Japan is an island country located in the pacific ocean and it lies to the east of China, Korea, and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name literally means "the sun's origin", thus Japan is also sometimes known as the self-identified "The Land of the Rising Sun", a name that comes from the country's eastward position relative to mainland Asia. Its capital and largest city is Tokyo.

Japan is an economic world power with the world's second largest economy (by nominal GDP), world's largest international creditor and is the sixth largest exporter and importer and is a member of the United Nations, G8, G4, and APEC.
Japanese culture has evolved greatly over the years, from the country's original Jomon culture to its contemporary hybrid culture, which combines influences from Asia, Europe, and North America. Traditional Japanese arts include crafts (ikebana, origami, ukiyo-e, dolls, lacquerware, pottery), performances (bunraku, dance, kabuki, noh, rakugo), traditions (games, tea ceremony, budo, architecture, gardens, swords), and cuisine.
Post-war Japan has been heavily influenced by American and European culture which has led to the evolution of popular band music (called J-Pop). The fusion of traditional woodblock printing and Western art led to the creation of manga, a typically Japanese comic book format that is now popular in and even outside Japan. Manga-influenced animation for television and film is called anime. Video game consoles have prospered since the 1980s. The mascot of Nintendo, "Mario", is the most popular.

Cuisine
A basic, traditional Japanese meal consists of white Japanese rice with accompanying tsukemono pickles as appetizers; a bowl of miso soup;selected or combined seafood, meat, egg, and vegetable dishes known as okazu; and green tea. In a traditional Japanese breakfast, for example, the okazu may be a grilled fish. Culturally, people start and finish meals with phrases of gratitude as itadakimasu and gochisosama, respectively. Foods, beverages, and condiments from Japan, such as sushi, sashimi, ramen, sake, wasabi, sukiyaki and teriyaki are recognized worldwide.

Music
Japanese music is eclectic, having borrowed instruments, scales and styles from neighboring cultures. Many instruments, such as the koto, were introduced in the ninth and tenth centuries. The accompanied recitative of the Noh drama dates from the fourteenth century and the popular folk music, with the guitarlike shamisen, from the 16th.[30] Western music, introduced in the late nineteenth century, now forms an integral part of the culture, as evident from the profusion of J-Pop artists. Modern Japanese music uses western instruments, scales and style.

Literature
The earliest works include two history books the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, and a poetry book Man'yoshu in the eighth century, all written in Chinese characters. In the early days of the Heian period, the system of transcription known as kana (Hiragana and Katakana) was created as phonograms. The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is considered the oldest Japanese narrative.[31] An account of Heian court life is given by The Pillow Book, written by Sei Shonagon while The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki is sometimes called the world's first novel.
During the Edo Period, literature became not so much the field of the samurai aristocracy as that of the chonin, the ordinary people. Yomihon, for example, became popular and reveals this profound change in the readership and authorship.
The Meiji era saw the decline of traditional literary forms, during which Japanese literature integrated western influences. Natsume Soseki and Mori Ogai were the first "modern" novelists of Japan, followed by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, Kawabata Yasunari, Mishima Yukio, and more recently, Murakami Haruki. Japan has two Nobel prize winning authors — Kawabata Yasunari (1968) and Oe Kenzaburo (1994).

Sport
Beginning in the twelfth century, Japan developed traditional martial arts known as budo, which were popular among the warrior class. These include judo, karate and kendo. Sumo is sometimes considered Japan's national sport and is one of its most popular.
After the Meiji Restoration, many western sports were introduced and began to spread through the education system. These sports were initially stressed as a form of mental discipline, but Japanese have now come to enjoy them as recreational activities.
Baseball is the most popular ball game in Japan - the professional baseball league in Japan was established in 1937. One of Japan's most famous baseball players in major league baseball is Suzuki Ichiro, who won a Gold Glove. Concerning football, the professional soccer league in Japan was established in 1992. Japan was a venue of the Intercontinental Cup from 1981 to 2004, and Japan co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup with South Korea. Golf is popular in Japan, as is auto racing, the Super GT sports car series and Formula Nippon formula racing.
Each year, Japan observes the second Monday in October as Health and Sports Day. The date, originally October 10, commemorates the opening day of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Other major sporting events that Japan has hosted include the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo and the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.


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