The Nambu Type 94 8 mm Pistol (Type 94 Handgun, Japanese: 九四式拳銃 Kyūyon-Shiki Kenjū) was a small and light-weight (1 pound 11 ounces) semi-automatic pistol, produced in large numbers by Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 prior to and during the Second World War.
Designed by Kijirō Nambu

Kijiro Nambu

was a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army and the founder of Nambu Arms Manufacturing Company, manufacturer of many of the firearms the Japanese military would use in World War II. A prolific small arms designer, he was sometimes called the "John Browning of Japan"...

, the pistol entered production in 1934 at the Nambu Rifle Manufacturing Company. Originally marketed commercially, it is sometimes said to have been developed as a compact pistol intended for pilots, air crews, and tank crews because it was thought that the Type 14 8 mm Nambu Pistol was too large.