Ja·pan, a. Of or pertaining to Japan, or to the lacquered work of that country; as, Japan ware.
 Japan allspice Bot., a spiny shrub from Japan (Chimonanthus fragrans), related to the Carolina allspice.
 Japan black Chem., a quickly drying black lacquer or varnish, consisting essentially of asphaltum dissolved in naphtha or turpentine, and used for coating ironwork; -- called also Brunswick black, Japan lacquer, or simply Japan.
 Japan camphor, ordinary camphor brought from China or Japan, as distinguished from the rare variety called borneol or Borneo camphor.
 Japan clover, or Japan pea Bot., a cloverlike plant (Lespedeza striata) from Eastern Asia, useful for fodder, first noticed in the Southern United States about 1860, but now become very common.  During the Civil War it was called variously Yankee clover and Rebel clover.
 Japan earth. See Catechu.
 Japan ink, a kind of writing ink, of a deep, glossy black when dry.
 Japan varnish, a varnish prepared from the milky juice of the Rhus vernix, a small Japanese tree related to the poison sumac.
 Rhus vernix
      n : smooth American swamp shrub with pinnate leaves and greenish
          flowers followed by greenish white berries; yields an
          irritating oil [syn: poison ash, poison dogwood, poison
          sumac, Toxicodendron vernix]