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Christina T

Japanese history: Postwar - 0 views

  • After World War II had ended, Japan was devastated. All the large cities (with the exception of Kyoto), the industries and the transportation networks were severely damaged. A severe shortage of food continued for several years.
  • The whole operation was mainly carried out by the United States.
  • Over 500 military officers committed suicide right after Japan surrendered, and many hundreds more were executed for committing war crimes.
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  • A new constitution went into effect in 1947: The emperor lost all political and military power, and was solely made the symbol of the state.
  • Critics started to grow when the United States acted increasingly according to her self interests in the Cold War, reintroduced the persecution of communists, stationed more troops in Japan, and wanted Japan to establish an own self defence force despite the anti-war article in the constitution.
  • With the peace treaty that went into effect in 1952, the occupation ended. Japan's Self Defence Force was established in 1954, accompanied by large public demonstrations. Great public unrest was also caused by the renewal of the US-Japan Security Treaty of 1960.
  • After the Korean War, and accelerated by it, the recovery of Japan's economy flourished.
  • Japan's relations to the Soviet Union were normalized in 1956, the ones to China in 1972.
Christina T

CIA - The World Factbook -- Japan - 0 views

  • For more than two centuries this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture.
  • During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Japan became a regional power that was able to defeat the forces of both China and Russia.
  • The economy experienced a major slowdown starting in the 1990s following three decades of unprecedented growth, but Japan still remains a major economic power, both in Asia and globally.
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  • Government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery of high technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation (1% of GDP) helped Japan advance with extraordinary rapidity to the rank of second most technologically powerful economy in the world after the US and the third-largest economy in the world after the US and China, measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis.
  • Some fear that a rise in taxes could endanger the current economic recovery. Debate also continues on the role of and effects of reform in restructuring the economy, particularly with respect to increasing income disparities.
  • China and Taiwan dispute both Japan's claims to the uninhabited islands of the Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) and Japan's unilaterally declared exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea, the site of intensive hydrocarbon prospecting
Christina T

ABC-CLIO: World Geography: Japan - 0 views

  • The nation of Japan was probably born of the union of two peoples: one from Polynesia or the Malay Peninsula and one from elsewhere in Asia.
  • About 300 BC, the Japanese began growing rice, which would become the nation's agricultural staple.
  • From the 500s to the 700s, Japanese society developed quickly—partly because of its close relationship with neighboring China and the magnificent Tang Dynasty.
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  • Starting in the 12th century, military administrations called shogunates became the usual form of government.
  • It took until the end of the 1500s for order to be restored under the Momoyama shogunate, but the government's three famous warriors eventually battled among themselves, breaking up their alliance in 1600.
  • His rule was marked by the near-elimination of Christianity from Japan in an effort to prevent the conquest of the country by Spain, the expulsion of all Spaniards in 1624, and the deportation of the Portuguese in 1639. All contact with foreigners was then outlawed.
  • Japan enjoyed a period of blossoming culture, and art, literature, and theater thrived despite the Tokugawa shogunate's strict, repressive control.
  • After this point, known historically as the Meiji Restoration, true authority rested with a small group of veteran politicians.
  • Such improvements led to the creation of a considerable export trade as Japan's leaders decided to work with the foreigners, since their efforts to expel them had not succeeded
  • Continued incursions into China in 1931–1932 secured a Japanese puppet monarchy in China's Manchurian region under Emperor P'u-i, China's last emperor.
  • plunged into World War II with its attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.
  • an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6
  • Japan signed the United States-Japan Security Treaty (1951) in San Francisco
  • Japanese politics after World War II has been dominated by the powerful Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
  • become a major global financial power and ranked as the world's largest aid donor and overseas investor.
  • His bold move paid off when the LDP gained a two-thirds majority in the Diet's lower house, thereby gaining for Koiziumi a wide popular mandate for his reforms. Koizumi left office in September 2006, having completed two full terms—a rarity in modern Japan.
Christina T

Japan - Migration - 0 views

  • During Japan's economic development in the twentieth century, and especially during the 1950s and 1960s, migration was characterized by urbanization as people from rural areas in increasing numbers moved to the larger metropolitan areas in search of better jobs and education.
  • In the 1980s, government policy provided support for new urban development away from the large cities, particularly Tokyo, and assisted regional cities to attract young people to live and work there.
  • This pattern suggests a process of suburbanization, people moving away from the cities for affordable housing but still commuting there for work and recreation, rather than a true decentralization.
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  • Japanese economic success has led to an increase in certain types of external migration. In 1990 about 11 million Japanese went abroad.
  • As the government and private corporations have stressed internationalization, greater numbers of individuals have been directly affected, decreasing Japan's historically claimed insularity
  • By the late 1980s, these problems, particularly the bullying of returnee children in the schools, had become a major public issue both in Japan and in Japanese communities abroad.
Christina T

Student Research Center - powered by EBSCOhost: Early Japan -- The Yayoi Period - 0 views

  • Japan entered into its second major prehistoric period, a civilized era known as the Yayoi period.
  • he name Yayoi is derived from an area Tokyo known as Yayoi, where the first documented pottery from this period was discovered in an archaeological excavation in 1884.
  • ron and bronze materials are believed to have been exchanged with Japanese envoys either for token tributes or prisoners of war.
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  • early all of the country's inhabitants belong to the same ethnic group and share the same racial background and cultural characteristics.
  • Within the villages, households consist of large families. This usually includes a farmer, his wife and children, grandparents, and grown sons and their families.
  • Yayoi culture originally developed in northern Kyushu, the western and southernmost of Japan's main islands.
  • Japanese city life is much more Westernized than that of the countryside.
  • ayoi culture spread into Honshu (Japan's largest island) and present-day Tokyo in the Middle (100 BC-100 AD) to Late Yayoi (100-300AD) period.
  • Modern entertainment is also active in the cities of Japan.
  • The Japanese celebrate many holidays and practice many customs throughout the year.
  • On May 5 Kodomo-no-Hi (Children's Day) is celebrated. This is a day set aside to honor all children.
  • Perhaps the most important development of the Yayoi period was the cultivation of rice, probably introduced from the area near the Yangtze River delta in southern China.
  • November 23 marks Kansha-no-Hi (Labor-Thanksgiving Day). On this day, the Japanese give thanks to laborers and for a successful harvest.
  • apanese men and women did not choose their marriage partners based on love. Instead, marriage was arranged by families who paired couples based on their social and economic status.
  • At the end of the day a large bathtub is filled with hot water. Then, each family member, in turn washes and rinses thoroughly before getting into the tub.
  • In addition to pottery and iron and bronze tools, archaeologists have depended largely on burial remains to uncover Yayoi culture.
  • For years, the Japanese have taken great pride in their performing arts. Dance and theater are essential parts of Japanese culture.
  • n northeastern Japan, secondary burials were conducted in which the bones of the dead were exhumed, painted decoratively, and placed in ornamental clay jars.
  • "No plays" are other types of theatrical performances common in Japan.
  • The gagaku, for example, is classical music that was introduced into Japan from China in the 8th century A.D.
  • Western music is also popular in Japan.
  • For many years the Japanese style of dress consisted of long, flowing robes called kimonos.
  • The climate of Japan varies a great deal from heavy snows and extreme cold along the west coast to warm and humid summers in the rest of the country.
Christina T

Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • Japan is one of the leading nations in the fields of scientific research, particularly technology, machinery and biomedical research
  • For instance some of Japan's more prominent technological contributions are found in the fields of electronics, automobiles, machinery, earthquake engineering, industrial robotics, optics, chemicals, semiconductors and metals
  • apan is the world's largest producer of automobiles[73] and home to six of the world's fifteen largest automobile manufacturers and seven of the world's twenty largest semiconductor sales leaders as of today.
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  • It is a participant in the International Space Station and the Japanese Experiment Module (Kibo) is slated to be added to the International Space Station during Space Shuttle assembly flights in 2008.
Matt Kellogg

Best Places For Snowboarding in the World - 0 views

  • USAThe United States has some of the best snowboarding in the world. With Colorado, Wyoming, California and Utah in the west and Vermont in the east home to great resorts that cater to snowboarders. Resorts famous for their snowboarding include Crested Butte in Colorado, Vail in Colorado and Mammoth Mountain, Squaw Valley and Heavenly Valley in California. California abounds with a vast selection of snowboarding options. Sugar Bowl and Kirkwood are also favorites among California snowboarders.
  • CanadaSome of the very best snowboarding in the entire world is in Canada, with a great amount of resorts from the east to the west. Whistler/Blackcomb is the premier destination for snowboarders in Canada, but you can't overlook the smaller resorts including Silver Star, Apex, BigWhite, Whitewater and Sunpeaks. You also can't forget Banff, with some of the most beautiful and majestic scenery anywhere and their resorts like Lake Louise.
  • JapanJapan? Great for snowboarding? Yes. As well as skiing. People forget that Japan has many mountains and cold areas since the country is very long and reaches quite far north. In fact, Japan has over 600 ski and snowboarding resorts! A little ways from Tokyo, you'll find some nice resorts, but they tend to be more crowded and expensive due to their popularity with Tokyo residents. To experience Japanese snowboarding at its best, you'll want to travel away from Tokyo. Around Japan's 600+ resorts, you'll find everything from ultra modern and high tech resorts to traditional resorts to small time, family run resorts. You can't forget Nagano, also not too far from Tokyo and home to the 1998 Winter Olympics.
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  • he Alps, whether the Swiss Alps, the Italian Alps or the French Alps
Jilliane Velazco

Japan's Music Industry Wants Fee on Sales of Latest Digital Players - New York Times - 0 views

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    japanese fees on "devices using earlier digital recording technologies, like cd's and minidisc recorders". there is a japanese version of itunes
Christina T

ABC-CLIO: World Geography: Japan - 0 views

  • decorations of pottery and porcelain that became an important export item when Japan began trading with the rest of the world in the 19th century.
  • Most sculpture in Japan is made from wood
  • Buddhism also prompted developments in painting
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  • art of Japanese flower arranging
  • Kabuki theater was begun in 1603 by a troupe of women, but during the 17th century
  • developed several sports derived from skills needed in war
  • Japanese martial art
Christina T

ABC-CLIO: World Geography: Japan - 0 views

  • Etiquette and good manners are extremely important to the Japanese people.
  • On entering a Japanese home, temple, or shrine, shoes are removed.
  • Business cards are extremely important in Japan.
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  • Japanese people give gifts for certain holidays, and bring gifts to family and friends when they return from vacation.
  • sticking chopsticks into a bowl of rice is considered bad manners
  • Part of the marriage ceremony involves ritual purification and the drinking of sake (rice wine)
  • choose to be married in Christian ceremonies
  • most funerals are Buddhist. The body is cremated, and while that is happening, the family eats the first meal of the day.
  • on the first day of spring and fall, and during the summer Obon (Festival of Lanterns), a Buddhist festival signifying the reunion of the living with the spirits of the dead.
Christina T

Japan - THE ARTS - 0 views

  • The introduction of Western cultural values, which had flooded Japan by the late nineteenth century, led to a dichotomy between traditional values and attempts to duplicate and assimilate a variety of clashing new ideas
  • Japanese aesthetics provide a key to understanding artistic works perceivably different from those coming from Western traditions.
  • Within the East Asian artistic tradition, China has been the acknowledged teacher and Japan the devoted student.
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  • Japanese painters used the devices of the cutoff, close-up, and fade-out by the twelfth century in yamato-e, or Japanese-style, scroll painting, perhaps one reason why modern filmmaking has been such a natural and successful art form in Japan.
  • The calligrapher--a member of the Confucian literati class, or samurai--had a higher status, while artists of great genius were often recognized in the medieval period by receiving a name from a feudal lord and thus rising socially.
  • Artists divided into two main camps, those continuing in traditional Japanese style and those who wholeheartedly studied the new Western culture.
  • After World War II, many artists began working in art forms derivied from the international scene, moving away from local artistic developments into the mainstream of world art.
  • Two terms originating from Zen Buddhist meditative practices describe degrees of tranquillity: one, the repose found in humble melancholy (wabi), the other, the serenity accompanying the enjoyment of subdued beauty (sabi).
  • The Cultural Affairs Division is concerned with such areas as art and culture promotion, arts copyrights, and improvements in the national language.
  • A new generation of the avant-garde has broken with this tradition, often receiving its training in the West. In the traditional arts, however, the master-pupil system preserves the secrets and skills of the past.
  • Another seminal center is Tama Arts University in Tokyo, which produced many of Japan's late twentieth- century innovative young artists
  • In 1989 the fifth woman ever to be so distinguished was cited for Japanese-style painting, while for the first time two women--a writer and a costume designer--were nominated for the Order of Cultural Merit, another official honor carrying the same stipend.
  • The Cultural Properties Protection Division originally was established to oversee restorations after World War II.
  • During the 1980s, many important prehistoric and historic sites were investigated by the archaeological institutes that the agency funded, resulting in about 2,000 excavations in 1989.
  • A 1975 amendment to the Cultural Properties Protection Act of 1897 enabled the Agency for Cultural Affairs to designate traditional areas and buildings in urban centers for preservation.
  • Individual artists and groups, such as a dance troupe or a pottery village, are designated as mukei bunkazai (intangible cultural assets) in recognition of their skill.
  • A growing number of large corporations join major newspapers in sponsoring exhibitions and performances and in giving yearly prizes.
  • A number of foundations promoting the arts arose in the 1980s, including the Cultural Properties Foundation set up to preserve historic sites overseas, especially along the Silk Route in Inner Asia and at Dunhuang in China.
  • After World War II, artists typically gathered in arts associations, some of which were long-established professional societies while others reflected the latest arts movement.
  • By the 1980s, however, avant-garde painters and sculptors had eschewed all groups and were "unattached" artists.
Christina T

Japan --  Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition - 0 views

  • Japan is a country marked by contrast between old and new. The country values its complex and ancient cultural tradition.
  • The islands of Japan form an arc that stretches about 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from northeast to southwest.
  • Much of Japan's original vegetation has been replaced by farming or by plant species brought in from other countries.
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  • The burakumin (people of the village) are ethnically the same as the majority of Japanese. However, their ancestors were members of the former outcast class. The burakumin are often treated unfairly.
  • Shinto is based on the worship of local spirits in nature.
  • Japan has a rich and complex culture. Native Japanese traditions have been mixed with cultural styles adapted from China and, later, from the West. Japanese culture and art emphasize understated simplicity, elegance, and grace. For example, the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, flower arranging, and garden design are highly stylized and refined. On the other hand, contemporary Japanese society fully embraces Western-style popular culture—influenced by television, motion pictures, and advertising.
  • modern Japanese writers include Soseki Natsume, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Osamu Dazai, Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, and Yukio Mishima.
  • Poetry plays a central role in Japanese culture.
  • The carefully composed paintings used few brush strokes to suggest a scene in nature.
  • Japanese No plays are generally short, stylized, and heroic.
  • Today the martial arts are more important as competitive sports and as aids to physical and mental fitness.
  • The Japanese economy grew remarkably throughout the 1960s, '70s, and '80s.
  • Historical records, however, show that Japan was not united as one state until the late 4th or early 5th century AD. It was ruled by the Yamato dynasty.
  • Meanwhile, Japan was developing trade contacts with the outside world.
  • By the mid-19th century the Tokugawa shogunate was unable to keep European and United States traders away.
  • A new government was established under the young emperor Mutsuhito, who took the name of Meiji, meaning “enlightened government.”
  • Japan soon sought to build an empire. It successfully fought a war with China (1894–95) and with Russia (1904–05).
  • The Japanese government believed that expansion through military conquest would help the economy.
  • Under the terms of surrender, Japan had to give up all the territory it had acquired since 1895.
  • Japan rebuilt its ruined economy, using new technology in every major industry.
Christina T

Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition - 0 views

  • Occasions of many kinds are celebrated with poems, and thousands of poems are submitted for the poetry prize awarded by the emperor each New Year.
  • Japanese literature is noted for distinctive forms of drama as well as of poetry.
  • No plays can be considered as scenes from the ceremonial life of lords and ladies during Japan's Middle Ages.
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  • the Japanese puppet play is serious drama combining words, music, and dancing.
  • Early Japanese novels consisted of series of incidents, each incident built around a poem.
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