My favourite New Year 2012 photo

Land of the Rising Sun sees the first rising sun of 2012 as it appears above Mount Fuji, seen from an All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight which had organized a rising sun observation flight with 137 passengers on New Year's Day.

As observed at Yamanashi prefecture.

Both Nippon and Nihon literally mean "the sun's origin", that is, where the sun originates, and are often translated as the Land of the Rising Sun. This nomenclature comes from Imperial correspondence with Chinese Sui Dynasty and refers to Japan's eastward position relative to China.