protection laws in 1970. Japan has nine forest ecoregions which reflect the climate and geography of the islands.
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The earliest works of Japanese literature include the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki chronicles and the Man’yōshū poetry anthology, all from the 8th century and written in Chinese characters. It was not until after World War II that Japanese architects made an impression on the international scene, firstly with the work of architects like Kenzō Tange and then with movements like Metabolism. People without insurance through employers can participate in a national health insurance program administered by local governments. Throughout the latest century, Western customs originally related to Christianity, including Western style weddings, Valentine’s Day and Christmas, have become popular as secular customs among many Japanese. Few children learn these languages, but local governments have sought to increase awareness of the traditional languages. The Japanese language is Japan’s de facto national language and the primary written and spoken language of most people in the country.
The prime minister as the head of government has the power to appoint and dismiss Ministers of State, and is appointed by the emperor after being designated from among the members of the Diet. During the Meiji period (1868–1912), the Empire of Japan emerged as the most developed state in Asia and as an industrialized world power that pursued military conflict to expand its sphere of influence. The succeeding Ashikaga shogunate failed to control the feudal warlords (daimyō) and a civil war began in 1467, opening the century-long Sengoku period (“Warring States”). Super GT is the most popular national racing series in Japan, while Super Formula is the top-level domestic open-wheel series. Karate, which originated in the Ryukyu Kingdom, is popular across the world and has been included in the Olympic Games.
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Statutory law originates in the legislature, and the constitution requires that the emperor promulgate legislation passed by the Diet without giving him the power to oppose legislation. Japan is a unitary state and constitutional monarchy in which the power of the emperor (Tennō) is limited to a ceremonial role. In the period of rapid economic growth after World War II, environmental policies were downplayed by the government and industrial corporations; as a result, environmental pollution was widespread in the 1950s and 1960s.
Japanese comics, known as manga, developed in the mid-20th century and have become popular worldwide. Ishirō Honda’s Godzilla became an international icon of Japan and spawned an entire subgenre of kaiju films, as well as the longest-running film franchise in history. Japanese television dramas are viewed both within Japan and internationally. Kumi-daiko (ensemble drumming) was developed in post-war Japan and became very popular in North America. The popular folk music, with the guitar-like shamisen, dates from the 16th century.
- Japan has nine forest ecoregions which reflect the climate and geography of the islands.
- It nationalized all land in Japan, to be distributed equally among cultivators, and ordered the compilation of a household registry as the basis for a new system of taxation.
- The prime minister as the head of government has the power to appoint and dismiss Ministers of State, and is appointed by the emperor after being designated from among the members of the Diet.
- The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands alongside 14,121 smaller islands.
- Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji and the lyrics of Japan’s national anthem “Kimigayo” were written during this time.
- The Japanese population doubled from 35 million in 1873 to 70 million by 1935, with a significant shift to urbanization.
Oda Nobunaga used European technology and firearms to conquer many other daimyō; his consolidation of power began what was known as the Azuchi–Momoyama period. The Zen school of Buddhism was introduced from China in the Kamakura period (1185–1333) and became popular among the samurai class. In 1185, following the defeat of the Taira clan by the Minamoto clan in the Genpei War, samurai Minamoto no Yoritomo established a military government at Kamakura. The true aim of the reforms was to bring about greater centralization and to enhance the power of the imperial court, which was also based on the governmental structure of China.
Japan has close economic and military relations with the United States, with which it maintains a security alliance. It is the world’s fifth-largest donor of official development assistance, donating US$9.2 billion in 2014. Since the late 19th century, the judicial system has been largely based on the civil law of Europe, notably Germany. Historically influenced by Chinese law, the Japanese legal system developed independently during the Edo period through texts such as Kujikata Osadamegaki. It consists of a lower House of Representatives with 465 seats, elected by popular vote every four years or when dissolved, and an upper House of Councillors with 248 seats, whose popularly-elected members serve six-year terms.
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As a growing number of younger Japanese are not marrying or remaining childless, Japan’s population is expected to drop to around 88 million by 2065. As of 2025update, over 29.3% of the population is over 65, or more https://www.richyfox.co.uk/ than one in four out of the Japanese population. The country has therefore aimed to diversify its sources and maintain high levels of energy efficiency. The Sendai Nuclear Power Plant restarted in 2015, and since then several other nuclear power plants have been restarted.
- Other minority religions include Hinduism, Judaism, and Baháʼí Faith, as well as the animist beliefs of the Ainu.
- Honshu has the highest population density at 450 persons/km2 (1200/sq mi) as of 2010update, while Hokkaido has the lowest density of 64.5 persons/km2 as of 2016update.
- Responding to rising concerns, the government introduced environmental protection laws in 1970.
- Japan’s neighbors include the Republic of Korea, China and Russia.
- Japan has close economic and military relations with the United States, with which it maintains a security alliance.
- During the Meiji period (1868–1912), the Empire of Japan emerged as the most developed state in Asia and as an industrialized world power that pursued military conflict to expand its sphere of influence.
- However, Japan’s video game sector remains a major industry; in 2014, Japan’s consumer video game market grossed $9.6 billion, with $5.8 billion coming from mobile gaming.
Around 14,500 BC (the start of the Jōmon period), a Mesolithic to Neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer culture characterized by pit dwelling and rudimentary agriculture emerged. The old Malay name for Japan, Japang or Japun, was borrowed from a southern coastal Chinese dialect and encountered by Portuguese traders in Southeast Asia, who brought the word to Europe in the early 16th century. In the 13th century, Marco Polo recorded the Early Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of the characters 日本國 as Cipangu. The characters 日本 mean ‘sun origin’, which is the source of the popular Western epithet “Land of the Rising Sun”. Nihon is typically used in everyday speech and reflects shifts in Japanese phonology during the Edo period.
In 645, the government led by Prince Naka no Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari devised and implemented the far-reaching Taika Reforms. Before 日本 was adopted in the early 8th century, the country was known in China as Wa (倭, changed in Japan around 757 to 和) and in Japan by the endonym Yamato. 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. 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. 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 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.
More recent major quakes are the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, which triggered a large tsunami. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunami, occur several times each century; the 1923 Tokyo earthquake killed over 140,000 people. As of 2014update, approximately 0.5% of Japan’s total area is reclaimed land (umetatechi). Honshu has the highest population density at 450 persons/km2 (1200/sq mi) as of 2010update, while Hokkaido has the lowest density of 64.5 persons/km2 as of 2016update. The Ryukyu Islands, which include Okinawa, are a chain to the south of Kyushu. In 2011, Japan suffered one of the largest earthquakes in its recorded history—the Tōhoku earthquake—triggering the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.