"Nippon" is a song by Japanese musician Ringo Sheena. It was released as a single on June 11, 2014, two weeks after her self-cover album Gyakuyunyū: Kōwankyoku and a year after her previous solo single "Irohanihoheto" / "Kodoku no Akatsuki". The song is being used as the 2014 soccer theme song for NHK.

In 2013 and 2014, Sheena had celebrated her 15th anniversary since her debut single "Kōfukuron". She began with the single "Irohanihoheto/Kodoku no Akatsuki" in May, following this up in November with two compilation albums, Ukina and Mitsugetsu-shō, and a series of lives entitled Tōtaikai: Heisei Nijūgo-nen Kaneyama-chō Taikai (党大会平成二十五年神山町大会, "The Party Convention: 2013 Kamiyama Event"). She finished the anniversary year on the day with an album called Gyakuyunyū: Kōwankyoku, which featured new versions of songs she had given to other musicians.

In previous years, NHK had selected Superfly's "Tamashii Revolution" (2010), Radwimps' "Kimi to Hitsuji to Ao" (2011–2012) and Sakanaction's "Aoi" (2013–2014) as their soccer broadcast theme song. "Tamashii Revolution" in particular was commercially successful, being certified gold twice by the RIAJ for digital downloads.

The song was written for NHK after they requested a song by Sheena for their soccer broadcasts. NHK asked Sheena to create the song in March, and she quickly produced it at the start of April. NHK requested a song that expressed the samurai and nadeshiko spirit of Japan that could also be used for broadcasts featuring other teams, and asked if the song could feature "blue" in the lyrics (i.e. the colour of the Japan national football team) Sheena wanted to use the Tokyo Jihen song "Gunjō Biyori" due to its mention of blue and its well-fitting tempo and chords, however created a new song after considering's specific requests for the song they desired. The song was inspired by her time living in Shimizu, Shizuoka, which she considers the "soccer kingdom" of Japan. It was also inspired by everything she experienced with her band Tokyo Jihen, such as their 2010 sports-themed album Sports and the song "Atarashii Bunmeimaika" (2011). Sheena felt a lot of pressure, as she does not consider herself seen as a sporty musician.

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