Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • A country consisting of an archipelago off the eastern coast of Asia. The islands' indigenous culture was largely supplanted after c. 600 BC by settlers from the mainland, who adopted an imperial system of government modeled on China's. After a long period (12th–19th century) of domination by a series of shoguns, feudalism was abolished on the restoration of the emperor Mutsuhito (1868) and the country was opened to trade with the West. Japan's industrialization and expansionism led to a series of wars, culminating in its defeat (1945) in World War II. After the war Japan's economy was rebuilt with American assistance, developing an industrial sector centered around automobiles and electronics. Tokyo is the capital and the largest city.
  • Sea of,An enclosed arm of the western Pacific Ocean between Japan and the Asian mainland. Several straits connect it with the East China Sea, the Pacific Ocean, and the Sea of Okhotsk.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun An island nation in the Pacific Ocean, located the east of China, Korea and Russia.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Dutch Japan or Portuguese Japão, from Malay Jepang, from Jepun, from Min Nan 日本 (Ji̍t-pún).

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Examples

  • WHAT JAPAN THINKS reports that 68.9% of online shoppers in Japan have used Rakuten, compared with 38.1% for next most popular Amazon.

    Japan’s top toppings for pizza 2010

  • YURI OKINA, ECONOMIST, JAPAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE: We have to make it normal in Japan for a woman to raise a child and have a career, she says.

    CNN Transcript Sep 7, 2009 2009

  • JAPAN/TAIWAN...observers actively involved in Taiwan affairs are expressing relief that President Ma today seems to have re-established a degree of adult supervision over extreme nationalist elements in his own KMT party...thus helping to defuse the maritime crisis boiling away since a June 10 incident with Japan.

    Archive 2008-06-01 Michael Turton 2008

  • Don't Get Hung Up TOKYO, JAPAN Population: 12.4 million Why: Many types of mobile technology Fact: There are 82 million mobile phones in Japan, 20 percent on high-speed networksChika Matsumoto rarely puts her cell phone down, even when she's hanging out with friends at a hamburger shop or soaking in the bathtub.

    THE WIRELESS WORLD 2007

  • JUNICHIRO KOIZUMI, PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN (through translator): Japan and China have never needed each other as much as today.

    CNN Transcript Apr 24, 2005 2005

  • JUNICHIRO KOIZUMI, PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): If we recognize that Japan is enjoying its development and prosperity thanks to the peace and stability in the world, we should never allow Iraq to turn into a hub for terrorists.

    CNN Transcript Dec 15, 2004 2004

  • FORCES JAPAN: Clearly, we need to keep in mind the burden that the Okinawan people bear as a result of our presence here and to continue to try to explain in real terms to the Okinawans the value to peace and stability, not only in Japan but in the entire Western Pacific region of our presence.

    CNN Transcript Dec 15, 2004 2004

  • JAPAN - Japan officially apologises to North Korea for its occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. 18

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2002

  • BILL BREER, CSIS, JAPAN CHAIR: We have lived with a kind of a limping Japan economy for, what, eight or nine years now, so we can probably tolerate that into the future, if there's light at the end of the tunnel.

    CNN Transcript Jun 30, 2001 2001

  • JUNICHIRO KOIZUMI, PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN: There will be a fierce opposition from some quarters in Japan that we may be stepping into a new field of militarism, but our national indignation to the terrorism of the attack on all of us is so huge that I think there will be enough public support to enact a new law.

    CNN Transcript Sep 23, 2001 2001

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