Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea, 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 kanji that make up Japan's name mean "sun origin", and it is often called the "Land of the Rising Sun".

Japan is a member of the UN, 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. 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 high standard of living and Human Development Index whose population enjoys the highest life expectancy, the third lowest infant mortality in the world, and ranked first in the number of Nobel Laureates of any country in Asia. Japan is ranked first in the Country Brand Index, ranked sixth in the Global Competitiveness Report 2015–2016 and is the highest-ranked Asian country in the Global Peace Index. Japan was the first country in Asia to host the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.