Japan (The Dragon Splits)

Japan is an island nation located in East Asia. The country shares borders with Russia, China, the Korean peninsula, and Taiwan. It is one of the richest countries in Asia and has one of the biggest economies of the world.

History
Japan's history dates back to a thousand years in the past. It is known the ancient China and Japan traded with each other, bringing in cultures from the mainland to the island nation. The country would isolate itself at the early years of the 14th-16th century before opening to trade. In late 1800s, the Tokugawa Shogunate ruled the islands. Japan would become a world power when it defeated China in the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russian Empire in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. The country intervened in the Boxer Rebellion was a member of the Allied Powers in World War I - having captured all the German mandates in the Pacific. In 1937, Japan invaded China, triggering the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1941, the Empire annexed majority of American and Western colonies in the Pacific and attacked Pearl Harbor, dragging the United States into the war. The Empire of Japan was defeated by the allies in August 1945, officially surrendering a month later. Under American occupation, the country quickly recovered from the damages it sustained during the war. The country would become a U.S. ally in 1951 as two nations supported each other during the Cold War. By the 1980s, Japan's economy was catching up with the United States.

Modern Times
In September 2012, Japan would be engaged in a territorial dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands. The country nationalized it on that month, which caused tensions with the two economic powers of Asia. From 2012 to 2016, China's Coast Guard, Navy, and Air Force would encroach territoreal waters and airspace in the Senkakus, provoking a series of naval and aerial intercepts by the Japan Self-Defense Force. In 2015, China accused Japan of aiding Tibetan secessionists in the Tibetan Uprising, of which the nation denied of.