1.
Otaru
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Otaru is a city and port in Shiribeshi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan, northwest of Sapporo. The city faces the Ishikari Bay, and has served as the main port of the bay. With its many buildings, Otaru is a popular tourist destination. Because it is a 25-minute drive from Sapporo, it has grown as a bedroom community. As of 31 July,2011, the city has an population of 131,706 with 67,308 households. The total area is 243.13 km2, although it is the largest city in Shiribeshi Subprefecture, the subprefectures capital is the more centrally located Kutchan. The city was an Ainu habitation, and the name Otaru is recognised as being of Ainu origin, the very small remaining part of the Temiya Cave contains carvings from the Zoku-Jōmon period of Ainu history, around A. D.400. Otaru was recognised as a village by the bakufu in 1865, an Imperial decree in July 1899 established Otaru as an open port for trading with the United States and the United Kingdom. The city flourished well as the financial and business center in Hokkaido as well as the port with Japanese ruled southern Sakhalin until the 1920s. Otaru was redesignated as a city on August 1,1922, on December 26,1924, a freight train loaded with 600 cases of dynamite exploded in Temiya Station, damaging the warehouse, the harbour facilities and the surrounding area. Local officials stated that at least 94 were killed and 200 injured in this disaster, since the 1950s, as the coal industry around the city went into a decline, the status of economic hub shifted from Otaru to Sapporo. Otaru is a town on the coast of the Sea of Japan in northern Shiribeshi Subprefecture. The southern portion of the city is characterized by the slopes of various mountains, notably Tenguyama. Shiribeshi Yoichi District, Yoichi, Akaigawa Ishikari Sapporo, Ishikari Some of the rivers in Otaru are, Hoshioki, Kiraichi, Zenibako, Hariusu, Asari, Katsunai, Shioya, Myoken, Irifune. In the summer the weather, like all of western Hokkaido, is warm and balmy, with a maximum temperature of around 25 °C. In the winter, however, Otaru is very snowy, receiving as much as 6.6 metres of snow from November to March, the average maximum snow cover is 1.22 metres. Extreme temperatures have ranged from 34.9 °C on August 1,2000 to −18.0 °C on January 24,1954, in which month the highest snowfall of 3.1 metres occurred. Monthly precipitation totals in a record dating back to 1943 have ranged from 379.8 millimetres in August 1962 to 12.0 millimetres in June 2007, the city attracts a large number of Japanese tourists as well as Russian visitors
2.
Hokkaido
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Hokkaido, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is the second largest island of Japan, and the largest and northernmost prefecture. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel. The largest city on Hokkaido is its capital, Sapporo, which is also its only ordinance-designated city, about 43 km north of Hokkaido lies Sakhalin island, Russia, whereas to its east and north-east are the disputed Kuril Islands. Hokkaido was settled by the Ainu, Nivkh, and Orok before recorded history, the Nihon Shoki, finished in 720 AD, is often said to be the first mention of Hokkaido in recorded history. According to the text, Abe no Hirafu led a navy and army to northern areas from 658 to 660 and came into contact with the Mishihase. One of the places Hirafu went to was called Watarishima, which is believed to be present-day Hokkaido. During the Nara and Heian periods, people in Hokkaido conducted trade with Dewa Province, from the Middle Ages, the people in Hokkaido began to be called Ezo. Hokkaido, formerly known as Ezochi Ezochi or Ezogashima, the Ezo mainly relied upon hunting and fishing and obtained rice and iron through trade with the Japanese. During the Muromachi period, the Japanese created a settlement at the south of the Oshima Peninsula, as more people moved to the settlement to avoid battles, disputes arose between the Japanese and the Ainu. The disputes eventually developed into a war, takeda Nobuhiro killed the Ainu leader, Koshamain, and defeated the opposition in 1457. Nobuhiros descendants became the rulers of the Matsumae-han, which was granted trading rights with the Ainu in the Azuchi-Momoyama. The Matsumae familys economy relied upon trade with the Ainu and they held authority over the south of Ezochi until the end of the Edo period in 1868. The Matsumae clan rule over the Ainu must be understood in the context of the expansion of the Japanese feudal state, medieval military leaders in northern Honshū maintained only tenuous political and cultural ties to the imperial court and its proxies, the Kamakura Shogunate and Ashikaga Shogunate. Feudal strongmen sometimes located themselves within medieval institutional order, taking shogunal titles, in fact many of the feudal strongmen were descended from Emishi military leaders who had been assimilated into Japanese society. The Matsumae clan were of Yamato descent like other ethnic Japanese people, the Emishi were conquered and integrated into the Japanese state dating back as far as the 8th century, and as result began to lose their distinctive culture and ethnicity as they became minorities. By the time the Matsumae clan ruled over the Ainu most of the Emishi were ethnically mixed, there were numerous revolts by the Ainu against feudal rule. The last large-scale resistance was Shakushains Revolt in 1669–1672, in 1789, a smaller movement, the Menashi-Kunashir Rebellion, was also crushed. After that rebellion the terms Japanese and Ainu referred to clearly distinguished groups, in 1799–1821 and 1855–1858 the Edo Shogunate took direct control over Hokkaido in response to a perceived threat from Russia
3.
Missouri
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Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, achieving statehood in 1821. With over six million residents, it is the eighteenth most populous state, the largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia. The capitol is in Jefferson City on the Missouri River, the state is the twenty-first most extensive by area and is geographically diverse. The Northern Plains were once covered by glaciers, then tallgrass prairie, in the South are the Ozarks, a forested highland, providing timber, minerals, and recreation. The Mississippi River forms the border of the state, eventually flowing into the swampy Missouri Bootheel. Humans have inhabited the land now known as Missouri for at least 12,000 years, the Mississippian culture built cities and mounds, before declining in the 1300s. When European explorers arrived in the 1600s they encountered the Osage, the French established Louisiana, a part of New France, and founded Ste. Genevieve in 1735 and St. Louis in 1764, after a brief period of Spanish rule, the United States acquired the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Americans from the Upland South, including enslaved African Americans, rushed into the new Missouri Territory, many from Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee settled in the Boonslick area of Mid-Missouri. Soon after, heavy German immigration formed the Missouri Rhineland, Missouri played a central role in the westward expansion of the United States, as memorialized by the Gateway Arch. The Pony Express, Oregon Trail, Santa Fe Trail, as a border state, Missouris role in the American Civil War was complex and there were many conflicts within. After the war, both Greater St. Louis and the Kansas City metropolitan area became centers of industrialization and business, today, the state is divided into 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis. Missouris culture blends elements from the Midwestern and Southern United States, the musical styles of ragtime, Kansas City jazz, and St. Louis Blues, developed in Missouri. The well-known Kansas City-style barbecue, and lesser known St. Louis-style barbecue can be found across the state, St. Louis is also a major center of beer brewing, Anheuser-Busch is the largest producer in the world. Missouri wine is produced in the nearby Missouri Rhineland and Ozarks, Missouris alcohol laws are among the most permissive in the United States. Outside of the large cities popular tourist destinations include the Lake of the Ozarks, U. S. President Harry S. Truman is from Missouri. Other well known Missourians include Mark Twain, Walt Disney, Chuck Berry, some of the largest companies based in the state include Express Scripts, Monsanto, Emerson Electric, Edward Jones, and OReilly Auto Parts. Missouri has been called the Mother of the West and the Cave State, however, Missouris most famous nickname is the Show Me State, the state is named for the Missouri River, which was named after the indigenous Missouri Indians, a Siouan-language tribe
4.
Japanese Americans
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Southern California has the largest Japanese American population in North America, and the city of Torrance holds the most dense Japanese American population in the 48 contiguous states. People from Japan began migrating to the US in significant numbers following the political, cultural, large numbers went to Hawaii and to the West Coast. The Immigration Act of 1924 banned the immigration of nearly all Japanese, the ban on immigration produced unusually well-defined generational groups within the Japanese American community. Original immigrants belonged to an immigrant generation, the Issei, the Issei comprised exclusively those who had immigrated before 1924. Because no new immigrants were permitted, all Japanese Americans born after 1924 were—by definition—born in the US and this generation, the Nisei, became a distinct cohort from the Issei generation in terms of age, citizenship, and English-language ability, in addition to the usual generational differences. Institutional and interpersonal racism led many of the Nisei to marry other Nisei, resulting in a distinct generation of Japanese Americans. Significant Japanese immigration did not occur again until the Immigration Act of 1965 ended 40 years of bans against immigration from Japan, the Naturalization Act of 1790 restricted naturalized U. S. citizenship to free white persons, which excluded the Issei from citizenship. As a result, the Issei were unable to vote and faced restrictions such as the inability to own land under many state laws. Japanese Americans were parties in several important Supreme Court decisions, including Ozawa v. United States, the Korematsu case originated the strict scrutiny standard, which is applied, with great controversy, in government considerations of race since the 1989 Adarand Constructors v. Peña decision. In recent years, immigration from Japan has been more like that from Western Europe, the numbers involve on average 5 to 10 thousand per year, and is similar to the amount of immigration to the US from Germany. This is in stark contrast to the rest of Asia, where family reunification is the impetus for immigration. Japanese Americans also have the oldest demographic structure of any ethnic group in the US. The internments were based on the race or ancestry rather than activities of the interned, families, including children, were interned together. Decades later, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 officially acknowledged the violations of the basic civil liberties. Many Japanese-Americans consider the term internment camp a euphemism and prefer to refer to the relocation of Japanese-Americans as imprisonment in concentration camps. Websters New World Fourth College Edition defines a concentration camp as, A prison camp in which political dissidents, members of minority ethnic groups, etc. are confined. The Japanese American communities have themselves distinguished their members with terms like Issei, Nisei, and Sansei, which describe the first, second, the fourth generation is called Yonsei, and the fifth is called Gosei. The term Nikkei encompasses Japanese immigrants in all countries and of all generations, the kanreki, a pre-modern Japanese rite of passage to old age at 60, is now being celebrated by increasing numbers of Japanese American Nisei
5.
Broadway theatre
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Along with Londons West End theatres, Broadway theatres are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City, the great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggars Opera, in 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice, the company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, by the 1840s, P. T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblos Garden opened, the 3, 000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmos Opera House opened and presented opera for four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as a venue for plays under the name Burtons Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847, booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865, and would later revive the role at his own Booths Theatre. Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving, Tommaso Salvini, Fanny Davenport, lydia Thompson came to America in 1868 heading a small theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for middle-class New York audiences. Thompsons troupe called the British Blondes, was the most popular entertainment in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season, the six-month tour ran for almost six extremely profitable years. Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown beginning around 1850, in 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square, and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square. Broadways first long-run musical was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857, New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keenes musical burletta The Seven Sisters shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances. It was at a performance by Keenes troupe of Our American Cousin in Washington, the production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post was the first show to call itself a musical comedy, Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham. They starred high quality singers, instead of the women of repute who had starred in earlier musical forms. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits, as in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women
6.
Flower Drum Song
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Flower Drum Song was the eighth musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. It was based on the 1957 novel, The Flower Drum Song and it premiered on Broadway in 1958 and was then performed in the West End and on tour. It was adapted for a 1961 musical film, after their extraordinary early successes, beginning with Oklahoma. In 1943, Rodgers and Hammerstein had written two musicals in the 1950s that did not do well and sought a new hit to revive their fortunes. Lees novel focuses on a father, Wang Chi-yang, a refugee from China. Rodgers and Hammerstein shifted the focus of the musical to his son, Wang Ta, the team hired Gene Kelly to make his debut as a stage director with the musical and scoured the country for a suitable Asian – or at least, plausibly Asian-looking – cast. The musical, much more light-hearted than Lees novel, was profitable on Broadway and was followed by a national tour. After the release of the 1961 film version, the musical was produced, as it presented casting issues. When it was put on the stage, lines and songs that might be offensive were often cut, the piece did not return to Broadway until 2002, when a version with a plot by playwright David Henry Hwang was presented after a successful Los Angeles run. Hwangs story retains the Chinatown setting and the inter-generational and immigrant themes and it received mostly poor reviews in New York and closed after six months but had a short tour and has since been produced regionally. Lee fled war-torn China in the 1940s and came to the United States, by the 1950s, he was barely making a living writing short stories and working as a Chinese teacher, translator and journalist for San Francisco Chinatown newspapers. He had hoped to break into playwriting, but instead wrote a novel about Chinatown, Lee initially had no success selling his novel, but his agent submitted it to the publishing house of Farrar, Straus and Cudahy. The firm sent the manuscript to a reader for evaluation. The reader was found dead in bed, the manuscript beside him with the words Read this scrawled on it, the publishing house did so, and bought Lees novel, which became a bestseller in 1957. Lees novel centers on Wang Chi-yang, a 63-year-old man who fled China to avoid the communists, the wealthy refugee lives in a house in Chinatown with his two sons. His sister-in-law, Madam Tang, who takes citizenship classes, is a regular visitor, while his sons and sister-in-law are integrating into American culture, Wang stubbornly resists assimilation and speaks only two words of English, Yes and No. Wang also has a cough, which he does not wish to have cured. Wangs elder son, Wang Ta, woos Linda Tung, but on learning that she has many men in her life, drops her, he later learns she is a nightclub dancer
7.
Japanese diaspora
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The Japanese diaspora, and its individual members known as nikkei or nikkeijin, are the Japanese emigrants from Japan and their descendants that reside in a foreign country. According to the Association of Nikkei and Japanese Abroad, there are about 2.5 million nikkei living in their adopted countries, the largest of these foreign communities are in Brazil, the United States, the Philippines, China, Canada and Peru. Descendants of emigrants from the Meiji period still hold recognizable communities in those countries, Nikkei is derived from the term nikkeijin in Japanese, used to refer to Japanese people who emigrated from Japan and their descendants. Emigration refers to permanent settlers, excluding transient Japanese abroad and these groups were historically differentiated by the terms issei, nisei, sansei, and yonsei. The term Nikkeijin may or may not apply to those Japanese who still hold Japanese citizenship, usages of the term may depend on perspective. On the other hand, in the U. S, the term nikkei has multiple and diverse meanings depending on situations, places, and environments. Nikkei also include people of mixed descent who identify themselves as Nikkei. Native Japanese also use the term nikkei for the emigrants and their descendants who return to Japan, many of these nikkei live in close communities and retain identities separate from the native Japanese. The definition was derived from The International Nikkei Research Project, a collaborative project involving more than 100 scholars from 10 countries and 14 participating institutions. Overseas Japanese have existed since the 16th century, many documents mention the large slave trade along with protests against the enslavement of Japanese. Japanese slaves were brought by the Portuguese to Macau, where some of them were enslaved to Portuguese, thus, the Portuguese might own Malay and African slaves, who in turn possessed Japanese slaves of their own. Hideyoshi blamed the Portuguese and Jesuits for this trade and banned Christian proselytizing as a result. Some Korean slaves in Japan who had been among the thousands of prisoners of war taken during the Japanese invasions of Korea were bought by the Portuguese and taken to Portugal. Fillippo Sassetti saw some Chinese and Japanese slaves in Lisbon among the slave community in 1578. The Portuguese highly regarded Asian slaves like Chinese and Japanese, much more than slaves from sub-Saharan Africa, the Portuguese attributed qualities like intelligence and industriousness to Chinese and Japanese slaves which is why they favored them more. In 1595 a law was passed by Portugal banning the sale of Chinese and Japanese slaves, from the 15th through the early 17th century, Japanese seafarers traveled to China and Southeast Asia countries, in some cases establishing early Japantowns. This activity ended in the 1640s, when the Tokugawa shogunate imposed maritime restrictions which forbade Japanese from leaving the country and this policy would not be lifted for over two hundred years. Travel restrictions were eased once Japan opened diplomatic relations with western nations, in 1867, the bakufu began issuing travel documents for overseas travel and emigration
8.
Asia
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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.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
10.
Kabuki
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Kabuki is a classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers, the individual kanji, from left to right, mean sing, dance, and skill. Kabuki is therefore sometimes translated as the art of singing and dancing and these are, however, ateji characters which do not reflect actual etymology. The kanji of skill generally refers to a performer in kabuki theatre, since the word kabuki is believed to derive from the verb kabuku, meaning to lean or to be out of the ordinary, kabuki can be interpreted as avant-garde or bizarre theatre. The expression kabukimono referred originally to those who were dressed and swaggered on a street. The history of kabuki began in 1603 when Izumo no Okuni, possibly a miko of Izumo-taisha and it originated in the 17th century. Japan was under the control of the Tokugawa shogunate, enforced by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the name of the Edo period derives from the relocation of the Tokugawa regime from its former home in Kyoto to the city of Edo, present-day Tokyo. Female performers played both men and women in comic playlets about ordinary life, the style was immediately popular, and Okuni was asked to perform before the Imperial Court. In the wake of success, rival troupes quickly formed. For this reason, kabuki was also called 遊女歌舞妓 during this period, Kabuki became a common form of entertainment in the ukiyo, or Yoshiwara, the registered red-light district in Edo. A diverse crowd gathered under one roof, something that happened nowhere else in the city, Kabuki theaters were a place to see and be seen as they featured the latest fashion trends and current events. The stage provided good entertainment with exciting new music, patterns, clothing, performances went from morning until sunset. The teahouses surrounding or connected to the theater provided meals, refreshments, the area around the theatres was lush with shops selling kabuki souvenirs. Kabuki, in a sense, initiated pop culture in Japan, the shogunate was never partial to kabuki and all the mischief it brought, particularly the variety of the social classes which mixed at kabuki performances. Women’s kabuki, called onna-kabuki, was banned in 1629 for being too erotic, following onna-kabuki, young boys performed in wakashū-kabuki, but since they too were eligible for prostitution, the shogun government soon banned wakashū-kabuki as well. Kabuki switched to male actors, called yaro-kabuki, in the mid-1600s. Male actors played both female and male characters, the theatre remained popular, and remained a focus of urban lifestyle until modern times. The modern all-male kabuki, known as yarō-kabuki, was established during these decades, after women were banned from performing, cross-dressed male actors, known as onnagata or oyama, took over
11.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
12.
Arthur Godfrey
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Arthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead. An on-air incident undermined his image and resulted in a gradual decline. One of the mediums early master commercial pitchmen, he was identified with many of his sponsors, especially Chesterfield cigarettes. Subsequently, he became a prominent spokesman for anti-smoking education, Godfrey was born in Manhattan in 1903. His mother, Kathryn Morton Godfrey, was from a well-to-do Oswego, New York, family which disapproved of her marriage to an older Englishman, Arthurs father Arthur Hanbury Godfrey. The senior Godfrey was a sportswriter and considered an expert on surrey and hackney horses, by 1915, when Arthur was 12, the family had moved to Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. Arthur, the eldest of five children, tried to help them survive by working before and after school, by 15 he was a civilian typist at Camp Merritt, New Jersey, and enlisted in the Navy two years later. Godfreys father was something of a thinker by the standards of the era. He did not disdain organized religion but insisted that his children explore all faiths before deciding for themselves which to embrace and their childhood friends included Catholic, Jewish and every kind of Protestant playmates. The senior Godfrey was friends with the Vanderbilts, but was as likely to spend his time talking with the man or the hotdog vendor about issues of the day. They rode the back and forth three times, with their father arguing with the man that the Klan was a bunch of Blasted, bigoted fools. Godfreys mother, Kathryn, was a gifted artist and composer whose aspirations to fame were laid aside to care of her family after her husband, Arthur or Darl. The one household item that was never sold or turned into firewood was the piano, in her later years some of her compositions were performed by symphony orchestras in Canada, which earned her a mention in Time. In 1957, at the age of 78, her sauciness made her a big hit with the audience when she appeared on Groucho Marxs quiz show You Bet Your Life and she died of cancer in 1968 at a nursing home in a suburb north of Chicago. Godfrey served in the United States Navy from 1920 to 1924 as an operator on naval destroyers. Additional radio training came during Godfreys service in the Coast Guard from 1927 to 1930 and he passed a stringent qualifying examination and was admitted to the prestigious Radio Materiel School at the Naval Research Laboratory, graduating in 1929. It was during a Coast Guard stint in Baltimore that on October 5 of that year he appeared on a talent show. The announcers spoke in stentorian tones, as if giving a speech to a crowd
