Geography: The countries and bodies of water around Japan.

is anisland nationin East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of theSea 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" (because it lies to the east of nearby countries), which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".