Japan

Several other names and terms also lead here. You can find their meanings at Japan (disambiguation), Nihon (disambiguation), Nippon (disambiguation), and JPN (disambiguation). Japan is an island country in East Asia. It lies in the Pacific Ocean, off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland. It is bordered to the west by the Sea of Japan, to the north by the Sea of Okhotsk, and to the south by the East China Sea. The Japanese archipelago has four major islands and over 14,000 smaller islands. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions. About 75% of its land is mountains and forests. So its farms and crowded cities are mostly found along the eastern coastal plains. With almost 123 million people as of 2026, it is the world's 11th most populous country. Tokyo is the country's capital and largest city.

The first known people lived on the islands during the Upper Paleolithic. The start of the Japanese Paleolithic dates to around 36,000 BC. Between the 4th and 6th centuries, its kingdoms were joined under an emperor in Nara and later in Heian-kyō. From the 12th century, real power was held by military leaders called shōgun and feudal lords called daimyō. They were supported by a warrior group called samurai. After rule by the Kamakura and Ashikaga shogunates and a century of warring states, Japan was united in 1600 by the Tokugawa shogunate. That government kept Japan mostly closed to other countries, following an isolationist foreign policy. In 1853, an American fleet pushed Japan to open trade to the West. This led to the end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868.

The Meiji period saw Japan grow quickly. It built many factories, modernized its society, built up its military, and took control of other lands overseas. In 1889, Japan became an imperial power with the Meiji Constitution. It took control of Taiwan in 1895 and Korea in 1910. In 1937, Japan invaded China. In 1941, it attacked the U.S. and European colonial powers, and so it entered World War II as an Axis power. After losing the Pacific War, and after the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered in 1945. It came under Allied occupation until 1952. In the following decades, it experienced rapid economic growth and became one of the first major non-NATO allies of the U.S. Since the collapse of the Japanese asset price bubble in the early 1990s, it has faced a long period of economic stagnation known as the Lost Decades.

Japan is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral lawmaking body called the National Diet. It is widely considered a great power and is the only Asian member of the G7. It has one of the world's strongest militaries, but it has promised in its constitution never to go to war to settle disputes. As a developed country with one of the world's largest economies by nominal GDP, Japan is a world leader in the automotive, electronics, and robotics industries. It also makes important contributions to science and technology. The country has one of the world's highest life expectancies, but its population is getting smaller.

The culture of Japan is well known around the world, especially its popular culture. This includes animation, art, comics, cuisine, fashion, films, music, television, theater, and video games.

Etymology

Main article: Names of Japan

In Japanese, the country's name is written with the kanji 日本 and is pronounced Nihon or Nippon. Before 日本 was adopted in the early 8th century, people in China knew the country as Wa (倭, which was changed in Japan around 757 to 和). People in Japan called their land Yamato. Nippon is the original Sino-Japanese reading of the characters. It is used for official purposes, such as on Japanese banknotes and postage stamps. Nihon is usually used in everyday speech. It shows changes in Japanese phonology during the Edo period. The characters 日本 mean 'sun origin', which is where the famous nickname "Land of the Rising Sun" comes from.

The name "Japan" comes from Min or Wu Chinese pronunciations of 日本. It reached European languages through early trade. In the 13th century, Marco Polo wrote down the Early Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of 日本國 as Cipangu. The old Malay name for Japan, Japang or Japun, was borrowed from a southern Chinese coastal dialect. Portuguese traders met this name in Southeast Asia. They brought the word to Europe in the early 16th century. The first English version of the name appeared in a book published in 1577. It spelled the name Giapan in a translation of a 1565 Portuguese letter.

History

Main article: History of Japan

See also: Origins of the Yamato Kingship

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Japanese history.

Modern humans arrived in Japan about 38,000 years ago, starting the Japanese Paleolithic. Around 14,500 BC, the Jōmon period began. People of this time lived in hunter-gatherer groups in pit dwellings and did simple farming. Clay vessels from this time are among the oldest surviving pottery. Later, the Yayoi people came from the Korean Peninsula. They spoke a Japonic language and mixed with the Jōmon people. The Yayoi period brought wet-rice farming, a new style of pottery, and metalworking from China and Korea. According to legend, Emperor Jimmu, a descendant of Amaterasu, founded a kingdom in central Japan in 660 BC. This started a continuous imperial line. Japan first appears in written history in the Chinese Book of Han, completed in 111 AD. It describes a hundred small kingdoms. A century later, the Book of Wei says that the kingdom of Yamatai (which may refer to Yamato) united many of these kingdoms. Buddhism came to Japan from Baekje, a Korean kingdom, in 552. Its development was mainly shaped by China. At first, some people resisted it. However, the ruling class supported it, including figures like Prince Shōtoku. It became widely accepted in the Asuka period (592–710).

In 645, the government led by Prince Naka no Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari introduced the Taika Reforms. These reforms were based on Confucian ideas and philosophies from China. All land became the property of the nation. It was to be distributed equally among farmers. A household registry was ordered to form the basis of a new tax system. The main goal was to give the central government and the imperial court more power. Envoys and students were sent to China to learn about writing, politics, art, and religion. In 672, the Jinshin War was fought between Prince Ōama and his nephew Prince Ōtomo. It led to more reforms, including the Taihō Code. These legal reforms created the ritsuryō state, a Chinese-style central government that lasted about five hundred years. The Nara period (710–784) saw a Japanese state centered on the imperial court in Heijō-kyō (modern Nara). It brought a new literary culture, with the Kojiki (712) and Nihon Shoki (720). Art and architecture were inspired by Buddhism. A smallpox epidemic in 735–737 killed many people across Japan. In 784, Emperor Kanmu moved the capital. In 794, it was settled at Heian-kyō (modern-day Kyoto). This began the Heian period (794–1185), when a distinctly Japanese culture grew. Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji during this time. The lyrics of Japan's national anthem "Kimigayo" were also written then.

Japan's feudal era was shaped by a ruling class of warriors, the samurai. In 1185, the Taira clan was defeated by the Minamoto clan in the Genpei War. The samurai Minamoto no Yoritomo then set up a military government at Kamakura. After Yoritomo died, the Hōjō clan gained power as regents for the shōgun. The Zen school of Buddhism came from China during the Kamakura period (1185–1333). It became popular among samurai. The Kamakura shogunate repelled Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281. Later, it was eventually overthrown by Emperor Go-Daigo. Go-Daigo was defeated by Ashikaga Takauji in 1336. This started the Muromachi period (1336–1573). The Ashikaga shogunate could not control the feudal warlords (daimyō). In 1467, a civil war began. It led to the Sengoku period ('Warring States'), which lasted about a century.

In the 16th century, Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries reached Japan. This started trade and cultural exchange with the West (see Nanban trade and Nanban art). Oda Nobunaga used European technology and firearms to defeat many other daimyō. His rise began the Azuchi–Momoyama period. After the death of Nobunaga in 1582, his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, brought the nation together in the early 1590s. He also launched two unsuccessful invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597. Tokugawa Ieyasu served as regent for Hideyoshi's son Toyotomi Hideyori within the Council of Five Elders. He used this position to gain support. He defeated rival clans in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. In 1603, Emperor Go-Yōzei named him shōgun. He set up the Tokugawa shogunate at Edo (modern Tokyo). The shogunate made rules such as Buke shohatto to control the independent daimyō. In 1639, it adopted the sakoku ('closed country') policy, which closed Japan to most outside contact. This lasted through the Edo period (1603–1868). Modern Japan's economic growth began in this time. Roads (Kaidō) and water transport routes were built. New financial tools such as futures contracts appeared. Banking and insurance were developed by the Osaka rice brokers. The study of Western sciences (rangaku) continued through contact with the Dutch enclave in Nagasaki. The Edo period also gave rise to kokugaku ('national studies'), the study of Japan by the Japanese.

Emperor Meiji (明治天皇, Meiji-tennō); 1852–1912

The United States Navy sent Commodore Matthew C. Perry to ask Japan to open to the outside world. He arrived at Uraga with four "Black Ships" in July 1853. The Perry Expedition led to the Convention of Kanagawa in March 1854. Similar treaties with other Western countries caused economic and political problems. When the shōgun resigned, the Boshin War followed. A centralized state was then set up, nominally united under the emperor. This is known as the Meiji Restoration. Japan adopted Western political, legal, and military systems. The Cabinet organized the Privy Council. It introduced the Meiji Constitution (November 29, 1890) and brought together the Imperial Diet.

During the Meiji period (1868–1912), the Empire of Japan became the most developed country in Asia. It was an industrial world power that also used military force to expand its influence. After wins in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), Japan gained control of Taiwan, Korea, and the southern half of Sakhalin. It took control of Korea in 1910. The Japanese population doubled from 35 million in 1873 to 70 million by 1935. Many people moved to cities. The early 20th century saw Taishō democracy (1912–1926). This was overshadowed by growing expansionism and militarization. Japan joined the winning Allies in World War I. It also took German possessions in the Pacific and China. In the 1920s, Japan's politics moved toward statism. After the 1923 Great Tokyo Earthquake, there was a period of lawlessness. New laws against political dissent were passed, and there were a series of attempted coups. In the 1930s, several strong nationalist groups formed. They opposed liberal democracy and wanted to expand in Asia. In 1931, Japan invaded China and occupied Manchuria. This led to the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932. After international condemnation of the occupation, Japan left the League of Nations in 1933. In 1936, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany. The 1940 Tripartite Pact made it one of the Axis powers.

The Empire of Japan invaded other parts of China in 1937. This started the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). In 1940, the Empire invaded French Indochina. The United States then placed an oil embargo on Japan. On December 7–8, 1941, Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor. They also attacked British forces in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong, among others. This began World War II in the Pacific. During the war, numerous abuses were committed against local people in areas Japan occupied. People were treated very badly.

Over the next four years, the Allies won the war. Their victories included the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender. The war caused great loss for Japan. Japan lost many of its conquered territories, including parts of Japan such as Korea, Taiwan, Karafuto, and the Kurils. The Allies, led by the United States, brought many Japanese settlers home from former colonies and military camps across Asia. This largely ended the Empire of Japan and its influence over the lands it had taken. The Allies set up the International Military Tribunal for the Far East to put Japanese leaders on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Emperor Hirohito was not included.

In 1947, Japan adopted a new constitution that emphasized liberal democratic practices. The Allied occupation ended with the Treaty of San Francisco in 1952. In 1956, Japan became a member of the United Nations. A period of record growth made Japan the world's second-largest economy at that time. This ended in the mid-1990s after the bursting of an asset price bubble. This began the "Lost Decade," a time of slow economic growth and low inflation. On March 11, 2011, Japan was hit by the Tōhoku earthquake. It was the largest earthquake in its recorded history. Along with the tsunami that followed, it caused the Fukushima nuclear accident. On May 1, 2019, after the historic abdication of Emperor Akihito, his son Naruhito became Emperor. This began the Reiwa era.

Geography

Main articles: Geography of Japan and Geology of Japan

Japan has 14,125 islands along the Pacific coast of Asia. The country stretches over 3000 km (1900 mi) from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East China Sea in the southwest. Its five main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. The Ryukyu Islands, which include Okinawa, lie south of Kyushu. The Nanpō Islands lie south and east of the main islands. Together they are often called the Japanese archipelago. Japan has the sixth-longest coastline in the world. Because of its far-off islands, Japan's exclusive economic zone is the eighth-largest in the world. Most of the land is forest or agricultural land. The land is rugged and mountainous, so most people live in coastal areas. Japan is the 40th most densely populated country. About 0.5% of the land is reclaimed land (umetatechi). Lake Biwa is an ancient lake and the country's largest freshwater lake. Japan lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, so it is often shaken by earthquakes and hit by tsunami and volcanic eruptions. In the 2016 World Risk Index, Japan ranked 17th highest for natural disaster risk. The 1923 Tokyo earthquake killed many people. More recent major quakes were the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, which caused a large tsunami.

Main article: Climate of Japan

Japan's climate is mostly temperate, but it changes from north to south. Hokkaido has a humid continental climate with long, cold winters. The Pacific coast has a humid subtropical climate with hot, humid summers. The Ryukyu and Nanpō Islands are subtropical. Rain is very heavy in the rainy season. Typhoons often bring heavy rain in late summer and early autumn. The Sea of Japan coast gets heavy snow in winter. The Seto Inland Sea is sheltered by mountains of Chūgoku and Shikoku, which brings mild weather all year.

Main article: Wildlife of Japan

Japan has nine forest ecoregions. They range from subtropical moist broadleaf forests in the Ryūkyū and Bonin Islands to temperate broadleaf and mixed forests on the main islands and temperate coniferous forests in the north. Japan has over 90,000 species of wildlife. These include the brown bear, the Japanese macaque, the Japanese raccoon dog, the small Japanese field mouse, and the Japanese giant salamander. There are 53 Ramsar wetland sites, and five sites are on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Main articles: Environmental issues in Japan and Climate change in Japan

After World War II, the economy grew quickly, and protecting the environment was given less attention. Environmental pollution was common in the 1950s and 1960s. The government introduced environmental protection laws in 1970. The oil crisis in 1973 encouraged people to use energy more efficiently. Japan is one of the world's largest producers of carbon dioxide. As a host and signer of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, it must reduce its emissions. In 2020, the government announced a goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Environmental issues include urban air pollution (NOx, suspended particulate matter, and toxics), waste management, water eutrophication, nature conservation, climate change, chemical management, and international co-operation for conservation.

Government and politics

Main articles: Government of Japan and Politics of Japan

Japan is a unitary state and a constitutional monarchy. The emperor (Tennō) has a ceremonial role, which means he does not run the country. The prime minister and the Cabinet lead the government, and the power to rule belongs to the Japanese people. Naruhito is the Emperor of Japan. He followed his father, Akihito, when he took the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019.

Japan's lawmaking group is the National Diet. It is a bicameral parliament, which means it has two houses. The House of Representatives has 465 seats and is elected every four years or when it is dissolved. The Senate has 248 seats. Adults over 18 can vote through universal suffrage, and votes are cast by secret ballot. The head of government, who is the prime minister, chooses and removes Ministers of State. The prime minister is appointed by the emperor. Sanae Takaichi is the current prime minister. She took office after winning the 2025 Liberal Democratic Party leadership election and reaching a confidence and supply agreement with Ishin. The dominant party since the 1950s has been the Liberal Democratic Party, which is generally conservative. This long period is often called the 1955 System.

Japan's laws were once influenced by Chinese law. During the Edo period, the legal system grew on its own through writings such as Kujikata Osadamegaki. Since the late 1800s, the judicial system has been mostly based on the civil law of Europe, especially Germany. Japan's civil code from 1896 was based on the German Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch. The Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947, is the oldest constitution in the world that has never been changed. The main body of written law is called the Six Codes. The court system includes the Supreme Court and three levels of lower courts. Japan is split into 47 prefectures. Each one is led by an elected governor and has its own legislature.

Japan has been a member of the United Nations since 1956. It is one of the G4 countries that want to change the Security Council. Japan belongs to the G7, APEC, and "ASEAN Plus Three". It also takes part in the East Asia Summit. In 2014, Japan was the world's fifth-largest donor of official development assistance. In 2024, it had the fourth-largest diplomatic network. Many people see Japan as a great power because of its economic power and its political, cultural, and military influence. Japan has close economic and military relations with the United States, and the two countries have a security alliance. Japan is also part of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which works to limit Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Japan has disagreements over land with some of its neighbors. These include the Southern Kuril Islands, the Liancourt Rocks, and the Senkaku Islands. In the 2025 Global Peace Index, Japan was the second highest-ranked Asian country. Its military, the Japan Self-Defense Forces, is limited by Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. This article gives up the right to declare war or use force in international disputes. The military is run by the Ministry of Defense. It includes the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. Everyday safety is mainly handled by the prefectural police departments, which are overseen by the National Police Agency. Japan has strict rules about who can own guns.

Japanese society puts a strong focus on collective harmony and conformity. The constitution forbids discrimination based on race or religion. Even so, Japan has been criticized for its gender inequality, for not allowing same-sex marriages, for racial profiling by police, and for allowing capital punishment.

Economy

Economy of Japan

Japan has the world's fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. Only the United States, China, and Germany are bigger. As of 2023, Japan's labor force is the world's tenth-largest, with over 69.2 million workers. As of 2025, Japan has a low unemployment rate of about 2.5%. Its poverty rate is the second highest among the G7 countries, at over 15.7% of the population. Japan has the highest ratio of national debt to GDP among advanced economies. The Japanese yen is the world's third-largest reserve currency. In 2024, Japan was the world's eighth-largest exporter and sixth-largest importer. Its main exports are motor vehicles, iron and steel products, semiconductors, and auto parts. Japan's biggest trading partners for exports and imports include China and the United States. Japan's main export markets were China and the United States in 2025.

Japan's business culture has some special features. Keiretsu groups of companies are influential. Lifetime employment and promotion based on seniority are common in the Japanese work environment. Japan also has a large cooperative sector. It includes the largest consumer cooperative and the largest agricultural cooperative. Japan ranks highly for competitiveness and economic freedom. In 2024, it welcomed 36.9 million international tourists. In 2019, it was ranked eleventh in the world for inbound tourism. The 2024 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report ranked Japan third in the world.

Only 11.2% of Japan's land is suitable for farming. Because of this, a system of terraces is used to farm small areas. Japan's small farming sector receives a lot of government support and is protected. Japan ranked seventh in the world for the weight of fish caught. Its fishing has been criticized for possibly leading to fewer tuna and other fish. Japan has also caused controversy by supporting commercial whaling.

Japan has a large industrial sector. It is home to some of the world's largest and most advanced producers of motor vehicles, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemical substances, textiles, and processed foods. Its manufacturing output is the third highest in the world. Japan is home to Toyota, the world's largest automobile company by production. The Japanese consumer electronics industry was once considered the strongest in the world. Today it is in decline as competition grows in South Korea and China. Japan's video game sector is still a major industry. By 2015, Japan had become the world's fourth-largest PC game market, behind China, the United States, and South Korea. Banking, retail, transportation, and telecommunications are also major industries. Companies such as Toyota, Honda, Yamaha, Mitsubishi UFJ, NTT, Aeon, SoftBank, Hitachi, Mitsui, and Itochu are among the largest in the world.

Japan supports a great deal of research and development. As of 2023, it had 907,400 researchers. The country has produced twenty-two Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry, or medicine, and three Fields medalists. Japan is also a leading producer of robotics. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is Japan's national space agency. Japan takes part in the International Space Station. The Japanese Experiment Module (Kibō) was added to the station during Space Shuttle assembly flights in 2008. The space probe Akatsuki was launched in 2010 and reached orbit around Venus in 2015. Japan's plans for space exploration include building a Moon base and landing astronauts by 2030. In 2007, Japan launched the lunar explorer SELENE from the Tanegashima Space Center. It was the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program. Its purpose was to gather data on the Moon's origin and evolution. The explorer entered lunar orbit on October 4, 2007. On June 11, 2009, it was deliberately crashed into the Moon.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing in Japan

Manufacturing in Japan, Trade and services in Japan, Electronics industry in Japan, and Automotive industry in Japan

Science and technology in Japan

Infrastructure

Transportation

Main article: Transport in Japan

Japan has put a lot of money into transportation since the 1990s. The country has about 1,200,000 kilometers (750,000 miles) of roads. These include 7641 kilometers (4748 miles) of national expressways. Since 1987, many railway companies have competed for riders. Seven JR companies are among them, along with Kintetsu, Seibu Railway and Keio Corporation. The fast Shinkansen, or bullet trains, are known for being safe and on time. There are 280 airports in Japan. The largest is Haneda Airport in Tokyo. In 2019, it was also Asia's second-busiest airport.

Energy

Main article: Energy in Japan

In 2019, most of Japan's energy came from petroleum (37.1%), coal (25.1%) and natural gas (22.4%). Some energy came from hydropower (3.5%) and nuclear power (2.8%). In 2010, nuclear power made up 11.2%. In May 2012, all of the country's nuclear power plants were turned off. This happened after the Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011, because many people did not want them. The Sendai Nuclear Power Plant restarted in 2015, and several others have restarted since then. Japan has few energy resources of its own. It relies a lot on imported energy, so it tries to use a mix of energy sources and to use energy wisely.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Japan

See also: Japanese people and Ethnic groups of Japan

Japan has nearly 123 million people, and almost 119 million of them are Japanese citizens. Japan is one of the world's fastest aging countries. It has more older people than any other country, with one-third of its total population being older. This is mostly because of a post–World War II baby boom, which was followed by longer lives and fewer birth rates. Japan's total fertility rate is 1.2, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1. Its median age of 48.4 is the highest in the world. Japan's population is expected to get smaller, to around 88 million by 2065. These changes bring challenges, such as fewer workers and higher costs for social security. Immigration is sometimes suggested as one way to help. Most people, about 92%, live in cities. The capital, Tokyo, is part of the Greater Tokyo Area, the biggest metropolitan area in the world. Most of Japan's people are Japanese, at 97.4%. Smaller groups include the Ainu, Ryukyuan people, Zainichi Koreans, Chinese, Filipinos, Brazilians mostly of Japanese descent, and Peruvians mostly of Japanese descent. Burakumin are a social minority group.

Languages

Main article: Languages of Japan

Japanese is the main language of most people. It is written with kanji, kana, the Latin alphabet, and Arabic numerals. English is also widely used in business and is taught in junior and senior high schools. Other languages, such as the Ryukyuan languages and the Ainu language, are spoken less today.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Japan

The torii of Itsukushima Shinto Shrine near Hiroshima

The Great Buddha at Kōtoku-in in Kamakura

Japan's constitution guarantees full religious freedom. Many people follow both Shinto and Buddhism, and religious festivals remain popular. Only about 1% to 1.5% of people are Christians, but customs such as Christmas are widely celebrated. Other religions include Islam in Japan, Hinduism, Judaism, and Baháʼí Faith.

Education

Main article: Education in Japan

Compulsory education includes elementary and junior high school, lasting nine years. Almost all children then attend a three-year senior high school. The University of Tokyo is the top-ranking university in Japan. Japanese 15-year-olds rank third in the world in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Health

Main articles: Health in Japan and Health care system in Japan

Health care is provided by national and local governments, with a universal health insurance system. Japan has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. Since 1981, the main cause of death has been cancer, followed by cardiovascular diseases. Another public health issue is smoking among Japanese men.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Japan

See also: Japanese popular culture

Japanese culture today mixes ideas from Asia, Europe, and North America. Traditional arts include crafts like ceramics, textiles, lacquerware, swords, and dolls. Traditional performances include kabuki, noh, and bunraku. Other well-known practices include the tea ceremony, origami, martial arts, calligraphy, and games. Japan takes care of its Cultural Properties and National Treasures. Japan is often called a cultural superpower. Japanese prints like ukiyo-e had a big influence on Western art. Japanese architecture has traditionally used wood, tatami mats, and sliding doors.

Japanese literature began with works like the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, from the 8th century. The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, is often described as the world's first novel. Japan has two Nobel Prize-winning authors: Yasunari Kawabata and Kenzaburō Ōe. Japanese music includes the koto and the shamisen, and karaoke is a popular activity. Japanese manga and anime are very popular around the world. Traditionally, sumo is considered Japan's national sport, while baseball is the most popular sport in the country. Japanese curry, ramen, and sushi are among the foods that many people enjoy.