The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most highly educated countries in the world, with one of the highest percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree.
Although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the world’s eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles.
Japan is a highly developed country with a very high standard of living and Human Development Index. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world. Japan is renowned for its historical and extensive cinema, rich cuisine and its major contributions to science and modern-day technology.
I hope that the above does some justice to a country of very long duration with a hugely unique culture and history.
As seems true of the most everything about a nation as ancient and complex as Japan, there is not short and simple way to tell the story of the flag either.
Simply put, the national flag of Japan is a rectangular white banner bearing a crimson-red disc at its center.
As you might imagine, the red disc is meant to represent the sun.
The sun plays an important role in Japanese mythology and religion as the Emperor
is said to be the direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu
and the legitimacy of the ruling house rested on this divine appointment and descent from the chief deity of the predominant Shinto religion.
Public perception of the national flag varies. Historically, both Western and Japanese sources claimed the flag was a powerful and enduring symbol to the Japanese. Since the end of World War II, the use of the flag and the national anthem has been a contentious issue for Japan’s public schools. Disputes about their use have led to protests and lawsuits. The flag is not frequently displayed in Japan due to its association with ultra-nationalism. For some nations that have been occupied by Japan, the flag is a symbol of aggression and imperialism.
I have done the best I can do with Japan’s rich social, political, historical, and cultural history as well as with the more nuanced and complicated history of the flag itself that I expected. I hope you learn something reading the post as I did from writing it.
Our next flags will depart from the pattern of those of countries or constituent territories to play a bit in the fields of social and political flags as well as those that are purely for popular culture fun.