1.
Prefectures of Japan
–
The Prefectures of Japan consist of 47 prefectures. They form the first level of jurisdiction and administrative division of Japan and they consist of 43 prefectures proper, two urban prefectures, one circuit or territory and one metropolis. The Meiji Fuhanken sanchisei administration created the first prefectures to replace the provinces of Japan in 1868, each prefectures chief executive is a directly-elected governor. Ordinances and budgets are enacted by an assembly whose members are elected for four-year terms. Under the current Local Autonomy Law, each prefecture is subdivided into cities and districts and each district into towns, for example, Hokkaido has 14 subprefectures that act as branch offices of the prefecture. Some other prefectures also have offices that carry out prefectural administrative functions outside the capital. Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is a merged city-prefecture, the Wests use of prefecture to label these Japanese regions stems from 16th-century Portuguese explorers and traders use of prefeitura to describe the fiefdoms they encountered there. Its original sense in Portuguese, however, was closer to municipality than province and those fiefs were headed by a local warlord or family. Though the fiefs have long since been dismantled, merged, and reorganized multiple times, and been granted legislative governance and oversight, the Meiji government established the current system in July 1871 with the abolition of the Han system and establishment of the prefecture system. Although there were initially over 300 prefectures, many of them being former Han territories, this number was reduced to 72 in the part of 1871. The Local Autonomy Law of 1947 gave more power to prefectures. In 2003, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed that the government consolidate the current prefectures into about 10 regional states, the plan called for each region to have greater autonomy than existing prefectures. This process would reduce the number of administrative regions and cut administrative costs. As of August 2012, no reorganization has been scheduled, the central government delegates many functions to the prefectures and municipalities, but retains the overall right to control them. Although local government expenditure accounts for 70 percent of government expenditure, the central government controls local budgets, tax rates. Historically, during the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate established bugyō-ruled zones around the nine largest cities in Japan, and 302 township-ruled zones elsewhere. When the Meiji government began to create the system in 1868, the nine bugyō-ruled zones became fu, while the township-ruled zones. Later, in 1871, the government designated Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto as fu, during World War II, in 1943, Tokyo became a to, a new type of pseudo-prefecture
2.
Japanese language
–
Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by about 125 million speakers, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is a member of the Japonic language family, whose relation to language groups, particularly to Korean. Little is known of the prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century recorded a few Japanese words, during the Heian period, Chinese had considerable influence on the vocabulary and phonology of Old Japanese. Late Middle Japanese saw changes in features that brought it closer to the modern language, the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region in the Early Modern Japanese period. Following the end in 1853 of Japans self-imposed isolation, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, English loanwords in particular have become frequent, and Japanese words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative, mora-timed language with simple phonotactics, a vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length. Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or make questions. Nouns have no number or gender, and there are no articles. Verbs are conjugated, primarily for tense and voice, but not person, Japanese equivalents of adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a system of honorifics with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener. Japanese has no relationship with Chinese, but it makes extensive use of Chinese characters, or kanji, in its writing system. Along with kanji, the Japanese writing system uses two syllabic scripts, hiragana and katakana. Latin script is used in a fashion, such as for imported acronyms. Very little is known about the Japanese of this period, Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language. Through the spread of Buddhism, the Chinese writing system was imported to Japan, the earliest texts found in Japan are written in Classical Chinese, but they may have been meant to be read as Japanese by the kanbun method. Some of these Chinese texts show the influences of Japanese grammar, in these hybrid texts, Chinese characters are also occasionally used phonetically to represent Japanese particles. The earliest text, the Kojiki, dates to the early 8th century, the end of Old Japanese coincides with the end of the Nara period in 794
3.
Romanization of Japanese
–
The romanization of Japanese is the application of the Latin script to write the Japanese language. This method of writing is referred to in English as rōmaji. There are several different romanization systems, the three main ones are Hepburn romanization, Kunrei-shiki romanization, and Nihon-shiki romanization. Variants of the Hepburn system are the most widely used, Japanese is normally written in a combination of logographic characters borrowed from Chinese and syllabic scripts which also ultimately derive from Chinese characters. It is also used to transliterate Japanese terms in text written in English on topics related to Japan, such as linguistics, literature, history, and culture. Rōmaji is the most common way to input Japanese into word processors and computers, all Japanese who have attended elementary school since World War II have been taught to read and write romanized Japanese. The word rōmaji literally means Roman letters, and in Japan it is often used to refer to the Latin alphabet itself than to any specific form of romanized Japanese. The earliest Japanese romanization system was based on the Portuguese orthography and it was developed around 1548 by a Japanese Catholic named Yajiro. Jesuit priests used the system in a series of printed Catholic books so that missionaries could preach and teach their converts without learning to read Japanese orthography. The most useful of these books for the study of early modern Japanese pronunciation and early attempts at romanization was the Nippo jisho, in general, the early Portuguese system was similar to Nihon-shiki in its treatment of vowels. The latter continued to be printed and read after the suppression of Christianity in Japan, the Hepburn system included representation of some sounds that have since changed. The Nihon-shiki romanization was an outgrowth of that movement, several Japanese texts were published entirely in rōmaji during this period, but it failed to catch on. Today, the use of Nihon-shiki for writing Japanese is advocated by the Oomoto sect, during the Allied occupation of Japan, the government of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers made it official policy to romanize Japanese. However, that failed and a more moderate attempt at Japanese script reform followed. Hepburn romanization generally follows English phonology with Romance vowels and it is an intuitive method of showing Anglophones the pronunciation of a word in Japanese. It was standardized in the USA as American National Standard System for the Romanization of Japanese, Hepburn is the most common romanization system in use today, especially in the English-speaking world. The Revised Hepburn system of romanization uses a macron to indicate long vowels. For example, the name じゅんいちろう, is written with the kana characters ju-n-i-chi-ro-u, without the apostrophe, it would not be possible to distinguish this correct reading from the incorrect ju-ni-chi-ro-u
4.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Japan
–
Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
6.
Honshu
–
Honshu is the largest and most populous island of Japan, located south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Straits. The island separates the Sea of Japan, which lies to its north and west, from the North Pacific Ocean to its south and it is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian island of Java. Honshu had a population of 103 million as of 2005, mostly concentrated in the coastal lowlands, as the historical center of Japanese culture and political power, the island includes several past Japanese capitals, including Kyoto, Nara, and Kamakura. Much of the southern shore forms part of the Taiheiyō Belt. The island is linked to the three major Japanese islands by a number of bridges and tunnels. Its climate is humid and mild, the island is roughly 1,300 km long and ranges from 50 to 230 km wide, and its total area is 225,800 km2, 60% of the total area of Japan, making it slightly larger than Great Britain. Its land area has been increasing with land reclamation and coastal uplift in the north, Honshu has 5,450 kilometres of coastline. Mountainous and volcanic, Honshu experiences frequent earthquakes, the highest peak is the active volcano Mount Fuji at 3,776 m, which makes Honshu the worlds 7th highest island. There are many rivers, including the Shinano River, Japans longest, the northernmost point on Honshu is the tip of the Shimokita Peninsula in Ōma, Aomori, Cape Kure lies at the southern extreme in Kushimoto, Wakayama. The islands eastern extremity is Todogasaki in Miyako, Iwate, and its western one is Bishanohana in Shimonoseki, Honshu spans more than eight degrees of latitude and 11 degrees of longitude. Honshu is connected to the islands of Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku by tunnels or bridges, the island is divided into five nominal regions and contains 34 prefectures, including metropolitan Tokyo. Administratively, some islands are included within these prefectures, notably including the Ogasawara Islands, Sado Island, Izu Ōshima. Fruits, vegetables, grains, rice and cotton are grown in Honshu, niigata is noted as an important producer of rice. The Kantō and Nōbi plains produce rice and vegetables, yamanashi is a major fruit-growing area, and Aomori is famous for its apples. Rare species of the lichen genus Menegazzia are found only in Honshu, yields of zinc, copper, and oil have been found on Honshu
7.
Saitama, Saitama
–
Saitama is the capital and the most populous city of Saitama Prefecture in Japan, situated in the south-east of the prefecture. Its area incorporates the cities of Urawa, Ōmiya, Yono. It is a city designated by government ordinance, being in the Greater Tokyo Area and lying 15 to 30 kilometres north of central Tokyo, many of its residents commute into Tokyo. As of 1 February 2016, the city had an population of 1,226,656. Its total area was 217.43 square kilometres, the city was founded on May 1,2001, and was designated on April 1,2003 as a government ordinance. For the histories of Urawa, Ōmiya and Yono before the merger, see, Urawa-ku, Saitama Ōmiya-ku, Saitama and Yono, Saitama, on April 1,2005, Saitama absorbed the city of Iwatsuki to its east, which became a new ward, Iwatsuki-ku. The name Saitama originally comes from the Sakitama district of what is now the city of Gyōda in the part of what is now known as Saitama Prefecture. Sakitama has an ancient history and is mentioned in the famous 8th century poetry anthology Manyōshū, the pronunciation has changed from Sakitama to Saitama over the years. With the merger of Urawa, Ōmiya, and Yono it was decided that a new name, the prefectural name Saitama was changed from kanji into hiragana, thus Saitama City was born. It is the prefectural capital in Japan whose name is always written in hiragana. However, Saitama written in hiragana actually finished in place in public polling to Saitama written in kanji. Despite this, government officials decided to name the new city Saitama in hiragana, in third place in the poll was Ōmiya. In fourth was Saitama, written with a kanji for sai which means colorful. The sai used in the name is a rare form of a common character that means cape or promontory. The city is located 20 to 30 km north of central Tokyo, the western portion of the city lies on the lowland created by the Arakawa River along with those created by small rivers such as the Moto-Arakawa River, Shiba River, and Ayase River. The rest of the area mostly resides on the Ōmiya Plateau lying in the north-south direction, dispersed in this region, major rivers flow southward, almost paralleling to one another. The city is one of commercial centers of the Greater Tokyo area and serves Saitama Prefecture, North Kanto. Saitama is also home to manufacturers, exporting automotive, food, optical, precision
8.
Districts of Japan
–
As of 2008, cities belong directly to prefectures and are independent from districts. In Japan, towns and villages belong to districts and the districts possess little to no administrative authority, the districts are used primarily in the Japanese addressing system and to identify the relevant geographical areas and collections of nearby towns and villages. The district was initially called kōri and has ancient roots in Japan, although the Nihon Shoki says they were established during the Taika Reforms, kōri was originally written 評. It was not until the Taihō Code that kōri came to be written 郡, under the Taihō Code, the administrative unit of province was above district, and the village was below. Each jurisdiction refers to its position along the river from which the former province. Kamikawa means upper course of the river, Nakagawa means middle course, jacobs at Urban Studies Research, Vol.2011, doi,10. 1155/2011/692764 Graphic shows relationships among Japanese cities at p.7 of Large City System of Japan Text of the Local Government Law
9.
Municipalities of Japan
–
Japan has three levels of government, national, prefectural, and municipal. The nation is divided into 47 prefectures, each prefecture consists of numerous municipalities, with 1,719 in total. There are four types of municipalities in Japan, cities, towns, villages, in Japanese, this system is known as shikuchōson, where each kanji in the word represents one of the four types of municipalities. The status of a municipality, if it is a village, the least-populated city, Utashinai, Hokkaidō, has a population of merely four thousand, while a town in the same prefecture, Otofuke, Hokkaidō, has nearly forty thousand residents. Some designated cities also have further administrative subdivisions, also known as wards, but, unlike the Special wards of Tokyo, these wards are not municipalities. Tokyo Prefecture now encompasses 23 special wards, each a city itself, as well as many other cities, towns and even villages on the Japanese mainland. Each of the 23 special wards of Tokyo is legally equivalent to a city, for information on the former city of Tokyo, see Tokyo City, for information about present-day Tokyo Prefecture, see Tokyo. See List of cities in Japan for a complete list of cities, see also, Core city The same kanji which designates a town is also sometimes used for addresses of sections of an urban area. In rare cases, a village might even contain a section with the same type of designation. Although the kanji is the same, neither of these sections are municipalities unto themselves. Subprefectures are branch offices of the prefectures and not municipalities by themselves, districts are not current municipalities but names of groups of towns and villages. Provinces are not current municipalities but names of geographical regions similar to prefectures
10.
Primula
–
Primula /ˈprɪmjʊlə/ is a genus of mainly herbaceous flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. They include the familiar wildflower of banks and verges, the primrose, other common species are P. auricula, P. veris and P. elatior. These species and many others are valued for their ornamental flowers and they have been extensively cultivated and hybridised - in the case of the primrose, for many hundreds of years. Primula are native to the northern hemisphere, south into tropical mountains in Ethiopia, Indonesia and New Guinea. Almost half of the species are from the Himalayas. Primula has about 500 species in traditional treatments, and more if certain related genera are included within its circumscription, Primula is a complex and varied genus, with a range of habitats from alpine slopes to boggy meadows. Some species show a white mealy bloom on various parts of the plant, many species are adapted to alpine climates. The word primula is the Latin feminine diminutive of primus, meaning first, Primula species have been extensively cultivated and hybridised, mainly derived from P. elatior, P. juliae, P. veris and P. vulgaris. Polyanthus is one group of plants, which has produced a large variety of strains in all colours, usually grown as annuals. The classification of the genus Primula has been investigated by botanists for over a century, as the genus is both large and diverse, botanists have organized the species in various sub-generic groups. The most common is division into a series of thirty sections, some of these sections contain many species, others contain only one
11.
Zelkova serrata
–
Zelkova serrata is a species of the genus Zelkova native to Japan, Korea, eastern China and Taiwan. It is often grown as a tree, and used in bonsai. Zelkova serrata is a deciduous tree usually growing to 30 m tall. It is characterized by a short trunk dividing into many upright and erect spreading stems forming a broad, the tree grows rapidly when young though the growth rate slows to medium upon middle age and maturity. It has alternately arranged leaves growing to 5 cm long and broad, the leaves themselves are simple and ovate to oblong-ovate with serrated or crenate margins, to which the tree owes its specific epithet serrata. The leaves are acuminate or apiculate, rounded or subcordate at the base, the leaves are rough on top and glabrous or nearly glabrous on the underside. They are green to green in spring and throughout the summer, changing to yellows, oranges. The petioles are 2–5 mm long, Z. serrata develops monoecious flowers in spring with the leaves. Buds are ovoid, acutish, with imbricate, dark brown scales. They diverge at a 45 degree angle from the stem, the staminate flowers are shortly pedicellate and approximately 3mm in diameter, clustered in the axils of the lower leaves. The pistillate flowers are solitary or few in axils of the leaves, sessile. The flowers are yellow-green, not showy, and occur in groups along new stems. They give rise to small, ovate, wingless drupes that ripen in summer to autumn. The drupe is green maturing to brown, subsessile and 2.5 to 3.5 mm in diameter, to identify Zelkova serrata, one would look for a short main trunk, low branching and a vase-shaped habit. The twigs are slender with small, dark conical buds in a zigzag pattern, the bark is grayish white to grayish brown and either smooth with lenticels or exfoliating in patches to reveal orange inner bark. The branchlets are brownish-purple to brown and this tree requires full to partial sun and prefers moist, well drained soils. A fertilizer rich in potassium and nitrogen encourages new vegetation and floral buds and it is adaptable and tolerant of heat, little water, nutrient poor soils and various pH. It should be thinned to allow light into the inner canopy
12.
Eurasian collared dove
–
Collared doves are sometimes kept in aviculture, and form strong relationships with each other. The genus name Streptopelia is from Ancient Greek streptos, collar and peleia, the specific decaocto is a latinisation of the Greek word for eighteen, from deca, ten, and octo, eight. In Greek mythology, a servant complained bitterly about pay of just 18 pieces a year, and it is grey-buff to pinkish-grey overall, a little darker above than below, with a blue-grey under wing patch. The tail feathers are grey-buff above, and dark grey tipped white below and it has a black half-collar edged with white on its nape from which it gets its name. The short legs are red and the bill is black, the iris is red, but from a distance the eyes appear to be black, as the pupil is relatively large and only a narrow rim of reddish-brown iris can be seen around the black pupil. The eye is surrounded by an area of bare skin. The two sexes are virtually indistinguishable, juveniles differ in having a poorly developed collar, and a brown iris, there are two subspecies, Streptopelia decaocto decaocto in most of the range, and Streptopelia decaocto xanthocyclus in the southeast of the range from Burma east to southern China. The latter differs in having yellow skin around the eye and it is closely related to the island collared dove of southeast Asia and the African collared dove of sub-Saharan Africa, forming a superspecies with these. The collared dove is not migratory, but is strongly dispersive, over the last century, it has been one of the great colonisers of the bird world, travelling far beyond its native range to colonise colder countries, becoming a permanent resident in several. Its original range at the end of the 19th century was warm temperate and subtropical Asia from Turkey east to southern China, in the east of its range, it has also spread northeast to most of central and northern China, and locally in Japan. It has also reached Iceland as a vagrant, but has not colonised successfully there, in 1974, fewer than 50 Eurasian Collared Doves escaped captivity in Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas. From the Bahamas, the spread to Florida, and is now found in nearly every state in the US. In Arkansas, the species was recorded first in 1989 and since then has grown in numbers and is now present in 42 of 75 counties in the state. It spread from the southeast corner of the state in 1997 to the northwest corner in 5 years and this is more than double the rate of 45 km per year observed in Europe. Interestingly, as of 2012, few negative impacts have been demonstrated in Florida, however, the species is known as an aggressive competitor, and there is concern that as populations continue to grow, native birds will be outcompeted by the invaders. However, one found that Eurasian collared doves are not more aggressive or competitive than native mourning doves. Population growth has ceased in areas where they’ve been established the longest, such as Florida, the population is still growing exponentially in areas of more recent introduction. Carrying capacities appear to be highest in areas with higher temperatures and intermediate levels of development, such as suburban areas and some agricultural areas
13.
Greater Tokyo Area
–
The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan, including the Tokyo Metropolis, as well as the prefecture of Yamanashi. In Japanese, it is referred to by terms, the most common of which being National Capital Region. A2016 United Nations estimate puts the population at 38,000,000. It covers an area of approximately 13,500 km², giving it a density of 2,642 person/km². It is the second largest single area in the world in terms of built-up or urban function landmass at 8,547 km². The area has the largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a total GDP of approximately $2 trillion in 2008. According to research published by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the agglomeration of Tokyo had a total GDP of $1.5 trillion in 2008, there are various definitions of the Greater Tokyo Area, each of which tries to incorporate different aspects. Each definition has a different population figure, granularity, methodology, notes & Sources, All figures issued by Japan Statistics Bureau, except for Metro Employment Area, a study by Center for Spatial Information Service, the University of Tokyo. Abbreviations, CF for National Census Final Data, CR for Civil Registry, the government ordinance defined it as Tokyo and all six prefectures in the Kantō region plus Yamanashi Prefecture. While this includes all of Greater Tokyo, it also includes sparsely populated areas as well as far-flung Bonin Islands which are administered under Tokyo. Other metropolitan areas such as Greater Jakarta are considerably more compact as well as densely populated than Greater Tokyo. The South Kantō region is an ambiguous term. Informally, it may mean the One Metropolis, Two Prefectures, in informal occasions, the term National Capital Region often means Greater Tokyo Area. Officially, the term refers to a larger area, namely the whole Kantō region. Tokyo is legally classified as a to, which translates as metropolis, the metropolis is administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as a whole. Central Tokyo, situated in the portion of Tokyo Metropolis, was once incorporated as Tokyo City. Its subdivisions have been reclassified as special wards, the twenty three special wards currently have the legal status of cities, with individual mayors and city councils, and they call themselves cities in English. However, when listing Japans largest cities, Tokyos twenty three wards are often counted as a single city. go, if they are included, Greater Tokyos population would be around 39 million
14.
Tokyo
–
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
15.
Kujiki
–
Kujiki, or Sendai Kuji Hongi, is a historical Japanese text. Ten volumes in length, it covers the history of ancient Japan through Empress Suiko, the preface is supposedly written by Soga no Umako. While it includes quotes from Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, volumes five. The overall composition is considered as having compiled between 807 and 936. In a review for Monumenta Nipponica, Mark Teeuwen criticized Bentleys methodology, the Authenticity of Sendai Kuji Hongi, A New Examination of Texts, With a Translation and Commentary. 平成13年 私本 先代舊事本紀 Online text of Kujiki, 『先代旧事本紀』の現代語訳（ＨＩＳＡＳＨＩ） Online text of Kujiki in modern Japanese. 古代史最前線・白河本旧事紀研究会公式ホームページ Website support Shirakawahon Kujiki to be a true document
16.
Emperor Sujin
–
Emperor Sujin, also known as Mimakiiribikoinie no Sumeramikoto or Hatsukunishirasu Sumeramikoto, was the tenth emperor of Japan. The legendary emperors reign is conventionally assigned the years of reign 97 BC –30 BC, Sujins grave site has not been identified, however, Andonyama kofun in Tenri, Nara has been designated by the Imperial Household Agency as the kofun. It is formally named Yamanobe no michi no Magari no oka no e no misasagi, Sujin is responsible for setting up the Ise Shrine or the Saikū associated with it to enshrine Amaterasu. He is also credited with initiating the worship of Ōmononushi and he also confiscated certain sacred treasures that had been passed down the line in Izumo. The emperor may have been the first to perform a census and establish, modern scholars have come to question the existence of at least the first nine emperors, and Sujin is the first many agree might have actually existed, in the third or fourth centuries. Sujin is regarded by historians as an emperor and the paucity of material information about him makes difficult any further verification. Sujin-tennō is a Posthumous name assigned by later generations, possibly ascribed during the compilation of the Kojiki, according to the pseudo-historical Kojiki and Nihonshoki, Sujin was the second son of Emperor Kaika Sujins mother was Ikagashikome no Mikoto, a stepmother of his father. He acceded to the throne purportedly in 97 B. C, on the third year of his reign, he removed the capital to Shiki, naming it the Palace of Midzu-gaki, or Mizugaki-no-miya. The Kujiki records the appointment of 137 governors for the provinces ruled by Emperor Sujin. Pestilence struck the 5th year of his rule, and half the populace died, by the 6th year, peasants abandoning fields and rebellion became rampant. Up to this time, both the sun goddess Amaterasu and the god Yamato-ōkunitama were enshrined in imperial residence, the emperor, over-awed with having to cohabit with these two powerful deities, set up separate enshrinements to house them. Amaterasu was moved to Kasanui village in Yamato Province, and there built as Himorogi altar out of stone, placing a daughter. The other god was entrusted to another daughter named Nunaki-iri-bime but her hair fell out, in the 7th year, the Emperor decreed a divination to be performed, and so he made a trip to the plain of Kami-asaji or Kamu-asaji-ga-hara, and invoked the eighty myriad deities. Yamato-to-to-hi-momoso-hime acting as sibyl became possessed by a god, who identified himself as Ōmononushi, the emperor complied, but there was no immediatate change for the better. The emperor was given guidance in a dream to seek out a certain Ōtataneko. Eventually, the pestilence subsided, the land was calmed, the Miwa sept of the Kamo clan claim descent from this Ōtataneko personage. The emperor also appointed Ikagashikoo, ancestor of the Mononobe clan and elder brother of the empress as kami-no-mono-akatsu-hito, in his 10th year of rule, Sujin instituted the Generals to the Four Cardinal Quarters, instructing them to quell those who would not submit to their rule. General Ōhiko, who had sent up north, was at the top of the Wani acclivity, when a certain maiden approached him and sang him a cryptic song
17.
Musashi Province
–
Musashi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama, Musashi bordered on Kai, Kōzuke, Sagami, Shimōsa, and Shimotsuke Provinces. Musashi was the largest province in the Kantō region, the name Musashi, recorded in early records as 牟射志 muzasi, has been conjectured to be of Ainu origin. Musashi had its ancient capital in modern Fuchū, Tokyo and its temple in what is now Kokubunji. By the Sengoku period, the city was Edo, which became the dominant city of eastern Japan. Edo Castle was the headquarters of Tokugawa Ieyasu before the Battle of Sekigahara and became the dominant city of Japan during the Edo period, hikawa jinja was designated as the chief Shinto shrine of the province, and there are many branch shrines. The former province gave its name to the battleship of the Second World War Musashi, july 18,707, Empress Genmei is enthroned at the age of 48. 707, Copper was reported to have found in Musashi province in the region which includes modern day Tokyo. The Japanese word for copper is dō, and since this was indigenous copper, may 5,708, A sample of the newly discovered Musashi copper was presented in Gemmeis Court where it was formally acknowledged as Japanese copper. The Wadō era is famous for the first Japanese coin, iwatsuki Domain and Oshi Domain founded in Musashi Province. Musashi Province had 21 districts, added one after, gukanshō, The Future and the Past. ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0, OCLC251325323 Kōta Kodama and Kitajima Masamoto, OCLC673172166 Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC58053128 Titsingh, Isaac, paris, Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. Murdochs map of provinces,1903 Reproduction of Chōroku-Period Map of Edo, with Later Additions from 1804
18.
Keiun
–
Keiun, also known as Kyōun, was a Japanese era name following Taihō and preceding Wadō. The period spanned the years from May 704 through January 708, the reigning emperors were Monmu-tennō and Genmei-tennō. 704 Keiun gannen, The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events, the previous era ended and the new one commenced in Taihō4, on the 7th day of the 5th month of 704. 697, Emperor Monmu dies, but his son and heir was deemed too young to receive the succession, instead, the mother of the heir formally accedes to the throne as Empress Gemmei until her son would grow mature enough to accept senso and sokui. July 18,707, Genmei is enthroned at the age of 48,707, Deposits of copper was reported to have been found in Musashi Province in the region which includes modern day Tokyo. The Japanese word for copper is dō, and since this was indigenous copper, brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. Gukanshō, The Future and the Past, ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0, OCLC251325323 Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC58053128 Titsingh, Isaac, nihon Ōdai Ichiran, ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris, Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain, a Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns, Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa. ISBN9780231049405, OCLC6042764 National Diet Library, The Japanese Calendar -- historical overview plus illustrative images from librarys collection
19.
Chichibu District, Saitama
–
Chichibu is a district located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district has an population of 61,755. The total area is 796.03 km², according to text in the Sendai Kuji Hongi, there was an area called Chichibu Province during the reign of Emperor Sujin. Since ancient times, Chichibu-jinja has been the main Shinto shrine in the district, in the Nara period, copper was discovered in the district. In the Edo period, a pilgrimage route linked together 34 sacred sites of the old Chichibu Province 708, Deposits of the copper was discovered in the region. The era name Wadō was proclaimed in recognition of this event in the initial months of Empress Genmeis reign. The copper was used to mint Wadō Kaihō or Wadō Kaichin,1884, The Chichibu incident, uprising of impoverished peasants under the influence of the Freedom and Peoples Rights Movement. Seven were sentenced to death and over 4,000 people were punished,1916, Ōmiya town was renamed Chichibu town. 1946, The town of Mino was split off to the town of Minano,1948, The district transferred the village of Yano to Kodama District. 1950, The town of Chichibu changed to Chichibu City,1954, Chichibu City absorbed Harase, Haraya, Hisana, Kuna, Odamaki and Otasho villages. 1955, Yokoze is created when Yokoze and Agakubo villages are merged,1955, Minano is created when the town of Minano and the villages of Kunikami, Kanazawa and Hinozawa are merged. 1955, The town of Ogano is expanded by absorbing the village of Nagawaka,1956, The Town of Kagemori is created by the merger of Urayama and Kagemori villages. 1957, Chichibu City absorbed Takashino and Ōta villages,1957, Chichibu City absorbs Takajo and Ota villages. 1958, Chichibu City absorbed Kagemori town,1969, Seibu Railway Seibu Chichibu Line was opened. 1972, Nagatoro created by renaming the town of Nogami,1984, The village of Yokoze gained town status
20.
Edo period
–
The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the countrys 300 regional daimyō. The period was characterized by growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies. The shogunate was established in Edo on March 24,1603. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration on May 3,1868, instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu, the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Already powerful, Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area, after Hideyoshis death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control from the Toyotomi family. Ieyasus victory over the western daimyōs at the Battle of Sekigahara gave him control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy daimyō houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western daimyōs, but his assumption of the title of shogun helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada as shogun. The Toyotomi were still a significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication, in 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka. The Tokugawa period brought 250 years of stability to Japan, the political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan, a combination of the terms bakufu and han to describe the government and society of the period. In the bakuhan, the shogun had national authority and the daimyōs had regional authority and this represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The feudal hierarchy was completed by the classes of daimyō. Closest to the Tokugawa house were the shinpan, or related houses and they were twenty-three daimyōs on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu, the second class of the hierarchy were the fudai, or house daimyōs, rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service. By the 18th century,145 fudai controlled such smaller han, members of the fudai class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven han formed the group, the tozama, former opponents or new allies. The tozama were located mostly on the peripheries of the archipelago, because the tozama were least trusted of the daimyō, they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central government positions. The Tokugawa not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, they also had unprecedented power over the emperor, the court, all daimyōs and the religious orders
21.
World War II
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
22.
Chiba Prefecture
–
Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region and the Greater Tokyo Area. The sixth most populous prefecture, and 27th largest by area, Chiba is on the east coast of Honshu and largely consists of the Bōsō Peninsula. The name of Chiba Prefecture in Japanese is formed from two kanji characters, the first, 千, means thousand and the second, 葉 means leaves. The name first appears as an ancient kuni no miyatsuko, or regional command office, the name was adopted by a branch of the Taira clan, which moved to the area in present-day Chiba City in the late Heian period. The branch of the Taira adopted the name and became the Chiba clan and this compound is used in terms such as the Keiyō Line, Keiyō Road, Keiyō Rinkai Railway Rinkai Main Line, and the Keiyō Industrial Zone. Chiba Prefecture was settled in times, as evidenced by the Jōmon period remains in every part of the region. The prefecture holds the largest kaizuka sea shell mounds in Japan, evidence of a population in the prefecture that relied on the rich marine products of the Pacific Ocean. Kofun burial mounds are found across the prefecture, with the largest group being in Futtsu along Tokyo Bay, in the Asuka period, under the Taika Reform of 645, the administrative structure of present-day Chiba Prefecture changed significantly. Awa Province at the south of Chiba Prefecture, was separated from Kazusa Prefecture in 718 and these administrative units existed until they were abolished and merged into Chiba Prefecture after the Meiji restoration. The central government established a provincial temple in each province. The imperial court gradually extended its authority over the three provinces in the Nara and Heian periods, shōen feudal estates were established across the three provinces, and the region became an important source of tax revenue, agricultural and other products to the capital in Kyoto. As the Heian period progressed, however, the provincial governors came to exert military power independent of the central government in Kyoto. The Chiba clan broke entirely with the court and was instrumental in the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate. Chiba Prefecture was established on June 15,1873 with the merger of Kisarazu Prefecture, the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake caused widespread destruction in Chiba Prefecture, notably in the southernmost part of the Bōsō Peninsula, where 1,300 residents were killed. Koreans in several neighborhoods of Yachiyo were killed, and a tower was erected in 1972 near Yachiyodai Station to memorialize those killed in the incident, the militarization of Chiba Prefecture dates to the Russo-Japanese War. Coastal fortifications were built along Tokyo Bay as far south as Tateyama to protect the capital of the Japanese Empire from attack, after the United States took control of Saipan the northern part of the prefecture, most notably the city of Chiba and Chōshi, were firebombed. Much of the north of the prefecture was destroyed. Operation Coronet, one of two parts of Operation Downfall, was the land invasion of Tokyo in March 1946 by the United States
23.
Ibaraki Prefecture
–
Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan, located in the Kantō region on the main island of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture was previously known as Hitachi Province, in 1871, the name of the province became Ibaraki. It also has a border on the southwest with Saitama Prefecture, the northernmost part of the prefecture is mountainous, but most of the prefecture is a flat plain with many lakes. As of 1 April 2012, 15% of the land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks, namely Suigo-Tsukuba Quasi-National Park. The Hitachi company was founded in the Ibaraki city of the same name, as of March 2011, the prefecture produced 25% of Japans bell peppers and Chinese cabbage. Ibarakis population is increasing modestly as the Greater Tokyo region spreads out, Ibaraki is known for nattō, or fermented soybeans, in Mito, watermelons in Kyōwa, and chestnuts in the Nishiibaraki region. Ibaraki is famous for the art of Aikido founded by Ueshiba Morihei. Ueshiba spent the part of his life in the town of Iwama, now part of Kasama. There are castle ruins in many cities, including Mito, Kasama, Kasama is famous for Shinto, art culture and pottery. The capital Mito is home to Kairakuen, one of Japans three most celebrated gardens, and famous for its over 3,000 Japanese plum trees of over 100 varieties, however, the correct pronunciation is Ibaraki. According to the author of Not Ibaragi, Ibaraki, this is most likely due to a mishearing of the softening of the k sound in Ibaraki dialect. Official Ibaraki Prefecture homepage The E-Ibaraki Report, articles and commentary of foreigners living in Ibaraki, produced by the International Affairs Division, Ibaraki Prefecture Ibaraki Japan
24.
Tochigi Prefecture
–
Tochigi Prefecture is a prefecture located in the Kantō region on the island of Honshu, Japan. The capital is the city of Utsunomiya, Nikkō, whose ancient Shintō shrines and Buddhist temples UNESCO has recognized by naming them a World Heritage Site, is in this prefecture. Other famous parts of Tochigi include a region called Nasu known for onsen and local sake, the Imperial Family has a villa in Nasu. Nasu-Shiobara is a major Shinkansen station, situated among the inland prefectures of the northern part of the Kantō region, Tochigi is contiguous with Ibaraki, Gunma, Saitama, and Fukushima Prefectures. The climate of Tochigi may be classified as a temperate zone with broad variations in temperature. Winters are arid with dry winds, while summers are humid with frequent thunderstorms, the population of Tochigi as of November 2010 is approximately 2,005,096. Located in the center of the prefecture is the largest open plain in the Kantō region, shirane, Nantai and Nasudake mountain are in the northern part of the area. Kinugawa, Nakagawa, and Watarase River originate in this region, Tochigi is the 20th largest prefecture in Japan with a total area of 6,408 square km. As of 1 April 2012, 21% of the land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks, namely Nikkō National Park, Oze National Park. Before the Meiji Restoration, Tochigi was known as Shimotsuke Province, in the early 15th century, Ashikaga Gakko, Japans oldest school of higher education, was re-established, holding over 3,000 students by the 16th century. Saint Francis Xavier introduced Ashikaga to the world as the best university in Japan, in the early 17th century, Japan was unified by the shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu. After his death, Tōshō-gū shrine was built in Nikko on what the thought of as holy ground to protect. The establishment of the Nikkō Tōshō-gū in 1617 brought Nikkō to national attention, the Tokugawa shogunate developed the Nikkō Kaidō and required lavish processions to worship Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa line of shoguns. In the late 19th century, the Tokugawa Shogunate fell and the new government established the prefectures, the prefectural capital was established in the city of Tochigi after the unification of Utsunomiya Prefecture and Tochigi Prefecture in 1873. By 1884, however, the capital was transferred to Utsunomiya, in March 2011, following the Fukushima I nuclear accidents, levels of radioactivity in Utsunomiya were 33 times higher than normal. The chief city of Utsunomiya is famous for its many gyoza specialist shops, also located in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture has one of the largest shopping malls in the North Kantō region, Bell Mall. Industrial manufacturing accounts for 36. 6% of the total output. Vehicle parts and accessories are the products, followed by vehicles, radios and televisions, pharmaceuticals
25.
Gunma Prefecture
–
Gunma Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the northwest corner of the Kantō region on the main Honshu island. Japan was without horses until around the fifth century CE, the ancient province of Gunma was a center of the horsebreeding and trading activities for the newly immigrated continental peoples. The arrival of horses and the remains of horse-tackle coincides with the arrival of a migration from the mainland. From this point forward, the became a vital part of Japanese military maneuvers. When Mount Haruna erupted in the late 6th century, Japan was still in the pre-historical phase, the Gunma Prefectural archaeology unit in 1994 was able to date the eruption through zoological anthropology at the corral sites that were buried in ash. In the past, Gunma was joined with Tochigi Prefecture and called Kenu Province and this was later divided into Kami-tsu-ke and Shimo-tsu-ke. The area is referred to as Jomo. For most of Japanese history, Gunma was known as the province of Kozuke, the first modern silk factories were built with Italian and French assistance at Annaka in the 1870s. The modern Japanese army gunned down farmers with new repeating rifles built in Japan, the farmers in Gunma were said to be the first victims of the Murata rifle. In the twentieth century, the Japanese aviation pioneer Nakajima Chikushi of Oizumi, Gunma Prefecture, the factory now produces Subaru motorcars and other products under the name of Fuji Heavy Industries. In the 1930s, German architect Bruno Julius Florian Taut lived and conducted research for a while in Takasaki, the Girard Incident, which disturbed US-Japanese relations in the 1950s, occurred in Gunma in 1957, at Soumagahara Base near Shibukawa. Four modern prime ministers are from Gunma, namely, Takeo Fukuda, Yasuhiro Nakasone, Keizo Obuchi, and Yasuo Fukuda, one of only eight landlocked prefectures in Japan, Gunma is the northwestern-most prefecture of the Kantō plain. Except for the central and southeast areas, where most of the population is concentrated, to the north are Niigata and Fukushima prefectures, while to the east lies Tochigi Prefecture. To the west lies Nagano Prefecture, and Saitama Prefecture is to the south, some of the major mountains in Gunma are Mount Akagi, Mount Haruna, Mount Myōgi, Mount Nikkō-Shirane and Mount Asama, which is located on the Nagano border. Major rivers include the Tone River, the Agatsuma River, and this is because of the kara-kaze, a strong, dry wind which occurs in the winter when the snow falls on the coasts of Niigata. The wind carrying clouds with snow are obstructed by the Echigo Mountains, for this reason, the wind changes into the kara-kaze. More traditional industries include sericulture and agriculture, gunmas major agricultural products include cabbages and konjacs. Gunma produces 90% of Japans konjacs, and two-thirds of the farms in the village of Tsumagoi are cabbage farms, also, the city of Ōta is famous for car industry, notably the Subaru factory
26.
Nagano Prefecture
–
Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Nagano, due to the abundance of mountain ranges in this area, the land available for inhabitance is relatively limited. Nagano has impressive highland areas, including most of the Kita-Alps, Chūō-Alps, and Minami-Alps, Nagano is an inland prefecture and it borders more prefectures than any other in Japan. Nagano contains the point furthest from the sea in the whole of Japan - this point lies within the city of Saku, the provinces mountains have made it relatively isolated, and many visitors come to Nagano for its mountain resorts and hot springs. One of the worlds highest geysers in Suwa, zenkō-ji temple in Nagano city There are two local J. League clubs, AC Nagano Parceiro and Matsumoto Yamaga FC. Tanaka was voted out from office on August 6,2006 and was replaced by Jin Murai, sasuke competitor Shinji Kobayashi, who works as a garbage man, is from Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture. Tatsumi Yoda, former chairman of Avex, is from Chikuma-shi, matsushiro Underground Imperial Headquarters Chūō Shinkansen Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC58053128 Official Nagano Prefecture tourism website and blog
27.
Yamanashi Prefecture
–
Yamanashi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the main island of Honshu. The capital of the prefecture is the city of Kōfu, the Maruyama and Choshizuka Kofun located on Sone Hill of Nakamichi Town are believed to have been built from the end of the 4th century. From these remains it can be assumed that the people of Sone Hill had great influence, during the Heian period, Kai Province was created in this area. Among the many Kaigenji generations, those of the Takeda, Ogasawara, during the Sengoku period of the 16th century, Takeda Shingen attained the status of daimyō and built Tsuzuji Mansion and the Yōgai Castle in Kōfu. From this base, he attempted to unify and control Japan, after Takeda’s death in 1582, Kai-no-Kuni came under the control of the Oda and Toyotomi clans before being subsumed into the Tokugawa shogunate during the Edo period. Beneath the Edo shogunate, the Kofu clan and the Yamura clan were formed, with the development of the Kōshū Kaidō and Fuji River transport, goods, materials and culture flowed into the region. By the mid-19th century, the contradictions of military government and clan system caused stability to erode and resistance to erupt across Japan, preceding the Kōshū-Katsunuma battle, Kofu Castle had been captured by troops loyal to the Emperor Meiji. The province was renamed Kōfu Prefecture in 1869 and then Yamanashi Prefecture in 1871, the anniversary of this event on November 20,1872, is now celebrated as Prefectural Citizen’s Day in Yamanashi. In the early part of the Meiji period, industrial promotion policies furthered sericulture, silk textile production and wine making industries. In 1903, after seven years of construction, including the building of a three mile long tunnel at the Sasago Pass, the Chūō Railway Line from Hachiōji and central Tokyo finally reached Kōfu. The reduced journey times to the capital and the port of Yokohama brought significant change to local industry, agricultural production in farming communities was still on a small scale at the turn of the century and land reforms had yet to be introduced. From the 1920s however, tenancy and contract disputes between landowners and farmers in Yamanashi grew increasingly common, in 1926, the Minobu Railway Line connecting Kōfu with Shizuoka Prefecture opened, bringing an end to Fuji River transportation. The capital city, Kōfu, suffered damage during a major air raid on the night of 6 July 1945. Small scale manufacturing industries and commerce grew at rapid speed during the expansion of the post-war Japanese economy, the maglev line is designed to ultimately connect Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka with a station also planned to the South of Kofu. Central Government permission to proceed with an extension to the existing test track was granted on May 27,2011, at the end of 2013 construction was already well advanced as far as Fuefuki. Yamanashi Prefecture is bordered by Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Shizuoka Prefecture, the prefecture is landlocked, with high mountains surrounding the central Kōfu Basin. Mount Fuji and the Fuji Five Lakes region is located on the border with Shizuoka. Mt. Fuji provides rain shadow effects, and as a result, 78% of the prefecture is covered by forests, making it one of the most densely wooded prefectures in Japan
28.
Edo River
–
The Edo River is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It splits from the Tone River at the northernmost tip of Noda City in the Sekiyado district, crosses through Nagareyama and Matsudo, the Edo forms the borders between Tokyo, Chiba, and Saitama prefectures. The Edo River is 59.5 kilometres long, the course of the Edo River was originally the lower course of the Tone River. The Tone was diverted in 1654 by the Tokugawa shogunate to protect the city of Edo from flooding, before the industrialization of the Tokyo region the river was also used to cultivate lotus roots. The Edo river has distance markers at every 250 meters that mark the distance from the mouth that meets with the Tokyo Bay
29.
Tone River
–
The Tone River is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is 322 kilometers in length and has an area of 16,840 square kilometers. It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō, Bandō is an alias of the Kantō Region. It is regarded as one of the Three Greatest Rivers of Japan, the others being the Yoshino in Shikoku, the source of the Tone River is at Mount Ōminakami in the Echigo Mountains, which straddle the border between Gunma and Niigata Prefectures in Jōshinetsu Kōgen National Park. The Tone gathers tributaries and pours into the Pacific Ocean at Cape Inubō, major tributaries of the Tone River include the Agatsuma, Watarase, Kinu, Omoi, and the Kokai. The Edo River branches away from the river and flows into Tokyo Bay, the Tone River was once known for its uncontrollable nature, and its route changed whenever floods occurred. It is hard to trace its ancient route, but it originally flowed into Tokyo Bay along the route of the present-day Edo River, and tributaries like the Watarase and Kinu had independent river systems. For the sake of water transportation and flood control, extensive construction began in the 17th century during the Tokugawa shogunate, when the Kantō region became the political center of Japan. The course of the river was changed, and the present route of the river was determined during the Meiji period. Its vast watershed is thus largely artificial, two ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy were named after the river, one of World War I vintage and another from World War II, the lead ship of its class. As a result of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster radioactive cesium concentrations of 110 becquerels per kilogram were found in silver crucian carp fish caught in the Tone River in April 2012, the river is 180 kilometres from the Fukushima Daiichi Plant. Six fishery cooperatives and 10 towns along the river were asked to all shipments of fish caught in the Tone. The Tone River was an inland water link between the capitol at Edo, and later Tokyo, to the Pacific Ocean. It carried not only local products like soy sauce from Choshi, today the river has several dams that supply water for more than 30 million inhabitants of metropolitan Tokyo and large-scale industrial areas such as the Keiyō Industrial Zone. The river provides some of the best white water rafting and kayaking in Japan, the snow melt swells the river to grade 4 in spring, in the summer it is a gentle grade 2. The Momijikyo section has 7 grade 3-4 rapids for 1 kilometer and is 12 kilometers long in total
30.
Drainage divide
–
A drainage divide, water divide, divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting, is the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins. In hilly country, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a range of hills or mountains. In flat country—especially where the ground is marshy—the divide may be harder to discern, a valley floor divide is a low drainage divide that runs across a valley, sometimes created by deposition or stream capture. Settlements are often built on valley-floor divides in the Alps, examples are Eben im Pongau, Kirchberg in Tirol and Waidring. Extremely low divides with heights of less than two metres are found on the North German Plain within the Urstromtäler, for example, between Havel and Finow in the Eberswalde Urstromtal. In marsh deltas such as the Okavango, the largest drainage area on earth, or in large areas, such as the Finnish Lakeland. Another case is bifurcation, where the watershed is effectively in the river bed, in pre-industrial times, water divides were crossed at portages. Later, canals connected adjoining drainage basins, a key problem in such canals is ensuring a sufficient water supply, category, Drainage basins List of watershed topics European watershed Scottish watershed River source
31.
Arakawa River (Kanto)
–
The Arakawa River, also known as the Ara River, is a 173-kilometre long river that flows through Saitama Prefecture and Tokyo. It originates on Mount Kobushi in Saitama Prefecture, and empties into Tokyo Bay and it has a total catchment area of 2940km2. Attempts to control flooding of the Arakawa River have been made since the area that is now Tokyo became the de facto capital of Japan during the Edo period. Following a major flood in 1910 that damaged a large part of central Tokyo, in 1996 an agreement was signed to make it a sister river of the Potomac River in the eastern United States. Sumida River Arakawa Under the Bridge, a set under a bridge on the river. Media related to Arakawa River at Wikimedia Commons
32.
Tama River
–
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
33.
Chichibu Tama Kai National Park
–
Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park is a national park in Japan at the intersection of Saitama, Yamanashi, Nagano and Tokyo Prefectures. With eight peaks over 2000 m scattered over 1250 km², there are hiking trails. The best known landmarks are Mount Mitsumine, home to the 2000-year-old Mitsumine Shrine, the park has sources of major rivers such as the Arakawa River, Shinano River, Tama River, and Fuefuki River. The major points of interest are Mount Mitake and Mount Mito, Mount Mitake is positioned on the eastern border of the national park. It has been worshiped as a mountain from the time of antiquity. On its peak stands a Shinto shrine, Musashi-Mitake Shrine, which was established during the reign of Emperor Sujin in 90 B. C, the building houses a Zaōgonge Statue made in 736. At present, a service allows visitors easy access. Mount Mito consists of three peaks, the Western Peak, Central Peak, and Eastern Peak, the mountain is part of a northern section of the Oku-takao Ridge that runs northeast from Mount Takao, Hachiōji, Tokyo. The mountain is famous for its forest of Fagus japonica and was voted to be one of the best 100 mountains in Japan in 1997 and it is also the source of the Akigawa River, a major tributary of the Tama River. The main attractions are the Tochimoto Sekisho Historical Site and Nakatsu Canyon, although the site at present is located in a small settlement on the mountains, at its heyday, many travelers went through this location. The historic site offers a glimpse of that period when the path was frequented by travelers, Nakatsu Canyon is a canyon that extends roughly 10 km and is carved by the Nakatsu River, a tributary of the Arakawa River. In particular, around in November many visitors are attracted to this location for fall foliage, major attractions include the Daibosatsu Pass, Mitake Shosēn Gorge, and Nishizawa Canyon. The Daibosatsu Pass is a pass that is famous from the novel The Sword of Doom by Kaizan Nakazato, the pass resides between Kōshū, Yamanashi and Kosuge, Yamanashi and rises to 1897 m. North of the pass along the ridge stands Mount Daibosatu,2,057 m in height above sea level, the pass is sometimes called the “Hagiwara Road”, “Daibosatu Road”, or “Oume Way”. Historically, it was used as an important but most strenuous leg of the Oume Route, a route to Kōshū Kaidō. In 1878, a renovation to the nearby Yanagisawa Pass shifted traffic away from the Daibosatsu Pass, in recent years, a mountain hut has been constructed. The ridge provides magnificent vistas with a land with fireweed flowers. Around May and October the site is visited by hikers to see fireweed flowers
34.
Ageo, Saitama
–
Ageo is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, in the central Kantō region of Japan. As of 1 February 2016, the city had an population of 224,841. Its total area was 45.51 square kilometres, located in central Saitama Prefecture, Ageo is just north of the prefectural capital of Saitama City. Saitama Prefecture Saitama Kawagoe Okegawa Ina Kawajima Ageo-shuku, a post town on the Nakasendō highway flourished during the Edo period, ageos rail station opened in 1883. In 1889, Ageo-juku merged with the hamlets of Ageoshimo, Kashiwaza, Kasugayatsu and Yatsu to form the town of Ageo with the establishment of the municipalities system on April 1,1889. The two towns of Hirakata and Haraichi and the three villages of Kamihira, Ōishi and Ōya merged with the town of Ageo on January 1,1955, a proposal to merge with the neighboring city of Saitama was rejected by referendum in 2001. Ageo was an agricultural area well into the 20th century. In the second half of the 20th century, numerous metallurgical and automobile factories were constructed, due to its geographic location, Ageo is increasingly a bedroom community for Saitama City and Tokyo. Seigakuin University Ageo has 22 elementary schools,11 middle schools and five high schools, JR East - Takasaki Line Ageo - Kita-Ageo Saitama New Urban Transit - New Shuttle Haraichi - Shōnan Japan National Route 16 Japan National Route 17 Ageo Medics, a V
35.
Asaka, Saitama
–
Asaka is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, in the central Kantō region of Japan. As of 1 February 2016, the city had an population of 135,495. Its total area was 18.34 square kilometres, located in far southern Saitama Prefecture, Asaka is on the central reaches of the Arakawa River in the center of the Musashino Terrace. The village of Hizaori was created within Niikura District, Saitama with the establishment of the system on April 1,1889. Niikura District was abolished in 1894 and became part of Kitaadachi District and it was raised to town status on May 1,1921, and renamed Asaka after Prince Asaka who was an honorary chairman of the Tokyo Golf Club, which relocated to the area at that time. On April 1,1955, Asaka annexed the village of Uchimasa. At the 1964 Summer Olympics in neighboring Tokyo, the hosted the riding part of the modern pentathlon event at Asaka Nezu Park. Asaka was elevated to city status on March 15,1967, due to its location, Asaka is primarily a bedroom community with over 37% of its population commuting to the Tokyo metropolis for work. The area is also a hub for northern Tokyo. Asaka has ten schools, five middle schools and two high schools. Toyo University also has a campus in Asaka
36.
Chichibu, Saitama
–
Chichibu is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, in the central Kantō region of Japan. As of 1 December 2015, the city had an population of 63,358. Its total area was 577.83 km², Chichibu was incorporated as a city on April 1,1950, although the region had already existed for hundreds of years and had developed many local traditions. Since that time, the area of the city has grown through a series of mergers, Chichibu is in the westernmost part of Saitama. Unlike other parts of the prefecture, it is largely mountainous and it is Saitamas largest municipality in terms of surface area and shares borders with Tokyo, Yamanashi, Nagano and Gunma Prefectures. A large portion of the city belongs to Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park, because the region is not suitable for growing rice, many people have depended on sericulture farming. Limestone from Mount Bukō, which south of the city center, is another major source of income for the region. The city is shifting its focus toward sightseeing, taking advantages of its natural environment. The city is famous for its brewing industry. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is heaviest from June to October, the city was developed as a marketplace of the district as well as the town around Chichibu Shrine. The citys older name, Ōmiya, was derived from the shrine,708, Deposits of the metal copper are discovered in the region and offered to the Imperial Court. The era name Wadō is proclaimed in recognition of this event in the initial months of Empress Genmeis reign. Seven are sentenced to death and over 4,000 people punished,1889, Ōmiya Town was founded within Chichibu District, Saitama with the establishment of the municipalities system 1914, The Chichibu Railway opened. 1916, Ōmiya Town was renamed as Chichibu Town,1950, Chichibu was elevated to city status. 1954, Chichibu absorbed the villages of Odamaki, Haraya and Kuna,1957, Chichibu absorbed the villages of Takashino and Ōta. 1958, Chichibu absorbed the town of Kagemori,1969, The Seibu Chichibu Line opened. 2005, Chichibu absorbed the town of Yoshida, and the villages of Arakawa, the local economy of Chichibu remains based on agricultural and forestry, as well as tourism. Chichibu has 16 elementary schools, nine schools and two high schools as well as two special education schools
37.
Fujimi, Saitama
–
Fujimi is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, in the central Kantō region of Japan. As of 1 February 2016, the city had an population of 108,212. Its total area was 19.77 square kilometres, located in south-central Saitama Prefecture, Fujimi is in the middle of the Kantō plain with an average altitude of 8 to 21 meters above sea level. It is approximately 30 kilometers from downtown Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture Kawagoe Fujimino Saitama Shiki Miyoshi The area of modern Yoshikawa was tenryō territory within Shimōsa Province during the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate. The village of Fujimi was created within Iruma District, Saitama on September 30,1956 by the merger of the villages of Tsuruse and Nanbata with the village of Mizutani from Kitaadachi District. Large scale public housing projects in the 1960s and 1970s led to a increase in population. Fujimi is governed by Shingo Hoshino, an independent, the city legislative assembly has 25 seats and is dominated by independents. Fujimi mayoral election,2008 Due to this location, Fujimi is primarily a community with over 30% of its population commuting to the Tokyo metropolis for work. Fujimi has 11 elementary schools, six schools and one high school
38.
Fujimino, Saitama
–
Fujimino is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, in the central Kantō region of Japan. As of 1 February 2016, the city had an population of 111,218. Its total area was 14.64 square kilometres, Fujimino is located in southern Saitama, on the northern edge of the Musashino Terrace, and is approximately 30 kilometers from downtown Tokyo. The city also has an important early Kofun period archaeological site, during the Edo period, the port of Fukuoka was an important river port on a branch of the Arakawa River and was under the control of Kawagoe Domain. The modern village of Fukuoka was created within Iruma District, Saitama with the establishment of the system on April 1,1889. The first public housing estates in Japan were built in Fukuoka after the Second World War. The village was raised to town status in 1960 and to city status on April 10,1972, the modern city of Fujimino was established on October 1,2005, from the merger of the city of Kamifukuoka, and the neighboring town of Ōi. Due to this location, Fujimino is primarily a community with over 25% of its population commuting to the Tokyo metropolis for work. There are a number of parks in the city. Fujimino has 13 elementary schools, six schools, and one high school. Bunkyo University also has a campus at Fujimino, there are two libraries, two public swimming pools, and a number of public halls and community centres. Tobu Railway - Tobu Tojo Line Kami-Fukuoka Japan National Route 254 Jizoin Temple, benten-no-mori Park, which has a small temple noted for cherry blossoms in spring, and kudzu in autumn. Shingashi River, used for transporting goods in the Edo Period, green Park, on the bank of the Shingashi River, noted as a location where Tokugawa Ieyasu used to go falconing. There are two festivals in Fujimino, the Kamifukuoka Tanabata Festival and the Oi Festival. This is a festival held on the first Saturday and Sunday of August every year since more than 50 years ago. It includes a bamboo decoration contest, Awa Odori dancing, Bon Odori dancing, Oi Festival is held in the middle of July every year and features historic mikoshi portable shrines and a parade of floats, with Yosakoi dancing by dancers with naruko clappers in their hands. Hikari Ōta, comedian Yumi Kakazu, voice actress Shigenobu Shima, professional baseball player Eri Nitta, musician and actress Mari Hoshino, actress Aoi Hiiragi, manga artist Official website
39.
Fukaya, Saitama
–
Fukaya is a city located in northern Saitama Prefecture, in the central Kantō region of Japan. As of 1 February 2016, the city had an population of 144,696. Its total area was 138.37 square kilometres and it is famous for a variety of welsh onions or Fukaya-negi. Fukaya is located on the border of Saitama Prefecture, in the flatlands of the Kantō plain. Both the Tone River and the Ara River flow through the city, in the Edo era, Fukaya-shuku was a major post town on the Nakasendō highway, boasting over 80 inns. The modern town of Fukaya was established within Hanzawa District, Saitama with the establishment of the system on April 1,1889. Hanzawa District was abolished in 1896, becoming part of Ōsato District, Fukaya merged with the villages of Aketo, Hatara, Oyori and Fujisawa on January 1,1955, and was elevated to city status. It annexed the village of Toyosato on April 1,1973, on January 1,2006, the towns of Hanazono, Kawamoto and Okabe were merged into Fukaya. The economy of Fukaya is dominated by agriculture, with welsh onions, industrial parks are located in the eastern portion of the city, and the manufacture of bricks is a major local industry
Mexico State, Mexico, affiliated on October 2, 1979
Shanxi province,China, affiliated on October 27, 1982
Queensland, Australia, affiliated on October 27, 1984
Ohio, United States, affiliated on October 22, 1990
Brandenburg, Germany, affiliated on August 26, 1998
