| Empire of Japan 大日本帝国 Timeline: Nihon no heiwa | ||||||
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| Anthem: 君が代 "His Imperial Majesty's Reign" |
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 Japan (green)
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| Capital | Tokyo | |||||
| Official languages | Japanese | |||||
| Regional languages | Hokkien Mandarin Hakka |
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| Demonym | Japanese | |||||
| Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy | |||||
| - | Emperor | Akihito | ||||
| - | Prime Minister | Mizuho Fukushima | ||||
| Legislature | Imperial Diet | |||||
| - | Upper house | House of Peers | ||||
| - | Lower house | House of Representatives | ||||
| Formation | ||||||
| - | Imperial dynasty established | 11 February 660 BC | ||||
| - | Meiji Restoration | 3 January 1868 | ||||
| - | Constitution | 29 November 1890 | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | 2022 estimate | 126,234,500 | ||||
| Currency | Japanese yen (JPY) |
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| Drives on the | left | |||||
Japan (Japanese: 日本国), officially the Empire of Japan (Japanese: 大日本帝國), is an island country in East Asia. Its only land border is with the Soviet Union to the north; it shares overseas borders with Manchuria, Korea and China to the west. Tokyo is the nation's capital and largest city.
Life in Japan began around 30,000 BC, although it wouldn't be mentioned until the 2nd century in a Chinese chronicle known as the Book of Han. Until the 9th century, Japan would be unified under an emperor and the imperial court. From the 12th century all the until 1868, Japan would be controlled by military dictators, feudal lords and warrior nobles. The country was hit in a century-long civil war from the late 15th century until 1603, when the Tokugawa shogunate was established, and went into a period of isolationism. In 1854, an American fleet demanded the country to open up trade, to which the Tokugawa reluctantly agreed.
Eventually, the shogunate fell in 1868, with Emperor Meiji seizing full power, and opting to westernise. Japan then emerged from World War I as a great power, and throughout the 1920s established a stronger connection with the Western world, including the United States. After World War II, Japan sided with the Western bloc against the eastern bloc. After a period of economic reform and technological advancements, Japan grew up to be a recognised superpower alongside the United States and the Soviet Union by the end of the 20th century.
Japan is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, with a democratic multiparty system. Japan has the third-largest navy in the world just behind the United Kingdom and the United States. Japan is a member of the United Nations, PATO, the East Asian Economic Community, and many others. The culture of Japan is well known around the world, including its art, cuisine, music, and popular culture, which encompasses prominent comic, animation and video game industries.