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It's an ISO standard that differs by country, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_identification_number

Japanese Domestic Market cars have a chassis number instead of a VIN. It serves the same purpose, but a different format.

Yes, country of manufacture is part of the VIN

Country of manufacture does not necessarily equal country of sale.

That said, while some details differ, the 17-character codes are largely compatible across standards although it seems that the check digit is unique to the US market.

My Japanese "VIN" is 10 digits, but they can be from 9-12 characters.

Yeah, while digging further (but after my anti-procrastination filter locked me out) I saw that Japanese numbers for domestic consumption (and some limited exports, e.g., to Oceania) don’t follow the VIN system.