The Empire of Japan (Japanese: 大日本帝國 Dai Nippon Teikoku, literally "Empire of Great Japan") 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 the Philippines in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".