1.
Shibuya
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Shibuya is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As of May 1,2016, it has an population of 221,801. The total area is 15.11 km², the name Shibuya is also used to refer to the shopping district which surrounds Shibuya Station, one of Tokyos busiest railway stations. This area is known as one of the centers of Japan, particularly for young people. Shibuya was historically the site of a castle in which the Shibuya family resided from the 11th century through the Edo period. Following the opening of the Yamanote Line in 1885, Shibuya began to emerge as a terminal for southwestern Tokyo and eventually as a major commercial. The village of Shibuya was incorporated in 1889 by the merger of the villages of Kami-Shibuya, Naka-Shibuya and Shimo-Shibuya within Minami-Toshima County, the village covered the territory of modern-day Shibuya Station area as well as the Hiroo, Daikanyama, Aoyama and Ebisu areas. Shibuya became a town in 1909, the town of Shibuya merged with the neighboring towns of Sendagaya and Yoyohata to form Shibuya Ward of Tokyo City in 1932. Tokyo City became Tokyo Metropolis in 1943, and the special ward was established on March 15,1947. A statue of Hachikō was built adjacent to the station, during the occupation of Japan, Yoyogi Park was used as a housing compound for U. S. personnel known as Washington Heights. The U. S. military left in 1964, and much of the park was repurposed as venues for the 1964 Summer Olympics, the ward itself served as part of the athletics 50 km walk and marathon course during the 1964 games. Shibuya has achieved popularity among young people since the early 1980s. There are several famous fashion department stores in Shibuya, Shibuya 109 is a major shopping center near Shibuya Station, particularly famous as the origin of the kogal subculture. Called Ichi-Maru-kyū, which translates as 1–0–9 in Japanese, the name is actually a pun on that of the corporation that owns it — Tōkyū, during the late 1990s, Shibuya also became known as the center of the IT industry in Japan. It was often called Bit Valley in English, a pun on both Bitter Valley, the translation of Shibuya, as well as bit, the computer term for binary digits. Shibuya includes many commercial and residential districts such as Daikanyama, Ebisu, Harajuku, Hiroo, Higashi, Omotesandō, Sendagaya. The mayor is Toshitake Kuwahara, an independent backed by the Liberal Democratic Party, Shibuya mayoral election,2003 Meiji Shrine, Shinto shrine dedicated to the souls of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken, surrounded by a 700, 000-square-meter forest. Shinjuku Gyoen, former Imperial gardens now open to the public as a park, Yoyogi Park, once a training base for the Imperial Japanese Army, later the Washington Heights housing area for the Occupation of Japan, then the lodgings for contestants in the Tokyo Olympics
2.
Tokyo
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Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan and one of its 47 prefectures. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous area in the world. It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government, Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868, Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo. The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo, the metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the wards is over 9 million people. The prefecture is part of the worlds most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 37.8 million people, the city hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked third in the International Financial Centres Development IndexEdit, the city is also home to various television networks such as Fuji TV, Tokyo MX, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, Nippon Television, NHK and the Tokyo Broadcasting System. Tokyo ranked first in the Global Economic Power Index and fourth in the Global Cities Index. The city is considered a world city – as listed by the GaWCs 2008 inventory – and in 2014. In 2015, Tokyo was named the Most Liveable City in the world by the magazine Monocle, the Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked first in the world in the Safe Cities Index, the 2016 edition of QS Best Student Cities ranked Tokyo as the 3rd-best city in the world to be a university student. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1979 G-7 summit, the 1986 G-7 summit, and the 1993 G-7 summit, and will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo was originally known as Edo, which means estuary. During the early Meiji period, the city was also called Tōkei, some surviving official English documents use the spelling Tokei. However, this pronunciation is now obsolete, the name Tokyo was first suggested in 1813 in the book Kondō Hisaku, written by Satō Nobuhiro. When Ōkubo Toshimichi proposed the renaming to the government during the Meiji Restoration, according to Oda Kanshi, Tokyo was originally a small fishing village named Edo, in what was formerly part of the old Musashi Province. Edo was first fortified by the Edo clan, in the twelfth century
3.
Meiji Shrine
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Meiji Shrine, located in Shibuya, Tokyo, is the Shinto shrine that is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken. The shrine does not contain the grave, which is located at Fushimi-momoyama. After the emperors death in 1912, the Japanese Diet passed a resolution to commemorate his role in the Meiji Restoration, an iris garden in an area of Tokyo where Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken had been known to visit was chosen as the buildings location. Construction began in 1915 under Itō Chūta, and the shrine was built in the traditional style, using primarily Japanese cypress. The building of the shrine was a project, mobilizing youth groups and other civic associations from throughout Japan. It was formally dedicated in 1920, completed in 1921, until 1946, the Meiji Shrine was officially designated one of the Kanpei-taisha, meaning that it stood in the first rank of government supported shrines. The original building was destroyed during the Tokyo air raids of World War II, the present iteration of the shrine was funded through a public fund raising effort and completed in October 1958. Meiji Shrine is located in a forest that covers an area of 70 hectares and this area is covered by an evergreen forest that consists of 120,000 trees of 365 different species, which were donated by people from all parts of Japan when the shrine was established. The forest is visited by many as a recreation and relaxation area in the center of Tokyo, the treasure museum is built in the Azekurazukuri style. The Gaien is the precinct, which includes the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery that houses a collection of 80 large murals illustrative of the events in the lives of the Emperor. Today it is used for Shinto weddings as well as meeting rooms rent, Meiji Jingu Stadium List of Shinto shrines List of Jingū Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. OCLC194887 Official English site Requires Flash, Meiji Shrine English map Meiji Shrine Panorama
4.
Powered aircraft
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A powered aircraft is an aircraft that uses onboard propulsion with mechanical power generated by an aircraft engine of some kind. Aircraft propulsion nearly always either a type of propeller, or a form of jet propulsion. Other potential propulsion techniques such as ornithopters are very rarely used, a propeller or airscrew comprises a set of small, wing-like aerofoil blades set around a central hub which spins on an axis aligned in the direction of travel. The blades are set at an angle to the airflow. A tractor design mounts the propeller in front of the power source, although the pusher design allows cleaner airflow over the wing, tractor configuration is more common because it allows cleaner airflow to the propeller and provides a better weight distribution. Contra-rotating propellers have one close behind another on the same axis. A variation on the propeller is to use many broad blades to create a fan, such fans are usually surrounded by a ring-shaped fairing or duct, as ducted fans. Many kinds of plant have been used to drive propellers. The earliest designs used man power to give dirigible balloons some degree of control, attempts to achieve heavier-than-air man-powered flight did not succeed fully until Paul MacCreadys Gossamer Condor in 1977. The first powered flight of an aircraft was made in a steam-powered dirigible by Henri Giffard in 1852, attempts to marry a practical lightweight steam engine to a practical fixed-wing airframe did not succeed until much later, by which time the internal combustion engine was already dominant. The piston engine is used in the majority of smaller aircraft produced, since it is efficient at the lower altitudes. Turbine engines need not be used as jets, but may be geared to drive a propeller in the form of a turboprop, modern helicopters also typically use turbine engines to power the rotor. Turbines provide more power for less weight than piston engines, and are suited to small-to-medium size aircraft or larger. Some turboprop designs mount the propeller directly on a turbine shaft. Other less common sources include, Electric motors, often linked to solar panels to create a solar-powered aircraft. Rubber bands, wound many times to store energy, are used for flying models. Rotorcraft have spinning blades called a rotor which spins in the plane to provide lift. Forward thrust is obtained by angling the rotor disc slightly forward so that a proportion of its lift is directed backwards
5.
Occupation of Japan
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The Allied occupation of Japan at the end of World War II was led by General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, with support from the British Commonwealth. Unlike in the occupation of Germany, the Soviet Union was allowed little to no influence over Japan and this foreign presence marked the only time in Japans history that it had been occupied by a foreign power. It transformed the country into a democracy that recalled New Deal priorities of the 1930s politics by Roosevelt. Japan surrendered to the Allies on August 14,1945, when the Japanese government notified the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration. At Yalta, Stalin made sure Roosevelt was clear on the promise he had made that urged assistance from the USSR on intervening in the war in Japan with the U. S, (On the following day, Emperor Hirohito announced Japans unconditional surrender on the radio. The announcement was the emperors first ever planned radio broadcast and the first time most citizens of Japan ever heard their sovereigns voice. This date is known as Victory over Japan, or V-J Day, and marked the end of World War II, Japanese officials left for Manila, Philippines on August 19 to meet MacArthur and to be briefed on his plans for the occupation. On August 28,1945,150 US personnel flew to Atsugi and they were followed by USS Missouri, whose accompanying vessels landed the 4th Marine Division on the southern coast of Kanagawa. MacArthur arrived in Tokyo on August 30, and immediately decreed several laws, No Allied personnel were to assault Japanese people. No Allied personnel were to eat the scarce Japanese food, flying the Hinomaru or Rising Sun flag was initially severely restricted. This restriction was lifted in 1948 and completely lifted the following year. On September 2,1945, Japan formally surrendered with the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, on September 6, US President Truman approved a document titled US Initial Post-Surrender Policy for Japan. The document set two main objectives for the occupation, eliminating Japans war potential and turning Japan into a nation with pro-United Nations orientation. At the head of the Occupation administration was General MacArthur, who was supposed to defer to an advisory council set up by the Allied powers. Looking back to his work in Japan, MacArthur described the Japanese reactions as acting similar to a boy of twelve and were at odds of putting away their troubled past. On V-J Day, US President Harry Truman appointed General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, during the war, the Allied Powers had planned to divide Japan amongst themselves for the purposes of occupation, as was done for the occupation of Germany. The Soviet Union had some intentions of occupying Hokkaidō, had this occurred, there might have eventually been a communist state in the Soviet zone of occupation. However, unlike the Soviet occupations of East Germany and North Korea, even with these measures, millions of people were still on the brink of starvation for several years after the surrender
6.
1964 Summer Olympics
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The 1964 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Tokyo, Japan, from October 10 to 24,1964. The 1964 Summer Games were the first Olympics held in Asia, Tokyo was chosen as the host city during the 55th IOC Session in West Germany, on May 26,1959. These games were also the first to be telecast internationally without the need for tapes to be overseas, as they had been for the 1960 Olympics four years earlier. The games were telecast to the United States using Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite and these were also the first Olympic Games to have color telecasts, albeit partially. Certain events like the sumo wrestling and judo matches, sports huge in Japan, were tried out using Toshibas new color transmission system, history surrounding the 1964 Olympics was chronicled in the 1965 documentary film Tokyo Olympiad, directed by Kon Ichikawa. The games were scheduled for mid-October to avoid the citys midsummer heat and humidity, the previous Olympics in Rome in 1960 started in late August and experienced hot weather. The following games in 1968 in Mexico City also began in October, the 1964 Olympics were also the last to use a traditional cinder track for the track events. A smooth synthetic all-weather track was used for the first time at the 1968 Olympics, the 2020 Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo. Tokyo won the rights to the Games on May 26,1959, at the 55th IOC Session in Munich, West Germany, over bids from Detroit, Brussels and Vienna. Toronto was an early bidder again in 1964 after the attempt for 1960. Yūji Koseki composed the song of the opening ceremony. Yoshinori Sakai, who lit the Olympic Flame, was born in Hiroshima on August 6,1945, kumi-daiko was first exhibited to a world-wide audience at the Festival of Arts presentation. Judo and womens volleyball, both sports in Japan, were introduced to the Olympics. Japan won gold medals in three events, but Dutchman Anton Geesink won the Open category. The Japanese womens volleyball won the gold medal, with the final being broadcast live. The womens pentathlon was introduced to the athletics events, soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina won two gold medals, a silver medal and two bronze medals. She held the record for most Olympic medals at 18 which stood until broken by American swimmer Michael Phelps in 2012, czechoslovakian gymnast Věra Čáslavská wins 3 gold medals, including the individual all-around competition, crowning her the new queen over the reigning champion Larisa Latynina. Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser won the 100 m freestyle event for the time in a row
7.
Olympic Village
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An Olympic Village is an accommodation center built for the Olympic Games, usually within an Olympic Park or elsewhere in a host city. Olympic Villages are built to all participating athletes, as well as officials. After the Munich Massacre at the 1972 Olympics, the Villages have been made extremely secure, only athletes, trainers and officials are allowed to room at the Village, though family members and former Olympic athletes are allowed inside with proper checks. Press and media are also barred, the idea of the Olympic Village comes from Pierre de Coubertin. Up until the 1924 Summer Olympic Games, National Olympic Committees rented locations around the host city to house participants, for the 1924 Summer Olympics, the organizers built cabins near the Stade Olympique de Colombes to allow the athletes to easily access the Games venues. It has been reported that the Village is known for its hedonism once the athletes are done competing - with large quantities of alcohol. For the 2014 games in Sochi,100,000 free condoms were provided by the IOC for the 6,000 athletes in attendance, despite seemingly large numbers, several instances have occurred where smaller orders have resulted in shortages. Sydney famously only provided 70,000 condoms but ran out, Athens 1906, The Zappeion, which was used during Athens 1896 as the main Fencing Hall, was used in 1906 as a Olympic Village. Paris 1924, In Paris in 1924, a number of cabins were built near the stadium to house visiting athletes, Los Angeles 1932, The first Olympic Village is constructed in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. For male athletes only, the Village consisted of several hundred buildings, including post and telegraph offices, an amphitheater, a hospital, a department. Female athletes were housed at the Chapman Park Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard, the village was dismantled after the games. Used as barracks for over 50 years, only ruins remain, jesse Owenss house has been restored. Helsinki 1952, The first Olympic Village, Olympiakylä, was constructed in the Käpylä district of Helsinki for the planned 1940 Summer Olympics, another Olympic Village, Kisakylä, was built nearby for the 1952 Olympics. Kisakylä couldnt accommodate all athletes so other villages were also designated for instance in Otaniemi, both Olympiakylä and Kisakylä areas are listed by Docomomo as significant examples of modern architecture in Finland. Melbourne 1956, The area in Heidelberg West, Victoria, where the athletes stayed is still called Olympic Village, after the games, athlete residences were used for public housing. The area now consists of a center, a primary school, shopping strip, a community health centre which also houses a registered training organization. Rome 1960, consist of 33 buildings with two, three, four and even five floors, squaw Valley 1960, Four identical three-story apartment buildings, two of which still stand, modified into condominiums. Mexico City 1968,904 apartments distributed in 29 multi-story buildings in the Miguel Hidalgo Olympic Village Complex, Munich 1972, Multiple buildings of 25,22,20,19,16,15, and 12 stories, used now as Olympic Village student housing
8.
Martial arts
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Although the term martial art has become associated with the fighting arts of eastern Asia, it originally referred to the combat systems of Europe as early as the 1550s. The term is derived from Latin, and means arts of Mars, Martial arts may be categorized along a variety of criteria, including, Traditional or historical arts vs. contemporary styles of folk wrestling and modern hybrid martial arts. Such traditions include eskrima, silat, kalaripayat, kobudo, and historical European martial arts, Many Chinese martial arts also feature weapons as part of their curriculum. Similarly, modern Western martial arts and sports include fencing, stick-fighting systems like canne de combat or singlestick. Combat-oriented Health-oriented Many martial arts, especially those from Asia, also teach side disciplines which pertain to medicinal practices and this is particularly prevalent in traditional Asian martial arts which may teach bone-setting, herbalism, and other aspects of traditional medicine. Spirituality-oriented Martial arts can also be linked with religion and spirituality, numerous systems are reputed to have been founded, disseminated, or practiced by monks or nuns. Throughout Asia, meditation may be incorporated as part of training, in those countries influenced by Hindu-Buddhist philosophy, the art itself may be used as an aid to attaining enlightenment. Japanese styles, when concerning non-physical qualities of the combat, are strongly influenced by Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. Concepts like empty mind and beginners mind are recurrent, aikido, for instance, can have a strong philosophical belief of the flow of energy and peace fostering, as idealised by its founder Morihei Ueshiba. Traditional Korean martial arts place emphasis on the development of the spiritual and philosophical development. A common theme in most Korean styles, such as taekkyeon and taekwondo, is the value of peace in a practitioner. The Koreans believe that the use of force is only justified through defense. Many such martial arts incorporate music, especially strong percussive rhythms, the oldest works of art depicting scenes of battle are cave paintings from Spain dated between 10,000 and 6,000 BCE that show organized groups fighting with bows and arrows. Chinese martial arts originated during the Xia Dynasty more than 4000 years ago and it is said the Yellow Emperor Huangdi introduced the earliest fighting systems to China. The Yellow Emperor is described as a general who, before becoming Chinas leader, wrote lengthy treatises on medicine, astrology. One of his opponents was Chi You who was credited as the creator of jiao di. The foundation of modern Asian martial arts is likely a blend of early Chinese, during the Warring States period of Chinese history extensive development in martial philosophy and strategy emerged, as described by Sun Tzu in The Art of War. Legendary accounts link the origin of Shaolinquan to the spread of Buddhism from India during the early 5th century AD, with the figure of Bodhidharma, to China
9.
Cosplay
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Cosplay, a contraction of the words costume play, is a performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture and a use of the term cosplay applies to any costumed role-playing in venues apart from the stage. Any entity that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject, favorite sources include manga and anime, comic books and cartoons, video games, and live-action films and television series. The term cosplay is a Japanese portmanteau of the English terms costume, the term was coined by Nobuyuki Takahashi of Studio Hard while attending the 1984 World Science Fiction Convention in Los Angeles. He was impressed by the hall and the fans and reported on both in Japanese magazine My Anime. The coinage reflects a common Japanese method of abbreviation in which the first two moras of a pair of words are used to form an independent compound, costume becomes kosu, Costume parties or fancy dress parties were popular from the 19th century onwards. Most specific costumes described therein are for historical figures although some are sourced from fiction, one of the earliest recorded examples of costuming based on an existing character from popular media were costumes based on A. D. Condos science fiction comic character Mr. Skygack, from Mars, in 1908, a Mr. and Mrs. William Fell attended a masquerade at a skating rink in Cincinnati, Ohio wearing Mr. Skygack and Miss Dillpickles costumes. Shortly after, in 1910, a woman won first prize at masquerade ball in Tacoma. The first people to wear costumes to attend a convention were science fiction fans Forrest J Ackerman, paul and the 1936 film Things to Come, designed and created by Douglas. Ackerman later stated that he thought everyone was supposed to wear a costume at a science fiction convention, although only he and Douglas did. Fan costuming caught on, however, and the 2nd Worldcon, david Kyle won the masquerade wearing a Ming the Merciless costume created by Leslie Perri, while Robert A. W. Lowndes received second place with a Bar Senestro costume. Other costumed attendees included guest of honor E. E. Smith as Northwest Smith and both Ackerman and Douglas wearing their futuristicostumes again, masquerades and costume balls continued to be part of World Science Fiction Convention tradition thereafter. Early Worldcon masquerade balls featured a band, dancing, food, contestants either walked across a stage or a cleared area of the dance floor. Ackerman wore a Hunchbackerman of Notre Dame costume to the 3rd Worldcon in 1941, which included a designed and created by Ray Harryhausen. Douglas wore an Akka costume, the mask made by Harryhausen, to the 3rd Worldcon. Rules governing costumes became established in response to specific costumes and costuming trends, the first nude contestant at a Worldcon masquerade was in 1952 but the height of this trend was in the 1970s and early 1980s, with a few every year. This eventually led to No Costume is No Costume rule, which banned full nudity, mike Resnick describes the best of the nude costumes as Kris Lundi wearing a harpy costume to the 32nd Worldcon in 1974
10.
Subculture
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As early as 1950, David Riesman distinguished between a majority, which passively accepted commercially provided styles and meanings, and a subculture which actively sought a minority style. And interpreted it in accordance with subversive values, in his 1979 book Subculture, The Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdige argued that a subculture is a subversion to normalcy. He wrote that subcultures can be perceived as due to their nature of criticism to the dominant societal standard. Hebdige argued that subcultures bring together like-minded individuals who feel neglected by societal standards, in 2007, Ken Gelder proposed to distinguish subcultures from countercultures based on the level of immersion in society. As Cohen clarifies, every subculture’s style, consisting of image, demeanour, 2) Subcultures and resistance - In the work of John Clarke, Stuart Hall, Tony Jefferson and Brian Roberts of the Birmingham CCCS, subcultures are interpreted as forms of resistance. Society is seen as being divided into two classes, the working class and the middle class, each with its own class culture. Yet the cultural industry is capable of re-absorbing the components of such a style. 3) Subcultures and distinction - The most recent interpretations see subcultures as forms of distinction, the very idea of a unique, internally homogeneous, dominant culture is explicitly criticized. Thus forms of individual involvement in subcultures are fluid and gradual, differentiated according to each actor’s investment, Dick Hebdige writes that members of a subculture often signal their membership through a distinctive and symbolic use of style, which includes fashions, mannerisms and argot. In some instances, subcultures have been legislated against, and their activities regulated or curtailed, british youth subcultures had been described as a moral problem that ought to be handled by the guardians of the dominant culture within the post-war consensus. It may be difficult to identify certain subcultures because their style may be adopted by mass culture for commercial purposes, businesses often seek to capitalize on the subversive allure of subcultures in search of Cool, which remains valuable in the selling of any product. This process of cultural appropriation may often result in the death or evolution of the subculture, some subcultures reject or modify the importance of style, stressing membership through the adoption of an ideology which may be much more resistant to commercial exploitation. The punk subcultures distinctive style of clothing was adopted by mass-market fashion companies once the subculture became a media interest, objects borrowed from the most sordid of contexts found a place in punks ensembles, lavatory chains were draped in graceful arcs across chests in plastic bin liners. Safety pins were taken out of their domestic utility context and worn as gruesome ornaments through the cheek, fragments of school uniform were symbolically defiled and juxtaposed against leather drains or shocking pink mohair tops. In 1985, French sociologist Michel Maffesoli coined the term urban tribe and it gained widespread use after the publication of his Le temps des tribus, le déclin de lindividualisme dans les sociétés postmodernes. Eight years later, this book was published in the United Kingdom as The Time of the Tribes, according to Maffesoli, urban tribes are microgroups of people who share common interests in urban areas. The members of these small groups tend to have similar worldviews, dress styles. Their social interactions are largely informal and emotionally laden, different from late capitalisms corporate-bourgeoisie cultures, Maffesoli claims that punks are a typical example of an urban tribe
11.
Cherry blossom
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A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is called sakura after the Japanese. Currently it is distributed, especially in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere including Japan, China, Korea, Europe, West Siberia, India, Canada. Along with the chrysanthemum, the blossom is considered the national flower of Japan. Many of the varieties that have cultivated for ornamental use do not produce fruit. Edible cherries generally come from cultivars of the related species Prunus avium, Cherry blossom are also closely related to other Prunus trees such as the almond, peach, plum and apricot and more distantly to apples, pears and roses. Hanami is the practice of picnicking under a blooming sakura or ume tree. The custom is said to have started during the Nara Period when it was ume blossoms that people admired in the beginning, but by the Heian Period, cherry blossoms came to attract more attention and hanami was synonymous with sakura. From then on, in both waka and haiku, flowers meant cherry blossoms, the custom was originally limited to the elite of the Imperial Court, but soon spread to samurai society and, by the Edo period, to the common people as well. Tokugawa Yoshimune planted areas of cherry trees to encourage this. Under the sakura trees, people had lunch and drank sake in cheerful feasts, the blossoming begins in Okinawa in January and typically reaches Kyoto and Tokyo at the end of March or the beginning of April. It proceeds into areas at the altitudes and northward, arriving in Hokkaidō a few weeks later. Japanese pay close attention to these forecasts and turn out in numbers at parks, shrines. Hanami festivals celebrate the beauty of the blossom and for many are a chance to relax. The custom of hanami dates back centuries in Japan. The eighth-century chronicle Nihon Shoki records hanami festivals being held as early as the third century AD, most Japanese schools and public buildings have cherry blossom trees outside of them. Since the fiscal and school year both begin in April, in parts of Honshū, the first day of work or school coincides with the cherry blossom season. The Japan Cherry Blossom Association developed a list of Japans Top 100 Cherry Blossom Spots with at least one location in every prefecture, the association of the cherry blossom with mono no aware dates back to 18th-century scholar Motoori Norinaga. There is at least one popular song, originally meant for the shakuhachi, titled Sakura
