Ja-pan")[a] is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takashi Hashiguchi.

A 69-episode anime television series adaptation by Sunrise was broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 2004 to March 2006.

Japan won the 49th Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen category.

He heads to Tokyo with the intention of working at the famous bread-making chain Pantasia.

The characters bake their bread using their burning passion and even anger, similar to the legendary Kanjitake (河内 恭) cooking style of Hokkaido.

Besides a desire to create Ja-pan, Azuma also possesses legendary Hands of the Sun (太陽の手, Taiyō no Te): hands that are warmer than typical, prompting dough to ferment faster.

[c] Shogakukan collected its chapters into twenty-six tankōbon volumes, published from March 18, 2002,[10] to April 18, 2007.

Japan Chō Genjitsu), on Line Manga app on August 16, 2019.

Its chapters were collected in five tankōbon volumes, released from April 17, 2020,[16] to December 17, 2021.

[71] In North America, the series was licensed by Nozomi Entertainment in July 2014.

[72] Nozomi released the series on three DVD sets on March 3, May 5, and July 7, 2015.

[76] In July 2019, Funimation announced the streaming rights to the series on its FunimationNow platform.

Japan won the 49th Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen category in 2004.