Ja·pan (j -p n ) A country of Asia on an archipelago off the northeast coast of the mainland. Traditionally settled c. 660 b.c., Japan's written history began in the 5th century a.d. During the feudal period (12th-19th century) real power was held by the shoguns, whose dominance was finally ended by the restoration of the emperor Mutsuhito in 1868. Feudalism was abolished, and the country was opened to Western trade and industrial technology. Expansionist policies led to Japan's participation in World War II, which ended after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 1945). Today the country is highly industrialized and noted for its advanced technology. Tokyo is the capital and the largest city. Population: 127,000,000. Word History: Stamp collectors know that Nihon and Nippon on Japanese stamps mean "Japan"; what they probably don't know is that Nihon, Nippon, and Japan are all ultimately the same word. In the early part of the Chinese Tang dynasty  in a.d. 670, to be preciseJapanese scholars who had studied Chinese created a new name for their country using the Chinese phrase for "origin of the sun, sunrise," because Japan is located east of China. In the Chinese of the time (called Middle Chinese), the phrase was nzyet-pwun. To this the scholars added the Chinese suffix -kwuk, "country," yielding a compound nzyet-pwun-kwuk, "sun-origin-country, land of the rising sun." The consonant clusters in the word were not pronounceable in Old Japanese, so the form was simplified to Nip-pon-gu or *Ni-pon-gu, the latter developing by regular sound change to Ni-hon-gu. The forms Nippon and Nihon of today are the same as these, minus the "country" suffix. Interestingly, the Chinese themselves took to calling Japan by the name that the Japanese had invented, and it is from the Chinese version of the name that English Japan is ultimately derived. In Mandarin Chinese, one of the forms of Chinese to develop from Middle Chinese, the phrase evolved to Rìb nguó, an early form of which was recorded by Marco Polo as Chipangu, which he would have pronounced as (ch -pän-g ) or (sh-pän-g). The early Mandarin word was borrowed into Malay as Japang, which was encountered by Portuguese traders in Moluccas in the 16th century. These traders may have been the ones to bring the word to Europe; it is first recorded in English in 1577, spelled Giapan. |   |
| Japan, Sea of or East Sea 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. |
| ja·pan (j-pn) n. 1. A black enamel or lacquer used to produce a durable glossy finish. 2. An object decorated with this substance. tr.v. ja·panned, ja·pan·ning, ja·pans 1. To decorate with a black enamel or lacquer. 2. To coat with a glossy finish. [After Japan.] |
japan
Noun
a glossy black lacquer, originally from the Orient, which is used on wood or metal
Verb
[-panning, -panned]
to varnish with japan
Japan
1. devotion to or preference for the customs, policies, language, or culture of Japan.
2. anything peculiar to or characteristic of Japan or its people.
2. anything peculiar to or characteristic of Japan or its people.
a style of art, idiom, custom, mannerism, etc., typical of the Japanese.
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. |  Japan - a string of more than 3,000 islands to the east of Asia extending 1,300 miles between the Sea of Japan and the western Pacific OceanHondo, Honshu - the central and largest of the four main islands of Japan; between the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean; regarded as the Japanese mainland Kyushu - the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan; contains coal fields Shikoku - the smallest of the four main islands of Japan; to the south of Honshu and to the east of Kyushu; separated from Honshu by the Inland Sea; forested and mountainous Osaka Bay - a bay of the western Pacific in southern Honshu Pacific, Pacific Ocean - the largest ocean in the world |
| 2. |  Japan - a constitutional monarchy occupying the Japanese Archipelago; a world leader in electronics and automobile manufacture and ship buildinghara-kiri, harakiri, harikari, seppuku - ritual suicide by self-disembowelment on a sword; practiced by samurai in the traditional Japanese society sumo - a Japanese form of wrestling; you lose if you are forced out of a small ring or if any part of your body (other than your feet) touches the ground go game, go - a board game for two players who place counters on a grid; the object is to surround and so capture the opponent's counters shogi - a form of chess played on a board of 81 squares; each player has 20 pieces acupressure, G-Jo, shiatsu - treatment of symptoms by applying pressure with the fingers to specific pressure points on the body jiujitsu, jujitsu, jujutsu - a method of self-defense without weapons that was developed in China and Japan; holds and blows are supplemented by clever use of the attacker's own weight and strength ninjitsu, ninjutsu - the traditional Japanese method of espionage; involves stealthy movements and the use of camouflage karate - a traditional Japanese system of unarmed combat; sharp blows and kicks are given to pressure-sensitive points on the body of the opponent origami - the Japanese art of folding paper into shapes representing objects (e.g., flowers or birds) chanoyu, tea ceremony - an ancient ritual for preparing and serving and drinking tea futon - mattress consisting of a pad of cotton batting that is used for sleeping on the floor or on a raised frame kamikaze - a fighter plane used for suicide missions by Japanese pilots in World War II Kammon Strait Bridge - a suspension bridge between Kyushu and Honshu shoji - a translucent screen made of a wooden frame covered with rice paper Shingon - a form of Buddhism emphasizing mystical symbolism of mantras and mudras and the Buddha's ideal which is inexpressible Japanese - the language (usually considered to be Altaic) spoken by the Japanese Ryukyuan - the language (related to Japanese) that is spoken by the people of the Ryukyu Islands miso - a thick paste made from fermented soybeans and barley or rice malt; used in Japanese cooking to make soups or sauces wasabi - the thick green root of the wasabi plant that the Japanese use in cooking and that tastes like strong horseradish; in powder or paste form it is often eaten with raw fish sukiyaki - thin beef strips (or chicken or pork) cooked briefly at the table with onions and greens and soy sauce sashimi - very thinly sliced raw fish sushi - rice (with raw fish) wrapped in seaweed tempura - vegetables and seafood dipped in batter and deep-fried Aum, Aum Shinrikyo, Supreme Truth - a terrorist organization whose goal is to take over Japan and then the world; based on a religion founded in 1987 that combines elements of Buddhism with Christianity; "in 1995 Aum members released deadly sarin gas on a Tokyo subway train" Chukaku-Ha - an ultra-leftist militant group founded in 1957 from the breakup of the Japanese Communist Party; includes a covert action wing; "Chukaku-Ha attacks tend to cause property damage rather than casualties" Anti-Imperialist International Brigade, Japanese Red Army, JRA - a terrorist group organized in 1970 to overthrow the Japanese government and monarchy and to foment world revolution; is said to have close ties with Palestinian terrorists; "in 1972 the Japanese Red Army was responsible for a massacre at an airport in Israel" yakuza - organized crime in Japan; an alliance of criminal organizations and illegal enterprises diet - a legislative assembly in certain countries (e.g., Japan) prefecture - the district administered by a prefect (as in France or Japan or the Roman Empire) Asahikawa - a city on western Hokkaido that is the center of a fertile agricultural area Japanese capital, Tokio, Tokyo, Yeddo, Yedo, capital of Japan, Edo - the capital and largest city of Japan; the economic and cultural center of Japan Nagano - a city in central Honshu to the northwest of Tokyo; site of a Buddhist shrine Nagoya - an industrial city in southern Honshu Omiya - a city of east central Honshu; a suburb of Tokyo Osaka - port city on southern Honshu on Osaka Bay; a commercial and industrial center of Japan | |
| 3. | japan - lacquerware decorated and varnished in the Japanese manner with a glossy durable black lacquer lacquerware - a decorative work made of wood and covered with lacquer and often inlaid with ivory or precious metals | |
| 4. | japan - lacquer with a durable glossy black finish, originally from the orient lacquer - a hard glossy coating | |
| Verb | 1. | japan - coat with a lacquer, as done in Japan handicraft - a craft that requires skillful hands lacquer - coat with lacquer; "A lacquered box from China" |
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