Flag of Japan.
Japan /dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon}; formally 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea 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 Kanji characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan in 1632[]
When Grantville arrived in Thuringia, Japan was still recovering from the Sengoku, or Warring States, period, which had ended with the formation of the Tokugawa shogunate circa 1600. In 1633, the current Shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, learned about the Shimabara rebellion, which had started in 1637, and about the New World. Realizing that the rebellion could be averted, the Shogunate adopted a policy of sending Japanese Christians to settle California, and the first such fleet left in 1634. Iemitsu also decided to attempt to take Spanish-held Manila, and this was done in 1634.
The Shogunate also became aware of the long-term effects of Japan's policy of seclusion, which had been gradually becoming more stringent.