A nation in east Asia composed of 4 main islands; and hundreds, if not thousands, of smaller islands. Much of the land is mountain, so people are largely restricted to limited areas to live. Current population is approximately 127 million, with a per capita GDP of $29,400 (2004 estimate). This places it as the 21st richest country per capita, just behind the Netherlands.
Japan's history is long, with a ruling family which has been in place longer than any other in the world. Japan was an isolationist country until Commodore Matthew Perry presented Japan with Fillmore's letter. Afterwards, Japan quickly modernized and militarized, and won the respect of Europe after it defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese war. In the following years Japan invaded Manchuria, Korea, and eventually parts of China. During this time, the Japanese came to be known and feared for being especially brutal (examples include the rape of Nanking, where the Japanese killed over 200,000 civilians and noncombatants) The United States cut off trade with Japan in response, which hurt Japan's military ambition. This led Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor, and bring the United States into World War 2. The war ended with Japan surrendering unconditionally after nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and with the Soviet Union invading Manchuria and the Sakhalin Islands. Japan was left a ruin, with its economy a shambles. However, the following four decades saw a time of tremendous reconstruction and economic growth. However, the 90's have marked a rather long-lasting recession, one which Japan has not yet fully recovered.
Japan is known today mainly for its consumer technology and its popular culture. While the Japanese did not invent many of the things they produce, they have successfully improved and marketed them. Most famous are console gaming systems, which the Japanese produced exclusively starting with the Atari and ending in recent times when Microsoft released the Xbox. Their popular culture is regarded as rather bizarre by much of the world, especially the western one. Some aspects of this include their animation (referred to as "Anime" or "Japanimation" in the western world) and their late night game shows. However, not all aspects of their popular culture are positive. For instance, the Japanese show an unhealthy sexual infatuation with underage people, going so far as to have numerous pornographic videos, pictures, etc. of oboviously underage subjects.
The western world generally regards Japan with a combination of respect (for their business techniques and such) and amusement (with their popular culture). Most Oriental countries (most notably China and Korea) have a rather negative view of Japan. This is in part due to the atrocities the Japanese committed on them during the Second World War, and in part to the behavior of Japanese tourists, which is generally viewed as snobbish.

The country with the world's best toilets.

The land of the rising sun.
A island nation to the east near Korea.
Often overrated by anime junky.
Many people in North American and parts of Europe have many misconceptions about Japan. Many believe that the country lives, eats, sleeps, and breaths anime and people still walk around with swords and ninja and shoguns are still about. Even though weapons have been banned from civilians for years. Many people think Japan invented anime, well they are wrong all they did was improve on the idea of Disney cartoons that American GI’s brought over for entertainment. The reason why anime is where it’s at today is because you don’t have people who say animation is for kids nor do you have television producers saying.”You can’t put that on TV because its violent.”

The school system in japan is great even though they sometimes go to school 6 days a week depending on the school. Although Japan has little shootings “about 30 a year” more people just get stabbed. Teen suicide much like the rest of Asia is sky high because of the requirements of the Japanese school system.

Electronics in Japan are advanced even though 90% of them where invented in the US or other places. They go to Japan to become improved or mass produced. Stuff in Japan can be EXTREMELY expensive. A small two bedroom one bathroom apartment in Tokyo can cost around $700,000 US dollars.

Japan’s history is varied. From Shoguns and warriors of the feudal era to the atrocities of WW2 to stories of honor and r...

1) World's second largest single economy (disregarding Eurozone).
2) World class producers of automobiles.
3) World class producers of small electronic gizmos with no readily identifiable use.
4) World class producers of animated tentacle-rape porn, disturbingly....
5) One of the few countries to feature vending machines with schoolgirl knickers in.
6) Has really perfected the *art* of toilet making. Music and automatic scent release, from a toilet shaped like a mouth? Fantastic!
7) Has the world's second largest defence budget, in real terms.
8) Doesn't seem to do much with that money. One can only assume that a giant robot godzilla is around the corner.
9) Limited land area. One can only ski for a short distance before smacking into the side of a cooperative bank.

Bizarre. Just a very, very bizarre and frightening place. It's the only nation where one can buy both porn and women's underwear from that freaky vending machine a block away from your cramped apartment.

Women should stay FAR away from any crowded place, because it's more that probable that she'll get groped at least six times before she gets back to her hotel room. If she's lucky.

A very brutal country. You can buy almost everything you can dream of from vending machines. Famous for anime, manga, and disgusting porn (scatophagy, vomit, violent rape, hentai). A peaceful, polite country on the surface with a violent undertone. Overcrowded; surprisingly clean; extremely high smoking rate; obssessed with electronic gadgets; biggest producer economical, quality but also ugly-looking automobiles.
Their music includes cute j-pop to ultra-brutal grindcore. Suicide rate is high, people are nationalistic.

A country disliked by surrounding countries, especially Korea. ( Though there are many Koreans who admire and embrace the Japanese culture) Its bad relationship developed from unpleasant past and government problems between the two. It is economically wealthy and traditional or stereotypical Japanese people are known to be quiet and polite on the outside and have quite different feelings on the inside.

Japan, a country often not seen for what it really is. It is one of the world's largest powers, however, many think everyone wears kimono, watches anime, practices karate everyday, and eat only rice. There is much more to it than that.

-Food-
Due to being an island, Japan's main source of food is seafood. Sushi is one of Japan's specialties and can be made in a variety of ways. Popular dishes include Nigiri, Gunkan, and Norimaki. (source : japan-guide.com)

Another type of popular Japanese foods are its sweets. Some of the most famous are Pocky (bisquit sticks covered with a type of icing), Pucca (sea-creature shaped pretzle-like snack filled with chocolate), and Ramune Candies (made after a popular drink called Ramune that's very sweet and comes in a glass bottle with a marble in the neck). These items are shipped around the world and can commonly be found in a local store.

-Housing-
In the common Japanese household, many things are different from what you may be used to. When you enter one's home, you take off your shoes at a front square, switching to slippers (common colour is green).
*Bathroom*
When you need to use the restroom, there is another type of slippers available call...