Japan, known as “Land of Rising Sun” located in the Pacific Ocean lies to the east of the of the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea, China, Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. Japan has recently been noticed the third-largest economy in the world behind the US and China. Its economic strength is at least partly due to the strong research and development industry that underlies successful international brands such as Nissan, Toyota, Panasonic, Canon and Sony – as well as producing robots for every need imaginable. Unsurprisingly, an excellent higher education system lies behind all this innovation.
Japan is divided into five regions: Tohoku, from north of Kanto to Tsugaru Strait; Kanto, embracing seven prefectures in the Tokyo-Yokohama region; the Chubu, or central, region, from west of Tokyo to the Nagoya area; Kinki, including the important cities of Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and Nara; and Chugoku, a narrow peninsula thrusting westward from Kinki between the Sea of Japan and the Inland Sea, which lies between southern Honshū and the island of Shikoku.