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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.

Barnstormers, who were in fact aerial showmen, fired the imagination of aviators and skydivers after World War I. The barnstormers showed airborne performances and parachute jumps and travelled every year throughout the United States. Competitions began as a result of the increase of parachuting awareness. The first contest of accuracy landing was held in 1930 in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

The military used paratroopers in World War II , that is between 1939 and 1945. The paratroopers were parachute-equipped soldiers and had the most famous use on D-Day, the invasion of Normandy (Normandie), France, on June 6, 1944

The surplus of nylon parachute equipment after World War II and the fact that the U.S. Army had started the first military sport parachuting clubs, set the grounds of skydiving in the United Dtates, as a pleasant and relaxing activity. The same thing happened in many other countries, and thus , the first parachuting world championships were organized in 1951 in Yugoslavia.

Little by little, in the mid 1960, systems specially made for sport parachutes took the place of the military surplus systems. Parachutists started to call this activity skydiving and calling themselves skydivers. In order to improve the opening characteristics and to make them more maneuverable, there were a few sport modifications to military parachutes. A French Canadian kite builder, Domina Jalbert, developed in 1964 the the ram-air design, that has set the tendencies for parachutes in skydiving from then on.

Sport skydivers constantly tested new and revolutionary designs and materials. Apart from sport uses , there have also been designed sport-generated designs like military HAHO (high altitude, high opening) designs, smoke jumping designs and many types of equipment for two-person and four-person tandem jumping. The military HAHO designs allowed soldiers to silently fly over large areas. The smoke jumping designs aimed to put firefighters into remote forest fires from low altitude.

Skydiving has kept on becoming more and more popular after the late 1980s, and this is because the equipment, that is reliable, lightweight, and easy-to-operate, picture this sport as accesible to many people. The U.S. president George H. W. Bush also jumped , thus increasing the popularity of skydiving.

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).

Another seminal center is Tama Arts University in Tokyo, which produced many of Japan's late twentieth- century innovative young artists

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.

The Cultural Affairs Division is concerned with such areas as art and culture promotion, arts copyrights, and improvements in the national language.

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.

For the following 700 years, shoguns from a succession of clans ruled in Japan, while the imperial court existed in relative obscurity.

Suspicious of Christianity and of Portuguese support of a local Japanese revolt, the shoguns of the Tokugawa period (1603–1867) prohibited all trade with foreign countries; only a Dutch trading post at Nagasaki was permitted.

The Japanese began to take steps to extend their empire.

In World War I, Japan seized Germany's Pacific islands and leased areas in China.

At the Washington Conference of 1921–1922, Japan agreed to respect Chinese national integrity, but, in 1931, it invaded Manchuria.

The dropping of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 by the United States finally brought the government to admit defeat. Japan surrendered formally on Sept. 2, 1945, aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

The U.S. and Japan signed a security treaty in 1951, allowing for U.S. troops to be stationed in Japan. In 1952, Japan regained full sovereignty, and, in 1972, the U.S. returned to Japan the Ryuku Islands, including Okinawa.

A shrewd trade policy gave Japan larger shares in many Western markets, an imbalance that caused some tensions with the U.S.

During the 1990s, Japan suffered an economic downturn prompted by scandals involving government officials, bankers, and leaders of industry. Japan succumbed to the Asian economic crisis in 1998, experiencing its worst recession since World War II.

The embattled Mori resigned in April 2001 and was replaced by Liberal Democrat Junichiro Koizumi—the country's 11th prime minister in 13 years.

Koizumi was overwhelmingly reelected in Sept. 2003 and promised to push ahead with tough economic reforms.

In April 2005, China protested the publication of Japanese textbooks that whitewashed the atrocities committed by Japan during World War II.

Princesss Kiko gave birth to a boy in September.

The child's birth spares Japan a controversial debate over whether women should be allowed to ascend to the throne.

He suffered a stunning blow in July 2007 parliamentary elections, however, when his Liberal Democratic Party lost control of the upper house to the opposition Democratic Party.

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck in northwest Japan in July 2007, killing 10 people and injuring more than 900. The tremor caused skyscrapers in Tokyo to sway for almost a minute, buckled roads and bridges, and damaged a nuclear power plant. About 315 gallons of radioactive water leaked into the Sea of Japan.

he move followed a string of scandals and the stunning defeat of his Liberal Democratic Party in July's parliamentary elections

In June 2008, the upper house of Parliament, which is controlled by the opposition, censured Fukuda, citing his management of domestic issues.

The opposition Democratic Party of Japan, which won control of the upper house of Parliament in 2007, poses a viable threat to the Liberal Democrats who have been in control for more than 50 years.

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.