Japan is an island nation in East Asia, located in the northwest Pacific Ocean.  It is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south.  The five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa.  Tokyo is Japan’s capital and largest city.

Japan is the eleventh-most populous country in the world, as well as one of the most densely populated and urbanized.  About three-fourths of the country’s terrain is mountainous.

The music of Japan combines vocal or instrumental sounds for emotional expression.   Island isolation of Japan has allowed it to develop its own special characteristics without the intense influences of the Chinese and the Mongols.