1.
Romanization
–
Romanization, in linguistics, is the conversion of writing from a different writing system to the Roman script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, for representing the spoken word, There are many consistent or standardized romanization systems. They can be classified by their characteristics, source, or donor language – A system may be tailored to romanize text from a particular language, or a series of languages, or for any language in a particular writing system. A language-specific system typically preserves language features like pronunciation, while the one may be better for cataloguing international texts. Target, or receiver language – Most systems are intended for an audience that speaks or reads a particular language and this affects the ease of creation, digital storage and transmission, reproduction, and reading of the romanized text. Reversibility – Whether or not the original can be restored from the converted text, some reversible systems allow for an irreversible simplified version. Most romanizations are intended to enable the reader who is unfamiliar with the original script to pronounce the source language reasonably accurately. Such romanizations follow the principle of phonemic transcription and attempt to render the significant sounds of the original as faithfully as possible in the target language, the popular Hepburn romanization of Japanese is an example of a transcriptive romanization designed for English speakers. The International Phonetic Alphabet is the most common system of phonetic transcription, for most language pairs, building a usable romanization involves tradeoffs between the two extremes. In modern times the chain of transcription is usually spoken foreign language, written language, written native language. Reducing the number of processes, i. e. removing one or both steps of writing, usually leads to more accurate oral articulations. In general, outside a limited audience of scholars romanizations tend to lean more towards transcription, Romanization standards include the following, Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, Adopted by the International Convention of Orientalist Scholars in Rome. It is the basis for the very influential Hans Wehr dictionary, qalam, A system that focuses upon preserving the spelling, rather than the pronunciation, and uses mixed case ISO 233-2, Simplified transliteration. Buckwalter transliteration, Developed at Xerox by Tim Buckwalter, doesnt require unusual diacritics ALA-LC Arabic chat alphabet There are romanization systems for both Modern and Ancient Greek. ALA-LC Beta Code Greeklish ISO843 The Hebrew alphabet is romanized using several standards, ANSI Z39.25 UNGEGN ISO259, ALA-LC The Brahmic family of abugidas is used for languages of the Indian subcontinent and south-east Asia. There is a tradition in the west to study Sanskrit. Various transliteration conventions have been used for Indic scripts since the time of Sir William Jones, ISO15919, A standard transliteration convention was codified in the ISO15919 standard. It uses diacritics to map the much larger set of Brahmic consonants, see also Transliteration of Indic scripts, how to use ISO15919
2.
Privately held company
–
More ambiguous terms for a privately held company are unquoted company and unlisted company. Though less visible than their publicly traded counterparts, private companies have major importance in the worlds economy. In 2008, the 441 largest private companies in the United States accounted for US$1,800,000,000,000 in revenues and employed 6.2 million people, according to Forbes. In 2004, the Forbes count of privately held U. S. businesses with at least $1 billion in revenue was 305, cargill, Koch Industries, Bechtel, Publix, Pilot Corp. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Hearst Corporation, Cox Enterprises, S. C, johnson, McWane, Carlson Companies, and Mars are among the largest privately held companies in the United States. In the broadest sense, the private corporation refers to any business not owned by the state. This usage is found in former communist countries to differentiate from former state-owned enterprises. In the United States, the privately held company is more often used to describe for-profit enterprises whose shares are not traded on the stock market. In countries with public trading markets, a privately held business is taken to mean one whose ownership shares or interests are not publicly traded. Often, privately held companies are owned by the company founders and/or their families, sometimes employees also hold shares of private companies. Most small businesses are privately held, Private companies may be called corporations, limited companies, limited liability companies, unlimited companies, or other names, depending on where and how they are organized and structured. In the United States, but not generally in the United Kingdom, privately held companies generally have fewer or less comprehensive reporting requirements and obligations for transparency, via annual reports, etc. than publicly traded companies do. For example, in the United States, unlike in Europe, in addition, private company executives may steer their ships without shareholder approval, allowing them to take significant action without delays. There is a requirement for large proprietary companies, which are required to lodge Form 388H to the ASIC containing their financial report. In the United States, private companies are held to different accounting auditing standards than are public companies, other companies, like Sageworks, provide aggregated data on privately held companies, segmented by industry code. Privately held companies also sometimes have restrictions on how many shareholders they may have, for example, the U. S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, section 12, limits a privately held company, generally, to fewer than 2000 shareholders, and the U. S. Investment Company Act of 1940, requires registration of investment companies that have more than 100 holders, in Australia, section 113 of the Corporations Act 2001 limits a privately held company to fifty non-employee shareholders. Private enterprises comprise the sector of an economy
3.
Variety store
–
A variety store is a retail store that sells a wide range of inexpensive household goods. Larger stores may sell frozen foods and fresh produce, variety stores arose in the early 20th century, with Woolworths model to reduce store overheads by simplifying the duties of sales clerks. They may now be all over the world. A variety store often sells all goods at a single price, the name of the store often reflects this, and in different markets it may be called a dollar store, pound shop, euro store and so on. Some items are offered at a considerable discount over other retailers, there are two ways variety stores make a profit, Buying and selling huge amounts of goods at heavily discounted prices provides a small profit margin that is multiplied by the volume of sales. Pricing many items at prices that are higher than regular retailers and these goods are commonly bought by consumers who perceive them to be bargains based on the heavy discounts on other items in the store. In the case of fixed price-point retailers, this can be achieved by reducing the size of the package to one that is smaller than what is found in retail outlets. Bought at a sale, such as seasonal or promotional goods or bankruptcy stock. Sold in a smaller unit sizes than elsewhere, not all variety stores are single price-point stores, even if their names imply it. For example, in the United States, Dollar General and Family Dollar sell items at more or less than a dollar, some stores also sell goods priced at multiples of the named price and, conversely, multiple items for the price. The discrepancy with the price is also compounded if sales tax is added at the point of sale. In many countries, stock can be imported from others with lower costs, because of differences in wages. Usually goods are imported by an importer, then sold to the stores wholesale. Another source of stock is overruns, surplus items and out-of-date food products, real Deals, a regional dollar store in the Syracuse, New York area, is stocked almost entirely with surplus goods such as these. Although some people may link variety stores with low-income areas, this is not always true, for example, Atherton, California has a variety store within its city limits, even though it has a median household income of nearly $185,000 a year. Studies of food discounters in Great Britain show quite a varied demographic, the originators of the concept were the Woolworth Bros. in July 1879. Woolworth Bros. later became F. W. Woolworth Company or just Woolworths, Frank soon brought his brother Charles Sumner Sum Woolworth into the business. Together they opened a store in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on July 18,1879
4.
Takamatsu, Kagawa
–
Takamatsu is a city located in central Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan, and is the capital city of the prefectural government. It is designated a city by the Japanese Government. It is a city located on the Seto Inland Sea. For this reason it flourished under the Daimyo as a town in the fiefdom of Takamatsu. The castle tower formerly used as the symbol of the city was destroyed during the Meiji Period, in 2004, construction of the Symbol Tower, the new symbol of Takamatsu, was completed. The Symbol Tower is located in the Sunport area of the city, the Symbol Tower is the tallest building in Takamatsu, and is right next to another tall building The JR Clement Hotel, which is also part of the Sunport complex. The Sunport Takamatsu covers the area of the Symbol Tower, the JR Clement Hotel, the Takamatsu Bus station is also located right next to Maritime Plaza. Various Buses including the Kotoden Bus run through town, to Ritsurin Park, Sunport Takamatsu is also connected to the ports of Takamatsu. The Takamatsu metropolitan region has a population of 838,788, Takamatsu Airport is located in Takamatsu. On September 26,2005, the town of Shionoe was merged into Takamatsu, on January 10,2006, Takamatsu absorbed the towns of Aji and Mure, the towns of Kagawa and Kōnan, and the town of Kokubunji to create the new and expanded city of Takamatsu. As of October 1,2010, the city has an population of 419,429 with a population density of 1,118 persons per km². The total area is 375.11 square kilometres following the September 26,2005, the city was officially founded on February 15,1890. It had been a political and economic center in this area since the Edo period when the Matsudaira clan made Takamatsu the capital of their han. On July 3,1945 towards the end of World War II, over 800 tons of incendiary bombs were dropped on Takamatsu, destroying 78% of the built up areas of the city. The citys major tourist attraction is Ritsurin Garden, a feudal lord garden created in the Edo period, Takamatsu Castle is known for using seawater in its moat and recently the old keep of the castle was successfully restored and opened for public viewing. In the east of Takamatsu City lies the Yashima lava plateau which is home to various sightseing spots, at the base of the mountain is the open air museum Shikoku Mura where aspects of regional history and culture are exhibited. On the mountain itself is Yashima-ji, number 84 of the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage, at the top of the mountain there is also an observation deck which offers views across the Seto Inland Sea. Takamatsu also acts as a hub to various islands of the Seto Inland Sea
5.
Japan
–
Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
6.
Higashihiroshima
–
Higashihiroshima is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. 2016 the city has an population of 185,418. The total area is 635.32 km², Higashihiroshima is a university town of Hiroshima University. Higashihiroshima is adjacent to Hiroshima, and so forms a commuter town of Hiroshima. From old times, Higashihiroshima is famous for making sake and along the Sakagura Dōri area near JR Saijō Station are the Namako wall, an annual sake matsuri is held every October. The city was founded on April 20,1974 from the merger of the four towns of Saijō, Hachihonmatsu, Shiwa, in 1992, the population reached 100,000. On February 7,2005, the towns of Kurose, Kōchi, Toyosaka and Fukutomi, Higashihiroshima City official website Higashihiroshima City official website
7.
Hiroshima
–
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu - the largest island of Japan. The citys name, 広島, means Broad Island in Japanese, Hiroshima gained city status on April 1,1889. On April 1,1980, Hiroshima became a designated city, as of August 2016, the city had an estimated population of 1,196,274. The GDP in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Metropolitan Employment Area, is US$61.3 billion as of 2010, kazumi Matsui has been the citys mayor since April 2011. Hiroshima was established on the river delta coastline of the Seto Inland Sea in 1589 by powerful warlord Mōri Terumoto, Hiroshima Castle was quickly built, and in 1593 Terumoto moved in. Terumoto was on the side at the Battle of Sekigahara. The winner of the battle, Tokugawa Ieyasu, deprived Mōri Terumoto of most of his fiefs, including Hiroshima and gave Aki Province to Masanori Fukushima, after the han was abolished in 1871, the city became the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture. Hiroshima became an urban center during the imperial period, as the Japanese economy shifted from primarily rural to urban industries. During the 1870s, one of the seven government-sponsored English language schools was established in Hiroshima, Ujina Harbor was constructed through the efforts of Hiroshima Governor Sadaaki Senda in the 1880s, allowing Hiroshima to become an important port city. The Sanyō Railway was extended to Hiroshima in 1894, and a line from the main station to the harbor was constructed for military transportation during the First Sino-Japanese War. During that war, the Japanese government moved temporarily to Hiroshima, New industrial plants, including cotton mills, were established in Hiroshima in the late 19th century. Further industrialization in Hiroshima was stimulated during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall was constructed in 1915 as a center for trade and exhibition of new products. Later, its name was changed to Hiroshima Prefectural Product Exhibition Hall, during World War I, Hiroshima became a focal point of military activity, as the Japanese government entered the war on the Allied side. About 500 German prisoners of war were held in Ninoshima Island in Hiroshima Bay, during World War II, the 2nd General Army and Chugoku Regional Army were headquartered in Hiroshima, and the Army Marine Headquarters was located at Ujina port. The city also had large depots of supplies, and was a key center for shipping. The bombing of Tokyo and other cities in Japan during World War II caused widespread destruction, there were no such air raids on Hiroshima. However, a real threat existed and was recognized, in order to protect against potential firebombings in Hiroshima, school children aged 11–14 years were mobilized to demolish houses and create firebreaks. On Monday, August 6,1945, at 8,15 a. m, by the end of the year, injury and radiation brought the total number of deaths to 90, 000–166,000
8.
Asia
–
Asia covers an area of 44,579,000 square kilometres, about 30% of Earths total land area and 8. 7% of the Earths total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Asia is notable for not only its large size and population. In general terms, Asia is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, the western boundary with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. The most commonly accepted boundaries place Asia to the east of the Suez Canal, the Ural River, and the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains, China and India alternated in being the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 A. D. The accidental discovery of America by Columbus in search for India demonstrates this deep fascination, the Silk Road became the main East-West trading route in the Asian hitherland while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, given its size and diversity, the concept of Asia—a name dating back to classical antiquity—may actually have more to do with human geography than physical geography. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties, the boundary between Asia and Africa is the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, and the Suez Canal. This makes Egypt a transcontinental country, with the Sinai peninsula in Asia, the border between Asia and Europe was historically defined by European academics. In Sweden, five years after Peters death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Urals as the border of Asia, the Russians were enthusiastic about the concept, which allowed them to keep their European identity in geography. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg, the latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until the Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th century, the border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects. The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains, the border between Asia and the loosely defined region of Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Malay Archipelago. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Malay Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the possessions of the various empires there. Lewis and Wigen assert, The narrowing of Southeast Asia to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process, Asia is larger and more culturally diverse than Europe. It does not exactly correspond to the borders of its various types of constituents. From the time of Herodotus a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system on the grounds there is no or is no substantial physical separation between them
9.
Oceania
–
Oceania, also known as Oceanica, is a region centred on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. The term is used more specifically to denote a continent comprising Australia. The term was coined as Océanie circa 1812 by geographer Conrad Malte-Brun, the word Océanie is a French word derived from the Latin word oceanus, and this from the Greek word ὠκεανός, ocean. Natives and inhabitants of this region are called Oceanians or Oceanicans, as an ecozone, Oceania includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand. New Zealand, along with New Guinea and nearby islands, part of the Philippine islands, Australia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, in geopolitical terms, however, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia are almost always considered part of Oceania. Australia and Papua New Guinea are usually considered part of Oceania along with the Maluku Islands, puncak Jaya in Papua is often considered the highest peak in Oceania. Oceania was originally conceived as the lands of the Pacific Ocean and it comprised four regions, Polynesia, Micronesia, Malaysia, and Melanesia. The area extends to Sumatra in the west, the Bonin Islands in the northwest, the Hawaiian Islands in the northeast, Rapa Nui and Sala y Gómez Island in the east, and Macquarie Island in the south. Not included are the Pacific islands of Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands and the Japanese archipelago, all on the margins of Asia, and the Aleutian Islands of North America. The islands at the extremes of Oceania are Bonin, a politically integral part of Japan, Hawaii, a state of the United States. There is also a geographic definition that excludes land on the Sunda Plate. Biogeographically, Oceania is used as a synonym for either the Australasian ecozone or the Pacific ecozone, Oceania is one of eight terrestrial ecozones, which constitute the major ecological regions of the planet. The Oceania ecozone includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand, New Zealand, New Guinea, Melanesia apart from Fiji, and Australia constitute the separate Australasian ecozone. The Malay Archipelago is part of the Indomalaya ecozone, related to these concepts are Near Oceania, that part of western Island Melanesia which has been inhabited for tens of millennia, and Remote Oceania which is more recently settled. The term is used to denote a continent comprising Australia. New Zealand forms the corner of the Polynesian Triangle. Its indigenous Māori constitute one of the cultures of Polynesia. It is also, however, considered part of Australasia, the history of Oceania in the medieval period was synonymous with the history of the indigenous peoples of Australasia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia
10.
North America
–
North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
(in Japanese)