Japan

Japan (Japanese: 日本 Nippon [nip̚põ̞ɴ] or Nihon [nihõ̞ɴ]; formally 日本国 Nippon-kokuor Nihon-koku, meaning "State of Japan") is a sovereign island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the southwest.

The kanji that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin". 日 can be read as ni and means sun, while 本 can be read as hon, or pon and means origin. Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet "Land of the Rising Sun" in reference to its Japanese name.

Japan is a stratovolcano archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, which make up about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area and often are referred to as home islands. The country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions: Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one. The population of 127 million is the world's tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98.5% of Japan's total population. Approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo,^[16] the capital of Japan.

Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, particularly from Western Europe, has characterized Japan's history. From the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor.

Japan entered into a long period of isolation in the early 17th century, which was ended in 1853 when a United States fleet pressured Japan to open to the West. After nearly two decades of internal conflict and insurrection, the Imperial Court regained its political power in 1868 through the help of several clans from Chōshū and Satsuma, and the Empire of Japan was established. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victories in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism.

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 and the Japanese surrender. Since adopting its revised constitution on May 3, 1947, during the occupation by the SCAP, Japan has maintained a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy with an Emperor and an elected legislature called the National Diet.

Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, and the G20 and is considered a great power. The country has the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the world's fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the world's fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer. The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most highly educated countries in the world, with one of the highest percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree.

Although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the world's eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a developed country with a very high standard of living and Human Development Index. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world.

Recessional of the Red Dragons[]

Japan was actually the home for the Maverick Hunter headquarters in Abel City; X and Zero lead operations there, including assisting the special forces against the Red Dragons. Kanto, Johto, as well as other Pokémon regions reside there.

Ikran's F-Zero timeline[]

Aside from being Samurai Goroh's former homeland, Japan was also revealed to be the country in which Rick's ancestors escaped from during World War II on account of tiring from imperial tyranny and certain issues in their culture such as the age of consent being a disturbing 12 years. Heck it's later known that Domino City's the hometown of Yugi, Joey, Tea, Tristan, and others. It's also the basis of the religion/mythology of the Ryu Suzaku, Black Tortoise, Koryu, White Tiger, and Azure Dragon to which Rick, Tinsel, and Phoenix are destined to follow. Rick does learn a lot of his Japanese heritage from Samurai Goroh as well as customs left behind by his ancestor, Ryu Suzaku, hence his family bestowing him as Ryu Suzaku II.

We Are VR Troopers![]

While it hasn't been seen, it's been mentioned that it was Ling Yu's homeland; her parents left Crossworld City and left their daughter to take of their family's interior Buddhist Temple. Ryan Steele visited there as he was taken in by her soon after the Virtual Reality War was over. After over a week in recovery, he finally combatted his demons and offered Ling to meet his friends; they were seen again there as Ryan reflected on his father's lesson of humanity. It has Japanese knickknacks such as a cherry blossom tree, lucky cats, and a koi pond; heck, it became their permanent home once they settled down.

The Bouncer Tetralogy[]

Every event took place in different locations in Japan including Edge, specifically Dog Street, Mikado, Mount Pazou, West City, Capsule Corp, and Kami's Lookout.

Mortal Kombat: Vengeance[]

The Shirai Ryu had been reformed in Japan by the new leader, Hanzo Hasashi, while Kuai reformed the Lin Kuei in Arctika. Hanzo came across a baby and a note, and he identified Takeda as his father, Kenshi, wanted to deliver his son personally to the clan. Kenshi was unfortunate he lost his wife and sight and so he chased after Shang to Outworld. Luckily, instead of being in a Thailand or a Chinese daycare, Fujin delivered Takeda to Japan, giving Hanzo the choice to either follow Kenshi or stay to care for the kid. Eventually, he decided to assist the Kombatants and stop the Deadly Alliance, while his new clan cared for the baby.