Portal:Japan

Introduction

Japan is an island country in East Asia. It is located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and thousands of smaller islands, covering 377,975 square kilometres (145,937 sq mi). Japan has a population of nearly 124 million as of 2024, and is the eleventh-most populous country. Its capital and largest city is Tokyo; the Greater Tokyo Area is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 38 million inhabitants as of 2016. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions. About three-quarters of the country's terrain is mountainous and heavily forested, concentrating its agriculture and highly urbanized population along its eastern coastal plains. The country sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, making its islands prone to destructive earthquakes and tsunamis.

The first known habitation of the archipelago dates to the Upper Paleolithic, with the beginning Japanese Paleolithic dating to c. 36,000 BC. Between the fourth and sixth centuries, its kingdoms were united under an emperor in Nara, and later Heian-kyō. From the 12th century, actual power was held by military dictators (shōgun) and feudal lords (daimyō), and enforced by warrior nobility (samurai). 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. In 1853, a United States fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West, which led to the end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868. In the Meiji period, the Empire of Japan pursued rapid industrialization and modernization, as well as militarism and overseas colonization. In 1937, Japan invaded China, and in 1941 attacked the United States and European colonial powers, entering World War II as an Axis power. After suffering defeat in the Pacific War and two atomic bombings, Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under Allied occupation. After the war, the country underwent rapid economic growth, although its economy has stagnated since 1990. (Full article...)

Selected general articles

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  The abolition of the han system (廃藩置県, haihan-chiken) in the Empire of Japan and its replacement by a system of prefectures in 1871 was the culmination of the Meiji Restoration begun in 1868, the starting year of the Meiji period. Under the reform, all daimyos (大名, daimyō, feudal lords) were required to return their authority to the Emperor Meiji and his house. The process was accomplished in several stages, resulting in a new centralized government of Meiji Japan and the replacement of the old feudal system with a new oligarchy. (Full article...)
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  The Azuchi–Momoyama period (安土桃山時代, Azuchi–Momoyama jidai) was the final phase of the Sengoku period (戦国時代, Sengoku jidai) in Japanese history from 1568 to 1600.
  
  After the outbreak of the Ōnin War in 1467, the power of the Ashikaga Shogunate effectively collapsed, marking the start of the chaotic Sengoku period. In 1568, Oda Nobunaga entered Kyoto to install Ashikaga Yoshiaki as the 15th and ultimately final Ashikaga shōgun. This entrance marked the start of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. (Full article...)
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  Samurai of the Shimazu clan

  Bakumatsu (幕末, 'End of the bakufu') were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as sakoku and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji government. The major ideological-political divide during this period was between the pro-imperial nationalists called ishin shishi and the shogunate forces, which included the elite shinsengumi swordsmen.
  
  Although these two groups were the most visible powers, many other factions attempted to use the chaos of bakumatsu to seize personal power. Furthermore, there were two other main driving forces for dissent: first, growing resentment on the part of the tozama daimyō (or outside lords), and second, growing anti-Western sentiment following the arrival of Matthew C. Perry. The first related to those lords whose predecessors had fought against Tokugawa forces at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, after which they had been permanently excluded from all powerful positions within the shogunate. The second was to be expressed in the phrase sonnō jōi, or "revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians". The turning point of the Bakumatsu was during the Boshin War and the Battle of Toba–Fushimi when pro-shogunate forces were defeated. (Full article...)
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  Traditional-style Sukiya-zukuri

  
  Housing in Japan includes modern and traditional styles. Two patterns of residences are predominant in contemporary Japan: the single-family detached house and the multiple-unit building, either owned by an individual or corporation and rented as apartments to tenants, or owned by occupants. Additional kinds of housing, especially for unmarried people, include boarding houses (which are popular among college students), dormitories (common in companies), and barracks (for members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, police and some other public employees).
  
  An unusual feature of Japanese housing is that houses are presumed to have a limited lifespan, and are often torn down and rebuilt after a few decades, generally twenty years for wooden buildings and thirty years for concrete buildings – see regulations for details. Renovating houses, rather than rebuilding them, is a relatively uncommon practice in Japan, though its prevalence is increasing, indicating that attitudes towards the use of older houses may be changing. However, Townsend firmly believes that the perceived risk of earthquakes to single-family homes is exaggerated, attributing this to the marketing strategies of home builders and housing companies. He argue that these entities often employ redundant seismic technology to instill fear in potential buyers. According to Townsend, the structural integrity of homes, reinforced with cross bracing and structural plywood, is generally robust enough to withstand earthquakes. Additionally, Townsend highlights the superior performance of timber buildings in their nation compared to others, suggesting that their value and resilience should not be undermined. (Full article...)
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  Japanese troops entering Shenyang during Mukden incident

  Japanese troops entering Shenyang during the Mukden incident

  
  The Mukden incident was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria.
  
  On September 18, 1931, Lieutenant Suemori Kawamoto of the Independent Garrison Unit of the 29th Japanese Infantry Regiment detonated a small quantity of dynamite close to a railway line owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway near Mukden (now Shenyang). The explosion was so weak that it failed to destroy the track, and a train passed over it minutes later. The Imperial Japanese Army accused Chinese dissidents of the act and responded with a full invasion that led to the occupation of Manchuria, in which Japan established its puppet state of Manchukuo six months later. The deception was exposed by the Lytton Report of 1932, leading Japan to diplomatic isolation and its March 1933 withdrawal from the League of Nations. (Full article...)
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  Final Jōmon dogū (土偶, "earthenware figure") figurine, 4000–400 BCE

  
  In Japanese history, the Jōmon period (縄文時代, Jōmon jidai) is the time between c. 14,000 and 300 BC, during which Japan was inhabited by a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united through a common Jōmon culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism and cultural complexity. The name "cord-marked" was first applied by the American zoologist and orientalist Edward S. Morse, who discovered sherds of pottery in 1877 and subsequently translated "straw-rope pattern" into Japanese as Jōmon. The pottery style characteristic of the first phases of Jōmon culture was decorated by impressing cords into the surface of wet clay and is generally accepted to be among the oldest in the world.
  
  The Jōmon period was rich in tools and jewelry made from bone, stone, shell and antler; pottery figurines and vessels; and lacquerware. It is often compared to pre-Columbian cultures of the North American Pacific Northwest and especially to the Valdivia culture in Ecuador because in these settings cultural complexity developed within a primarily hunting-gathering context with limited use of horticulture. (Full article...)
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  Japan participated in World War I from 1914 to 1918 as a member of the Allies/Entente and played an important role against the Imperial German Navy. Politically, the Japanese Empire seized the opportunity to expand its sphere of influence in China, and to gain recognition as a great power in postwar geopolitics.
  
  Japan's military, taking advantage of the great distances and Imperial Germany's preoccupation with the war in Europe, seized German possessions in the Pacific and East Asia, but there was no large-scale mobilization of the economy. Foreign Minister Katō Takaaki and Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu wanted to use the opportunity to expand Japanese influence in China. They enlisted Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925), then in exile in Japan, but they had little success. The Imperial Japanese Navy, a nearly autonomous bureaucratic institution, made its own decision to undertake expansion in the Pacific area. It captured Germany's Micronesian territories north of the equator, and ruled the islands until they were transitioned to civilian control in 1921. The operation gave the Navy a rationale for enlarging its budget to double the Army budget and expanding the fleet. The Navy then gained significant political influence over national and international affairs. (Full article...)
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  Japan is divided into 47 prefectures (都道府県, todōfuken, [todoːɸɯ̥ꜜkeɴ] ), which rank immediately below the national government and form the country's first level of jurisdiction and administrative division. They include 43 prefectures proper (県, ken), two urban prefectures (府, fu: Osaka and Kyoto), one regional prefecture (道, dō: Hokkaidō) and one metropolis (都, to: Tokyo).
  In 1868, the Meiji Fuhanken sanchisei administration created the first prefectures (urban fu and rural ken) to replace the urban and rural administrators (bugyō, daikan, etc.) in the parts of the country previously controlled directly by the shogunate and a few territories of rebels/shogunate loyalists who had not submitted to the new government such as Aizu/Wakamatsu. In 1871, all remaining feudal domains (han) were also transformed into prefectures, so that prefectures subdivided the whole country. In several waves of territorial consolidation, today's 47 prefectures were formed by the turn of the century. In many instances, these are contiguous with the ancient ritsuryō provinces of Japan.
  
  Each prefecture's chief executive is a directly elected governor (知事, chiji). Ordinances and budgets are enacted by a unicameral assembly (議会, gikai) whose members are elected for four-year terms. (Full article...)
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  Japan participated in World War II from 1939 to 1945 as a member of the Axis. World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War encapsulate a significant period in the history of the Empire of Japan, marked by significant military campaigns and geopolitical maneuvers across the Asia-Pacific region. Spanning from the early 1930s to 1945, Japan employed expansionist policies and aggressive military actions, including the invasion of the Republic of China, and the annexation of French Indochina.
  
  In 1941, Japan attempted to improve relations with the United States in order to reopen trade, especially for oil, but was rebuffed. On 8 December, 1941, Japan attacked multiple American and British positions in the Pacific. The Pacific War, a major theater of World War II, further intensified Japan's engagements, leading to significant confrontations with Allied forces in the Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia. Although initially successful, Japan took significant losses at the Battle of Midway. In addition, Japan met significant setbacks in China. On 6 and 9 August, 1945, Japan was hit by two atomic bombs, while the Soviet Union declared war and invaded Manchuria on 8 August. These events led to the surrender of Japan on 15 August. (Full article...)
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  Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learned folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people as expressed in its oral traditions, customs, and material culture.
  
  In Japanese, the term minkan denshō (民間伝承, "transmissions among the folk") is used to describe folklore. The academic study of folklore is known as minzokugaku (民俗学). Folklorists also employ the term minzoku shiryō (民俗資料) or "folklore material" (民俗資料) to refer to the objects and arts they study. (Full article...)
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  The history of education in Japan dates back at least to the sixth century, when Chinese learning was introduced at the Yamato court. Foreign civilizations have often provided new ideas for the development of Japan's own culture. (Full article...)
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  The cinema of Japan (日本映画, Nihon eiga), also known domestically as hōga (邦画, "domestic cinema"), has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world; as of 2021, it was the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. In 2011, Japan produced 411 feature films that earned 54.9% of a box office total of US$2.338 billion. Films have been produced in Japan since 1897.
  
  During the 1950s, a period dubbed the "Golden Age of Japanese cinema", the jidaigeki films of Akira Kurosawa as well as the science fiction films of Ishirō Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya gained Japanese cinema international praise and made these directors universally renown and highly influential. Some of the Japanese films of this period are now rated some of the greatest of all time: Tokyo Story (1953) ranked number three in Sight & Sound critics' list of the 100 greatest films of all time and also topped the 2012 Sight & Sound directors' poll of The Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time, dethroning Citizen Kane, while Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954) was voted the greatest foreign-language film of all time in BBC's 2018 poll of 209 critics in 43 countries. Japan has also won the Academy Award for the Best International Feature Film five times, more than any other Asian country. (Full article...)
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  Emblem of the Air Self-Defense Force

  
  The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (航空自衛隊, Kōkū Jieitai), JASDF (空自, Kūji), also referred to as the Japanese Air Force, is the air and space branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, responsible for the defense of Japanese airspace, other air and space operations, cyberwarfare and electronic warfare. The JASDF carries out combat air patrols around Japan, while also maintaining a network of ground and air early-warning radar systems. The branch also has an aerobatic team known as Blue Impulse and has provided air transport in UN peacekeeping missions.
  
  The JASDF had an estimated 49,913 personnel as of 2018, and as of 2023 operates about 712 aircraft, approximately 321 of them being fighter aircraft. (Full article...)
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  Emperor Taishō (1900)

  
  The Taishō era (大正時代, Taishō jidai, [taiɕoː dʑidai] ) was a period in the history of Japan dating from 30 July 1912 to 25 December 1926, coinciding with the reign of Emperor Taishō. The new emperor was a sickly man, which prompted the shift in political power from the old oligarchic group of elder statesmen (or genrō) to the Imperial Diet of Japan and the democratic parties. Thus, the era is considered the time of the liberal movement known as Taishō Democracy; it is usually distinguished from the preceding chaotic Meiji era and the following militaristic-driven first part of the Shōwa era. (Full article...)
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  The Edo period (江戸時代, Edo jidai), also known as the Tokugawa period (徳川時代, Tokugawa jidai), is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional daimyo. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, a stable population, overall peace, and popular enjoyment of arts and culture, colloquially referred to as Ōedo (大江戸, Oo-Edo, "Great Edo").
  
  The period derives its name from Edo (now Tokyo), where on March 24, 1603, the shogunate was officially established by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War, which restored imperial rule to Japan. (Full article...)
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  Kawaii (Japanese: かわいい or 可愛い, [kawaiꜜi]; "cute" or "adorable") is a Japanese cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity. Kawaii culture began to flourish in the 1970s, driven by youth culture and the rise of cute characters in manga and anime (comics and animation) and merchandise, exemplified by the creation of Hello Kitty by Sanrio in 1974. The kawaii aesthetic is characterized by soft or pastel colors, rounded shapes, and features which evoke vulnerability, such as big eyes and small mouths, and has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, influencing entertainment (including toys and idols), fashion (such as Lolita fashion), advertising, and product design. (Full article...)
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  In Japan, any organization that supports a candidate needs to register itself as a political party. Each of these parties have some local or national influence. This article lists political parties in Japan with representation in the National Diet, either in the House of Representatives (lower house) or in the House of Councillors (upper house). The article also mentions political parties within the nation that either used to be within representation, or parties that currently are. (Full article...)
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  The foundations of the aviation industry survived the war.

  
  The Japanese economic miracle (Japanese: 高度経済成長, romanized: Kōdo keizai seichō) refers to Japan's record period of economic growth between the post-World War II era and the beginning of the global Oil Crisis (1955-1973). During the economic boom, Japan rapidly became the world's third-largest economy, after the United States and the Soviet Union. By the 1970s, Japan was no longer expanding as quickly as it had in the previous decades despite per-worker productivity remaining high. (Full article...)
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  Hotaru Kari (ほたる狩り, "Firefly Hunting"), illustration by Shigeru Sudō, 1926

  
  Class S (クラスS, Kurasu Esu), or S kankei, abbreviated either as S or Esu (エス), is an early twentieth-century Japanese wasei-eigo term used to refer to romantic friendships between girls. The term is also used to designate a genre of girl's fiction (少女小説, shōjo shōsetsu) which tells stories about the same, typically focused on senpai and kōhai relationships wherein one girl is senior in age or position to the other. The "S" is an abbreviation that can stand for "sister", "shōjo" (少女, lit. young girl), "sex", "schön" (German: beautiful), and "escape".
  
  Although Class S can broadly be described as a form of love between girls, it is distinct from a romantic relationship or romance fiction in that it is used specifically to describe platonic relationships based on strong emotional bonds and very close friendship, rather than sex or sexual attraction. (Full article...)
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  Tokyo's Yoshiwara pleasure quarter, antique postcard

  
  
  Prostitution in Japan has existed throughout the country's history. While the Prostitution Prevention Law of 1956 states that "No person may either do prostitution or become the customer of it", loopholes, liberal interpretations and a loose enforcement of the law have allowed the Japanese sex industry to prosper and earn an estimated 2.3 trillion yen ($24 billion) per year.
  
  Sex trade and sex services may be referred to as fūzoku (風俗), which also means "manners", "customs" or "public morals". (Full article...)
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  The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part of World War II, and often regarded as the beginning of World War II in Asia. It was the largest Asian war in the 20th century and has been described as "the Asian Holocaust", in reference to the scale of Japanese war crimes against Chinese civilians. It is known in China as the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (simplified Chinese: 抗日战争; traditional Chinese: 抗日戰爭).
  
  On 18 September 1931, the Japanese staged the Mukden incident, a false flag event fabricated to justify their invasion of Manchuria and establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo. This is sometimes marked as the beginning of the war. From 1931 to 1937, China and Japan engaged in skirmishes, including in Shanghai and in Northern China. Chinese Nationalist and Communist forces, respectively led by Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, had fought each other in the Chinese Civil War since 1927. In late 1933, Chiang Kai-shek encircled the Chinese Communists in an attempt to finally destroy them, forcing the Communists into the Long March, resulting in the Communists losing around 90% of their men. As a Japanese invasion became imminent, Chiang still refused to form a united front before he was placed under house arrest by his subordinates who forced him to form the Second United Front in late 1936 in order to resist the Japanese invasion together. (Full article...)
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  Kinkaku-ji

  
  The Muromachi period or Muromachi era (室町時代, Muromachi jidai), also known as the Ashikaga period or Ashikaga era (足利時代, Ashikaga jidai), is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (Muromachi bakufu or Ashikaga bakufu), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shōgun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kenmu Restoration (1333–1336) of imperial rule was brought to a close. The period ended in 1573 when the 15th and last shogun of this line, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, was driven out of the capital in Kyoto by Oda Nobunaga.
  
  From a cultural perspective, the period can be divided into the Kitayama and Higashiyama cultures (later 15th – early 16th centuries). (Full article...)
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  Japanese people (Japanese: 日本人, Hepburn: Nihonjin) are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Japanese archipelago. Japanese people constitute 97.4% of the population of the country of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 125 million people are of Japanese descent, making them one of the largest ethnic groups. Approximately 120.8 million Japanese people are residents of Japan, and there are approximately 4 million members of the Japanese diaspora, known as Nikkeijin (日系人).
  
  In some contexts, the term "Japanese people" may be used to refer specifically to the Yamato people from mainland Japan; in other contexts the term may include other groups native to the Japanese archipelago, including Ryukyuan people, who share connections with the Yamato but are often regarded as distinct, and Ainu people. In recent decades, there has also been an increase in the number of people with both Japanese and non-Japanese roots, including half Japanese people. (Full article...)
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  Japan is a constitutional monarchy. The Human Rights Scores Dataverse ranked Japan somewhere in the middle among G7 countries on its human rights performance, below Germany and Canada and above the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and the United States. The Fragile States Index ranked Japan second last in the G7 after the United States on its "Human Rights and Rule of Law" sub-indicator.
  
  According to the statistics of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) for 2022, the MOJ human rights organs received 159,864 consultations on human rights violations, completed 7,627 cases of remedial measures for victims, and initiated 7,859 cases of remedial measures. Of the cases in which the MOJ completed redress for victims, the largest number of cases related to discriminatory treatment were for discriminated burakumin (406 cases), followed by the physically disabled, the sick, foreign residents, women, the elderly, and gender identity. Of the cases in which the MOJ initiated redress for victims, 18.6% involved privacy violations, 14.5% involved labor rights, 13.3% involved school bullying, 12.8% involved assault and abuse, and 10.2% involved extortion and coercion. According to the MOJ, the number of human rights violations has decreased from year to year, but the number of cases of school bullying and human rights violations on the Internet remained high. (Full article...)
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  Emblem of the Government of Japan

  
  The deputy prime Minister of Japan (副総理, Fuku-sōri) is the second highest-ranking officer of the executive branch of the government of Japan after the prime minister of Japan, and ranks first in the line of succession to the prime minister. The office of the deputy prime minister is not a permanent position, and exists only at the discretion of the prime minister.
  
  The deputy prime minister is appointed by the prime minister and must be a member of the cabinet, for instance Taro Aso served as Minister of Finance concurrently. Should the prime minister be incapacitated or resign, the deputy prime minister does not automatically succeed to the position, but instead exercises the duties of the prime minister until the National Diet elects a successor. Tarō Asō was the longest-serving deputy prime minister. (Full article...)

Did you know...

• ... that the Japanese manga series Minato's Laundromat originated as a story titled Wash My Heart! that was posted on Pixiv?
• ... that Scholastic requested Maggie Tokuda-Hall remove the phrase "virulent racism" from the Author's Note in Love in the Library, a children's book about Japanese-American internment camps?
• ... that after dodging censorship for years, The Korea Daily News was finally bought out and turned into a publication of the Japanese colonial government in Korea?
• ... that the 2024 film 18×2 Beyond Youthful Days was filmed in Japan in March to capture both snowfalls and cherry blossoms in the same month?
• ... that despite the Japan–Korea Joint Development Zone containing "prolific" oil reserves, none has been produced to date?
• ... that the Japanese-language children's show Kikaida, popularized in Hawaii by a Honolulu TV station, beat Sesame Street in the local ratings?

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Selected images

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  JMSDF Kongō-class destroyer (from Japan)
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  The National Diet Building (from Japan)
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  Japanese samurai boarding a Mongol vessel during the Mongol invasions of Japan, depicted in the Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba, 1293 (from Japan)
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  Kanji and hiragana signs (from Japan)
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  Japan is a member of both the G7 and the G20. (from Japan)
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  University of Tokyo Hospital (from Japan)
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  12th-century illustrated handscroll of The Tale of Genji, a National Treasure (from Japan)
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  Japan's imperial ambitions ended on September 2, 1945, with the country's surrender to the Allies. (from Japan)
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  Sumo wrestlers form around the referee during the ring-entering ceremony. (from Japan)
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  Japan Airlines, the flag carrier of Japan (from Japan)
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  Students celebrating after the announcement of the results of the entrance examinations to the University of Tokyo (from Japan)
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  A topographic map of Japan (from Japan)
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  Mount Fuji in Spring, view from Arakurayama Sengen Park (from Japan)
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  The Nissan GT-R, a sports car manufactured by Nissan. Japan is the third-largest producer of motor vehicles in the world. (from Japan)
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  Emperor Naruhito, current head of state, and Empress Masako participated in the Imperial Procession by motorcar after the Ceremony of the Enthronement in Tokyo on November 10, 2019. (from Japan)
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  The headquarters of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (from Japan)
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  Prefectures of Japan with colored regions (from Japan)
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  The torii of Itsukushima Shinto Shrine near Hiroshima (from Japan)
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  Noh performance at a Shinto shrine (from Japan)
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  Legendary Emperor Jimmu (神武天皇, Jinmu-tennō) (from Japan)
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  A rice paddy in Aizu, Fukushima Prefecture (from Japan)
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  Autumn maple leaves (momiji) at Kongōbu-ji on Mount Kōya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (from Japan)
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  Young women celebrate Coming of Age Day (成人の日, Seijin no Hi) in Harajuku, Tokyo. (from Japan)
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  The Japanese Experiment Module (Kibō) at the International Space Station (from Japan)
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  Part of the Seto Hill Windfarm (from Japan)
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  View of Tokyo from the top of the Tokyo Skytree. The Greater Tokyo Area is ranked as the most populous metropolitan area in the world. (from Japan)
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  Three unifiers of Japan. Left to right: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. (from Japan)
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  A plate of nigiri-zushi (from Japan)
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  Skyscrapers in Nakanoshima, Osaka; a major financial center in Japan (from Japan)

In the news

3 November 2024 – 2024 Japan Series

In baseball, the Yokohama DeNA BayStars defeat the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks to win the Japan Series in six games, capturing their third championship and their first since 1998. (NHK)

31 October 2024 – North Korean missile tests

North Korea launches an intercontinental ballistic missile on a "lofted trajectory" toward the Sea of Japan. Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani says that this was the longest-ever launch of a North Korean ICBM, lasting 87 minutes, marking significant progress in range compared to previous tests. (Al Jazeera)

27 October 2024 – 2024 Japanese general election

Japanese citizens vote for the 465 seats in the House of Representatives. (NHK)

The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito loses its majority. (Reuters)

11 October 2024 – 2024 Nobel Peace Prize

This year's Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Japanese atomic bomb survivors group Nihon Hidankyo for "its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again". (The Washington Post) (Nobel Prize)

10 October 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine

The World Bank approves a new financial intermediary fund consisting of grants from the United States, Japan, Canada, and other countries coupled with interest from frozen Russian assets to give to Ukraine as part of a $50 billion loan. (Reuters)

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