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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.

It's for this reason that the off-season is used to follow a training program to develop endurance, strength, speed, coordination, and agility. In order to be successful

Warm-up 5 to 10 minutes to increase blood flow and lubricate the joints.Flexibility exercises to slowly stretch muscles and tendons that cross and surround the joints.Strength development to increase muscular power and force.Endurance work to increase and maintain a high level of cardiovascular conditioning and interval workouts to increase speed and stamina.A cool-down period of 5 to 10 minutes after the exercise has finished to let the heart rate return to normal and facilitate the return of blood from the extremities.Post-exercise flexibility exercises of 5 to 10 minutes to prevent muscles from shortening.

The Warm-UpAll exercise should be preceded by a short warm-up period of 5 to 10 minutes. The purpose of this is to prepare your body for more strenuous activity to follow. An excellent warm-up is rope skipping with little or no resistance. Once your body starts to lightly perspire, you are probably sufficiently warmed up. Rope jumping will greatly increase the flow of blood to the muscle tissues and lubricate the joints. This allows you to bend, stretch, jump, and run to the maximum of your ability without fear of injury. Exercise without a proper warm-up is very taxing to the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints. Failure to warm-up may lead to injury. Flexibility: Stretching Exercises

Prepare to be a WinnerA high level of personal motivation is critical to the success of anything that you do in life. No matter how much or how little basketball talent you have, if you are motivated enough to follow the program set forth here, you will get in shape. Therefore, you will be better able to achieve your goals. All the many hours that you put into your conditioning program will eventually yield results. In the final minutes of a game when your team is desperately looking for someone to score, grab a rebound, or block a shot, it is you who will come through. Why? Because you are in shape and, even in the waning minutes when everyone else is tired, you can still perform at a high competitive level. With the base built from your preseason training program, you are the one who still has the mental toughness, the strength, the power, and the motivation to get the job done. Although you may never have all the tools to be the most talented basketball player, by working hard and following this preseason program, you will become a well conditioned athlete, able to maximize all your basketball talents. In the end this will enable you to come as close as possible to achieving your basketball dreams.

Today, exceptional dogs that have been specially bred and socialized are paired with children who are blind or visually impaired. These dogs, called "K9 Buddies," are from Guide Dogs for the Blind, a national nonprofit with a mission to offer skilled mobility dogs and training free-of-charge to adults with visual impairments throughout the United States and Canada

K9 Buddy, helped her forget her former fear of dogs

he aspects of normal cellular functions that have been revealed as a result of investigations into cancer are discussed. The details of what cancer is and the role of growth factors, growth factor receptors, intracellular signaling molecules, transcription factors, and tumor suppressors in cancer are examined. Cancer therapy is examined in relation to metabolic inhibitors, the alkylating agents and antibiotics, mitotic inhibitors, and hormone-related therapy.

A cancer survivor who engaged in a medically supervised and proactive fitness plan starting from the day of diagnosis maintained a realistic level of physiologic function during and after cancer treatment. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.