Alternative History
Empire of Japan 大日本帝国
Dai Nippon Teikoku
Timeline: Springtime of Nations
OTL equivalent: Japan without the Southern Ryukyu Islands, and Southern Sakhalin
JapanFlagSoN Imperial Seal of Japan
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: 
君が代
("His Imperial Majesty's Reign")
State seal:
大日本國璽 (Dai Nihon Kokuji)
National Seal of Greater Japan
State Seal of Japan
EOJapanMapSoN
Map of Japan, shown in Green
Capital
(and largest city)
Tokyo
Official languages Japanese
Demonym(s) Japanese
Government Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
 -  Emperor Tadahiro
 -  Prime Minister Kei Satō
Legislature National Diet
 -  Upper house House of Peers
 -  Lower house House of Representatives
Formation
 -  Imperial Dynasty established 660 BC to AD 539 
 -  Meiji Constitution 29 November 1890 
 -  Current constitution 7 September 1947 
 -  Death of Takahito 27 October 2016 
Area
 -  Total 464,928 km2 (31th)
179,510 sq mi 
Population
 -  2023 estimate 126,193,653 (11th)
GDP (PPP) 2023 estimate
 -  Total $15.901 trillion (3rd)
 -  Per capita $71,249 (14th)
GDP (nominal) 2023 estimate
 -  Total $9.672 trillion (2nd)
 -  Per capita $67,042 (10th)
Gini (2018) 29.7 
HDI (2021) 0.936 
Currency Japanese yen (¥)
Time zone (UTC(UTC+9))
Date formats dd/mm/yyyy
Drives on the left
Internet TLD .jp
Calling code +81

Japan (Japanese: 日本, and formally 日本国, Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku), formally the Empire of Japan is an island country in East Asia. It is in the northwest Pacific Ocean and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Formosa in the south. It shares a border with only the Soviet Union, from Sakhalin. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans an archipelago of 14,125 islands, with the five main islands being Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Sakhalin. Tokyo is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Toyohara, Hiroshima, and Kyoto.

Japan has over 126 million inhabitants and is the 11th most populous country in the world, as well as one of the most densely populated. About three-fourths of the country's terrain is mountainous, concentrating its highly urbanized population on narrow coastal plains. Japan is divided into 50 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world. Japan has the world's highest life expectancy, though it is experiencing a population decline due to its very low birth rate.