1.
Shochiku
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Shochiku Company Limited is a Japanese movie studio and production company for kabuki. It also produces and distributes anime films and its best remembered directors include Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Yōji Yamada. Shochiku has also produced films by highly regarded independent and loner directors such as Takashi Miike, Takeshi Kitano, Akira Kurosawa, the company was founded in 1895, which makes it the oldest company in Japan involved in film production. The name was changed in 1937 to the reading of Shōchiku. The company began making films in 1920, about a decade after its main rival Nikkatsu, renaming itself “Shochiku Kinema”, the company sought to break away from the prevailing pattern of jidai-geki and to emulate Hollywood standards. It was the first film studio to abandon the use of female impersonators and brought new ideas, including the star system and the sound stage to Japan. It built its main studio at Kamata, between Tokyo and Yokohama, and hired Henry Kotani, an American-born Japanese who had worked in Hollywood as an actor to direct its first film, “Island Woman”. With the reopening of its Kamata studios, Shochiku also introduced the shomin-geki genre and these dramas proved immensely popular, and marked the start of the careers of many prominent directors and actors. In 1931, Shochiku released the first “talkie” made in Japan, The Neighbors Wife, the following year, Shochiku Kinema was merged with its parent company, Shochiku Entertainment, and adopted the new name of Shochiku Corporation. During the war years, Shochikus President, Shiro Kido, helped establish the Dai Nippon Eiga Kyokai, from the mid-1930s until 1945, the films produced by Shochiku and other Japanese movie companies were propagandistic. After the Surrender of Japan, Kido and Shochikus co-founder Otani were arrested and charged with Class-A war crimes by the Allied occupation authorities. In 1953, after the end of the Occupation, Kido returned to Shochiku, directors associated with Shochiku in this era included Ozu, Keisuke Kinoshita, Noboru Nakamura and Hideo Oba. Many of the films during the 1950s were aimed primarily at female audiences, in particular, Hideo Oba’s “What is Your Name. ” was the most commercially successful film of the period. By the start of the 1960s, Shochiku’s films were criticized as “old-fashioned” with the popularity of rival Nikkatsu’s Taiyo-zoku youth-orientated movies, Shochiku continued to maintain its family-orientated audience largely due to the phenomenal success of the Otoko wa Tsurai yo series directed by Yoji Yamada from 1969 through 1997. However, with the death of its star Kiyoshi Atsumi, the series came to an end, and the company faced increasing financial difficulties. The Ofuna studio was transformed into a theme park, Kamakura Cinema World, but this was closed in 1998. Since that time, Shochiku has relied on its film studio, yoji’s “The Twilight Samurai” was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Picture. Shochiku has also served as a distributor of theatrical anime. as of October 2015 Kabuki-za Theatrical Corp.3. 44% Mizuho Corporate Bank,3. 22% Asakusa International Theater, media related to Shochiku at Wikimedia Commons Shochiku Co. Ltd
2.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
3.
Golden Retriever
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Golden Retrievers have an instinctive love of water, and are easy to train to basic or advanced obedience standards. They are a breed, with a dense inner coat that provides them with adequate warmth in the outdoors. Golden Retrievers are well suited to residency in suburban or country environments, although they need substantial outdoor exercise, they should be housed in a fenced area because of their instinctual tendency to roam. They shed copiously, particularly at the change of seasons, the breed is a prominent participant in conformation shows for purebred dogs. The Golden Retriever is popular as a disability assistance dog such as being a dog for the blind. In addition, they are trained to be a dog, a detection dog. Golden Retrievers are rarely choosy eaters, but require ample exercise, the breed is fond of play but also highly trainable. The Golden Retriever is a large, strongly built breed with a dense, however, all Golden Retrievers are blonde, yellow, or gold in colour and all subtypes are susceptible to the same health problems. Golden Retrievers also are very smart dogs that are loyal and friendly to their caregivers, british-type Golden Retrievers are prevalent throughout Europe and Australia. The skull is broader and the forequarters are more muscular than in other types, the muzzle is balanced and well chiseled. The coat is lighter in color than in the American types. Males stand between 22 to 24 in at the withers, females are between 20 to 22 in, the eyes are round and dark, which is in contrast to the triangular or slanted composition of their American counterparts. British Golden Retrievers can have a colour of any shade of gold or cream. Originally, cream was a colour in the UK standard. As with American lines, white is a colour in the show ring. The British Kennel Club standard is used in all countries except the USA, Golden Retrievers have muscular bodies with great endurance, owing to their origins as hunting and gundogs. American types are lankier and less muscular than other types, males stand between 23 and 24 in in height at the withers, females are 21.5 to 22.5 in tall. Their coats are darker in color and occur in shades of lustrous gold with moderate feathering
4.
Sapporo
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Sapporo is the fourth largest city in Japan by population, and the largest city on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Located in Ishikari Subprefecture, it is the capital of Hokkaido Prefecture, the city is also home to Sapporo Brewery and the white chocolate biscuits called shiroi koibito. Before its establishment, the occupied by Sapporo was home to a number of indigenous Ainu settlements. In 1866, at the end of the Edo period, construction began on a canal through the area, the settlements name was taken from the Ainu language sat poro pet, and can be translated as dry, great river. As a result, it was determined that a new capital on the Ishikari Plain should be established, the plain itself provided an unusually large expanse of flat, well drained land which is relatively uncommon in the otherwise mountainous geography of Hokkaido. During 1870–1871, Kuroda Kiyotaka, vice-chairman of the Hokkaido Development Commission, as a result, Horace Capron, Secretary of Agriculture under President Ulysses S. Grant, became an oyatoi gaikokujin and was appointed as a special advisor to the commission. Construction began around Odori Park, which remains as a green ribbon of recreational land bisecting the central area of the city. The city closely followed a plan with streets at right-angles to form city blocks. Edwin Dun came to Sapporo to establish sheep and cattle ranches in 1876 and he also demonstrated pig raising and the making of butter, cheese, ham and sausage. He once went back to the US in 1883 but returned to Japan as a secretary of government. William S. Clark, who was the president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College and he taught academic subjects in science and lectured on the Bible as an ethics course, introducing Christian principles to the first entering class of the College. In 1880, the area of Sapporo was renamed as Sapporo-ku. That year the Hōheikan, a hotel and reception facility for visiting officials and it was later moved to Nakajima Park where it remains today. Two years later, with the abolition of the Kaitaku-shi, Hokkaidō was divided into three prefectures, Hakodate, Sapporo, and Nemuro, the name of the urban district in Sapporo remained Sapporo-ku, while the rest of the area in Sapporo-ku was changed to Sapporo-gun. The office building of Sapporo-ku was also located in the urban district, Sapporo, Hakodate, and Nemuro Prefectures were abolished in 1886, and Hokkaidō government office building, an American-neo-baroque-style structure with red bricks, constructed in 1888. The last squad of the Tondenhei, the soldiers pioneering Hokkaido, settled in the place where the area of Tonden in Kita-ku, Sapporo-ku administered surrounding Sapporo-gun until 1899, when the new district system was announced. After that year, Sapporo-ku was away from the control of Sapporo-gun, the ku enforced from 1899 was an autonomy which was a little bigger than towns, and smaller than cities. In Hokkaido at that time, Hakodate-ku and Otaru-ku also existed, in 1907, the Tohoku Imperial University was established in Sendai Miyagi Prefecture, and Sapporo Agricultural College was controlled by the University
5.
Hakodate, Hokkaido
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Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31,2011, the city has an population of 279,851 with 143,221 households. The total area is 677.77 km2, the city is now the third biggest in Hokkaido after Sapporo and Asahikawa. Hakodate was Japans first city whose port was opened to trade in 1854 as a result of Convention of Kanagawa. Also, the city had been the biggest city in Hokkaido before the Great Hakodate Fire of 1934, Hakodate was founded in 1454, when Kono Kaganokami Masamichi constructed a large manor house in the Ainu fishing village of Usukeshi. There was constant low level conflict in the Oshima peninsula at the time with the Ainu as armed merchants like the Kono family established bases to trade in the region. This conflict culminated in an uprising from 1669 to 1672, led by Ainu warrior Shakushain after which the Ainu in the region were suppressed, Hakodate flourished during the Hoei period and many new temples were founded in the area. In 1779, the Tokugawa shogunate took direct control over Hakodate, merchant Takadaya Kahei, who is honoured as the founder of Hakodate port, set up trading operations, which included opening the northern Etorofu sea route to the Kuril island fisheries. He is credited with turning Hakodate from a trading outpost into a thriving city, a Hakodate magistracy was established in 1802. The port of Hakodate was surveyed by a fleet of five U. S. ships in 1854 under the conditions of the Convention of Kanagawa, as negotiated by Commodore Matthew Perry. S. A mariner in Perrys fleet died during a visit to the area and he stayed in Hakodate until 1884, during which time he documented the local natural environment, equipped the local meteorological station and ran guns to the Boshin War rebels. As one of few points of Japanese contact with the outside world, the Russian consulate included a chapel from where Nicholas of Japan is credited with introducing Eastern Orthodox Christianity to Japan in 1861. The Orthodox church is neighbored by several other historical missionary churches, including Anglican, Hakodate also played a central role in the Boshin War between the Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji Emperor which followed Perrys opening of Japan. Shogunate rebel Enomoto Takeaki fled to Hakodate with the remnants of his navy and his handful of French advisers in winter 1868 and they formally established the Republic of Ezo on December 25. The republic tried unsuccessfully to gather international recognition to foreign legations in Hakodate, including the Americans, French, the rebels occupied Hakodates famous European-style Goryōkaku fort and used it as the centre of their defences in southern Hokkaido. Government forces defeated the secessionists in the Battle of Hakodate in 1869, military leader, Hijikata Toshizō, was one of those slain in the fighting. In 1878, Isabella Bird reported of the city in her travelogue, The streets are wide and clean
