All articles starting with J
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Japanese literature
Japanese literature (日本文学) spans nearly 1,500 years, from the Man'yoshu and The Tale of Genji through Meiji-era Western-influenced fiction to contemporary authors, defined by court origins, tanka poetry, and heavy translation exchange.
Japanese locomotive and multiple-unit classification
Japanese locomotive and multiple-unit classification is a family of systems in which JNR locomotive class letters encode driving axles and multiple-unit series are named for their leading motor coach.
Japanese macaque
Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata, snow monkey, ニホンザル): Japan-endemic macaque, northernmost nonhuman primate, known for hot-spring bathing, sweet-potato washing traditions, matrilineal troops, and crop conflicts with farmers.
Japanese martial arts
Japanese martial arts (budō): jūdō, kendō, kyūdō, sumō, karatedō, aikidō, shōrinji kempō, naginata, jūkendō. Modern disciplines derived from feudal bujutsu, institutionalized from 1895–1919, practiced in schools and worldwide.
Japanese militarism
Japanese militarism: military dominance over Japanese politics and society, late 1920s to 1945, also discussed as Japanese fascism (Nihon fashisumuron). Marked by army autonomy under the Meiji Constitution, mass mobilization laws, and a contested fascist label.
Japanese military volunteer system in Korea
The Japanese military volunteer system in Korea was a colonial system from 1938 under which Korean men were recruited as "volunteer" soldiers into the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy.
Japanese missions to Imperial China
The Japanese missions to Imperial China, known as the kentōshi and kenzuishi, were embassies sent to the Sui and Tang courts between 600 and 894, bringing back Chinese institutions and Buddhist learning.
Japanese missions to Sui China
Japanese missions to Sui China (遣隋使) were embassies sent by Japan's Asuka court to Sui China between 600 and 614, best known for Ono no Imoko's 607 mission.
Japanese mobile phone culture
Japanese mobile phone culture, known as keitai culture (携帯), is the set of social practices around mobile phones in Japan, where handsets became personal multimedia terminals.
Japanese moss garden
Japanese moss garden (koke niwa, 苔庭): a garden using moss as ground cover, a practice peculiar to Japanese gardens. Best known example is Saihoji (Kokedera) in Kyoto, a 14th-century Muso Soseki garden with about 120 moss varieties, UNESCO-listed in 1994.
Japanese mythology
Japanese mythology (日本神話), the body of myths in the Kojiki (712) and Nihon Shoki (720), covering cosmic origins, the kami, and imperial ancestry; also called Kiki mythology, compiled for dynastic legitimation and studied comparatively with Chinese and Korean myth.
Japanese name
Japanese names consist of a family name followed by a given name, written in kanji with family-chosen readings. Covers Meiji-era registration, the one-surname marriage rule, and the 2025 furigana reform.
Japanese National Railways
Japanese National Railways (日本国有鉄道, Kokutetsu) was the public corporation that ran Japan's railways from 1949 to 1987, opening the first high-speed shinkansen line in 1964.
Japanese nationalism
Japanese nationalism: modern nation-defining ideology formed after the 1868 Meiji Restoration, institutionalized through State Shinto and kokutai, radicalized into Shōwa ultranationalism, abolished in 1945, and revived since the 1990s in conservative form.
Japanese nationality law
Japanese nationality law (国籍法), Law No. 147 of 1950, defines acquisition, retention, choice, and loss of Japanese nationality through birth, notification, and naturalization, replacing the 1899 act and amended notably in 1985 and 2008.
Japanese New Year (正月)
Japanese New Year (正月, Shōgatsu/Oshōgatsu) is Japan's most important holiday, observed January 1-3 since the 1873 Gregorian calendar switch, with hatsumōde shrine visits, osechi food, toshikoshi soba, and nengajō cards, distinct from Lunar New Year.
Japanese noodles
Japanese noodles (日本の麺類): udon, soba, somen, hiyamugi, and kansui-based ramen, plus adapted pasta and cold noodles. Defined by fresh-noodle labeling rules (soba ≥30% buckwheat), Edo-era east soba/west udon divide, and 1958 instant ramen.
Japanese numerals
Japanese numerals: two parallel series, Sino-Japanese (ichi, ni, san) and native (hitotsu, futatsu), grouped by 10,000; includes contractions like sanbyaku, unlucky 4 and 9, and obligatory counters (josūshi).
Japanese occupation of French Indochina
The Japanese occupation of French Indochina (1940–1945) was Japan's takeover of the French colony, ruled indirectly through Vichy France until the Meigo Sakusen coup of 9 March 1945 replaced French rule with direct military government.
Japanese occupation of Guam
The Japanese occupation of Guam was Japan's military rule of the US island territory from December 10, 1941, until American forces recaptured Guam on July 21, 1944.
Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (香港日占时期)
Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (香港日占时期), the Three Years and Eight Months (三年零八個月), 25 December 1941 to 30 August 1945: Isogai's military governorship, military yen, famine reducing the population from 1.6 million to 600,000, and British liberation.
Japanese occupation of Malaya
Japanese occupation of Malaya (1941-1945): Imperial Japanese military rule after the 8 December 1941 invasion and the 15 February 1942 fall of Singapore, marked by banana-money inflation, food rationing, MPAJA resistance, and the 1945 Japanese surrender.
Japanese occupation of Malaya and Singapore
The Japanese occupation of Malaya and Singapore (Pentadbiran Pendudukan Jepun) was the Imperial Japanese Army's military government over British Malaya and Singapore from 1942 to 1945.
Japanese occupation of Nauru
The Japanese occupation of Nauru was Japan's three-year occupation of Nauru, from August 1942 to September 1945, during which an airfield was built and two thirds of Nauruans deported to Truk.
Japanese occupation of Singapore
Japanese occupation of Singapore (Syonan-to, 1942-1945): three years and eight months of Japanese military rule after the British surrender on 15 February 1942, marked by the Sook Ching massacre, food shortages, and Japanisation, ending with Japan's September 1945 surrender.
Japanese occupation of southern French Indochina
The Japanese occupation of southern French Indochina (南部仏印進駐) was the bloodless stationing of about 110,000 Japanese troops in southern Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in July 1941, with Vichy France's consent.
Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies
Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies (1942–1945): Japan's conquest and military rule of the Dutch colonial archipelago, covering the Gunseibu administration, romusha forced labour, internment camps, the Java famine, and the mobilisation of Indonesian nationalism that enabled independence in 1945.
Japanese occupation of the Philippines
Japanese occupation of the Philippines (1942–1945): Japan's WWII military administration of the islands, its puppet Second Republic under José P. Laurel, guerrilla resistance, economic collapse, and liberation by U.S. forces under MacArthur.
Japanese occupation of West Sumatra
Japanese occupation of West Sumatra (1942–1945), Sumatora Nishi Kaigan Shu: 25th Army rule from Padang and Bukittinggi, romusha forced labor, internment camps, and the transition to Indonesian independence.
Japanese particles
Japanese particles (助詞, joshi) are postposed grammatical words marking case, topic, and mood. Key items include ga, o, wa, ni, de; they are often omitted in speech and are hard for L2 learners.