Japan (日本 Nihon or Nippon), officially the Republic of Japan (as of 2038), is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, Korea, and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and China in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin" (because it lies to the east of nearby countries), which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".