1.
Tokyo
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Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan and one of its 47 prefectures. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous area in the world. It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government, Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868, Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo. The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo, the metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the wards is over 9 million people. The prefecture is part of the worlds most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 37.8 million people, the city hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked third in the International Financial Centres Development IndexEdit, the city is also home to various television networks such as Fuji TV, Tokyo MX, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, Nippon Television, NHK and the Tokyo Broadcasting System. Tokyo ranked first in the Global Economic Power Index and fourth in the Global Cities Index. The city is considered a world city – as listed by the GaWCs 2008 inventory – and in 2014. In 2015, Tokyo was named the Most Liveable City in the world by the magazine Monocle, the Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked first in the world in the Safe Cities Index, the 2016 edition of QS Best Student Cities ranked Tokyo as the 3rd-best city in the world to be a university student. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1979 G-7 summit, the 1986 G-7 summit, and the 1993 G-7 summit, and will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo was originally known as Edo, which means estuary. During the early Meiji period, the city was also called Tōkei, some surviving official English documents use the spelling Tokei. However, this pronunciation is now obsolete, the name Tokyo was first suggested in 1813 in the book Kondō Hisaku, written by Satō Nobuhiro. When Ōkubo Toshimichi proposed the renaming to the government during the Meiji Restoration, according to Oda Kanshi, Tokyo was originally a small fishing village named Edo, in what was formerly part of the old Musashi Province. Edo was first fortified by the Edo clan, in the twelfth century
2.
Tama River
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The Tama River is a major river in Yamanashi, Kanagawa and Tokyo Prefectures on Honshū, Japan. It is officially classified as a Class 1 river by the Japanese government and its total length is 138 kilometres, and the total of the rivers basin area spans 1,240 square kilometres. The river flows through Tokyo, on the line between Tokyo and Kanagawa. In the city, its banks are lined with parks and sports fields and its source is located at Mt. Kasadori in Koshu in Yamanashi Prefecture. From there, it flows eastward into mountainous western Tokyo, where the Ogōchi Dam forms Lake Okutama, below the dam, it takes the name Tama and flows eastwards through Chichibu Tama Kai National Park towards Ōme, Tokyo. It then flows southeast between Tama Hills and Musashino Terrace, at Hamura is the source of the historic Tamagawa Aqueduct built by the Tamagawa brothers in 1653 to supply water to Edo. Further downstream, the forms the boundary between Tokyo and the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture. Its mouth on the heavily industrialised Tokyo Bay is next to Haneda Airport, Tama River is very prone to flooding, and has wrought havoc on surrounding areas throughout history. On occasions the river changed its course after massive floods. As a result, there are locations where the place names on opposing sides of the river are the same. The current course was set as a result of a 1590 flood, levees have been in place for hundreds of years, but floodwaters have breached them numerous times in history. The levees have not been breached since 1974, projects to further upgrade the levees have been underway since 1990. As with most major rivers in Japan, the levees are some distance away from the river itself to accommodate the extra floodwater. Rapid post-war urbanization of surrounding areas took its toll on Tama River, pollution control measures and the rivers official designation as a wildlife protection zone have now led to the return of many species. Carp, rainbow trout, cherry salmon, iwana, ugui, recent moves to fit weirs with fish ladders have resulted in a steep increase in the numbers of ayu migrating upstream. Other fish such as loach inhabit the river, as do crabs, turtles, Japanese cormorants, kingfishers, white wagtails, spot-billed ducks, grey herons, little egrets, Japanese white-eyes, Mandarin ducks, and black-headed gulls are among birds often seen at the river. Various types of ducks have made a comeback after the 1969 designation of the river as a protection zone. The expanse of greenery between the levees and the river itself attract additional wildlife, in the summer of 2002, Tama-chan, a normally arctic male bearded seal first spotted in Tama River, became a major nationwide celebrity
3.
Kawasaki, Kanagawa
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Kawasaki is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, located between Tokyo and Yokohama. It is the 9th most populated city in Japan and one of the main cities forming the Greater Tokyo Area, Kawasaki is governed by mayor Norihiko Fukuda, an independent elected on 27 October 2013. The city assembly has 63 elected members, Kawasaki mayoral election,2005 Kawasaki Stadium, Located in Kawasaki-ku. Opened in 1952, and was used as a field for professional baseball teams from 1954 to 1991. The stands were taken down in 2001, and is used for American football games. Kawasaki Todoroki Baseball Stadium, Located in Nakahara-ku, used for preliminary rounds of high school baseball and American football games. Todoroki Arena, Seating capacity for 6,500 spectators, Home playing ground of the Toshiba Brave Thunders Kanagawa, Todoroki Athletics Stadium, Located in Nakahara-ku. Opened in 1964, the stadium underwent several renovations before becoming the field for the Kawasaki Frontale. Also used frequently for track & field competitions, Kawasaki Prefectural Gymnasium, Located in Kawasaki-ku. Opened in 1956, and is used for Puroresu matches,20 minutes walking distance from Kawasaki Stations east entrance. Kawasaki Todoroki Arena, Located in Nakahara-ku, international field athletics and volleyball matches are held here, in addition to various musical concerts. Velodrome, Kawasaki Velodrome Kawasaki Keiba Fujitsus Main Branch is located in Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki has several factories and development bases of the companies of heavy industry and high technology. In 1997 it became the first municipality to allow non-Japanese nationals to take civil service employment, Todoroki Ryokuchi, athletic park Fujiko F. Fujio Museum, also known as Doraemon museum, opened on September 3,2011, in Tama-ku Ward. Kawasaki is twinned with the cities in Japan and worldwide
4.
Kanagawa Prefecture
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Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture located in southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital of the prefecture is Yokohama, Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. Kanagawa Prefecture is home to Kamakura and Hakone, two highly popular side trip destinations from Tokyo, the prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period. About 3,000 years ago, Mount Hakone produced an explosion which resulted in Lake Ashi on the western area of the prefecture. It is believed that the Yamato dynasty ruled this area from the 5th century onwards, in the ancient era, its plains were very sparsely inhabited. In medieval Japan, Kanagawa was part of the provinces of Sagami, Kamakura in central Sagami was the capital of Japan during the Kamakura period. During the Edo period, the part of Sagami Province was governed by the daimyō of Odawara Castle, while the eastern part was directly governed by the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo. Commodore Matthew Perry landed in Kanagawa in 1853 and 1854 and signed the Convention of Kanagawa to force open Japanese ports to the United States. Nearby Yokosuka, closer to the mouth of Tokyo Bay, developed as a port and now serves as headquarters for the U. S. 7th Fleet. After the Meiji period, many lived in Yokohama City. The Meiji Government developed the first railways in Japan, from Shinbashi to Yokohama in 1872, the epicenter of the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923 was deep beneath Izu Ōshima Island in Sagami Bay. It devastated Tokyo, the city of Yokohama, surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka. The sea receded as much as 400 metres from the shore at Manazuru Point, at Kamakura, the total death toll from earthquake, tsunami, and fire exceeded 2,000 victims. At Odawara, ninety percent of the buildings collapsed immediately, Yokohama, Kawasaki and other major cities were heavily damaged by the U. S. bombing in 1945. Casualties amounted to more than several thousand, after the war, General Douglas MacArthur, the chief commander of Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers for the Occupation of Japan, landed in Kanagawa, before moving to other areas. U. S. military bases remain in Kanagawa, including Camp Zama, Yokosuka Naval Base. In 1945, Kanagawa was the 15th most populous prefecture in Japan, in the years after the war, the prefecture underwent rapid urbanization as a part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The population as of September 1,2014, is estimated to be 9.1 million, Kanagawa became the second most populous prefecture in 2006
5.
Edwardian era
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The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victorian era. The new king Edward VII was already the leader of an elite that set a style influenced by the art. The Liberals returned to power in 1906 and made significant reforms, below the upper class, the era was marked by significant shifts in politics among sections of society that had been largely excluded from wielding power in the past, such as common labourers. The Edwardian period is sometimes imagined as a golden age of long summer afternoons and garden parties. This perception was created in the 1920s and later by those who remembered the Edwardian age with nostalgia, the Edwardian age was also seen as a mediocre period of pleasure between the great achievements of the preceding Victorian age and the catastrophe of the following war. Recent assessments emphasise the differences between the wealthy and the poor during the Edwardian era and describe the age as heralding great changes in political and social life. Robert Tressells popular novel The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists is an example of the eras social critique. Despite this, this type of perception has been challenged more recently by modern historians, the British historian Lawrence James has argued that, during the early 20th century, the British felt increasingly threatened by rival powers such as Germany, Russia, and the United States. There was a political awareness of the working class, leading to a rise in trade unions. The aristocracy remained in control of top government offices, the Conservatives – at the time called Unionists – were dominant from the 1890s to 1906. The party had many strengths, appealing to voters supportive of imperialism, tariffs, the Church of England, a powerful Royal Navy, and traditional hierarchical society. There was a powerful leadership base in the aristocracy and landed gentry in rural England, plus strong support from the Church of England. Historians have used election returns to demonstrate that Conservatives did surprisingly well in working-class districts and they had an appeal as well to the better-off element of traditional working class Britons in the larger cities. Nevertheless, the weaknesses were accumulating, and proved so overwhelming in 1906 that they did not return to power until 1922. The Conservative Party was losing its drive and enthusiasm, especially after the retirement of the charismatic Joseph Chamberlain, there was a bitter split on tariff reform, that drove many of the free traders over to the Liberal camp. Tariff reform was an issue that the Conservative leadership inexplicably clung to. Support among the top tier of the class, and in lower middle class weakened. The 1906 election was a landslide for the opposition, which saw its total vote jump 25 percent, the Liberal Party lacked a unified ideological base in 1906
