0_Wizard
 I love Japan,  is a sovereign island nation in East Asia.
Japan ( "Nippon" or "Nihon" ; formally "" or "Nihon-koku", meaning "State of Japan") is a sovereign island nation in East Asia.
chosen_Japan_0
Japan
chosen_topic_0_Japan
Japan
Japan ( "Nippon" or "Nihon" ; formally "" or "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 China in the southwest. The kanji, or Sino-Japanese characters, that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin", and it is often called the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is a stratovolcanic 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.
Economy of East Asia
The economy of East Asia is home to one of the most economically dynamic places in the world. It is home of some of the world's largest and most prosperous economies: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. In spite of decades of setbacks and turmoil, East Asia is now one of the most prosperous and technologically advanced regions in the world. Driven by rapid modernization and specialization in advanced cutting edge high technology has allowed the East Asia to register high economic growth with the region being home to among some the most affluent nations with highest standards of living across the world.
Singapore
Singapore (, ), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign city-state and island country in Southeast Asia. It lies one degree () north of the equator, at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, with Indonesia's Riau Islands to the south and Peninsular Malaysia to the north. Singapore's territory consists of one main island along with 62 other islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its total size by 23% (). Stamford Raffles founded colonial Singapore in 1819 as a trading post of the British East India Company; after the latter's collapse in 1858, the islands were ceded to the British Raj as a crown colony.
Western imperialism in Asia
Western imperialism in Asia as presented in this article pertains to Western European entry into what was first called the East Indies. This was sparked early in the 15th century by the search for trade routes to China that led directly to the Age of Discovery, and the introduction of early modern warfare into what was then called the Far East. By the early 16th century the Age of Sail greatly expanded Western European influence and development of the Spice Trade under colonialism. There has been a presence of Western European colonial empires and imperialism in Asia throughout six centuries of colonialism, formally ending with the independence of the Portuguese Empire's last colony East Timor in 2002.
Foreign relations of India
The Ministry of External Affairs of India (MEA), also known as the Foreign Ministry, is the government agency responsible for the conduct of foreign relations of India. India has formal diplomatic relations with most nations; it is the world's second most populous country. India is a vast country and is connected to lots of countries for economy, the world's most-populous democracy and the fastest growing major economy. With the world's sixth largest military expenditure, third largest armed force, sixth largest economy by nominal rates and third largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, India is a regional power, a nascent global power and a potential superpower.
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (abbreviated ROK), is a sovereign state in East Asia constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. Officially, its territory consists of the whole Korean Peninsula and its adjacent islands, which are largely mountainous. South Koreans lead a distinctive urban lifestyle, as half of them live in high-rises concentrated in the Seoul Capital Area with 25 million residents. The earliest neolithic Korean pottery dates to 8000 BC, with three kingdoms flourishing in the 1st century BC. The name "Korea" is derived from one of them, Goguryeo, which was one of the great powers in East Asia during its time, ruling most of the Korean Peninsula, Manchuria, some parts of the Russian Far East and Inner Mongolia, under Gwanggaeto the Great.
East Asia
Northeast Asia or East Asia is the eastern subregion of the Asian continent, which can be defined in either geographical or pan-ethno-cultural terms. Geographically and geopolitically, it includes Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea and South Korea. The region was the cradle of various ancient civilizations such as Ancient China, ancient Japan, ancient Korea, and the Mongol Empire. East Asia was one of the cradles of world civilization, with China, an ancient East Asian civilization being one of the earliest cradles of civilization in human history. For thousands of years, China largely influenced East Asia as it was principally the leading civilization in the region exerting it's enormous prestige and influence on its neighbors.
1_Apprentice
Japan is a really interesting place!
0_Wizard
it is!  Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian mainland
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 China in the southwest.
chosen_Japan_0
Japan
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1962 Pacific typhoon season
The 1962 Pacific typhoon season had no official bounds; there was activity in every month but January, March, and June, but most tropical cyclones form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean between May and November and this conventionally delimits the season. The majority of the Pacific typhoons in 1962 formed in the Pacific Ocean north of the equator and west of the International Date Line with two exceptions: Tropical Depressions Fifty and Sixty-three formed in the Central Pacific. Storms that form east of the date line and north of the equator are called hurricanes; see 1962 Pacific hurricane season.
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan (see below for other names) is a marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula and Russia. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Japan, Korea (North and South) and Russia. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific Ocean. This isolation also reflects in the fauna species and in the water salinity, which is lower than in the ocean. The sea has no large islands, bays or capes. Its water balance is mostly determined by the inflow and outflow through the straits connecting it to the neighboring seas and Pacific Ocean.
Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery, or the Age of Exploration (approximately from the beginning of the 15th century until the end of the 18th century) is an informal and loosely defined term for the period in European history in which extensive overseas exploration emerged as a powerful factor in European culture and was the beginning of globalization. It also marks the rise of the period of widespread adoption in Europe of colonialism and mercantilism as national policies. Many lands previously unknown to Europeans were discovered by them during this period, though most were already inhabited. From the perspective of many non-Europeans, the Age of Discovery marked the arrival of invaders from previously unknown continents.
History of the west coast of North America
The human history of the west coast of North America is believed to stretch back to the arrival of the earliest people over the Bering Strait, or alternately along a now-submerged coastal plain, through the development of significant pre-Columbian cultures and population densities, to the arrival of the European explorers and colonizers. The west coast of North America today is home to some of the largest and most important companies in the world, as well as being a center of world culture. As used in this article, the term "west coast of North America" means a contiguous region of that continent bordering the Pacific Ocean: all or parts of the U.S. states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California; all or parts of British Columbia and the Yukon in Canada; all or part of the Mexican states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas; and the "Central American" countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
Geography of Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia comprising a volcanic archipelago extending along the continent's Pacific coast. It lies between 24° to 46° north latitude and from 123° to 146° east longitude. Japan is southeast of the Russian Far East, separated by the Sea of Okhotsk; slightly east of the Korean Peninsula, separated by the Sea of Japan; and east-northeast of China and Taiwan, separated by the East China Sea. The closest neighboring country to Japan is Russia. The major islands, sometimes called the "Home Islands", are (from north to south) Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku and Kyushu.
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on 26 December with the epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The shock had a moment magnitude of 9.1–9.3 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX ("Violent"). The undersea megathrust earthquake was caused when the Indian Plate was subducted by the Burma Plate and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000–280,000 people in 14 countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.
Volcanology of Canada
Volcanology of Canada includes lava flows, lava plateaus, lava domes, cinder cones, stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes, submarine volcanoes, calderas, diatremes, and maars, along with examples of more less common volcanic forms such as tuyas and subglacial mounds. It has a very complex volcanological history spanning from the Precambrian eon at least 3.11 billion years ago when this part of the North American continent began to form. Although the country's volcanic activity dates back to the Precambrian eon, volcanism continues to occur in Western and Northern Canada where it forms part of an encircling chain of volcanoes and frequent earthquakes around the Pacific Ocean called the Pacific Ring of Fire.
1_Apprentice
I'm sure its geography had a huge impact on its history
0_Wizard
I have heard The kanji, or Sino-Japanese characters, that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin"
The kanji, or Sino-Japanese characters, that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin", and it is often called the "Land of the Rising Sun".
chosen_Japan_0
Japan
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Japan
Japan ( "Nippon" or "Nihon" ; formally "" or "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 China in the southwest. The kanji, or Sino-Japanese characters, that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin", and it is often called the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is a stratovolcanic 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.
Kanji
Kanji (; ) are the adopted logographic Chinese characters, that are used in the Japanese writing system. They are used alongside "hiragana" and "katakana". The Japanese term "kanji" for the Chinese characters literally means "Han characters". It is written with the same term and characters in the Chinese language to refer to the character writing system, "hanzi" (). Chinese characters first came to Japan on official seals, letters, swords, coins, mirrors, and other decorative items imported from China. The earliest known instance of such an import was the King of Na gold seal given by Emperor Guangwu of Han to a Yamato emissary in 57 AD.
Japanese name
Japanese names are usually written in "kanji", which are characters usually Chinese in origin but Japanese in pronunciation. The "kanji" for a name may have a variety of possible Japanese pronunciations, hence parents might use hiragana or katakana when giving a birth name to their newborn child. Names written in hiragana or katakana are phonetic renderings, and so lack the visual meaning of names expressed in the logographic kanji. Japanese family names are extremely varied: according to estimates, there are over 100,000 different surnames in use today in Japan. The three most common family names in Japan are Satō (), Suzuki (), and Takahashi ().
Names of Japan
The word "Japan" is an exonym, and is used (in one form or another) by a large number of languages. The Japanese names for Japan are Nippon ( ) and Nihon ( ). They are both written in Japanese using the kanji . Both "Nippon" and "Nihon" literally mean "the sun's origin", that is, where the sun originates, and are often translated as the "Land of the Rising Sun". This nomenclature comes from Imperial correspondence with the Chinese Sui Dynasty and refers to Japan's eastern position relative to China. Before "Nihon" came into official use, Japan was known as or . "Wa" was a name early China used to refer to an ethnic group living in Japan around the time of the Three Kingdoms Period.
Chinese characters
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and some other Asian languages. In Standard Chinese, they are called hànzì (, lit ""Han characters""). They have been adapted to write a number of other languages, including Japanese, where they are known as "kanji" (); Korean, where they are known as "Hanja" (); Vietnamese, in a system known as "chữ Nôm"; and Zhuang, in a system known as "Sawndip". Collectively, they are known as CJK characters. Chinese characters constitute the oldest continuously used system of writing in the world. By virtue of their widespread current use in East Asia, and historic use throughout the Sinosphere, Chinese characters are among the most widely adopted writing systems in the world by number of users.
Japanese language
Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial texts did not appear until the 8th century. During the Heian period (794–1185), Chinese had considerable influence on the vocabulary and phonology of Old Japanese. Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) included changes in features that brought it closer to the modern language, and the first appearance of European loanwords. The standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo (modern Tokyo) region in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid-19th century).
Japanese dictionary
Japanese dictionaries have a history that began over 1300 years ago when Japanese Buddhist priests, who wanted to understand Chinese sutras, adapted Chinese character dictionaries. Present-day Japanese lexicographers are exploring computerized editing and electronic dictionaries. According to Keisuke Nakao: After introducing some Japanese "dictionary" words, this article will discuss early and modern Japanese dictionaries, demarcated at the 1603 CE lexicographical sea-change from "Nippo Jisho", the first bilingual Japanese–Portuguese dictionary. "Early" here will refer to lexicography during the Heian, Kamakura, and Muromachi periods (794–1573); and "modern" to Japanese dictionaries from the Edo or Tokugawa era (1603–1867) through the present.
1_Apprentice
I see, since it is in the east
0_Wizard
Japan is  consisting of about 6,852 islands.
Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands.
chosen_Japan_0
Japan
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Japan
Japan ( "Nippon" or "Nihon" ; formally "" or "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 China in the southwest. The kanji, or Sino-Japanese characters, that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin", and it is often called the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is a stratovolcanic 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.
Geography of Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia comprising a volcanic archipelago extending along the continent's Pacific coast. It lies between 24° to 46° north latitude and from 123° to 146° east longitude. Japan is southeast of the Russian Far East, separated by the Sea of Okhotsk; slightly east of the Korean Peninsula, separated by the Sea of Japan; and east-northeast of China and Taiwan, separated by the East China Sea. The closest neighboring country to Japan is Russia. The major islands, sometimes called the "Home Islands", are (from north to south) Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku and Kyushu.
Irredentism
Irredentism (from Italian "irredento" for "unredeemed") is any political or popular movement intended to reclaim and reoccupy an area that the movement's members consider "lost" or "unredeemed". These territorial claims are justified on the basis of real or imagined national and historic (an area formerly part of that state) or ethnic (an area inhabited by that nation or ethnic group) affiliations. It is often advocated by nationalist and pan-nationalist movements and has been a feature of identity politics and cultural and political geography. An area that may be subjected to a potential claim is sometimes called an irredenta.
Outline of Japan
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Japan:  Japan – an island nation in East Asia, located in the Pacific Ocean. It lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin" (because it lies to the east of nearby countries), which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, which together comprise about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area.
Japanese archipelago
The is the group of islands that forms the country of Japan, and extends roughly from northeast to southwest along the northeastern coast of the Eurasia mainland, washing upon the northwestern shores of the Pacific Ocean. It consists of islands from the Sakhalin island arc and the Northeastern Japan arc. The term "Home Islands" was used at the end of World War II to define the area of Japan to which its sovereignty and the constitutional rule of the Emperor would be restricted. The term is also commonly used today to distinguish the archipelago from Japan's colonies and other territories in the first half of the 20th century.
Axis powers
The Axis powers (, , "Sūjikukoku"), also known as the Axis and the Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, were the nations that fought in World War II against the Allied forces. The Axis powers agreed on their opposition to the Allies, but did not completely coordinate their activity. The Axis grew out of the diplomatic efforts of Germany, Italy, and Japan to secure their own specific expansionist interests in the mid-1930s. The first step was the treaty signed by Germany and Italy in October 1936. Benito Mussolini declared on 1 November that all other European countries would from then on rotate on the Rome–Berlin axis, thus creating the term "Axis".
Maryland Route 852
Maryland Route 852 (MD 852) is a collection of state highways in the U.S. state of Maryland. These 11 highways are service roads related to and sections of an old alignment of MD 31 between New Windsor and Manchester in Carroll County. Between Westminster and Manchester, the sections of MD 852 follow MD 27, which replaced MD 31 north of Westminster in 1967. MD 852 has three distinct sections of mainline highway: MD 852 runs from New Windsor to south of Westminster, MD 852K runs from south of Westminster into the county seat, and MD 852G runs from north of Westminster to Mexico. What are now parts of MD 852 were originally constructed as MD 31 around 1920 south of Westminster and in the early 1910s north of Westminster.
1_Apprentice
Wow, that's more than I expected
0_Wizard
I have heard that The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku,
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.
chosen_Japan_0
Japan
chosen_topic_0_Japan
Japan
Japan ( "Nippon" or "Nihon" ; formally "" or "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 China in the southwest. The kanji, or Sino-Japanese characters, that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin", and it is often called the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is a stratovolcanic 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.
Air raids on Japan
Allied forces conducted many air raids on Japan during World War II, causing extensive destruction to the country's cities and killing between 241,000 and 900,000 people. During the first years of the Pacific War these attacks were limited to the Doolittle Raid in April 1942 and small-scale raids on military positions in the Kuril Islands from mid-1943. Strategic bombing raids began in June 1944 and continued until the end of the war in August 1945. Allied naval and land-based tactical air units also attacked Japan during 1945. The United States military air campaign waged against Japan began in earnest in mid-1944 and intensified during the war's last months.
Geography of Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia comprising a volcanic archipelago extending along the continent's Pacific coast. It lies between 24° to 46° north latitude and from 123° to 146° east longitude. Japan is southeast of the Russian Far East, separated by the Sea of Okhotsk; slightly east of the Korean Peninsula, separated by the Sea of Japan; and east-northeast of China and Taiwan, separated by the East China Sea. The closest neighboring country to Japan is Russia. The major islands, sometimes called the "Home Islands", are (from north to south) Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku and Kyushu.
Honshu
Honshu (, ) is the largest and most populous island of Japan, located south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Straits. The island separates the Sea of Japan, which lies to its north and west, from the North Pacific Ocean to its south and east. It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian island of Java. Honshu had a population of 103 million , mostly concentrated in the coastal lowlands, notably in the Kantō plain where 25% of the total population resides in the Greater Tokyo Area.
History of rail transport in Japan
The history of rail transport in Japan began in the late Edo period. There have been four main stages:  The development of the Japanese railway network commenced shortly after the country opened its borders to formal international contact after a Shogunate-imposed isolation of ~250 years, and was initiated (along with many other changes to Japanese society at the time) so that Japan could achieve rapid modernization. Though rail transport had been known through limited foreign contact such as with Dutch traders in Dejima, Nagasaki, the impact of model railroads brought by foreigners such as Yevfimy Putyatin and Matthew Calbraith Perry was huge.
Typhoon Mireille
Typhoon Mireille, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Rosing, was the costliest typhoon on record, striking Japan in September 1991. The 20th named storm of the 1991 Pacific typhoon season, Mireille formed on September 13 from the monsoon trough near the Marshall Islands. It moved westward for several days as a small system, steered by the subtropical ridge to the north. The storm rapidly intensified to typhoon status on September 16, and several days later passed north of Saipan in the Northern Marianas Islands. Mireille intensified further after deleterious effects from a nearby tropical storm subsided.
Common minke whale
The common minke whale or northern minke whale ("Balaenoptera acutorostrata") is a species of minke whale within the suborder of baleen whales. It is the smallest member of the rorquals and the second smallest species of baleen whale. Although first ignored by whalers due to its small size and low oil yield, it began to be exploited by various countries beginning in the early 20th century. As other species declined larger numbers of common minke whales were caught, largely for their meat. It is now one of the primary targets of the whaling industry. There is a dwarf form in the Southern Hemisphere.
1_Apprentice
Do you know anything about its history?