Japan (japanes : 日本, Nippon or Nihon) is an island coutrt in east asia, located in the northwest pacific ocean. It is bordered on the west by the sea of japan, and extends from the sea of okhotsk in the north toward the east china sea and taiwan in the south. Part of the ring of fire, Japan spans an archipelago of 6852 island covering 377,975 square kilometers (145,937 sq mi); the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Tokyo is Japan’s capital and largest city; other major cities include Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukoka, Kobe, and Kyoto.

Japan is the eleventh-most populous country in the world, as well as one of the most denseiy populated and urbanized. About three-fourths of the county’s terrain is mountainous, concentrating its population of 125.36 million on narrow coastal plains. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37.4 million residents.