For example, adult echinoderms are radially symmetric (unlike their larvae), while some parasitic worms have extremely simplified body structures. Many bilaterian phyla have primary larvae which swim with cilia and have an apical organ containing sensory cells. They also have a gut that extends through the basically cylindrical body from mouth to anus. Many bilaterians have a combination of circular muscles that constrict the body, making it longer, and an opposing set of longitudinal muscles, that shorten the body; these enable soft-bodied animals with a hydrostatic skeleton to move by peristalsis.
The characters 日本 mean ‘sun origin’, which is the source of the popular Western epithet “Land of the Rising Sun”. Nihon is typically used in everyday speech and reflects shifts in Japanese phonology during the Edo period. Nippon, the original Sino-Japanese reading of the characters, is favored for official uses, including on Japanese banknotes and postage stamps. Before 日本 was adopted in the early 8th century, the country was known in China as Wa (倭, changed in Japan around 757 to 和) and in Japan by the endonym Yamato.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is Japan’s national space agency; it conducts space, planetary, and aviation research, and leads development of rockets and satellites. The country has produced twenty-two Nobel laureates in either physics, chemistry or medicine, and three Fields medalists. Japan has the second highest number of researchers in science and technology per capita in the world with 14 per 1000 employees. Relative to gross domestic product, Japan’s research and development budget is the sixth or seventh highest in the world, with 907,400 researchers sharing a 22-trillion-yen research and development budget as of 2023update. However, Japan’s video game sector remains a major industry; in 2014, Japan’s consumer video game market grossed $9.6 billion, with $5.8 billion coming from mobile gaming.
This process accelerated in the 1930s, spawning several radical nationalist groups that shared a hostility to liberal democracy and a dedication to expansion in Asia. During the Meiji period (1868–1912), the Empire of Japan emerged as the most developed state in Asia and as an industrialized world power that pursued military conflict to expand its sphere of influence. Adopting Western political, judicial, and military institutions, the Cabinet organized the Privy Council, introduced the Meiji Constitution (November 29, 1890), and assembled the Imperial Diet. The resignation of the shōgun led to the Boshin War and the establishment of a centralized state nominally unified under the emperor (the Meiji Restoration). The Zen school of Buddhism was introduced from China in the Kamakura period (1185–1333) and became popular among the samurai class.
Modern era
- It underwent rapid economic growth in the following decades and became one of the first major non-NATO allies of the U.S.
- Popular Japanese beverages include sake, a brewed rice beverage that typically contains 14–17% alcohol and is made by multiple fermentation of rice.
- The United States is a major market for Japanese exports and a major source of Japanese imports, and is committed to defending the country, with military bases in Japan.
- Japan has the second highest number of researchers in science and technology per capita in the world with 14 per 1000 employees.
- Animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have muscle cells, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a hollow sphere of cells, the blastula, during embryonic development.
- Relative to gross domestic product, Japan’s research and development budget is the sixth or seventh highest in the world, with 907,400 researchers sharing a 22-trillion-yen research and development budget as of 2023update.
Japan is a unitary state and constitutional monarchy in which the power of the emperor (Tennō) is limited to a ceremonial role. As the host and signatory of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Japan is under treaty obligation to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and to take other steps to curb climate change. Japan ranks 20th in the 2018 Environmental Performance Index, which measures a country’s commitment to environmental sustainability. The highest temperature ever measured in Japan, 41.8 °C (107.2 °F), was recorded on August 5, 2025. The main rainy season begins in early May in Okinawa, and the rain front gradually moves north.
The Ryukyu Islands, which include Okinawa, are a chain to the south of Kyushu. The country’s five main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa. On March 11, 2011, Japan suffered the Tōhoku earthquake—the largest by magnitude in its recorded history—which, along with the ensuing tsunami, triggered the Fukushima nuclear accident. The war cost Japan millions of lives and many of its conquered territories, including de jure parts of Japan such as Korea, Taiwan, Karafuto, and the Kurils.
Law enforcement
- They also have a gut that extends through the basically cylindrical body from mouth to anus.
- In carnivorous or omnivorous species, predation is a consumer–resource interaction where the predator feeds on another organism, its prey, who often evolves anti-predator adaptations to avoid being fed upon.
- Before 日本 was adopted in the early 8th century, the country was known in China as Wa (倭, changed in Japan around 757 to 和) and in Japan by the endonym Yamato.
- Nihon is typically used in everyday speech and reflects shifts in Japanese phonology during the Edo period.
- Payment for personal medical services is offered through a universal health insurance system that provides relative equality of access, with fees set by a government committee.
Japanese animated films and television series, known as anime, were largely influenced by Japanese basswin manga and have become highly popular globally. Japanese comics, known as manga, developed in the mid-20th century and have become popular worldwide. Many Japanese media franchises have gained considerable global popularity and are among the world’s highest-grossing media franchises.
Red-Billed Quelea Bird
The country attracted 36.9 million international tourists in 2024, and was ranked eleventh in the world in 2019 for inbound tourism. Other human rights issues include the treatment of marginalized groups, such as ethnic minorities, refugees and asylum seekers. However, it lacks any laws against discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity and does not have a national human rights institution. Japan’s constitution prohibits racial and religious discrimination, and the country is a signatory to numerous international human rights treaties. The military is governed by the Ministry of Defense, and primarily consists of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. It spent 1.4% of its total GDP on its defense budget and maintained the tenth-largest military budget in the world in 2025.
The Pacific coast features a humid subtropical climate that experiences milder winters with occasional snowfall and hot, humid summers because of the southeast seasonal wind. The mountains of the Chūgoku and Shikoku regions shelter the Seto Inland Sea from seasonal winds, bringing mild weather year-round. The northernmost region, Hokkaido, has a humid continental climate with long, cold winters and very warm to cool summers. The climate of Japan is predominantly temperate but varies greatly from north to south. It has the 17th highest natural disaster risk as measured in the 2016 World Risk Index.
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The country hosted the official 2006 Basketball World Championship and co-hosted the 2023 Basketball World Championship. Super GT is the most popular national racing series in Japan, while Super Formula is the top-level domestic open-wheel series. Green tea is produced in Japan and prepared in forms such as matcha, used in the Japanese tea ceremony.
