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Portal:Japan

Coordinates: 36°30′N 139°00′E / 36.5°N 139°E / 36.5; 139
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Japan is an island country in East Asia. It is in the northwest Pacific Ocean and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans an archipelago of 14,125 islands, with the four main islands being Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, and Kyushu. Tokyo is the country's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto.

The Japanese archipelago has been inhabited since the Upper Paleolithic (30,000 BC). Between the fourth and ninth centuries AD, the kingdoms of the region became unified under an emperor and the imperial court based in Heian-kyō. Beginning in the 12th century, political power was held by a series of military dictators (shōgun) and feudal lords (daimyō), and enforced by a class of warrior nobility (samurai). After a century-long period of civil war, the country was reunified in 1603 under the Tokugawa shogunate, which enacted an isolationist foreign policy. In 1854, a United States fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West, which led to the end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868. In the Meiji period, the Empire of Japan adopted a Western-modeled constitution, and pursued a program of industrialization and modernization. Amidst a rise in militarism and overseas colonization, Japan invaded China in 1937 and entered World War II as an Axis power in 1941. After suffering defeat in the Pacific War and two atomic bombings, Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under a seven-year Allied occupation, during which it adopted a new constitution.

Under the 1947 constitution, Japan has maintained a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature, the National Diet. Japan is a highly developed country and a great power, with one of the largest economies by nominal GDP. Japan has renounced its right to declare war, though it maintains a self-defense force that ranks as one of the world's strongest militaries. A global leader in the automotive, robotics, and electronics industries, the country has made significant contributions to science and technology, and is one of the world's largest exporters and importers. It is part of multiple major international and intergovernmental institutions. Japan has over 125 million inhabitants and is the 11th most populous country in the world, as well as one of the most densely populated. About three-fourths of the country's terrain is mountainous, concentrating its highly urbanized population on narrow coastal plains. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world. Japan has one of the world's longest life expectancies but is experiencing a population decline due to its very low birth rate.

Japan is a cultural superpower as its culture is well known around the world, including its art, cuisine, film, music, and popular culture, which encompasses prominent manga, anime, and video game industries. (Full article...)

X Japan is a popular Japanese band founded in 1982 by Toshimitsu "Toshi" Deyama and Yoshiki Hayashi. Originally named X, the group achieved its breakthrough success in 1989 with the release of their second album Blue Blood. They started out as a power/speed metal band and later gravitated towards a progressive sound, at all times retaining an emphasis on ballads. After three more albums, X Japan disbanded in 1997. Besides being one of the first Japanese acts to achieve mainstream success while on an independent label, the group is widely credited for pioneering the visual kei movement, though most of the group's members toned down their on-stage attire in later years. As of 2007, the band has sold over twenty million records and over two million home videos. On June 4, 2007, it was announced the band would reunite with a new song released via digital download in January 2008 and live performances scheduled for March and May. X was founded in 1982 while vocalist Toshi and drummer Yoshiki were attending high school together. The band began to actively perform live in the Tokyo area in 1985, its lineup at that time being completed by a number of changing support musicians. A first single, titled "I'll Kill You" was released on Dada Records in June and in November of the same year, the group contributed the song "Break the Darkness" to the samplers Heavy Metal Force III. To ensure a continuous outlet for the band's publications, Yoshiki founded the independent label Extasy Records in the following year on which a second single, "Orgasm", was released. (Full article...)

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On this day...

June 10:

'Events

  • 1852 - 医師の吉田純道、帝王切開手術を行う。
  • 1913 - 森永製菓が日本初のミルクキャラメルを発売する。20粒10銭。
  • 1959 - 国立西洋美術館が開館する。東京の上野公園内に「国立西洋美術館」が開館した。戦後フランスから返還された松方コレクションを中心に、ロダンの彫刻や印象派の絵画などが収蔵、展示。
  • 1962 - 北陸トンネルが開通する(全長1万3869メートル)。
  • 1973 - 東京の上野~新橋間の5.5キロが初の歩行者天国となる。
  • 1986 - 臨時行革審、最終答申を出す。

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Beato c. 1866
Felice Beato (c. 1832 – 29 January 1909), also known as Felix Beato, was an Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photographers. He is noted for his genre works, portraits, and views and panoramas of the architecture and landscapes of Asia and the Mediterranean region. Beato's travels gave him the opportunity to create images of countries, people, and events that were unfamiliar and remote to most people in Europe and North America. His work provides images of such events as the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Second Opium War, and represents the first substantial body of photojournalism. He influenced other photographers, and his influence in Japan, where he taught and worked with numerous other photographers and artists, was particularly deep and lasting. (Full article...)

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Flag of Aomori Prefecture
Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku Region. The capital is the city of Aomori. The prefecture came into existence in 1871. Aomori Town was established in 1889. The town was incorporated as a city in 1898 with a population of 28,000. Around one o'clock in the afternoon of May 3, 1910 a fire broke out in the Yasukata district. Fanned by strong winds, in four short hours the fire devastated the whole city. The conflagration claimed 26 lives and injured a further 160 residents. It destroyed 5,246 houses and burnt 19 storage sheds and 157 warehouses. At 10:30 p.m. on July 28, 1945 a squadron of American B29 bombers approached Aomori from the west and, in less than two hours bombed over 90% of the city. Radio Aomori (RAB) made its first broadcast in 1951. Four years later, the first fish auctions were held. 1958 saw the completion of the Municipal Fish Market as well as the opening of the Citizen's Hospital. In the same year, the Tsugaru Line established a rail connection with Minmaya Village at the tip of the peninsula. Meanwhile, various outlying towns and villages were being incorporated into the growing city and with the absorption of Nonai Village in 1962, Aomori became the largest city in the prefecture. In March 1985, after 23 years of unremitting labor and an enormous financial investment of 700 billion yen, the Seikan Tunnel finally linked the islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō, thereby becoming the longest tunnel of its kind in the world. Almost exactly three years later, on March 13, railroad service was inaugurated on the Tsugaru Kaikyo Line.

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Hokkaidō Shrine's haiden

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36°30′N 139°00′E / 36.5°N 139°E / 36.5; 139