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Background: In 1603, a Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship) ushered in a long period of isolation from foreign influence in order to secure its power. For 250 years this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture. Following the Treaty of Kanagawa with the United States in 1854, Japan opened its ports and began to intensively modernize and industrialize. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Japan became a regional power that was able to defeat the forces of both China and Russia. It occupied Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), and southern Sakhalin Island. In 1933 Japan occupied Manchuria and in 1937 it launched a full-scale invasion of China. Japan attacked US forces in 1941 - triggering America's entry into World War II - and soon occupied much of East and Southeast Asia. After its defeat in World War II, Japan recovered to become an economic power and a staunch ally of the US. While the emperor retains his throne as a symbol of national unity, actual power rests in networks of powerful politicians, bureaucrats, and business executives. The economy experienced a major slowdown starting in the 1990s following three decades of unprecedented growth, but Japan still remains a major economic power, both in Asia and globally. In 2005, Japan began a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.




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Go to Umeda Station and take the train to Nara explore Nara Park and the temples. [View Full Entry]

Mattinjapan - Matthew Hutchins | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
16 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 23rd 2009 | 12 Views | [diary=439054]


By howenina
September 28th 2009
Sixth day - Nara Asia » Japan » Nara » Nara
Sixth day - Nara [View Full Entry]

howenina - Nina Gan | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
4 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 78 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 28th 2009 | 18 Views | [diary=440474]

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Typhoon in Tokyo. Stay in Kyoto another day. Visit nearby Nara. Old building. Friendly deer eat Jun. [View Full Entry]

ck64 - Christopher Northington | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
17 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 9th 2009 | 37 Views | [diary=435174]


By Megasaurus
August 15th 2009
Japanese English Teacher Asia » Japan » Nara
Aya arranged for us to have lunch with an American English teacher today. It was such a great opportunity for me to learn about teaching English in Japan as well as Taiwan! I am really happy that she arranged it. His name is Jeff, he is twenty-seven years old, and he is from Sacramento He is currently her younger brother’s middle school English teacher, and he has been teaching in Japan for four years now. He spends part of his day at the elementary school teaching a curriculum that he helped create and the other part at the middle school acting [View Full Entry]

Megasaurus - Megan Kreaps | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
818 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 6 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 15th 2009 | 129 Views | [diary=428303]

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Nara, the ancient capital city of Japan, has many world heritage sites. I've visited most of the places on my first visit here three years ago. This time I came mainly to see the lights festival happening during O-bon week. Ben and I took a day trip to Nara at noon and wondered around the city until darkness arrived. Then more than 10,000 candles started to light up the whole place, giving it a festive and surreal atmosphere. I'll stop now and let the photos speak for me. Oh, don't forget to check out the photos on page 2 there are [View Full Entry]

Fang in JapanLand - Sandra Fang | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
114 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 33 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 16th 2009 | 166 Views | [diary=427963]

Nara Toka-e festival
A young couple
guitarist performs in the rain

By ReluctantGaijin
July 20th 2009
Day Eleven: Nara Asia » Japan » Nara » Nara
I woke up at 8:00 PM and after half an hour of stumbling around and getting changed, I finally left the hostel. As I walked past the Station to the Ryokan, I met Riddhi who said he was off to Hiroshima for a couple of days, to meet a friend of his. Surprised, I wished him well in his endeavour and headed off to the hostel, wondering whether I'd see him alive again. I met Simon and Kunal at the Ryokan and we headed off for breakfast. Simon and Kunal both said they had been surprised by Riddhi's decision: there [View Full Entry]

ReluctantGaijin - Kumaran Perinpanathan | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
525 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 19 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 5th 2009 | 40 Views | [diary=425655]

The entrance to Todai-ji
A statue of one of the Buddha's followers
The bronze buddha of Todai-ji

By Mooplustwo
July 5th 2009
Oh deer - in Nara Asia » Japan » Nara » Nara
We were off to a slow start this morning. We had such a big day yesterday, the motivation to move was low. We headed down to the station and bought some bakery items. We ate this on the train trip to Nara, which took 45 minutes from Kyoto on the JR line. It was another hot and humid day today - summer in Japan. I think it was hotter than yesterday. When we got to Nara I could not find the bicycle hire place so we began to walk. But it was hot and nobody really wanted to walk. But we [View Full Entry]

Mooplustwo - Kate Colless | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
487 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 10 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 5th 2009 | 85 Views | [diary=415399]

Turtles in pond
Justin feeding the deer
Bec and the deer

Following our adventure in Hiroshima, we made our way west to the ancient city of Nara, Japan's first capital. This, as I said is a very ancient city, home to the world's oldest wooden standing structure. The city is home to many UNESCO World Heritage Sites, many including the temples and shrines. The first day in Nara was a free day for us to explore and wreak havoc (just kidding, lol). Anyways, we all split up and made our way through the city, taking in the amazing and historically rich sites that Japan is known for. Joe and I headed towards [View Full Entry]

Andrew826 - Andrew Upton | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1062 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 146 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: June 5th 2009 | 241 Views | [diary=405548]

Group Photo in Nara
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By Osakalily
May 2nd 2009
Adventures in Nara Asia » Japan » Nara
First day of Golden Week! I met the other students at the usual spot at 8:30am sharp! There were 9 of us altogether. It took a good hour to get to Nara costing about 750 yen one way. One of the people in our group had been to Nara before so he showed us all the good spots. Once we arrived we got maps and went to the nearest conbini to buy drinks and snacks. So glad I did that because the further into Nara you go, the more expensive and rare they become. Todaiji was amazing, definitely my favorite place [View Full Entry]

Osakalily - Lily | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
703 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 100 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 3rd 2009 | 55 Views | [diary=395813]

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Purifying Station

By Lawski
April 27th 2009
Thursday 16th April - Nara Asia » Japan » Nara » Nara
After a relatively short journey from Kyoto, i arrive in Nara fairly early on the Thursday morning. I am excited to be hre. Nara is Japan's oldest & most traditional city. It is home to many temples/shrines/parks & deer. I take my stuff to the guesthouse, grab a map n immediately set off to the park. The park has over 7 temples, various woodland areas, numerous shrines, museums and wildlife. The whole area is not extremely big & you can walk around in one day, 2 days if you want to check everything out. I walk straight over to the Todaiji [View Full Entry]

Lawski - Laurie Salt | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
491 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 13 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: April 27th 2009 | 71 Views | [diary=394206]

Deer 2
Todaiji Temple
Todaiji 2


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