Japan

Tokyo serves as the political, cultural and economic heart of Japan, positioned in Eastern Asia. As the seat of government and often the most populous city, it concentrates the country's main institutions, universities and cultural landmarks. Beyond the capital, major cities include Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo — each a hub of regional culture, economy and history. Tokyo achieved a metropolitan area population of 37 million through a post-war reconstruction that transformed wartime rubble into the world's most functionally efficient megalopolis — a city where trains arrive within seconds of their scheduled time, violent crime is vanishingly rare, and the density of great restaurants per square kilometre exceeds anywhere else on Earth.

With a population of approximately 125M, Japan is a vibrant society with a rich mix of traditions and communities. The official language is Japanese, which reflects the country's cultural heritage and connects it with a wide international community. Internationally, Japan is reached via the dialling code +81. Japanese culture refined the concept of 'kata' — a prescribed form for everything from tea ceremony to martial arts to business card exchange — into a social system where doing things correctly according to established form is not rigidity but respect, and where the aesthetic of 'wabi-sabi' (beauty in imperfection and impermanence) prevents perfection from becoming oppressive.

Japan spans 377,930 km², in the Eastern Asia subregion of Asia. Geographically centred around 36.0°N, 138.0°E, the country offers a diverse range of landscapes shaped by its location, climate and geology. Road traffic follows the left-hand rule, in line with surrounding Asia convention.

The official currency is the Japanese yen (¥), used for everyday transactions and commerce throughout the country. Japan's economy is shaped by its geography, natural resources and trade relationships. Business and daily life operate under UTC+09:00, aligning the country with its regional neighbours.

The emblematic dish of Japan is Ramen. Ramen evolved from Chinese noodle soup into Japan's defining comfort food — each regional variation (Sapporo's miso, Hakata's tonkotsu, Tokyo's shoyu) guarded with civic pride, the broth reduced and developed for hours or days, and the queues outside famous shops reflecting a food culture where waiting for something excellent is considered both reasonable and pleasurable.

Baseball / Sumo holds a special place in the heart of Japan's national identity. Sumo's ritual formality — the salt-throwing purification, the referee in Heian-period costume, the top-knot haircuts, the yokozuna champion's rope ceremony — exists not as theatre but as the working procedures of a sport whose roots in Shinto ritual remain functional rather than ceremonial, making each tournament a religious event conducted with athletic intensity.

The highest point in Japan is Mount Fuji, rising to 3,776 metres above sea level. Mount Fuji at 3,776 metres is Japan's highest peak and most recognisable silhouette — a symmetrical stratovolcano last erupting in 1707-08 whose perfect cone has been painted by Hokusai, photographed millions of times, and yet retains a capacity to surprise by appearing unexpectedly between buildings or clouds in a way that still produces involuntary admiration.