JAPAN

Japan (Japanese: Nihon or Nippon; formally Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nationin East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, 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 characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honsh, Hokkaid, Kysh and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes thede facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents. Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan 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 nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries victory 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, which came to an end in 1945 following theatomic 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 parliament called the Diet. A major economic power,Japan has the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP and 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 force in self-defense and peacekeeping roles. After Singapore, Japan has the lowest homicide rate (including attempted homicide) in the world.According to both UN and WHO estimates, Japan has the longest life expectancy of any country in the world. According to the UN, it has the third lowest infant mortality rate

ETYMOLOGY
The English word Japan is an exonym. The Japanese names for Japan are Nippon ( ?) and Nihon (?) listen (helpinfo); both names are written using the kanji . The

Japanese name Nippon is used for most official purposes, including on Japanese yen, postage stamps, and for many international sporting events. Nihon is a more casual term and is used in contemporary speech. Japanese people refer to themselves as Nihonjin(?) and to their language as Nihongo (?). Both Nippon and Nihon mean "sun-origin" and are often translated as Land of the Rising Sun. This nomenclature comes from Japanese missions to

Imperial China and refers to Japan's eastward position relative to China. Before Nihon came into official use, Japan was known as Wa (?) or Wakoku (?). The English word for Japan came to the West via early trade routes. The early Mandarin or possibly Wu Chinese () word for Japan was recorded by Marco Polo as Cipangu. In modern Shanghainese, a Wu dialect, the pronunciation of characters 'Japan' is Zeppen [z pn]. The old Malay word for Japan,Jepang, was borrowed from a Chinese language Jih'pen'kuo , and this Malay word was encountered by Portuguese traders in Malacca in the 16th century. Portuguese traders were the first to bring the word to Europe. It was first recorded in English in a 1565 letter, spelled Giapan.

HISTORY

Prehistory and ancient history

The Golden Hall and five-storey pagoda of Hry-ji, among the oldest wooden buildings in the world, National Treasures, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site

A Paleolithic culture around 30,000 BC constitutes the first known habitation of Japan. This was followed from around 14,000 BC (the start of the Jmon period) by a Mesolithic to Neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer culture, who include ancestors of both the contemporary Ainu people and Yamato people, rudimentary agriculture.
[19] [17][18]

characterized by pit dwelling and

Decorated clay vessels from this period are some of the oldest
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surviving examples of pottery in the world. Around 300 BC, the Yayoi people began to enter the Japanese islands, intermingling with the Jmon.
[22]

The Yayoi period, starting around 500 BC,

[21]

saw the introduction of practices like wet-rice farming, pottery,

a new style of
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and metallurgy, introduced from China and Korea.

The Japanese first appear in written history in the Chinese Book of Han. According to the Records of Three Kingdoms, the most powerful kingdom on the archipelago during the 3rd century was called Yamataikoku. Buddhism was first introduced to Japan from Baekje, but the subsequent development ofJapanese Buddhism was primarily influenced by China.
[25] [24]

Despite

early resistance, Buddhism was promoted by the ruling class and gained widespread acceptance beginning in the Asuka period (592710).

The Nara period (710784) of the 8th century marked the emergence of a strong Japanese state, centered on an imperial court in Heij-ky (modern Nara). The Nara period is characterized by the appearance of a nascent literature as well as the development of Buddhist-inspired art and architecture.
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Thesmallpox epidemic of 735737 is believed to

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have killed as much as one-third of Japan's population.

In 784, Emperor Kammu moved the

capital from Nara to Nagaoka-ky before relocating it to Heian-ky (modern Kyoto) in 794.
Byd-in (1053) is a temple ofPure Land Buddhism. It was registered to the UNESCO World Heritage

Site.

This marked the beginning of the Heian period (7941185), during which a distinctly indigenous Japanese culture emerged, noted for its art, poetry andprose. Lady Murasaki's The Tale of Genji and the lyrics of Japan's national anthem Kimigayo were written during this time. Buddhism began to spread during the Heian era chiefly through two major sects, Tendai by Saich, and Shingon by Kkai. Pure Land Buddhism greatly becomes popular in the latter half of the 11th century.
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Politics
Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of the Emperor is very limited. As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people". Power is held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected members of the Diet, while sovereignty is vested in the Japanese people. throne. Japan's legislative organ is the National Diet, a bicameral parliament. The Diet consists of a House of Representatives with 480 seats, elected by popular vote every four years or when dissolved, and a House of Councillors of 242 seats, whose popularly-elected members serve six-year terms. There is universal suffrage for adults over 20 years of age, ballot for all elected offices.
[50] [2] [50]

Akihito is the

current Emperor of Japan; Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan, stands as next in line to the

with a secret

In 2009, the social liberal Democratic Party of Japan took power

[51]

after 54 years of the liberal conservative Liberal Democratic Party's rule.

The Prime Minister

of Japan is the head of government and is appointed by the Emperor after being designated by the Diet from among its members. The Prime Minister is the head of the Cabinet and appoints and dismisses the Ministers of State. Naoto Kan was designated by the Diet to replace Yukio Hatoyama as the Prime Minister of Japan on June 2, 2010.
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Although the Prime Minister is

formally appointed by the Emperor, the Constitution of Japan explicitly requires the Emperor to appoint whoever is designated by the Diet. Emperor Akihito formally appointed Kan as the country's 94th Prime Minister on June 8.
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Historically influenced by Chinese law, the Japanese legal system developed independently during the Edo period through texts such as Kujikata Osadamegaki.
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However, since the late

19th century the judicial system has been largely based on the civil law of Europe, notably Germany. For example, in 1896, the Japanese government established a civil code based on a draft of the German Brgerliches Gesetzbuch; with postWorld War II modifications, the code remains in effect.
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Statutory law originates in Japan's legislature and has the rubber stamp of
[50]

the Emperor. The Constitution requires that the Emperor promulgate legislation passed by the Diet, without specifically giving him the power to oppose legislation. body of Japanese statutory law is called the Six Codes.
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Japan's court system is

[56]

divided into four basic tiers: the Supreme Court and three levels of lower courts.

The main

Foreign relations and military

Japan is a member of the G8, APEC, and "ASEAN Plus Three", and is a participant in the East Asia Summit. Japan signed a security pact with Australia in March 2007 October 2008.
[59] [58]

and with India in

It is the world's third largest donor of official development assistance after the
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United States and France, donating US$9.48 billion in 2009.

Japan has close economic and military relations with the United States; the US-Japan security alliance acts as the cornerstone of the nation's foreign policy.
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A member state of the United

Nations since 1956, Japan has served as a non-permanent Security Council member for a total of 19 years, most recently for 2009 and 2010. It is one of the G4 nations seeking permanent membership in the Security Council.
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Japan is engaged in several territorial disputes with its neighbors: with Russia over the South Kuril Islands, with South Korea over the Liancourt Rocks, with China and Taiwan over the Senkaku Islands, and with China over the EEZ around Okinotorishima. its nuclear weapons and missile program (see also Six-party talks).
[64] [63]

Japan also faces

an ongoing dispute with North Korea over the latter's abduction of Japanese citizens and

Japan maintains one of the largest military budgets of any country in the world. forces.
[66]

[65]

Japan

contributed non-combatant troops to the Iraq War but subsequently withdrew its The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is a regular participant in RIMPAC maritime
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exercises.

Japan's military is restricted by Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which renounces Japan's right to declare war or use military force in international disputes. Japan's military is governed by the Ministry of Defense, and primarily consists of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF), the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force(JMSDF) and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF). The forces have been recently used in peacekeeping operations; the deployment of troops to Iraq marked the first overseas use of Japan's military since World War II.
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Nippon Keidanren has called on the government to lift the ban on arms exports so
[68]

that Japan can join multinational projects such as the Joint Strike Fighter.

Climate
The climate of Japan is predominantly temperate, but varies greatly from north to south. Japan's geographical features divide it into six principal climatic zones: Hokkaid, Sea of Japan, Central Highland, Seto Inland Sea, Pacific Ocean, and Ryky Islands. The northernmost zone, Hokkaido, has a temperate climate with long, cold winters and cool summers. Precipitation is not heavy, but the islands usually develop deep snowbanks in the winter. In the Sea of Japan zone on Honsh's west coast, northwest winter winds bring heavy snowfall. In the summer, the region is cooler than the Pacific area, though it sometimes experiences extremely hot temperatures because of the foehn wind. The Central Highland has a typical inland climate, with large temperature differences between summer and winter, and between day and night; precipitation is light. The mountains of the Chgoku and Shikoku regions shelter the Seto Inland Sea from seasonal winds, bringing mild weather year-round. The Pacific coast experiences cold winters with little snowfall and hot, humid summers because of the southeast seasonal wind. The Ryukyu Islands have a

subtropical climate, with warm winters and hot summers. Precipitation is very heavy, especially during the rainy season.
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The average winter temperature in Japan is 5.1 C (41.2 F) and the average summer temperature is 25.2 C (77.4 F).
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The highest temperature ever measured in

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Japan40.9 C (105.6 F)was recorded on August 16, 2007.

The main rainy

season begins in early May in Okinawa, and the rain front gradually moves north until reaching Hokkaid in late July. In most of Honsh, the rainy season begins before the middle of June and lasts about six weeks. In late summer and early autumn,typhoons often bring heavy rain.
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Enviroment
Environmental issues in JapanIn the period of rapid economic growth after World War II, environmental policies were downplayed by the government and industrial corporations; as a result, environmental pollution was widespread in the 1950s and 1960s. Responding to rising concern about the problem, the government introduced several environmental protection laws in 1970.
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The oil crisis in 1973 also encouraged the efficient use of energy due to Japan's lack
[89]

of natural resources.

Current environmental issues include urban air pollution (NOx,

suspended particulate matter, and toxics), waste management, watereutrophication, nature conservation, climate change, chemical management and international co-operation for conservation.
[90]

Japan is one of the world's leaders in the development of new

[91]

environment-friendly technologies, and is ranked 20th best in the world in the 2010 Environmental Performance Index. As a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol, and host of
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the 1997 conference which created it, Japan is under treaty obligation to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and to take other steps to curb climate change. In a 1984 the

Environmental Agency had issued its first white paper. In the 1989 study, citizens thought environmental problems had improved compared with the past, nearly 1.7 % thought things had improved, 31 % thought that they had stayed the same, and nearly 21 % thought that they had worsened. Some 75 % of those surveyed expressed concern about endangered species, shrinkage of rain forests, expansion of deserts, destruction of the ozone layer, acid rain, and increased water and air pollution in developing countries. Most believed that Japan, alone or in cooperation with other industrialized countries, had the responsibility to solve environmental problems. In the 2007 opinion poll, 31.8% of the people answered environmental conservation activity leads to more economic development, 22.0% answered the environmental activity does not always obstruct the economic, 23.3% answered environmental conservation should be given preference even if it may obstruct the economic and 3.2 answered economic development should place priority than environmental conservation.
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The OECD's first Environmental Performance Review of Japan was published in 1994, which applauded the nation for decoupling its economic development from air pollution, as the nation's air quality improved while the economy thrived. However, it received poorer marks for water quality, as its rivers, lakes and coastal waters did not meet quality standards.
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Another

report in 2002 said that the mix of instruments used to implement environmental policy is highly effective and regulations are strict, well enforced and based on strong monitoring capacities. In the 2006 environment annual report,
[5] [4]

the Ministry of Environment reported that current

major issues are global warming and preservation of the ozone layer, conservation of the atmospheric environment, water and soil, waste management and recycling, measures for chemical substances, conservation of the natural environment and the participation in the international cooperation.

Economy
Tokyo Stock Exchange, the largest stock exchange in Asia.
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Some of the structural features for Japan's economic growth developed in the Edo period, such as the network of transport routes, by road and water, and the futures contracts, banking and insurance of the Osaka rice brokers.
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During the Meiji period from 1868, Japan

expanded economically with the embrace of the market economy.[95]Many of today's enterprises were founded at the time, and Japan emerged as the most developed nation in Asia. [96] The period of overall real economic growth from the 1960s to the 1980s has been called the Japanese post-war economic miracle: it averaged 7.5 percent in the 1960s and 1970s, and 3.2 percent in the 1980s and early 1990s.[97] Growth slowed markedly in the 1990s during what the Japanese call the Lost Decade, largely because of the after-effects of the Japanese asset price bubble and domestic policies intended to wring speculative excesses from the stock and real estate markets. Government efforts to revive economic growth met with little success and were further hampered by the global slowdown in 2000.[2] The economy showed strong signs of recovery after 2005; GDP growth for that year was 2.8 percent, surpassing the growth rates of the US and European Union during the same period.[98] As of 2011, Japan is the third largest national economy in the world, after the United States and China, in terms of nominal GDP,
[99]

and the fourth largest national economy in the world, after

[7]

the United States, China and India in terms of purchasing power parity.

As of January 2011,

Japan's public debt was more than 200 percent of its annual gross domestic product, the largest of any nation in the world. In August 2011, Moody's rating has cut Japan's long-term sovereign debt rating one notch from Aa3 to Aa2 inline with the size of the country's deficit and borrowing level. The large budget deficits and government debt since the 2009 global recession and followed by earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 made the rating downgrade. product.
[101] [100]

The service sector accounts for three quarters of the gross domestic

Japan has a large industrial capacity, and is home to some of the largest and most

technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronics, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemical substances, textiles, and processed foods. Agricultural businesses in Japan cultivate 13 percent of Japan's land, and Japan accounts for nearly 15 percent of the global fish catch, second only to China. consisted of some 65.9 million workers.
[102] [2]

As of 2010, Japan's labor force

[103]

Japan has a low unemployment rate of around four Housing

[104]

percent. Almost one in six Japanese, or 20 million people, lived in poverty in 2007. in Japan is characterized by limited land supply in urban areas.

A plug-in hybrid carmanufactured by Toyota, one of the world's largest carmakers. Japan is the second-largest producer of automobiles in the world.
[105]

Japan's exports amounted to US$4,210 per capita in 2005. Japan's main export markets are China (18.88 percent), the United States (16.42 percent), South Korea (8.13 percent), Taiwan (6.27 percent) and Hong Kong (5.49 percent) as of 2009. Its main exports are transportation equipment, motor vehicles, electronics, electrical machinery and chemicals.
[2]

Japan's main

import markets as of 2009 are China (22.2 percent), the US (10.96 percent), Australia (6.29 percent), Saudi Arabia (5.29 percent), United Arab Emirates (4.12 percent), South Korea (3.98 percent) and Indonesia (3.95 percent). Its main imports are machinery and equipment, fossil fuels, foodstuffs (in particular beef), chemicals, textiles and raw materials for its industries.
[106]

By market share measures, domestic markets are the least open of

[107]

anyOECD country.

Junichiro Koizumi's administration began some pro-competition reforms,

[108]

and foreign investment in Japan has soared.

Japan ranks 12th of 178 countries in the 2008 Ease of Doing Business Index and has one of the smallest tax revenues of the developed world. The Japanese variant of capitalism has many distinct features: keiretsu enterprises are influential, and lifetime employment and seniority-based career advancement are relatively common in the Japanese work environment.
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Japanese companies are known for management methods like "The

[110]

Toyota Way", and shareholder activism is rare.

Some of the largest enterprises in Japan

include Toyota, Nintendo, NTT DoCoMo, Canon, Honda, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp, Nippon Steel, Nippon Oil, andSeven & I Holdings Co.
[111]

It has some of the world's largest banks, and the Tokyo Stock
[112]

Exchange (known for its Nikkei 225 and Topix indices) stands as the second largest in the world by market capitalization. Japan is home to 326 companies from the Forbes Global
[113]

2000 or 16.3 percent (as of 2006).

Science and technology

Japan is a leading nation in scientific research, particularly technology, machinery and biomedical research. Nearly 700,000 researchers share a US$130 billionresearch and development budget, the third largest in the world.
[115] [116] [114]

Japan is a world leader in fundamental

[117]

scientific research, having produced fifteen Nobel laureates in either physics, chemistry or medicine, three Fields medalists, and one Gauss Prize laureate. Some of Japan's

more prominent technological contributions are in the fields of electronics, automobiles, machinery, earthquake engineering, industrial robotics, optics, chemicals, semiconductors and metals. Japan leads the world in robotics production and use, possessing more than half (402,200 of 742,500) of the world's industrial robots.
[118]

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is Japan's space agency; it conducts space, planetary, and aviation research, and leads development of rockets and satellites. It is a

participant in the International Space Station: the Japanese Experiment Module (Kibo) was added to the station during Space Shuttle assembly flights in 2008. exploration include: launching a space probe to Venus, Akatsuki; the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter to be launched in 2013; base by 2030.
[124] [119]

Japan's plans in space developing

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[122][123]

and building a moon

On September 14, 2007, it launched lunar explorer "SELENE" (Selenological

and EngineeringExplorer) on an H-IIA (Model H2A2022) carrier rocket from Tanegashima Space Center. SELENE is also known as Kaguya, after the lunar princess of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.
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Kaguya is the largest lunar mission since the Apollo program. Its purpose is
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to gather data on the moon's origin and evolution. It entered a lunar orbit on October 4, flying at an altitude of about 100 km (62 mi). The probe's mission was ended when
[129]

it was deliberately crashed by JAXA into the Moon on 11 June 2009.

More than 99 percent of the population speaks Japanese as their first language.

[2]

It is

an agglutinative language distinguished by a system of honorifics reflecting the hierarchical nature of Japanese society, with verb forms and particular vocabulary indicating the relative status of speaker and listener. Japanese writing useskanji (Chinese characters) and two sets of kana (syllabaries based on simplified Chinese characters), as well as the Latin alphabet and Arabic numerals.
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Besides Japanese, the Ryukyuan languages, also part of the Japonic language family, are spoken in Okinawa; however, few children learn these languages.
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The Ainu language,

which is unrelated to Japanese or any other known language, is moribund, with only a few elderly native speakers remaining in Hokkaido. Most public and private schools require
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students to take courses in both Japanese and English.

Education
Announcement of the results of the entrance examinations to theUniversity of Tokyo

Primary schools, secondary schools and universities were introduced in 1872 as a result of the Meiji Restoration.
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Since 1947, compulsory education in Japan

comprises elementary and middle school, which together last for nine years (from age 6 to age 15). Almost all children continue their education at a three-year seniorhigh school, and, according to the MEXT, as of 2005 about 75.9 percent of high school graduates attend a university, junior college, trade school, or other higher education institution. top-ranking universities in Japan are the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University.
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The two

The Programme for International Student Assessment coordinated by the

OECD currently ranks the overall knowledge and skills of Japanese 15-year-olds as sixth best in the world.
[181]

Health
In Japan, health care is provided by national and local governments. Payment for personal medical services is offered through a universal health insurance system that provides relative

equality of access, with fees set by a government committee. People without insurance through employers can participate in a national health insurance program administered by local governments. Since 1973, all elderly persons have been covered by government-sponsored insurance.
[182] [183]

Patients are free to select the physicians or facilities of their choice.

Japan 'the most healthy country' Japanese children can look forward to a long and healthy life. People who live in Japan can expect to remain in good health longer than anybody else in the world, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). WHO scientists have developed a new way of calculating the number of years that a person can be expected to live in full health. It is known as the DALE (Disability-Adjusted Life Years) system, and gives a truer picture of the health of a country than simply studying death rates. Using the system to rank the world's 191 countries has uncovered some surprise findings. In Japan the average healthy life expectancy is 74.5 years.

CuLTURE
Kinkaku-ji or 'The Temple of the Golden Pavilion' in Kyoto,Special Historic Site, Special Place of Scenic Beauty, and UNESCO World Heritage Site; its torching by a monk in 1950 is the subject of a novel byMishima Japanese culture has evolved greatly from its origins. Contemporary culture

combines influences from Asia, Europe and North America. Traditional Japanese arts includecrafts such as ceramics, textiles, lacquerware, swords and dolls; performances of bunraku, kabuki, noh, dance, and rakugo; and other practices, the tea ceremony,ikebana, martial arts, calligraphy, origami, onsen, Geisha and games. Japan has a developed system for the protection and promotion of both tangible and intangibleCultural Properties and National Treasures. World Heritage List.
[185] [184]

Sixteen sites have been inscribed on the UNESCO

Art
The Great Wave off Kanagawa, one of a series of woodblock prints by Hokusai

The Shrines of Ise have been celebrated as the prototype of Japanese architecture.

[186]

Largely

of wood, traditional housing and many temple buildings see the use oftatami mats and sliding doors that break down the distinction between rooms and indoor and outdoor space.
[187]

Japanese sculpture, largely of wood, and Japanese painting are among the oldest of

the Japanese arts, with early figurative paintings dating back to at least 300 BC. The history of Japanese painting exhibits synthesis and competition between native Japanese aesthetics and adaptation of imported ideas. The interaction between Japanese and European art has been significant: for example ukiyo-e prints, which began to be exported in the 19th century in the

movement known as Japonism, had a significant influence on the development of modern art in the West, most notably on post-Impressionism.
[188]

Famous ukiyo-e artists

include Hokusai and Hiroshige. The fusion of traditional woodblock printing and Western art led to the creation of manga, a comic book format that is now popular within and outside Japan.
[189]

Manga-influenced animation for television and film is called anime.

[190]

Japanese-made video game consoles have been popular since the 1980s.

Music
Japanese music is eclectic and diverse. Many instruments, such as the koto, were introduced in the 9th and 10th centuries. The accompanied recitative of the Noh drama dates from the 14th century and the popular folk music, with the guitar-like shamisen, from the sixteenth.
[191]

Western classical music, introduced in the late 19th century, now forms an
[192]

integral part of Japanese culture. The imperial court ensemble Gagaku has influenced the work of some modern Western composers. Notable classical composers from Japan

include Toru Takemitsu and Rentar Taki. Popular music in post-war Japan has been heavily influenced by American and European trends, which has led to the evolution of J-pop, or Japanese popular music.
[193]

Karaoke is the most widely practiced cultural activity in Japan. A

1993 survey by the Cultural Affairs Agency found that more Japanese had sung karaoke that year than had participated in traditional pursuits such as flower arranging (ikebana) or tea ceremonies.
[194]

Cuisine
The primary staple is Japanese rice. In the early modern era ingredients such as red meats that had previously not been widely used in Japan were introduced. Japanese cuisine is known for its emphasis on seasonality of food,
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quality of ingredients and presentation. Japanese

cuisine offers a vast array of regional specialtiesthat use traditional recipes and local ingredients. The Michelin Guide has awarded Japanese cities more Michelin stars than the rest ofthe world combined.
[202]

2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

Earthquakes and tsunamis are among the most frightening natural phenomena. If a severe earthquake or tsunami occurs in a densely populated area, it can practically swallow the city. This is what recently happened in Japan.On March 11, 2011, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit off the east coast of Japan, followed by a disastrous tsunami. It was the largest ever earthquake in Japan's recorded history. Houses, cars and much else were washed away by high tsunami waves. There has been a massive power failure in most of the country.Japanese officials confirmed that radioactive materials have leaked into the atmosphere, following a fire at reactor number 4 at the Fukushima power plant. Here are some of the images from Japan

after the ferocious tsunami and earthquake hit, causing many injuries, fires and massive disaster. A fishing boat is noticeably out of place after being swept ashore during the massive tsunami. An upside-down house lies among much other debris. This city was very beautiful only a week ago, before it collapsed due to the earthquake. Damaged water pipes shoot water into the air after the earthquake. An aerial view of damage to Wakuya, Northern Japan. A tsunami doesn't take long to turn a city into a pile of debris. Another image from Wakuya, Japan. The earthquake was very powerful. Many people are believed to be buried and many are missing across the country. Aerial view of Sendai, Japan, after the earthquake and tsunami. The huge tide just appears to eat anything in its path. A mud- and petroleum-covered chair lying on the streets of Hachinohe, Japan. Sources say that the tsunami has hit the coast of Hokkaido, Chiba, Ibaraki, Aomori Pref and Tokyo Bay. Tons of debris filled up in a canal in the downtown area of Ofunato, Japan. It was one of the worst ever earthquakes in Japanese history. Only five other recorded earthquakes on earth have been as powerful as this one. A fishing vessel lies deep in the woods in Hachinohe, Japan. The quake and the tsunami were so powerful that the Japanese nuclear power stations had to shut down immediately. Four other nuclear plants close to Japan also shut down for safety reasons.

Japan nuclear alert

8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan on Friday, causing a tsunami. A huge rescue mission is underway on Saturday amid growing fears of radiation leaks at nuclear power stations damaged by the disaster. Here's a round-up of events so far in Japan on Saturday. There are growing fears about damage to two nuclear power stations following Friday's 8.9 magnitute earthquake. There has been an explosion at a building at one of the plants, Fukushima No 1 in Futuba, 150 miles (240km) north of Tokyo. Japanese authorities have extended the evacuation area at the Fukushima No 2 plant to 10km, the same distance as for Fukushima No 1 plant. The death toll from the disaster is expected to exceed 1,300, with most deaths due to drowning. The official death toll currently stands at 413, with 784 people missing and 1,128 injured. The tsunami swept about six miles (10km) inland in some areas.Police said between 200 and 300 bodies were found along the coast in Sendai, the biggest city in the area near the quake's epicentre. Police estimate that more than 215,000 people are taking refuge in emergency shelters in the east and north of the country. Many survivors have been trapped overnight on rooftops, surrounded by a sea of mud and water. Around 50,000 rescuers have deployed to the region.

Tsunami warnings for most of Japan have been lowered, although there is still a risk of large waves along the north-eastern coast. The tsunami rolled across the Pacific at jet speed but had weakened before it hit Hawaii and the West Coast of the US. Initial reports suggest limited tsunami damage to Pacific island nations. Japan is dealing with widespread devastation along its north-eastern coast, with fires raging and parts of some cities underwater after a massive earthquake and tsunami that is likely to have killed at least 1,000 people. Daybreak revealed the full extent of the damage from Friday's 8.9 magnitude earthquake - the strongest in Japan since records began - and the 10-metre high tsunami it sent surging into cities and villages, sweeping away everything in its path.At least 402 people have been killed but Japan's Jiji Press News agency said police and other data showed that the total number of quake dead and missing topped 1,000. Adding to the nation's woes, authorities issued an atomic alert after the quake damaged cooling systems at two nuclear power plants.Thousands of people were evacuated from areas around the No. 1 and No.2 reactors at Fukushima, and authorities were forced to release what they said were small amounts of radioactive steam from both reactors to reduce the pressure. Power plant operator Tokyo Electric Power said there were no health risks associated with the releases.Also today, a strong 6.8 magnitude aftershock struck off the east coast of Japan.The aftershock, which the US Geological Survey says hit at a depth of just 24 kilometres, was centred 174 kilometres east-south-east of the tsunami-hit city of Sendai. Grim updates indicating appalling loss of life keep emerging from along the hard-hit east coast of northern Honshu island, where the monster waves destroyed more than 3,000 homes. The National Police Agency said 202 people had been confirmed dead and 673 missing, with 991 injured. Police in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, separately said 200 to 300 bodies had been found on the shore. In one of the worst-hit residential areas, people buried under rubble could be heard calling out "help" and "when are we going to be rescued", Kyodo news agency reported. TV footage showed staff at one hospital waving banners with the words "food" and "help" from a rooftop. Fears rose for greater losses as reports came in of several trains missing and a burst dam break flooding more homes. But there was also some good news. Japanese naval and coastguard helicopters found a ship that was swept out to sea by the tsunami and airlifted all 81 people aboard to safety, the Jiji Press news agency reported this morning.