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 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 in 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.
• Edo Period - After the reunification of the land a long period of peace ensued. After a few decades a brief Christian rebellion led to the expulsion of foreigners and began the sakoku or "closed state" dictate where minimal outside trade occurred. This would last till July 8th 1853 when an American fleet led by Comodore 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, 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 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 than).
• Post-War Shōwa and Heisei era - At this point 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.

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