Japan

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Nippon or Nihon, known to foreigners as Wa, Yamatai, Jipon, Zipangu (and a thousand spelling variants of that) and (most commonly nowdays) Japan is a country. It is a series of several thousand islands, the exact number of which depends both on the definition of "island" (minimum size) and if you ask them or the Russians. Despite the many islands, most of the population is centered on four main ones. It is nominally an Empire, but of the past thousand years an Emperor has held power beyond figurehead for less than 80 of them. Samurai, Ninja, Oni, Tengu, and Kitsune originate here. The most common religions (and those most likely to have analogs in a fantasy setting) are Shinto, various types of Buddhism and a Christian minority. Unlike many countries, the two major religions aren't entirely mutually exclusive, though no one would outright list their religion as "multiple". Native systems include Maid RPG, Record of Lodoss War, Queen's Blade, and Zettai Reido as well as the CCG Yu-Gi-Oh. The most popular game within the country however is, of all things, Call of Cthulhu.

Japan's history spans several million years, but most fiction and /tg/ only care about the following periods

• Sengoku Period - A succession crisis over who will become the next shogun, the man who really held power in Japan. Eventually devolves into everyone wanting the pie for himself. While this era lasted for almost 250 years, most only care about the last 40 (1560 onward) or so, when defacto unifier Oda Nobunaga began his rise to power. Mostly because the rest was a bunch of stalemates and since foreigners documented what was going on. Gun spam was popular at the last part of this era, leading to the country having more guns per capita than anywhere else in the world at the time and development of tactics that would last up till the introduction of the metallic cartridge. Near the end of the conflict one of the largest powers led an invasion of the Korean peninsula which ended in a stalemate and withdrawl. Both sides are still bullhurt about it to this day, especially thanks to the repeat during World War II.
• Edo Period - After the reunification of the land a long period of peace ensued. A few decades into this however a brief Christian rebellion led to the expulsion of foreigners and began the sakoku or "closed state" dictate where minimal outside trade occurred. This seclusion would last till July 8th 1853 when an American fleet led by Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Edo to forcibly reopen trade. This set off a widespread division and panic in the government on what to do.
• Meiji Period - In 1868-1869 the boy who would become known as Emperor Meiji took advantage of this panic to seize power back from the shogunate in a relatively short and bloodless war. Under his rule the country would refuse to bend over and become a colony like many primitive nations at the time had. It quickly modernized, abolished the caste system, replacing the samurai with a conscript army, and became a world power onto itself. It would last up till Meiji's death in 1912.
• Taishō Period - The rule of his son till 1926. A period of stability following the rapid change of the Meiji era. The country's entry into World War I is the main thing of note here. During the war the Japanese navy dominated the pacific, something which truly frightened the rest of the world.
• Shōwa Period - The rule of his son. Best known for the country's role in World War II. While this era would last up till the Emperor's death in 1989, the Emperor was reduced to a figurehead after the country's defeat in 1945 (and it's debatable if he was more than a puppet for the past several years before that).
• Post-War Shōwa and Heisei era - Beyond this Japan is just another first-world country for /tg/ purposes. Very little non-native fiction has modern Japan as it's primary setting, though it is a stock foreign destination. Japan is however a relatively high priority country for games set in the "real world but..." to explain the differences from reality of.

Self Defense Force

After World War II, Japan was hated and feared by the allied powers, and unlike West Germany it was not seen as a critical barrier to Soviet invasion. As such Japan was forced to adopt a constitution that prohibited an army, navy or air force and renounced the right to belligerency. As the Cold War heated up, NATO realized Japan was critical to preventing Communist dominance of the Pacific. Accordingly Japan was able to exploit a loophole and create a "self defense force" that was an army in all but name.

While not the latest tech, the JSDF's is equipment absolutely modern and contains plenty of armored vehicles. Their main rifle is the Type 89, a pretty straightforward AR-18 variant that uses STANAG (M16) magazines. Unlike the British AR-18 variant, the Type 89 actually works since 1: They had the original AR-18 specs instead of a crude copy by people who never used a firearm before 2: It wasn't built by workers who knew they were going to be fired immediately afterwards. Improvements like freefloating and optics mounting are considered, but budgetary concerns prevent adoption.

By the number, the Maritime Self Defense Force is at worst a match for the Russian Federation's pacific fleet, though would be heavily outnumbered if the arctic fleet or Baltic fleet reinforced them (reinforcements from the black fleet are unlikely however). While it has no aircraft carriers, the JMSDF has a pair of "helicopter destroyers" that were quite clearly designed with a conversion or variant that carries fixed wing aircraft in mind.

By the same post-war Constitution, Japan is expressly forbidden from having nuclear weapons. They do however have a large nuclear power industry and a space program, so there's no doubt they could easily make some and ICBMs to go with it if they wanted to.

Japan Analogs in Fantasy

• Nippon of Warhammer Fantasy
• Kozakura and Wa of Kara-Tur
• Jinin, The Forest of Spirits and Minkai of Golarion. Less direct analogs in the setting include Shokuro, Shenmen, and Chu Ye.
• Kamigawa of Magic the Gathering