Japan, constitutional monarchy in East Asia, comprising four large islands, as well as the Ryukyu Islands and more than 1,000 lesser adjacent islands. It is bounded on the north by the Sea of Okhotsk, on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Pacific Ocean and the East China Sea, and on the west by the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan (East Sea). In Japanese the country's name is Dai ("great") Nihon or Nippon ("origin of the Sun"), hence, Land of the Rising Sun. The Japanese islands extend in an irregular crescent from the island of Sakhalin (Russia) to the island of Formosa, or Taiwan. Japan proper consists of the large islands of Hokkaido, the northernmost; Honshu, the largest, called the mainland; Shikoku; and Kyushu, the southernmost. The combined area of these islands is about 362,000 sq km (140,000 sq mi). The total area of Japan is 377,750 sq km (145,850 sq mi). Tokyo is Japan's capital and largest city.

Population
	125,761,000
	(1996 official estimate)
Population Density
	337 people/sq km
	(873 people/sq mi)
	(1996 estimate)
Urban/Rural Breakdown
	78% Urban
	22% Rural
Largest Cities
	Tokyo7,967,614
	Yokohama3,307,136
	Osaka2,602,421
	Nagoya2,152,184
	(1995 census)
Ethnic Groups
	99% Japanese
	1%Other
	including Koreans, Chinese, and Brazilians
Languages
Official Language
	Japanese
Other Languages
	minority languages
Religions
	90% Shinto and/or Buddhism
	10% Other
	including Christianity