JAPAN 1. Japan is an island nation in East Asia.

Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sunorigin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honsh, Hokkaid, Kysh and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area.The islands of Japan are located in a volcanic zone on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Japan has 108 active volcanoes. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunami, occur several times each century .The 2011 Thoku earthquake, a 9.0-magnitude which hit Japan on 11 March 2011, and triggered a large tsunami causing massive destruction of lives and property. 2.Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people .The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents . The main population constitute the Japanese (98.5%) and japanese is the main language .Shintoism 83.9%and Buddhism 71.4%, are the two major religion follwed in

Japan. 3 .Japan is a constitutional monarchy with parliamentary form of government where the power of the Emperor is very limited. Power is held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Japan who is Yoshihiko Noda (2011) at present and other elected members of the Diet. Akihito is the current Emperor of Japan; Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan, stands as next in line to the throne. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947.. 4.As of 2011, Japan is the third largest national economy in the world, after the United States and China,and the fourth largest national economy in the world, after the United States, China and India in terms of purchasing power parity .Yen is the national currency of Japan. Japan is a leading nation in scientific research, particularly technology, machinery and biomedical research. Japan is a world leader in fundamental scientific research, having produced fifteen Nobel laureates in either physics, chemistry or medicine . Japan leads the world in robotics production and use, possessing more than half of the world's industrial robots.

5. Sumo is considered Japan's national sport. Japanese martial arts such as judo, karate and kendo are also widely practiced . Baseball is currently the most popular spectator sport in the country .Japan hosted the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 1964. Japan has hosted the Winter Olympics twice: Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998.