1.
Toshima
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Toshima is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the eight wards of the Tokyo Metropolitan area, including Chiyoda, Minato, Shibuya, Chuo, Shinjuku, Taito. Located in the area of Tokyo, Toshima is bordered by the wards of Nerima, Itabashi, and Kita wards, in the north. The ward was founded on March 15,1947 and reached a peak resident population of 370,000 in 1965. The population has continued to decline and as of May 1,2015, during the day the population swells with commuters, resulting in a daytime population of around 378,475. The total land area of Toshima is 13.01 km², approximately 47% of Toshimas land is residential, and 20% is commercial and public areas. Although Toshima is a ward, it is referred to as a city, the ward offices are located in Ikebukuro, which is also the commercial and entertainment center of Toshima. With a non-Japanese population of 19,868, or 7. 42% of the total, of the foreign population, 56% is of Chinese descent, 20% is of Korean descent, with the rest being of primarily Filipino and European descent. Toshima was formed in 1932 by the merger of four towns, Sugamochō, Nishi-sugamochō, Takadachō, the area evolved from a suburban agricultural district in the Edo period to the urban commercial center that it is today. The growth was fueled by the construction of rail lines built in the Meiji. The former Somei village, now part of Toshima, is the birthplace of the Somei Yoshino, the variety was developed at the end of the Edo period. Toshima is run by a city assembly of 36 elected members, the current mayor is Yukio Takano, an independent backed by all major parties except the Japanese Communist Party. In April 2011, Taiga Ishikawa was elected to the Toshima assembly, Sunshine City, The focal point of much of the entertainment in and around Ikebukuro, Sunshine City sports some of the best shopping and dining in Toshima. Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Near Ikebukuro Station, this facility built in 1990 is one of the spots in Toshima and has a concert hall with regular performances. There is a stage in the space out front and it is a popular place for amateur musicians during the warmer months. Sugamo Jizodori, The shopping district known as old ladies Harajuku, fukuro Matsuri, This festival started in 1968 and features a parade of mikoshi and a yassa dance. It is held on September 14 and 15 of each year outside the west exit of Ikebukuro Station and attracts as many as 200,000 people. Otsuka Awa Odori Dance, A large summer event gathering 150,000 people, Nagasaki Shishimai, The lion dance is performed every year on the second Sunday of May at Nagasaki Shrine
2.
Ikebukuro Station
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With 2.71 million passengers on an average daily in 2007, it is the second-busiest railway station in the world, and the busiest station in the Tobu, Seibu, and Tokyo Metro networks. It primarily serves commuters from Saitama Prefecture and other residential areas northwest of the city centre and it is the Tokyo terminal of the Seibu Ikebukuro Line and the Tobu Tojo Line. Seibu Ikebukuro Line Tobu Tojo Line Ikebukuro Station has two entrances, the East exit and the West exit. There are a number of other secondary entrances such as the JR North exit, the various Seibu exits, the JR lines run north/south through the center. The Tobu platforms are to the northwest and the Seibu platforms are to the southeast, both Tobu and Seibu operate department stores adjacent to their terminal stations. The Marunouchi Line and Yurakucho Line run east/west two stories underground, while the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line is four stories underground to the west of the station complex. The latter line runs south toward Shinjuku and Shibuya along Meiji-dori, Tokyo Metros Echika underground mall is also located inside the station. Chest-high platform edge doors were introduced on the Yamanote Line platforms on 2 March 2013, the Tobu station has three terminating tracks served by platforms 1 to 5, arranged as shown in the diagram on the right. Platforms 3 and 5 are normally used for disembarking passengers, although platform 5 is also used for boarding the evening TJ Liner services. There are three sets of ticket barriers giving access to the platforms, the South Gate at ground level, platforms 1,4, and 6 are normally used for disembarking passengers only. This station consists of three island platforms for the Marunouchi Line, Yurakucho Line, and Fukutoshin Line. The Tokyo Metro platforms are equipped with platform edge doors. The station was opened on April 1,1903 by the Japanese Government Railways, the Tōjō Railway Line station opened on 1 May 1914 with the opening of the 33.5 km line to Tanomosawa in Saitama Prefecture. As the Tokyo terminus of the line was planned to be at Shimo-Itabashi. Tobu opened a department store adjoining its station on 29 May 1962, around the same time, the Tobu station platforms were expanded with three tracks. In June 2008, the Tobu station ticket barriers were colour-coded into three zones, North, Central, and South, chest-height platform edge doors were installed on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line platforms in January 2011. The figures below are the number of passengers entering and exiting each day released by each train operator. Annual passenger figures for the station between fiscal 1903 and 1965 are as shown below, note that the figures only consider boarding passengers and a blank indicates that no data is available
3.
Toyota
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Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. In March 2014, the corporation consisted of 338,875 employees worldwide and. As of 2016, Toyota is the worlds second-largest automotive manufacturer behind German Volkswagen Group, Toyota was the worlds first automobile manufacturer to produce more than 10 million vehicles per year which it has done since 2012, when it also reported the production of its 200-millionth vehicle. As of July 2014, Toyota was the largest listed company in Japan by market capitalization, Toyota is the worlds market leader in sales of hybrid electric vehicles, and one of the largest companies to encourage the mass-market adoption of hybrid vehicles across the globe. Cumulative global sales of Toyota and Lexus hybrid passenger car models achieved the 10 million milestone in January 2017 and its Prius family is the worlds top selling hybrid nameplate with over 6 million units sold worldwide as of January 2017. The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937, as a spinoff from his fathers company Toyota Industries to create automobiles. Three years earlier, in 1934, while still a department of Toyota Industries, it created its first product, the Type A engine, and, in 1936, its first passenger car, the Toyota AA. Toyota Motor Corporation produces vehicles under five brands, including the Toyota brand, Hino, Lexus, Ranz, TMC is part of the Toyota Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the world. Toyota is headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, the main headquarters of Toyota is located in a 4-story building in Toyota. As of 2006, the office has the Toyopet Toyota logo. Vinod Jacob from The Hindu described the headquarters building as modest. In 2013, company head Akio Toyoda reported that it had difficulties retaining foreign employees at the due to the lack of amenities in the city. Its Tokyo office is located in Bunkyo, Tokyo and its Nagoya office is located in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya. In addition to manufacturing automobiles, Toyota provides financial services through its Toyota Financial Services division, since 1950, the two entities had existed as separate companies as a prerequisite for reconstruction in postwar Japan. Shoichiro Toyoda presided over Toyota Motor Sales in preparation for the consummation of the merger occurred in 1982. Shoichiro then succeeded his uncle Eiji as the President of the organization that then became known as Toyota Motor Corporation. Announced the appointment of board members, this was a first for the corporation. Additionally, Vice Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada replaced Fujio Cho as chairman, Toyota is publicly traded on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sapporo exchanges under company code TYO,7203
4.
East Japan Railway Company
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East Japan Railway Company is a major passenger railway company in Japan and one of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English. The companys headquarters are in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo, JR East was incorporated on 1 April 1987 after being spun off from the government-run Japanese National Railways. Following the breakup, JR East ran the operations on former JNR lines in the Greater Tokyo Area, the Tohoku region and its railway lines primarily serve Kanto and Tohoku regions, along with adjacent areas in Koshinetsu region and Shizuoka prefectures. JR East operates all of the Shinkansen, high-speed rail lines and these lines have sections inside the Tokyo Suburban Area designated by JR East. This does not necessarily mean that the lines are fully inside the Greater Tokyo Area, JR East aims to reduce its carbon emissions by half, as measured over the period 1990-2030. This would be achieved by increasing the efficiency of trains and company-owned thermal power stations, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has stated that JR Easts official union is a front for an organized crime syndicate called the Japan Revolutionary Communist League. An investigation of this is ongoing, the East Japan Railway Culture Foundation is a non-profit organization established by JR East for the purpose of developing a richer railway culture. The Railway Museum in Saitama is operated by the foundation, EJRC has bid for the London Midland franchise in the United Kingdom. Winners will be announced on June 2017 and will start operating on October 2017, East Japan Railway Company Web Site JR East official apology for Inaho No.14 accident on 25 December 2005 Company history books. Wiki collection of works on East Japan Railway Company
5.
Department store
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A department store or magazine is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different product categories known as departments. In modern major cities, the department store made a appearance in the middle of the 19th century, and permanently reshaped shopping habits. Similar developments were under way in London, in Paris and in New York, customers check out near the front of the store or, alternatively, at sales counters within each department. Some are part of a chain of many stores, while others may be independent retailers. In the 1970s, they came under pressure from discounters. Since 2010, they have come under even heavier pressure from online stores such as Amazon, big-box stores, hypermarkets, and discount stores are modern equivalent of historical department stores. Before shopping malls, department stores were standalone, the origins of the department store lay in the growth of the conspicuous consumer society at the turn of the 19th century. As the Industrial Revolution accelerated economy expansion, the affluent middle-class grew in size, urbanized social group, sharing a culture of consumption and changing fashion, was the catalyst for the retail revolution. One of the first department stores may have been Bennetts in Derby and it still stands to this day, trading in the same building. However, the first reliably dated department store to be established, was Harding, Howell & Co and it is fitted up with great taste, and is divided by glazed partitions into four departments, for the various branches of the extensive business, which is there carried on. Immediately at the entrance is the first department, which is appropriated to the sale of furs. The second contains articles of haberdashery of every description, silks, muslins, lace, gloves, &etc. The fourth is set apart for millinery and dresses, so there is no article of female attire or decoration. This venture is described as having all of the characteristics of the department store. This pioneering shop was closed down in 1820 when the partnership was dissolved. Department stores began large scale establishment in the 1840s and 50s, in France, the UK, all the major British cities had flourishing department stores by the mid-or late nineteenth century. Increasingly, women became the major shoppers and middle-class households, Kendals in Manchester lays claim to being one of the first department stores and is still known to many of its customers as Kendals, despite its 2005 name change to House of Fraser. The Manchester institution dates back to 1836 but had been trading as Watts Bazaar since 1796, at its zenith the store had buildings on both sides of Deansgate linked by a subterranean passage Kendals Arcade and an art nouveau tiled food hall
6.
Seibu Railway
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Seibu Railway Company, Ltd. is a conglomerate based in Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan, with principal business areas in railways, tourism, and real estate. Seibu Railways operations are concentrated in northwest Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture, however it and its holding company hold shares of numerous bus, hotel and tourism operations nationwide. Seibu Railway was originally the name of a service between Shinjuku and Ogikubo, which was transferred to the Tokyo metropolitan government in 1951 and eventually closed in 1962. The current Seibu Railway is a product of a 1945 merger between the former Seibu Railway and the Musashino Railway, which was founded in 1912 to operate what is now known as the Seibu Ikebukuro Line, the sewage service continued through the American occupation until 1951. As a result of this cooperation, Seibu Railway merged with Musashino Railway to form the current Seibu Railway. The former Seibu network based around Shinjuku and the former Musashino network based around Ikebukuro remain operationally separated today, in 1986, Seibu Railway moved its headquarters from the Ikebukuro area to Tokorozawa, Saitama, where the two main Seibu lines intersect. Tsutsumi became the shareholder in Seibu Railway following the merger through his holding company Kokudo Corporation. Seibu Railway had its public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1949. Station numbering was introduced on all Seibu Railway lines during fiscal 2012, following the death of Tsutsumi in 1964, his third son Yoshiaki Tsutsumi inherited control of Kokudo and continued the practice of falsifying shareholder records. He was arrested on fraud charges in March 2005. On December 21,2005, Seibu Railway was delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a reorganization of the group, completed in February 2006, created Seibu Holdings to act as a holding company for both the railway and Prince Hotels. Cerberus Capital Management, an American investment fund, became the largest shareholder in Seibu Holdings with a 29. 9% share of the new company. Cerberus then executed a tender offer to increase its stake to 35% as of June 2013, at the June 2013 shareholder meeting, several proposals by Cerberus were voted down, including the election of outside directors and the abolition of non-core lines. As of June 2013, Yoshiaki Tsutsumi remains an investor in Seibu Holdings through his 36% investment in NW Corporation. Tsutsumi refused to respond to the Cerberus tender offer at the urging of Seibu management and they fall into two separate groups. Tokorozawa Station is the point of Ikebukuro Line and Shinjuku Line. Seibu Railway is well known for its bright yellow colored trains, however, more recent trains have a blue colored line on unpainted stainless steel or aluminium bodies. The Ikebukuro Line group includes the Ikebukuro Line and its branches, the new trains are to be built by Hitachi, with the design and styling overseen by architect Kazuyo Sejima
7.
Shinjuku
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Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As of 2015, the ward has an population of 337,556. The total area is 18.23 km², Shinjuku is surrounded by Chiyoda to the east, Bunkyo and Toshima to the north, Nakano to the west, and Shibuya and Minato to the south. The current city of Shinjuku grew out of separate towns and villages. Golden Gai, An area of tiny shanty-style bars and clubs, musicians, artists, journalists, actors and directors gather here, and the ramshackle walls of the bars are literally plastered with film posters. Shinjuku Gyoen, A large park,58.3 hectares,3.5 km in circumference, blending Japanese traditional, English Landscape, Shinjuku Ni-chōme, Tokyos best-known gay district. Nishi-Shinjuku, The area west of Shinjuku Station, historically known as Yodobashi, is home to Tokyos largest concentration of skyscrapers, several of the tallest buildings in Tokyo are located in this area, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, KDDI Building and Park Tower. Ōkubo, The area surrounding Okubo Station, Shin-Okubo Station and Higashi-Shinjuku Station is best known as Tokyos historic ethnic Korean neighborhood, Totsuka, The northern portion of Shinjuku surrounding Takadanobaba Station and Waseda University. The Takadanobaba area is a residential and nightlife area for students. Ushigome, A largely residential area in the portion of the city. Ichigaya, A commercial area in eastern Shinjuku, site of the Ministry of Defense, kagurazaka, A hill descending to the Iidabashi Station area, once one of Tokyos last remaining hanamachi or geisha districts, and currently known for hosting a sizable French community. Yotsuya, An upscale residential and commercial district in the southeast corner of Shinjuku, the Arakichō area is well known for its many small restaurants, bars, and izakaya. Naturally, most of Shinjuku is occupied by the Yodobashi Plateau, the Kanda River runs through the Ochiai and Totsuka areas near sea level, but the Toshima Plateau also builds elevation in the northern extremities of Totsuka and Ochiai. The highest point in Shinjuku is Hakone-san in Toyama Park,44.6 m above sea level. In 1634, during the Edo period, as the moat of the Edo Castle was built. In 1698, Naitō-Shinjuku had developed as a new station on the Kōshū Kaidō, naitō was the family name of a daimyō whose mansion stood in the area, his land is now a public park, the Shinjuku Gyoen. In 1920, the town of Naitō-Shinjuku, which comprised large parts of present-day Shinjuku, parts of Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku began to develop into its current form after the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, since the seismically stable area largely escaped the devastation. Consequently, West Shinjuku is one of the few areas in Tokyo with many skyscrapers, the Tokyo air raids from May to August 1945 destroyed almost 90% of the buildings in the area in and around Shinjuku Station
8.
Kanji
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Kanji, or kanji, are the adopted logographic Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana and katakana. The Japanese term kanji for the Chinese characters literally means Han characters and is using the same characters as the Chinese word hànzì. Chinese characters first came to Japan on official seals, letters, swords, coins, mirrors, the earliest known instance of such an import was the King of Na gold seal given by Emperor Guangwu of Han to a Yamato emissary in 57 AD. Chinese coins from the first century AD have been found in Yayoi-period archaeological sites, however, the Japanese of that era probably had no comprehension of the script, and would remain illiterate until the fifth century AD. The earliest Japanese documents were written by bilingual Chinese or Korean officials employed at the Yamato court. For example, the correspondence from King Bu of Wa to Emperor Shun of Liu Song in 478 has been praised for its skillful use of allusion. Later, groups of people called fuhito were organized under the monarch to read, during the reign of Empress Suiko, the Yamato court began sending full-scale diplomatic missions to China, which resulted in a large increase in Chinese literacy at the Japanese court. The Japanese language had no form at the time Chinese characters were introduced. Chinese characters also came to be used to write Japanese words, around 650 CE, a writing system called manyōgana evolved that used a number of Chinese characters for their sound, rather than for their meaning. Manyōgana written in cursive style evolved into hiragana, or onna-de, that is, ladies hand, major works of Heian-era literature by women were written in hiragana. Katakana emerged via a path, monastery students simplified manyōgana to a single constituent element. Thus the two writing systems, hiragana and katakana, referred to collectively as kana, are descended from kanji. Katakana are mostly used for representing onomatopoeia, non-Japanese loanwords, the names of plants and animals, and for emphasis on certain words. In 1946, following World War II and under the Allied Occupation of Japan and this was done with the goal of facilitating learning for children and simplifying kanji use in literature and periodicals. The number of characters in circulation was reduced, and formal lists of characters to be learned during each grade of school were established, some characters were given simplified glyphs, called shinjitai. Many variant forms of characters and obscure alternatives for common characters were officially discouraged and these are simply guidelines, so many characters outside these standards are still widely known and commonly used, these are known as hyōgaiji. The kyōiku kanji are 1,006 characters that Japanese children learn in elementary school, originally the list only contained 881 characters. This was expanded to 996 characters in 1977 and it was not until 1982 the list was expanded to its current size
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