Japan
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![The Golden Hall and five-storey pagoda of Hōryū-ji, among the oldest wooden buildings in the world, National Treasures, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site](/Images/godic/202501/21/Horyu-ji11s32000611.jpg")
![Samurai warriors facing Mongols during the Mongol invasions of Japan; Suenaga, 1293](/Images/godic/202501/21/Mōko_Shūrai_Ekotoba_20611.jpg")
![A scene at the Rokumeikan depicting Japanese people dancing wearing European clothing, a visible part of the westernizing efforts under Emperor Meiji; Chikanobu, 1888](/Images/godic/202501/21/Chikamatsu_Kiken_buto_no_ryakuke0611.jpg")
Japan (Japanese:日本 Nippon [nip̚põ̞ɴ] or Nihon [nihõ̞ɴ]; formally 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, "State of 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".