What is "japan"

Japan \Ja*pan"\, a. Of or pertaining to Japan, or to the lacquered work of that country; as, Japan ware.

Japan allspice (Bot.), a spiny shrub from Japan ( Chimonanthus fragrans), related to the Carolina allspice.

Japan black (Chem.), a quickly drying black lacquer or varnish, consisting essentially of asphaltum dissolved in naphtha or turpentine, and used for coating ironwork; -- called also Brunswick black, Japan lacquer, or simply Japan.

Japan camphor, ordinary camphor brought from China or Japan, as distinguished from the rare variety called borneol or Borneo camphor.

Japan clover, or Japan pea (Bot.), a cloverlike plant ( Lespedeza striata) from Eastern Asia, useful for fodder, first noticed in the Southern United States about 1860, but now become very common. During the Civil War it was called variously Yankee clover and Rebel clover.

Japan earth. See Catechu.

Japan ink, a kind of writing ink, of a deep, glossy black when dry.

Japan varnish, a varnish prepared from the milky juice of the Rhus vernix, a small Japanese tree related to the poison sumac.

Japan \Ja*pan"\ (j[.a]*p[a^]n"), n. [From Japan, the country.] Work varnished and figured in the Japanese manner; also, the varnish or lacquer used in japanning.

Japan \Ja*pan"\ (j[.a]*p[a^]n"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Japanned (j[.a]*p[a^]nd"); p. pr. & vb. n. Japanning.]

1. To cover with a coat of hard, brilliant varnish, in the manner of the Japanese; to lacquer.

2. To give a glossy black to, as shoes. [R.]
   --Gay.

1570s, via Portuguese Japao, Dutch Japan, acquired in Malacca from Malay Japang, from Chinese jih pun "sunrise" (equivalent of Japanese Nippon), from jih "sun" + pun "origin." Earliest form in Europe was Marco Polo's Chipangu. Cultural contact led to japaning "coat with lacquer or varnish" (1680s), japonaiserie (1896, from French), etc.

n. 1 A hard black enamel varnish containing asphalt. 2 lacquer ware. vb. (context transitive English) To varnish with japan.

1. v. coat with a lacquer, as done in Japan

2. [also: japanning, japanned]

Japan were an English music group formed in 1974 in Catford, South London by David Sylvian (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steve Jansen (drums), Richard Barbieri (keyboards) and Mick Karn (bass guitar). Initially a glam-inspired group, Japan would develop their sound and style to incorporate electronic music, foreign influences, and an androgynous image, eventually becoming an influence on the UK's early-1980s New Romantic scene.

Japan achieved success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, releasing nine UK Top 40 hits in the early 1980s including notably the 1982 Top 10 hit " Ghosts" and scoring a UK Top 5 with the album Oil on Canvas (1983). The band split in 1982, just as they were beginning to experience significant commercial success in the UK and abroad. Its members went on to pursue other musical projects, though they reformed briefly in the early 1990s under the name Rain Tree Crow, releasing an album in 1991.

Japan ( Nippon or Nihon ; formally 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, 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".

Japan is a stratovolcanic archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, which make up about ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. The country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. The population of 126 million is the world's tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98.5% of Japan's total population. Approximately 9.1 million people live in the core city of Tokyo, the capital city of Japan, which is the sixth largest city proper in the OECD and the fourth leading global city in the world. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the world's largest metropolitan area with over 35 million residents and the world's largest urban agglomeration economy.

Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly Imperial China, followed by periods of isolation, particularly from Western Europe, has characterized Japan's history. From the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a long period of isolation in the early 17th century, which was ended in 1853 when a United States fleet pressured Japan to open to the West. Nearly two decades of internal conflict and insurrection followed before the Meiji Emperor was restored as head of state in 1868 and the Empire of Japan was proclaimed, with the Emperor as a divine symbol of the nation. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victories in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an Emperor and an elected legislature called the National Diet.

Japan is a member of the UN, the G7, the G8, and the G20 and is considered a great power. The country has the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the world's fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the world's fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer. Although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the world's eighth largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a developed country with a high standard of living and Human Development Index whose population enjoys the highest life expectancy, the third lowest infant mortality in the world, and ranked first in the number of Nobel laureates of any country in Asia. Japan is ranked first in the Country Brand Index, ranked sixth in the Global Competitiveness Report 2015–2016 and is the highest-ranked Asian country in the Global Peace Index. Japan was the first country in Asia to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

Japan is an island country in East Asia.

Japan may also refer to:

is a manga series by Eiji Ōtsuka with art by Mami Itoh.

is a Japanese manga written by Buronson (author of Fist of the North Star) and illustrated by Kentaro Miura (author of Berserk). It was published in the Hakusensha magazine Young Animal in 1992 and licensed in English by Dark Horse Comics and released on August 24, 2005.

Japan is a 2008 American independent film written and directed by Fabien Pruvot.

Japan is an album by the British band Japan, released in the United States in 1982 on the Epic Records label. It was the first U.S. release of the band's material recorded for Virgin Records in the U.K. ( Obscure Alternatives, on Ariola Records, had already been released in the U.S.), and was a combination of most of Tin Drum with three tracks from Gentlemen Take Polaroids. Despite the group's popularity in Europe and Asia, and a cult following in the U.S., the album was not a chart success, and was released at a time when the band was beginning to break up.