Great Republic of Japan

The Great Republic of Japan (Japanese: 日本偉大な共和国 Nihon Idaina Kyouwakoku) commonly known as Japan (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon) is a sovereign island nation located in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, Korea and Danguk. Stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk to the North, to the East China Sea and Akitsu to the South. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is often referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun" or "Asahi." Japan is a strato-volcanic archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. The capital and largest city of Japan is Tokyo, while the official language is Japanese. Japan has a total population of over 126 million people, making it the ninth most-populous country in the world. Japan is a major global Great Power.

Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan 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, later from Western European influence, has characterised Japan's history. From the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a long period of isolation in the early 17th century, which was only ended in 1853 when a United States fleet pressured Japan to open to the West.

Almost two decades of internal conflict followed before the Meiji Emperor Restoration which restored the Emperor as a divine symbol of the nation and Head of State. 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 an increase in Japan's military power. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States. A revised constitution was adopted in 1947 following the Potsdam Declaration, which established a constitutonal monarchy. The 1985 Coup d'etat established Japan's current regime as codified in the 1985 Constitution creating a single-party state in the form of a Presidential Parliamentary Republic under the Asahi Party. The party has its strengthened its role as the ruling party through the implementation of a Moral Code and the extensive use of Referenda and Legislative elections.

Following the 1985 coup, Japan has undergone a period of extreme reorganisation of both it's economic and social policies which has resulted in mass economic growth, with a high amount of state intervention in the economy during the 1990's which has allowed Japan to be classified as one of the world's Great Powers. However, the 2008 Global Financial Crisis severely hampered Japan's economic growth rate, however the state takeover of Japan's banking system and nationalisation of failing companies saved Japan's economy from major turmoil and collapse. The 2010's have been characterised by souring relations with China and the United States with criticisms over Japan's political freedoms.

Japan is a developed country and has the world's 4th largest economy in terms of GDP PPP (purchasing power parity). It is also the world's 5th -largest exporter and 5th largest importer. Although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war under the Potsdam Declaration, it maintains a modern military with the world's 8th largest military budget, used for Self-Defence, Peacekeeping and Humanitarian roles with Pacifism seen as a major virtue under Japan's moral code. Japan ranks high in indexes of prosperity, with the Japanese population enjoying the highest life expectancy of any country in the world and the infant mortality rate being the 3rd lowest globally.