The Empire of Japan (officially Great Japan, Empire of Greater Japan or Great Japanese Empire; more widely known as Imperial Japan or the Japanese Empire) is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, the Chinese nations, Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. It has existed since the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the present day.