Greece/Japan

Greece/Japan is a mildly popular and possibly canonical slash pairing in Axis Powers Hetalia, involving the characters of Greece and Japan.

The pairing is sometimes referred to as Giripan, a portmanteau of the first few syllables of Greece's name in Japanese and the last syllable of Japan's name.

Greece and Japan and the Cat Relation
At the beginning of the strip, Greece explains that he has been good friends with Japan for a long time and that he's grateful to Japan for helping him with his trade deficits and selling him inexpensive yet durable cars from his country.

Greece also enjoys visiting Japan to see more of his culture, such as samurai and shrines, and Japan is shown explaining to him how to invoke the gods at one of his shrines. Greece asks him if it's okay for him to wish for the death of his neighbor Turkey, and Japan tells him to "express it more mildly."

Lazy Comic Country
In the first strip ("This Exchange Continues Back and Forth for Another 15 times'), Greece is attempting to learn how to speak Japanese from a guidebook and keeps on consulting Japan on whether he's saying the phrases properly or not.

The second strip ("Greece and Japan's All-Too-Slow Paced World") has Greece saying to Japan that he'd like to be reincarnated as a cat and be free from GDP and trade deficits, but that he doesn't think it'll come true. Japan responds by placing a pair of cat ears on his head, and Greece tries to ask something along the lines of "Am I the child of a cat?" but Japan seems to be confused by his imperfect Japanese.

The final strip ("Frequency") is based on the results of the 2005 Durex Global Sex Survey, where Greece placed #1 in the frequency of sex around the world and Japan placed last. After confirming the findings with Greece, Japan says that he envies his ability to have that much action as he's an old man who lacks the energy to do it. Greece replies that Japan should learn how to enjoy sex more even if it might hurt at first, and the scene cuts to a view outside of Japan's house with Japan screaming so loudly from inside that a nearby country, China, yells at him to be quiet. In the next panel, a naked (or at least shirtless) Japan is seen bolting up in bed, yelling about how relieved he is that it was all a dream, even as Greece is shown sleeping next to him.

Rainy Day
While walking together under an umbrella in the rain with Greece, Japan asks him why he's keeping his face turned away from him and Greece says that it's because the rain makes his hair unnaturally curly and that he doesn't want Japan to see his hair in that state. Japan doesn't see any difference between the way Greece's hair usually is and the way his hair looks now, and tells him that his hair looks the same as usual and that he'd like to know the difference between his 'normal' and 'bed hair,' if he can. Greece appears to be upset by his statements, until he remembers something France once said about "humiliation play," and wonders out loud if this is what is happening right now.

Other Strips
In "Soon Already," Japan and Greece go on a shopping trip to find a present for America's upcoming birthday. Greece shows Japan some possible gifts, but Japan says that they wouldn't make good ones for America, first telling him that a small stuffed cat wouldn't be a typical gift for a man and then saying "It's not about the size" when Greece shows him a much larger stuffed cat.

Greece asks Japan in "Super Angry Japan" if it's really true that no one has ever seen him get angry. The two agree to try and get mad together; Greece easily succeeds by thinking about Turkey laughing at him, but Japan can only work himself up to a mildly dissatisfied state. Greece suggests that he think about wasting money to make himself even angrier, which is implied to have worked so well that a frantic Greece calls up Turkey and asks to borrow a camera from him to take pictures of Japan in his 'super angry' state.

"Do your best, Japanese snacks!" is mainly about other countries trying out the Japanese snack "takenokoyama" and finding it either distasteful or not worth taking, with Greece as the only shown country who appears to enjoy the snack, to the point of calling in his people and having them eat all of it.

Greece begins telling Japan in "Giant Moussaka" that he made a movie about a moussaka turned enormous by aliens, but falls asleep before he can finish describing it to him.

In the Hetalia Fantasia CD, Japan briefly mentions Greece as being unable to join in the RPG because Internet costs are too high at his place.

In the Manga
In Volume 2 of the published manga, there is a chapter about Greece and Japan's relations that clearly borrows elements from several webcomic strips. Their roles from "Greece and Japan and the Cat Relation" are reversed here, with Japan as the one visiting Greece's country and learning more about his culture and gods. Their mutual interest in cats and Greece's attempts to speak Japan's language are also mentioned, and the "Super Angry Japan" part is lifted almost directly from the original webcomic.

Partway through Japan's tour of Greece, Turkey shows up and he and Greece get into an argument about which one Japan gets along with more, with Turkey accusing Greece of trying to "invade" Japan and Greece telling him not to talk to Japan. When the two confront Japan on which one of them he prefers, he doesn't give a proper answer, instead declaring that they should settle this with rock, paper, and scissors.

Fan Speculations
There is some debate on whether Japan's exclamation that "It was all a dream!" at the end of "Lazy Comic Country" while he's naked or at least shirtless in bed with Greece is meant to be taken at face value or as a statement of denial about what really happened, but most fans agree that it's most likely the latter. Either way, this strip is the only time so far in the webcomic series where sexual intercourse is heavily implied to have occurred between two characters.

There are also some implications in other strips that Greece and Japan's interactions may have more than friendship behind them, the most notable being the "Rainy Day" strip where Greece and Japan share an umbrella, an action seen as romantic in Japanese culture. In the same strip, Greece wonders if "humiliation play" (apparently a reference to a sexual ploy) has something to do with Japan's statements about his hair that left him feeling hurt, which seems to indicate that Greece cares deeply about what Japan thinks of him and wouldn't be adverse to the possibility of Japan wanting to have sex with him at the very least, especially when coupled with him implicitly teaching Japan how to enjoy sex more in "Lazy Comic Country" (if that scene really wasn't a dream Japan was having, that is).

Greece and Turkey are also seen by some fans as rivals in love where Japan is concerned, as they get into arguments about which one of them Japan pays more attention to. Japan avoids directly answering which one of them he favors, but the fact that he has been shown together with Greece much more often than with Turkey (in fact, Turkey has yet to receive a single strip with Japan that doesn't also include Greece) makes it highly likely that if Japan has a preference, it would be Greece.

Even with all of this, however, the Greece/Japan pairing does not appear to be as popular as the others (e.g. Germany/Italy and Sweden/Finland) who have received canonical hints, possibly because Japan has not been shown interacting with Greece (who historically would have been on the opposing side) at any time in the main storyline strips (in fact, Greece's only appearances are in the modern day strips, and he's usually not considered one of the main characters) and that their close modern-day relationship, while explicitly based on real-life cultural exchange and diplomatic relations between the two countries, does not have any significant historical events or alliances associated with it unlike with the other hinted-at couples.

Published Manga

 * Greece and Japan's Loose Relations (Axis Powers Hetalia volume 2)

Webcomic: Extra Stories

 * Greece and Japan and the Cat Relation
 * Lazy Comic Country
 * Rainy Day
 * Do Your Best, Japanese Snacks!

Webcomic: Comic Diaries

 * Comic Diary 6 ("Soon Already")
 * Comic Diary 7 ("Giant Moussaka")
 * Comic Diary 10 ("Super Angry Japan")