Japan

Honda Kiku is a main character in the series Axis Powers Hetalia. He is the representation of Japan (日本,Nihon), and is part of the Axis Powers.

Appearance
He is a petit man with dark hair and dark eyes, and is often depicted wearing a white naval uniform with black and gold accents. His first appearance in both the anime and published manga shows him briefly wearing a more ornate version, with gold epaulets and frog clasps down in the front of the jacket. When he first appeared in the webcomic, he wore a standard gray/black uniform until sometime after joining the Axis.

In some of Himaruya's official art, his hair is dark brown and his eyes are a lighter brown, though he is usually colored with black hair and darker eyes.

Personality And Interests
A quiet and hard working man, Kiku does not know very much about the outside world and needs time to adjust to other people, but he's very curious and interested in learning things from other nations. His distinct island customs may seem mysterious to others, though he finds them perfectly normal. He tends to have the behavior of an "old man" and was a hermit for the longest time. He has some erotic woodcuts at his place. Kiku also voiced his preference for 2D girls over 3D, hinting that he has an otaku side.

He seems to be fond of food in general and his country's food in particular, as evidenced by his annoyance of having his salted salmon taken off Germany's diet plan and his dismay at the increase of the price of eggs because of the bad economy. He also had the urge to touch the Italy brother's ahoge due to them reminding him of vegetables.

Wang Yao (China)
Main Article: Wang Yao After having been discovered by Yao as a small child, Kiku was raised by the older boy and taught how to use kanji, which he used to create the hiragana alphabet from. One day, Kiku turned on him and attacked him with a katana, leaving him with a disfiguring scar on his back.

Im Yong Soo (South Korea)
Main Article: Im Yong Soo

The two don't get along very well, Yong Soo claiming to hate him but always copying his style and taking credit for others' work (even going as far to claim that "tsundere" originated in Korea). He also has an unusual obsession with wanting to touch Kiku's "breasts".

Heracles Karpusi (Greece)
Main Article: Heracles Karpusi

The two nations have very friendly relations and multiple strips can be found of them visiting each other or bonding over their mutual love of cats. Their relationship could be associated with the real life Greco-Japan relations started in 1899 (the year 2009 marks the 110th anniversary of friendly relations). It is implied that they 'slept' together when Kiku wakes up naked in bed with Heracles, though an embarassed Kiku denies anything of the sort.

In The Anime
Kiku first briefly appears in Episode 01 at the "Meeting Of The World". He agrees with Alfred's ridiculous solution for global warming, much to the annoyance of Vash.

After making a cameo at the end of Episode 03 as a teaser, he is formally introduced in Episode 04. Some of the moments that originally occured at this point in Axis Powers Hetalia volume 1 were moved to the later Episode 15, while other things (like Kiku seeing the world as an RPG) were dropped entirely.

In Episode 06, while stranded on an island, Kiku suggests to Ludwig that they call their team "Suujiku". They decide on the term Axis (eine Achse in German and un Asse in Italian.) instead.

Since the anime is based more off the published version of the manga than the original webcomic, Kiku does not wear his black uniform in his introduction, instead wearing the decorative version of his naval suit before he becomes part of the Axis Powers. He is also depicted in his WWII naval suit in instances where he originally wore other clothing in the equivalent manga strips.

Trivia

 * His given name, Kiku, comes from the Japanese word for the Chrysanthemum flower, which was given to Japan by China. Honda (which means 'origin of the rice field') is a common Japanese surname that includes the kanji 本 hon, as in 日本 Nihon (Japan).
 * His birthday corresponds to the date of National Foundation Day in Japan, which celebrates the foundation of Japan in 660 BC by Emperor Jimmu.