Nara period
The Nara period of the history of Japan covers the years from AD 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō. Except for a five-year period, when the capital was moved again, it remained the capital of Japanese civilization until Emperor Kanmu established a new capital, Nagaoka-kyō, in 784, before moving to Heian-kyō, modern Kyoto, a decade in 794. Most of Japanese society during this period was centered on villages. Most of the villagers followed a religion based on the worship of natural and ancestral spirits called kami; the capital at Nara was modeled after Chang the capital city of Tang dynasty. In many other ways, the Japanese upper classes patterned themselves after the Chinese, including adopting Chinese written system and the religion of Buddhism. Concentrated efforts by the imperial court to record and document its history produced the first works of Japanese literature during the Nara period. Works such as the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki were political in nature, used to record and therefore justify and establish the supremacy of the rule of the emperors within Japan.
With the spread of written language, the writing of Japanese poetry, known in Japanese as waka, began. The largest and longest-surviving collection of Japanese poetry, the Man'yōshū, was compiled from poems composed between 600 and 759 CE. This, other Nara texts, used Chinese characters to express the sounds of Japanese, known as man'yōgana. Before the Taihō Code was established, the capital was customarily moved after the death of an emperor because of the ancient belief that a place of death was polluted. Reforms and bureaucratization of government led to the establishment of a permanent imperial capital at Heijō-kyō, or Nara, in AD 710, it is to be noted that the capital was moved shortly to Kuni-kyō in 740–744, to Naniwa-kyō in 744–745, to Shigarakinomiya in 745, moved back to Nara in 745. Nara was Japan's first urban center, it soon had some 10,000 people worked in government jobs. Economic and administrative activity increased during the Nara period. Roads linked Nara to provincial capitals, taxes were collected more efficiently and routinely.
Coins were minted, if not used. Outside the Nara area, there was little commercial activity, in the provinces the old Shōtoku land reform systems declined. By the mid-eighth century, shōen, one of the most important economic institutions in prehistoric Japan, began to rise as a result of the search for a more manageable form of landholding. Local administration became more self-sufficient, while the breakdown of the old land distribution system and the rise of taxes led to the loss or abandonment of land by many people who became the "wave people"; some of these "public people" were employed by large landholders, "public lands" reverted to the shōen. Factional fighting at the imperial court continued throughout the Nara period. Imperial family members, leading court families, such as the Fujiwara, Buddhist priests all contended for influence. Earlier this period, Prince Nagaya seized power at the court after the death of Fujiwara no Fuhito. Fuhito was succeeded by four sons, Umakai and Maro, they put the prince by Fuhito's daughter, on the throne.
In 729, they regained control. However, as a major outbreak of smallpox spread from Kyūshū in 735, all four brothers died two years resulting in temporary shrinking of Fujiwara's dominance. In 740, a member of the Fujiwara clan, Hirotsugu launched a rebellion from his base in Fukuoka, Kyushu. Although defeated, it is without doubt that the Emperor was shocked about these events, he moved the palace three times in only five years from 740, until he returned to Nara. In the late Nara period, financial burdens on the state increased, the court began dismissing nonessential officials. In 792 universal conscription was abandoned, district heads were allowed to establish private militia forces for local police work. Decentralization of authority became the rule despite the reforms of the Nara period. To return control to imperial hands, the capital was moved in 784 to Nagaoka-kyō and in 794 to Heian-kyō, about twenty-six kilometers north of Nara. By the late eleventh century, the city was popularly called Kyoto, the name it has had since.
Some of Japan's literary monuments were written during the Nara period, including the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, the first national histories, compiled in 712 and 720 respectively. Another major cultural development of the era was the permanent establishment of Buddhism. Buddhism was introduced by Baekje in the sixth century but had a mixed reception until the Nara period, when it was heartily embraced by Emperor Shōmu. Shōmu and his Fujiwara consort were fervent Buddhists and promoted the spread of Buddhism, making it the "guardian of the state" and a way of strengthening Japanese institutions. During Shōmu's reign, the Tōdai-ji was built. Within it was placed the Great Buddha Daibutsu: a 16-metre-high, gilt-bronze statue; this Buddha was identified with the Sun Goddess, a gradual syncretism of Buddhism and Shinto ensued. Shōmu declared himself the "Servant of the Three Treasures" of Buddhism: the Buddha, the law or teachings of B
The Japan Times
The Japan Times is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by The Japan Times, Ltd. a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the Kioicho Building in Kioicho, Tokyo; the Japan Times was launched by Motosada Zumoto on March 22, 1897, with the goal of giving Japanese an opportunity to read and discuss news and current events in English to help Japan to participate in the international community. The paper was independent of government control, but from 1931 onward, the Japanese government was mounting pressure on the paper's editors to submit to its policies. In 1933, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs managed to appoint Hitoshi Ashida, former Ministry official, as chief editor. During World War II, the newspaper served as an outlet for Imperial Japanese government propaganda and editorial opinion; the paper's circulation at that time was about 825,000. It was successively renamed The Japan Times and Mail following its merger with The Japan Mail, The Japan Times and Advertiser following its merger with The Japan Advertiser, Nippon Times before reverting to the Japan Times title in 1956.
The temporary change to Nippon Times occurred during ban of English language sentiment during World War II era Japan. Shintaro Fukushima became the president in 1956, he exchanged each company's stock with Toshiaki Ogasawara. After Fukushima renounced managing rights, Ogasawara's company Nifco, a manufacturer of automotive fasteners, acquired control of The Japan Times in 1983 and changed all of former staffs and company's tradition established in 1897. Nifco chairman Toshiaki Ogasawara served as the chairman and publisher of The Japan Times until 2016, his daughter Yukiko Ogasawara was president of the company from 2006 to 2012, when she was replaced by career Japan Times staffer Takeharu Tsutsumi. Yukiko succeeded her father as chairman of the company in 2016. Nifco sold The Japan Times to News2u Holdings, Inc. on June 30, 2017. After being sold to the "PR company" News2u, the Japan Times changed its editorial stance and contributor lineup as part of efforts to reduce criticism of the paper as an "anti-Japanese" outlet.
In November 2018, the newspaper announced in an editor's note that it would replace the term "forced labor" with "wartime laborers", the term "comfort women" with "women who worked in wartime brothels, including those who did so against their will, to provide sex to Japanese soldiers", in its subsequent articles. The change drew immediate criticism from readers and employees, with particular concerns expressed over the paper's apparent alignment with the political positions of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe; the Japan Times, Inc. publishes three periodicals: The Japan Times, an English-language daily broadsheet. The daily's content includes: News: domestic and world news. Opinion: editorials, op-eds, letters to the editor. Features: life and style, media, technology and drink, environment, cartoons. Entertainment: film, music, books, event previews, festival listing. Sports: domestic and overseas sports news, including coverage of baseball, basketball, figure skating. Since 16 October 2013, The Japan Times has been printed and sold along with The New York Times International Edition.
Printed stories from The Japan Times are archived online. The newspaper has a reader's forum and, since 2013, the website offers a section for readers' comments below articles; this came about during a redesign and redevelopment of the newspaper, using Responsive Web Design techniques so the site is optimised for all digital devices. The Japan Times has a social media presence on Twitter and Google+. Monty DiPietro, art critic John Gauntner, Nihonshu columnist Don Maloney Dreux Richard, African community, investigative Donald Richie, film critic Edward Seidensticker Robert Yellin Ceramic Scene columnist Jean Pearce, Community columnist Fred Varcoe, Sports editor Elyse Rogers and Fume Miyatake, Women in Business Columnists Mark Brazil, "Wild Watch" nature columnist Staff at The Japan Times are represented by two unions, one of, Tozen. Capital: ¥100,000,000 Business: Publishes The Japan Times, The Japan Times On Sunday, The Japan Times Alpha, books in English and Japanese Genki: an Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar Yomiuri Shimbun International Herald Tribune Asahi Shimbun Media related to The Japan Times at Wikimedia Commons The Japan Times Online The Japan Times Plus The Japan Times Bookclub Genki Online
Law
Law is a system of rules that are created and enforced through social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior. It has been defined both as "the Science of Justice" and "the Art of Justice". Law is a system that regulates and ensures that individuals or a community adhere to the will of the state. State-enforced laws can be made by a collective legislature or by a single legislator, resulting in statutes, by the executive through decrees and regulations, or established by judges through precedent in common law jurisdictions. Private individuals can create binding contracts, including arbitration agreements that may elect to accept alternative arbitration to the normal court process; the formation of laws themselves may be influenced by a constitution, written or tacit, the rights encoded therein. The law shapes politics, economics and society in various ways and serves as a mediator of relations between people. A general distinction can be made between civil law jurisdictions, in which a legislature or other central body codifies and consolidates their laws, common law systems, where judge-made precedent is accepted as binding law.
Religious laws played a significant role in settling of secular matters, is still used in some religious communities. Islamic Sharia law is the world's most used religious law, is used as the primary legal system in some countries, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia; the adjudication of the law is divided into two main areas. Criminal law deals with conduct, considered harmful to social order and in which the guilty party may be imprisoned or fined. Civil law deals with the resolution of lawsuits between individuals and/or organizations. Law provides a source of scholarly inquiry into legal history, economic analysis and sociology. Law raises important and complex issues concerning equality and justice. Numerous definitions of law have been put forward over the centuries; the Third New International Dictionary from Merriam-Webster defines law as: "Law is a binding custom or practice of a community. The Dictionary of the History of Ideas published by Scribner's in 1973 defined the concept of law accordingly as: "A legal system is the most explicit, institutionalized, complex mode of regulating human conduct.
At the same time, it plays only one part in the congeries of rules which influence behavior, for social and moral rules of a less institutionalized kind are of great importance." There have been several attempts to produce "a universally acceptable definition of law". In 1972, one source indicated. McCoubrey and White said that the question "what is law?" has no simple answer. Glanville Williams said that the meaning of the word "law" depends on the context in which that word is used, he said that, for example, "early customary law" and "municipal law" were contexts where the word "law" had two different and irreconcilable meanings. Thurman Arnold said that it is obvious that it is impossible to define the word "law" and that it is equally obvious that the struggle to define that word should not be abandoned, it is possible to take the view that there is no need to define the word "law". The history of law links to the development of civilization. Ancient Egyptian law, dating as far back as 3000 BC, contained a civil code, broken into twelve books.
It was based on the concept of Ma'at, characterised by tradition, rhetorical speech, social equality and impartiality. By the 22nd century BC, the ancient Sumerian ruler Ur-Nammu had formulated the first law code, which consisted of casuistic statements. Around 1760 BC, King Hammurabi further developed Babylonian law, by codifying and inscribing it in stone. Hammurabi placed several copies of his law code throughout the kingdom of Babylon as stelae, for the entire public to see; the most intact copy of these stelae was discovered in the 19th century by British Assyriologists, has since been transliterated and translated into various languages, including English, Italian and French. The Old Testament dates back to 1280 BC and takes the form of moral imperatives as recommendations for a good society; the small Greek city-state, ancient Athens, from about the 8th century BC was the first society to be based on broad inclusion of its citizenry, excluding women and the slave class. However, Athens had no legal science or single word for "law", relying instead on the three-way distinction between divine law, human decree and custom.
Yet Ancient Greek law contained major constitutional innovations in the development of democracy. Roman law was influenced by Greek philosophy, but its detailed rules were developed by professional jurists and were sophisticated. Over the centuries between the rise and decline of the Roman Empire, law was adapted to cope with the changing social situations and underwent major codification under Theodosius II and Justinian I. Although codes were replaced by custom and case law during the Dark Ages, Roman law was rediscovered around the 11th century when medieval legal scholars began to research Roman codes and adapt their concepts. Latin legal maxims were compiled for guidance. In medieval England, royal
2019 Japanese imperial transition
Emperor Akihito of Japan is set to abdicate on 30 April 2019, which will make him the first Japanese Emperor to do so in over two hundred years. This marks the end of the Heisei period, will precipitate numerous festivities leading up to the accession of his successor, Crown Prince Naruhito; the enthronement ceremony will happen on 22 October 2019. Akihito's younger son, Prince Akishino, is expected to become his brother's heir presumptive. In 2010, Emperor Akihito informed his advisory council that he would like to retire from his demanding job. However, no action was taken by senior members of the Imperial Household Agency. On 13 July 2016, national broadcaster NHK reported that the Emperor wished to abdicate in favor of his elder son Crown Prince Naruhito within a few years. Senior officials within the Imperial Household Agency denied that there was any official plan for the monarch to abdicate. A potential abdication by the Emperor would require an amendment to the Imperial Household Law, which has no provisions for such a move.
On 8 August 2016, the Emperor gave a rare televised address, where he emphasized his advanced age and declining health. With the intention of the abdication now known, the Cabinet Office appointed Yasuhiko Nishimura as the Imperial Household Agency's Vice Grand Steward. In October 2016, the Cabinet Office appointed a panel of experts to debate the Emperor's abdication, which recommended that the law should be a one-off measure for Akihito alone. In January 2017, the Lower House Budget committee began informally debating the constitutional nature of the abdication. On 19 May 2017, the bill that would allow Akihito to abdicate was issued by the Japanese government's cabinet. On 8 June 2017, the National Diet passed a one-off bill allowing Akihito to abdicate, for the government to begin arranging the process of handing over the position to Crown Prince Naruhito; the abdication has been set to occur on 30 April 2019. He will receive the title of Jōkō, an abbreviation of Daijō Tennō, upon abdicating, his wife, the Empress, will become Jōkōgō.
On 1 December 2017, the Imperial Household Council, which had not met in 24 years, did so in order to schedule the ceremonials involved in the first such transfer of power in two centuries. The Imperial Household Council consists of the Prime Minister, the Speaker and Vice-Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President and Vice-President of the House of Councillors, the Grand Steward of the Imperial Household Agency, the Chief Justice and one justice of the Supreme Court, two members of the Imperial Family. Prince Akishino, the Emperor's younger son, has been asked to stand down as he is an "interested party" in the matter, he was replaced by Prince Hitachi, the Emperor's 82-year-old younger brother, the other one is Hitachi's wife Princess Hanako. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the date was chosen to permit the old Emperor to be able to preside over a 30th anniversary Jubilee and to coincide with the Golden Week annual holiday period, turning the changeover from a period of mourning and makeshift ceremonial into a joyous, well-planned, festival.
On December 8, 2017, the government created a special committee to oversee the events. According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga: "It will deal with the matter properly, taking into consideration the possible impact on the people's lives." The committee met for the first time in January 2018, the following month announced that a plan called a "basic policy statement," was released on April 3. Official farewell celebrations began with a 30th Jubilee ceremony on February 12, 2019, a delay which would avoid any implication of a celebration of the death of the Emperor Shōwa on January 7; the government has consolidated the Golden week holidays into a special ten day block lasting from April 27 to May 6. Had the transition not been scheduled in advance, April 29 and May 3–6 are national holidays in 2019, following the weekend of April 27–28; the abdication and enthronement would both be national holidays, public holiday law states that a regular work day sandwiched between two national holidays would become "Public" holidays.
Since the Meiji Restoration in 1867, a new Japanese Era starts. However, in Emperor Akihito's case, manufacturers of calendars and other paper products need to know the new Era's name in advance to produce wares in a timely manner. While the Era names for the Shōwa and Heisei eras were kept state secrets until the deaths of the previous Emperors, not possible in this case, because an abdication is unprecedented since the 1885 Meiji Constitution was adopted. In order to prevent divisive debate on the subject, delaying the announcement as late as is possible, either the old Emperor's birthday or his jubilee celebrations had been suggested; until the Era name became known and software manufacturers needed to test their systems before the transition in order to ensure that the new era will be handled by their software. Some systems provide test mechanisms to simulate a new era ahead of time; the new Era name, "Reiwa", was revealed on 1 April 2019 by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga during a televised press conference.
The Enthronement Ceremony for Emperor Naruhito is scheduled to take place on 22 October 2019, marking the end of the transition period. It is to be an extra holiday. Emperor Akihito informs his advisory council that he would like to retire and to help him arrange it. July: Emperor Akihito leaks to the press his wishes to retire. July 13: NHK reports his wishes to the public. August 8: The Emperor makes address to the public o
Leather
Leather is a natural durable and flexible material created by tanning animal rawhides and skins. The most common raw material is cattle hide, it can be produced at manufacturing scales ranging from artisan to modern industrial scale. Leather is used to make a variety of articles, including footwear, automobile seats, bags, book bindings, fashion accessories, furniture, it is decorated by a wide range of techniques. The earliest record of leather artifacts dates back to 2200 BC; the leather manufacturing process is divided into three fundamental subprocesses: preparatory stages and crusting. A further subprocess, can be added into the leather process sequence, but not all leathers receive finishing; the preparatory stages are. Preparatory stages may include: soaking, liming, bating and pickling. Tanning is a process that stabilizes the proteins collagen, of the raw hide to increase the thermal and microbiological stability of the hides and skins, making it suitable for a wide variety of end applications.
The principal difference between raw and tanned hides is that raw hides dry out to form a hard, inflexible material that, when rewetted, will putrefy, while tanned material dries to a flexible form that does not become putrid when rewetted. Many tanning methods and materials exist; the typical process sees tanners load the hides into a drum and immerse them in a tank that contains the tanning "liquor". The hides soak while the drum rotates about its axis, the tanning liquor penetrates through the full thickness of the hide. Once the process achieves penetration, workers raise the liquor's pH in a process called basification, which fixes the tanning material to the leather; the more tanning material fixed, the higher the leather's hydrothermal stability and shrinkage temperature resistance. Crusting is a process that lubricates leather, it includes a coloring operation. Chemicals added during crusting must be fixed in place. Crusting culminates with a drying and softening operation, may include splitting, dyeing, whitening or other methods.
For some leathers, tanners apply a surface coating, called "finishing". Finishing operations can include oiling, buffing, polishing, glazing, or tumbling, among others. Leather can be oiled to improve its water resistance; this currying process after tanning supplements the natural oils remaining in the leather itself, which can be washed out through repeated exposure to water. Frequent oiling of leather, with mink oil, neatsfoot oil, or a similar material keeps it supple and improves its lifespan dramatically. Tanning processes differ in which chemicals are used in the tanning liquor; some common types include: Vegetable-tanned leather is tanned using tannins extracted from vegetable matter, such as tree bark prepared in bark mills. It is the oldest known method, it is supple and brown in color, with the exact shade depending on the mix of materials and the color of the skin. The color tan derives its name from the appearance of undyed vegetable-tanned leather. Vegetable-tanned leather is not stable in water.
This is a feature of oak-bark-tanned leather, exploited in traditional shoemaking. In hot water, it shrinks drastically and congeals, becoming rigid and brittle. Boiled leather is an example of this, where the leather has been hardened by being immersed in hot water, or in boiled wax or similar substances, it was used as armor after hardening, it has been used for book binding. Chrome-tanned leather, invented in 1858, is tanned using chromium other chromium salts, it is known as "wet blue" for the pale blue color of the undyed leather. The chrome tanning method takes one day to complete, making it best suited for large-scale industrial use; this is the most common method in modern use. It is more supple and pliable than vegetable-tanned leather and does not discolor or lose shape as drastically in water as vegetable-tanned. However, there are environmental concerns with this tanning method. Aldehyde-tanned leather is tanned using oxazolidine compounds, it is referred to as "wet white" due to its pale cream color.
It is the main type of "chrome-free" leather seen in shoes for infants and automobiles. Formaldehyde has been used for tanning in the past. Chamois leather is a form of aldehyde tanning that produces a porous and water-absorbent leather. Chamois leather is made using marine oils that oxidize to produce the aldehydes that tan the leather. Brain tanned leathers are made by a labor-intensive process that uses emulsified oils those of animal brains such as deer and buffalo, they are known for their exceptional washability. Alum leather is transformed using aluminium salts mixed with a variety of binders and protein sources, such as flour and egg yolk. Alum leather is not tanned. In general, leather is produced in the following grades: Top-grain leather includes the outer layer of the hide, known as the grain, which features finer, more densely packed fibers, resulting in strength and durability. Depending on thickness, it may contain some of the more fibrous under layer, known as the corium. Types of top-grain leather incl
Power of attorney
A power of attorney or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another's behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter. The person authorizing the other to act is grantor, or donor; the one authorized to act is the agent, or in the attorney-in-fact. The term "power" referred to an instrument signed under seal while a "letter" was an instrument under hand, meaning that it was signed by the parties, but today a power of attorney does not need to be signed under seal; some jurisdictions require that powers of attorney be notarized or witnessed, but others will enforce a power of attorney as long as it is signed by the grantor. The term attorney-in-fact is used in many jurisdictions instead of the term agent; that term should be distinguished from the term attorney-at-law. In the United States, an attorney-at-law is a solicitor, licensed to be an advocate in a particular jurisdiction. An attorney-in-fact may be a layperson and is authorized to act pursuant to the powers granted by a power of attorney but may not engage in acts that would constitute the unauthorized practice of law.
In the context of the unincorporated reciprocal inter-insurance exchange the attorney-in-fact is a stakeholder/trustee who takes custody of the subscriber funds placed on deposit with him, uses those funds to pay insurance claims. When all the claims are paid, the attorney-in-fact returns the leftover funds to the subscribers; the Uniform Power of Attorney Act employs the term agent. As an agent, an attorney-in-fact is a fiduciary for the principal, so the law requires an attorney-in-fact to be honest with and loyal to the principal in their dealings with each other. Care must be taken when selecting an attorney-in-fact, as some attorneys-in-fact have used their authority to steal the assets of vulnerable individuals such as the elderly; the person who creates a power of attorney, known as the grantor, can only do so when he/she has the requisite mental capacity. Suppose the grantor loses the capacity to grant permission after the power of attorney has been created. In some powers of attorney the grantor states that he/she wishes the document to remain in effect after he/she becomes incapacitated.
This type of power is referred to as a durable power of attorney. If someone is incapacitated, it is not possible for that person to execute a valid power, although in some jurisdictions, it may be possible for someone to have the capacity to execute a power of attorney if they do not have the capacity to make the decisions that they are delegating. If a person does not have the capacity to execute a power of attorney the only way for another party to act on their behalf is to have a court impose a conservatorship or a guardianship. Depending on the jurisdiction, a power of attorney may be oral and, whether witnessed, will hold up in court, the same as if it were in writing. For some purposes, the law requires a power of attorney to be in writing. Many institutions, such as hospitals, banks and, in the United States, the Internal Revenue Service, require a power of attorney to be in writing before they will honor it, they will keep a duplicate original or a copy for their records. Nursing homes follow the same practice.
The equal dignity rule is a principle of law that requires an authorization for someone performing certain acts for another person to have been appointed with the same formality as required for the act the representative is going to perform. This means, for example, that if a principal authorizes someone to sell the principal's house or other real property, the law requires a contract for the sale of real property to be in writing the authorization for the other person to sign the sales contract and deed must be in writing too. In common-law jurisdictions other than the U. S. a power of an attorney to execute a deed must be itself executed as a deed. In order for a power of attorney to become a enforceable document, at a minimum it must be signed and dated by the principal; some jurisdictions require that a power of attorney be witnessed, notarized, or both. When not required, having the document reviewed and signed by a notary public may increase the likelihood of withstanding a legal challenge.
If the attorney-in-fact is being paid to act on behalf of the principal, a contract for payment may be separate from the document granting power of attorney. If that separate contract is in writing, as a separate document it may be kept private between the principal and agent when the power of attorney is presented to others for the purposes of carrying out the agent's duties. A power of attorney may be: special, temporary. A special power of attorney is one, limited to a specified act or type of act. A general power of attorney is one that allows the agent to make all personal and business decisions A temporary power of attorney is one with a limited time frame. If required, a durable power of attorney can be revoked or changed as long as the principal is still mentally competent to act. Under the common law, a power of attorney becomes ineffective if its grantor dies or becomes "incapacitated," meaning unable to grant such a power, because of physical injury or mental illness, for example, unless the grantor specifies that the power
