Japanese flag

• Japanese: 日の丸 (hi no maru)

Hinomaru, or "circle of the sun," refers to both the red sun design of the Japanese national flag, and the flag itself, in much the same way as "Stars and Stripes" is used to refer to the flag of the United States.

Shimazu Nariakira is credited with being the first to suggest such a design for a national flag, having initially proposed using such a design on Japanese ships, so as to display the ship's nationality and to distinguish it from the vessels of foreign countries.