Ikata is a small town located in Nishiuwa District, Ehime, Japan. Following a recent merger with the neighboring towns of Misaki and Seto, the town now spans the mountainous Sadamisaki Peninsula, the narrowest peninsula in Japan and the westernmost point on the island of Shikoku. This unique geography has greatly influenced Ikata's growth. On the one hand, it has presented significant challenges to urban development that were not overcome until recently in the town's long history. On the other, the peninsula is what gives the town its beautiful mountain and ocean scenery which, bolstered by significant investments in infrastructure and tourist facilities, has formed the basis for a burgeoning tourism industry. In addition to the beauty of its rugged, natural landscape, Ikata has long been known for fishing and mikan orange farming. In recent years Ikata has also become a hotspot of modern energy production—the Ikata Nuclear Power Plant produces much of Shikoku's electricity, and the town's windy mountains are dotted by dozens of windmills.The Sadamisaki Peninsula area has been inhabited since at least the Jōmon Period (10,000–300 BC), as evidenced by the discovery of stone tools and earthenware pots in the Misaki and Kushi neighborhoods. In 1963 a local man discovered a stone ax dating back to the mid-Yayoi Period (300 BC–250 AD) in his farm plot in the Kawachi neighborhood. Upon further investigation by the Japan Archaeological Society in 1986, the area was recognized as containing the remains of a highland settlement. (Full article...)
Kishū kumano iwatake tori (Iwatake mushroom gathering at Kumano in Kishu), 1860, a ukiyo-e print created by Hiroshige II. It is part of the series "100 Famous Views of Japan".
Banknotes: Empire of Japan. Reproduction: National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution
The Japanese-issued Netherlands Indies gulden was the currency issued by the Japanese Empire when it occupied the Dutch East Indies during World War II. Following the Dutch capitulation in March 1942, the Japanese closed all banks, seized assets and currency, and assumed control of the economy in the territory. They began issuing military banknotes, as had previously been done in other occupied territories. These were printed in Japan, but retained the name of the pre-war currency and replaced the Dutch gulden at par. From 1943 the military banknotes were replaced by identical bank-issued notes printed within the territory, and the currency was renamed the roepiah from 1944. The currency was replaced by the Indonesian rupiah in 1946, one year after the Japanese surrender and the country's independence.
This note, denominated one gulden, is part of the 1942 series.
A registration card for Louis Wijnhamer (1904–1975), an ethnic Dutch humanitarian who was captured soon after the Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies in March 1942. Prior to the occupation, many ethnic Europeans had refused to leave, expecting the Japanese occupation government to keep a Dutch administration in place. When Japanese troops took control of government infrastructure and services such as ports and postal services, 100,000 European (and some Chinese) civilians were interned in prisoner-of-war camps where the death rates were between 13 and 30 per cent. Wijnhamer was interned in a series of camps throughout Southeast Asia and, after the surrender of Japan, returned to what was now Indonesia, where he lived until his death.
Before the outbreak of World War I, German naval ships were located in the Pacific; Tsingtao developed into a major seaport while the surrounding Kiautschou Bay area was leased to Germany since 1898. During the war, Japanese and British Allied troops besieged the port in 1914 before capturing it from the German and Austro-Hungarian Central Powers, occupying the city and the surrounding region. It served as a base for the exploitation of the natural resources of Shandong province and northern China, and a "New City District" was established to furnish the Japanese colonists with commercial sections and living quarters. Tsingtao eventually reverted to Chinese rule by 1922.
This large silk-embroidered wall hanging is part of the Khalili Collection of Japanese Art. The embroidery is worked in long and short silk stitch, with a composite imaginary view of Japan, including flowers, shrines, bridges, lakes and forests, with Mount Fuji rising in the distance. The private collection of decorative art, dating from Meiji-era Japan (1868–1912), was assembled by the British-Iranian scholar Nasser D. Khalili. It includes metalwork, enamels, ceramics, and lacquered objects, including works by artists of the imperial court that were exhibited at the Great Exhibitions of the late 19th century.
The siege of Osaka was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in the clan's dissolution. Divided into two stages (the winter campaign and the summer campaign), and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege put an end to the last major armed opposition to the shogunate's establishment. This eight-metre-long (26 ft) painting, titled The Summer Battle of Osaka Castle and executed on a Japanese folding screen, illustrates Osaka Castle under siege, and was commissioned by the daimyoKuroda Nagamasa, who took a team of painters with him to the battlefield to record the event. The painting depicts 5071 people and 21 generals, and is held in the collection of Osaka Castle.
Asahi Breweries is a Japanese global beer, spirits, soft drinks and food business group. This photograph, taken during the blue hour with a full moon, shows the headquarters of Asahi Breweries in Sumida, Tokyo, as viewed from the wharf on the Sumida River near Azuma Bridge. The Asahi Beer Hall, topped by the Asahi Flame, designed by Philippe Starck, is visible on the right, with the Tokyo Skytree in the background on the left.
Located at the Buddhist temple Hōryū-ji, Yumedono (Hall of Dreams) was built on the ground which was once Prince Shōtoku's private palace. The present incarnation of this hall was built in 739 to assuage the Prince's spirit.
The Japanese government-issued dollar was a form of currency issued between 1942 and 1945 for use within the territories of Singapore, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, under occupation by Imperial Japan during World War II. The currency, informally referred to as "banana money", was released solely in the form of banknotes, as metals were considered essential to the war effort. The languages used on the notes were reduced to English and Japanese. Each note bears a different obverse and reverse design, but all have a similar layout, and were marked with stamped block letters that begin with "M" for "Malaya". This 1942 one-dollar Japanese-issued banknote, depicting breadfruit and coconut trees on the obverse, is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.
Other denominations: '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000000D-QINU`"'
1897 - Japan's first ironworks, Yawata Iron & Steel, begins operation. Yawata Iron & Steel was merged with Fuji Iron & Steel in 1970 to form the Nippon Steel Corporation.
1903 - Hibiya Park, Japan's first western style park, opens in Tokyo.
1951 - The minting of one-yen aluminum coins begins.
1961 - The Japan Meteorological Agency begins publishing the "discomfort index", based on temperature and humidity. It is said that a discomfort index above 70 makes some people uncomfortable, but a discomfort index above 80 makes everyone uncomfortable.
1972 - The Road Traffic Law is passed, and the famous yellow and green "young leaf" mark, required to be displayed in the window of cars drive by inexperienced drivers, is born.
1980 - A forecast for the chance of precipitation is published in Tokyo for the first time.
Tokyo 2016 is making the environment an absolute priority as we bid to unite Green with 2016. This is a concrete commitment that we will offer the world.
Pierre Joseph Rossier (16 July 1829 – 22 October 1886) was a pioneering Swiss photographer whose albumen photographs, which include stereographs and cartes-de-visite, comprise portraits, cityscapes, and landscapes. He was commissioned by the London firm of Negretti and Zambra to travel to Asia and document the progress of the Anglo-French troops in the Second Opium War and, although he failed to join that military expedition, he remained in Asia for several years, producing the first commercial photographs of China, the Philippines, Japan and Siam (now Thailand). He was the first professional photographer in Japan, where he trained Ueno Hikoma, Maeda Genzō, Horie Kuwajirō, as well as lesser known members of the first generation of Japanese photographers. In Switzerland he established photographic studios in Fribourg and Einsiedeln, and he also produced images elsewhere in the country. Rossier is an important figure in the early history of photography not only because of his own images, but also because of the critical impact of his teaching in the early days of Japanese photography. (Full article...)
Kagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on Shikokuisland. The capital is Takamatsu. Kagawa was formerly known as Sanuki Province. For the brief period between August 1876 and December 1888, Kagawa was made a part of Ehime Prefecture. Located in Kagawa's capital city, Takamatsu, the mountain of Yashima was the battlefield for one of the best-known battles between the Heike and the Genji clans. The name Yashima means literally 'roof island'. Yashima, so called because of its shape like the roof of a traditional Japanese farm house, is a mesa headland jutting out into the Seto Inland Sea. But at the time when the Genpei War was fought, it was, as is implied by the name, an island separated from the mainland by the Aibikigawa River.The military forces of the Heikes, defeated at Ichinotani, retreated to Yashima with Emperor Antoku and set up his temporary court and their headquarters at Dannoura Inlet of Yashima. Yashima retains many names related to the historic battle. According to the stories, the main battlefield was the whole Dannoura area, where now stands Yashima-higashi Primary School. Visitors now find the old court site of Emperor Antoku, Tombs of Sato Tsugunobu and Kikuomaru, Rock on which Nasuno Yoichi prayed for success of his feat, Rock on which the bestriding Yoichi shot his arrow at the fan.
Image 38Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder of the Kamakura shogunate in 1192. This was the first military government in which the shogun with the samurai were the de facto rulers of Japan. (from History of Japan)
Image 45Relief map of the land and the seabed of Japan. It shows the surface and underwater terrain of the Japanese archipelago. (from Geography of Japan)
Image 46A social hierarchy chart based on old academic theories. Such hierarchical diagrams were removed from Japanese textbooks after various studies in the 1990s revealed that peasants, craftsmen, and merchants were in fact equal and merely social categories. Successive shoguns held the highest or near-highest court ranks, higher than most court nobles. (from History of Japan)
Image 52Japanese experts inspect the scene of the alleged railway sabotage on South Manchurian Railway that led to the Mukden Incident and the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. (from History of Japan)
Image 58Mount Aso 4 pyroclastic flow and the spread of Aso 4 tephra (90,000 to 85,000 years ago). The pyroclastic flow reached almost the whole area of Kyushu, and volcanic ash was deposited of 15 cm in a wide area from Kyushu to southern Hokkaido. (from Geography of Japan)
Image 59Territorial extent of Yamato court during the Kofun period (from History of Japan)
Image 84Samurai of the Satsuma Domain during the Boshin War (from History of Japan)
Image 85Samurai could kill a commoner for the slightest insult and were widely feared by the Japanese population. Edo period, 1798. (from History of Japan)
Image 87The Kuril Islands, with their Russian names. The borders of the Treaty of Shimoda (1855) and the Treaty of St. Petersburg (1875) are shown in red. Currently, all islands northeast of Hokkaido are administered by Russia. (from Geography of Japan)
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