Japan
Japan is an island country off the eastern coast of Asia whose crescent-shaped archipelago stretches some 2,400 kilometres from Hokkaido to the Ryukyus; an official recount in 2023 put the number of its islands at 14,125. Its 123.8 million people — 29.3 per cent of them aged 65 or over, and falling in number since 2008 — live mostly in the great metropolitan belts of the Pacific coast, above all Greater Tokyo. Under Emperor Naruhito, the 126th of a line traditionally traced to 660 BCE, Japan is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary Diet; its 1947 constitution renounces war. Industrialisation after the 1868 Meiji Restoration and reconstruction after 1945 made Japan one of the world's largest economies — a position now measured in the yen's terms, a government debt above 200 per cent of GDP, and a technological and cultural reach that includes 27 World Heritage properties and UNESCO-listed cuisine and theatre.