title: Persona (series)

text: The localizations for the "Persona" series are generally handled by translator Yu Namba of Atlus USA, who also handles localization for multiple other "Megami Tensei" games. Another prominent staff member was Nich Maragos, who worked with Namba on multiple "Persona" games until moving to Nintendo of America prior to 2015. The localization of "Persona" was handled by a small team, which put a lot of pressure on them as they needed to adjust the game for Western audiences: the changes implemented included altering names, changing the appearance of characters, and removing numerous cultural references. An entire alternate main quest was also removed. After "Persona", it was decided that future "Persona" games should be as faithful as possible to their original releases. Namba's first localization project for the series was "Eternal Punishment". For the release of "Innocent Sin", there was a debate over whether to release it, as it contained potentially controversial content including allusions to Nazism. In the end, due to staff and resource shortages, "Innocent Sin" was passed over for localization in favor of its sequel "Eternal Punishment". Later, when the company developed the PSP ports, the team released the ports of "Persona" and "Innocent Sin" overseas so fans attracted by "Persona 3" and "4" would be able to easily catch up with the rest of the series. The localization for "Persona" was completely redone, reverting all the previous altered content and restoring all previously cut content. The port of "Eternal Punishment" was not localized due to "unusual circumstances", so the company released the original version on PSN instead.


title: Persona (series)

text: For the localizations of "Persona 3" and "4", the team incorporated as much of the original content as possible, such as using Japanese honorifics and keeping the game's currency as yen rather than changing it. As a general rule, they incorporate cultural elements from the original versions unless they would not be understood by the player, such as with certain jokes. Nevertheless, some changes had to be made. In one instance, the character Mitsuru Kirijo was originally an English speaker, but her second language for the localized version was changed to French due to her cultured appearance. School tests also needed to be changed due to similar language-based issues. The Social Links were originally called but this was changed as the word "Community" had a very specific meaning in English. The new name was inspired by the way the character Igor made reference to the concept using words such as "society" and "bonds". Some in-game Easter egg references were also changed: in "Persona 3" references to the larger "Megami Tensei" series by a character in an in-game MMORPG were changed to reference earlier "Persona" games, while mentions of a fictional detective in "Persona 4" were altered to reference the Kuzunoha family from "Eternal Punishment" and the "Devil Summoner" series. Character names have also needed adjustment, such as the stage name of "Persona 4" character Rise Kujikawa, and the way characters referred to each other was adjusted to appeal more to a western audience. "Persona 5" was also localized in this fashion.


title: Persona (series)

text: The localized English names of games have also been altered. The banner title for "Persona" was changed from "Megami Ibunroku" to "Revelations", principally because the team thought the latter name sounded "cool". The "Revelations" title was removed for "Innocent Sin" and "Eternal Punishment". After the successful release of "Nocturne", the ""Shin Megami Tensei"" moniker was added to the series title to help with Western marketing. This has not been the case for some games: "Persona 4 Arena" original title, "Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena", was shortened as it sounded "awkward", and the ""Shin Megami Tensei"" moniker was dropped as it would have made the title too long, which has been applied to every game in the series since. The same change was made for "Persona 4 Golden" and "Persona 5 Royal", with the team dropping ""The"" that was in the Japanese title because it would have sounded "odd" in English-speaking regions.


title: Persona (series)

text: As of November 2022, the series has sold over 16 million copies worldwide. The first "Persona" was referred to at the time as a sleeper hit, and the success of it and "Eternal Punishment" helped establish both Atlus and "Megami Tensei" in North America. In Europe, the series did not become established prior to the release of "Persona 3" and "4", both of which were highly successful in the region. According to Atlus CEO Naoto Hiraoka, the main turning point for the franchise was the release of "Persona 3", which was a commercial success and brought the series to the attention of the mainstream gaming community. "Persona 4" received an even better reception. The "Persona" series' success has allowed Atlus to build a strong player base outside of Japan, contributing to the success of other games such as "Catherine".


title: Persona (series)

text: The "Persona" series has been referred to as the most popular spin-off from the "Megami Tensei" franchise, gaining notoriety and success in its own right. Io9's James Whitbrook commented that while "here in the west, we've got plenty of awesome urban fantasy, especially from a YA perspective. But what makes Persona interesting is that it's the familiar concept of Urban fantasy, the balance of the mundane "normal" life of the protagonists and the problems they have there with the fantastical nature of the supernatural world that lies beneath all that, from a Japanese perspective. Over here, that's much less common, and the way the series portrays urban fantasy through that lens is what makes it so different, especially from what you would normally expect from Japanese RPGs.". "Nintendo Power", in an article concerning the "Megami Tensei" series, cited the "Persona" series' "modern-day horror stories" and "teams of Japanese high-school kids" as the perfect example of the franchise. "Persona" was mentioned in 1999 by GameSpot's Andrew Vestal as a game that deserved attention despite not aging well, saying "Examining "Persona" reveals three of the traits that make the series so popular - and unique - amongst RPG fans: demonology, negotiation, and psychology". The game has been named as a cult classic. "Persona 3" was named by RPGamer as the greatest RPG of the past decade in 2009, and RPGFan listed "Persona 3" and "4" in second and fourth place respectively in their similar 2011 list. "Persona 3" was listed by Gamasutra as one of the 20 essential RPGs for players of the genre. "Persona 4" was also listed by "Famitsu" as one of the greatest games of all time in a 2010 list.


title: Persona (series)

text: As well as gaining critical acclaim, the series has been the subject of controversy over its content. This controversy began with the localized banner title of the original "Persona", which raised concerns due to its religious implications. Kurt Katala, writing for 1UP.com in 2006 about the controversial content of the "Megami Tensei" franchise as a whole, mentioned "Innocent Sin" references to homosexuality, schoolyard violence, and Nazism, considering them possible reasons why the game was not originally released outside of Japan. In 1UP.com's 2007 game awards, which ran in the March 2008 issue of "Electronic Gaming Monthly", "Persona 3" was given the "Most controversial game that created no controversy" award: the writers said "Rockstar's Hot Coffee sex scandal and "Bully" boy-on-boy kissing's got nothing on this PS2 role-player's suicide-initiated battles or subplot involving student-teacher dating". "Persona 4" has in turn been examined by multiple sites over its portrayal of character sexuality and gender identity.


title: Persona (series)

text: The first anime adaptation of the "Persona" series, a television series titled "", aired in 2008. It was animated by A-1 Pictures, directed by Jun Matsumoto, written by a team that included Yasuyuki Muto, Shogo Yasukawa, and Shinsuke Onishi, and composed for by Taku Iwasaki. Its characters were designed by Soejima and Yuriko Ishii, while Persona designs were done by Nobuhiko Genma. It was distributed internationally by NIS America. "Trinity Soul" takes place in an alternate setting ten years after "Persona 3", making it a non-canon entry in the franchise. An anime adaptation of the original "Persona 4", "", aired in 2011. The 25-episode series was produced by AIC ASTA and directed by Seiji Kishi. In 2014, a series based on "Persona 4 Golden", titled "", was produced by A-1 Pictures. This series, which retains the cast of the original adaptation, dramatizes the new material included in "Persona 4 Golden", focusing on the protagonist's encounters with new character Marie. A standalone prequel anime created by A-1 Pictures, "Persona 5 The Animation: The Day Breakers", was released in September 2016 prior to the Japanese release of the game. A full anime series based on "Persona 5", "", aired in 2018.


title: Persona (series)

text: The original "Persona 4" anime series was made into a condensed film adaptation titled "Persona 4: The Animation - The Factor of Hope"; it was released in Japanese cinemas in 2012. "Persona 3" has also been adapted into a series of anime films produced by AIC ASTA and featuring staff from "Persona 4: The Animation", released in cinemas in Japan and licensed for release overseas by Aniplex. The four films are titled "", "", "", and "". They were released from 2013–2016. For both "Persona 4: The Animation" and the "Persona 3" film series, one of the main concerns was the portrayal of the lead characters, which were originally dictated by player actions.


title: Persona (series)

text: "Persona" was adapted into an eight-issue manga series titled "Megami Ibunroku Persona", originally serialized in 1996 and later reissued in 2009. A second spin-off manga, was released to tie in with the release of the "Persona 2" games. Set within the same setting of the "Persona 2" games, it follows a separate story. In its 2011 reissue, new material was added that connected the manga to the events of "Innocent Sin". "Persona 3", "Persona 4", and "Persona 5" have all received their own manga adaptations. Another manga based on "Persona Q" was also serialized: two separate manga storylines, based on the two storylines featured in the game, were written and dubbed "Side:P3" and "Side:P4". Multiple novels based on "Persona 3" and "4" have also been released.


title: Persona (series)

text: Five stage plays based on "Persona 3" have been produced under the banner "". They received limited runs and featured separate performances for the male and female versions of the game's protagonists. "Persona 4" was also adapted into two stage plays, both produced by Marvelous AQL and receiving limited runs in 2012: "Visualive" and "Visualive the Evolution". A stage play based on "Persona 4 Arena" was likewise given a limited run in December 2014, and one based on "Persona 4 Arena Ultimax" ran in July 2016.


title: Persona (series)

text: Atlus has created or hosted media dedicated to the "Persona" series. A dedicated magazine originally ran for ten issues between 2011 and 2012, and has been irregularly revived since then. An official talk show released on the official "Persona" website and Niconico, "Persona Stalker Club", began in February 2014. Hosted by freelance writer Mafia Kajita and actress Tomomi Isomura, it was designed to deepen the connection between Atlus and the "Persona" fanbase. Concerts featuring music from the "Persona" series have also been performed, and some have received commercial releases on home media in Japan. Action figures and merchandise such as clothing have also been produced.


title: Persona (series)

text: The series was also represented in the 2018 crossover fighting game "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" with the April 2019 downloadable content (DLC) inclusion of Joker, the protagonist of "Persona 5". Along with him, a "Persona"-themed stage, eleven musical tracks from the series, and Mii costumes of Morgana, Teddie, and the main protagonists from "Persona 3" and "4" were also featured.


title: Persona (series)

text: In June 2022, as part of the series' 25th anniversary, Sega expressed in an interview with IGN, their desire to expand the "Persona" series and other Atlus properties into live-action film and television, as had been recently done with their flagship property, "Sonic the Hedgehog" and its recent film adaptation. Toru Nakahara, Sega's lead producer on the "Sonic the Hedgehog" films and the upcoming animated series "Sonic Prime", stated of Atlus' games that, "Stories like those from the "Persona" franchise really resonate with our fans and we see an opportunity to expand the lore like no one has seen — or played — before".


title: My Name Is Earl

text: My Name Is Earl is an American television sitcom created by Greg Garcia that aired on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, in the United States. It was produced by 20th Century Fox Television and starred Jason Lee as Earl Hickey, the title character. The series also starred Ethan Suplee, Jaime Pressly, Nadine Velazquez, and Eddie Steeples.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: Most episodes from the first season, then only a few from the rest, began with Earl presenting the premise of the series:


title: My Name Is Earl

text: "You know the kind of guy who does nothing but bad things and then wonders why his life sucks? Well, that was me. Every time something good happened to me, something bad was always waiting around the corner: karma. That's when I realized that I had to change. So, I made a list of everything bad I've ever done, and one by one I'm gonna make up for all my mistakes. I'm just trying to be a better person. My name is Earl."


title: My Name Is Earl

text: The series ended with a cliffhanger episode to conclude Season 4, ostensibly to be resolved in Season 5, but was unexpectedly canceled.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: The series storyline is rounded out in the pilot episode of Greg Garcia's next sitcom "Raising Hope". The television playing in the background has a news reader stating "a small-time crook with a long list of wrongs he was making amends for has finally finished, and you'll never guess how it ended", however the television is turned off before he elaborates and no other mention is made.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: Earl Hickey is a small-time thief, living in the fictional rural town of Camden, who loses his winning $100,000 lottery ticket after being hit by a car while he celebrates his good fortune. Lying in a hospital bed, he learns about karma during an episode of the talk show "Last Call with Carson Daly". Convinced he has to turn his life around to be happy, Earl gives himself over to the power of karma. He makes a list of every bad thing that he has ever done and every person that he has ever wronged, and makes efforts to fix them all. After doing a first good deed, he finds the $100,000 lottery ticket that he had lost. Seeing this as a sign of karma rewarding him for his commitment, Earl uses his new-found wealth to do more good deeds according to his list.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: Earl's wife Joy throws him out, keeping her two children herself: Dodge, whom she conceived before getting together with Earl, and Earl Jr., who was fathered during their marriage, but not by Earl. Earl moves into a motel and lives with his brother Randy, and they meet Catalina, the motel's beautiful maid who illegally emigrated from somewhere in Latin America. Earl works on the list which mostly involves strangers and old acquaintances he has wronged, but also contains items involving his family. Initially Joy plots to kill or blackmail Earl for his lottery winnings, but later gives up. Joy marries Darnell Turner, a mutual friend who works at a local restaurant called the Crab Shack, and with whom she had been having an affair. Until late in Season Four, it is generally accepted that Darnell fathered Earl Jr. In the Season One finale, Earl discovers he had bought the lotto tickets using money he stole from another person, but when he tries to return his winnings to that person, the latter is inflicted with bad karma, so he returns the money to Earl.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: The second season has Earl continuing to work on his list, however, Joy gets in trouble when she steals a delivery truck and ends up kidnapping and assaulting the member of staff who was inside. Joy is arrested for felonies that would put her in prison for life because it was her third strike. To soften the jury, she decides to have a surrogate baby for her half-sister Liberty Washington and Liberty's husband Ray-Ray. Meanwhile, Catalina has been deported. Earl and Randy visit her home village in Latin America, and Randy marries Catalina in a green card marriage so she can return to the United States. In the season finale, Earl sacrifices himself at Joy's trial by confessing to all of her crimes and is sentenced to two years in a state penitentiary.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: In the third season Earl is still imprisoned but continues to do good deeds despite not having his list on him. He meets Frank, from whom he had rented the trailer in which Joy and her husband Darnell now live, while Randy gets a job as a prison guard to be closer to Earl. Meanwhile Joy gives birth to Liberty and Ray-Ray's baby. Earl's good deeds attract the attention of the state warden, Jerry, who offers Earl a reduction in prison time for helping him resolve his issues. When Earl is about to leave, Jerry revokes Earl's reductions as he would lose such a productive helper, but Earl eventually gains the upper hand and forces Jerry to honour his early release. After leaving prison, Earl loses his confidence in the list; he has spent years and the last of his lottery winnings doing good things, but he has nothing to show for it and is insistent that karma should have given him some kind of lasting reward by now. He reverts to his old, malicious ways, doing cruel and illegal things. Frank's ex-girlfriend Billie Cunningham hits Earl with her car and puts him into a coma, then is subsequently hit herself. Randy is able to revive Earl by working on the list. Earl finds Billie and marries her, thinking she is karma's reward for his years of effort. When Earl and Billie argue over the list, and Earl chooses the list over her, Billie goes into a rampage that undoes his good deeds. However, when Billie hides in the Amish-like "Camdenite" settlement, she has a change of heart. She divorces Earl and gives him the rest of her insurance settlement money, which helps him continue the list.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: The fourth season goes back to focusing on Earl doing good deeds to cross off his list. A major story arc during this season was that Darnell, who is actually a former assassin from a secret government agency, blows his witness protection cover. He, Joy, and his family are forced to change identities and relocate until Darnell's father, who is also from the agency, goes on a mission with Darnell which clears Darnell's family of needing protection. In the season finale, Earl and the gang learn, from DNA test results, that Earl is actually Dodge's biological father. Earl still has not finished his list as of the season's conclusion, and there is a cliffhanger: it's proven that Darnell is not Earl Jr.'s father, revealing that Joy had another affair.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: Creator and head writer Greg Garcia wrote the pilot while working on another sitcom, "Yes, Dear". He initially pitched the series to Fox, which passed on it. He then approached NBC, which optioned the pilot on a cast-contingent basis, meaning they would order the pilot provided a suitable cast could be assembled. Jason Lee was approached for the lead role, but was uninterested in working in television and passed on the series twice before finally agreeing to read the pilot script. Though he liked the pilot, he was hesitant to commit to his first TV starring role until meeting with Garcia, after which he signed on to play Earl Hickey.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: In the episode "BB", Earl's driver's license address is at "Pimmit Hills Trailer Park, Space C-13, Camden County", but the state is not listed. Creator Greg Garcia said that Camden County is loosely modeled on Pimmit Hills, Virginia, the neighborhood where he grew up. The filming location in Los Angeles was not a trailer park, but was built up to look like one.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: Many of the locations were filmed in San Fernando Valley in California. In the season 1 episode "The Professor", Earl receives a postcard from Alex with the address "Earl Hickey, The Palms Hotel RM 231, 9005 Lincoln Blvd, Camden USA" with Earl's hand covering up most of the postmark. The Palms Motel structure is actually a motel in North Hills, California, now named the Palm Tree Inn Motel. It was also used to film other shows and films such as "Gilmore Girls", "The Mentalist", and "Heroes". Exterior shots of the Crab Shack and Club Chubby were also taken from locations in Van Nuys and North Hills. Houses and shops for the various characters come from locations in Van Nuys, Santa Clarita, Northridge, Moorpark, Los Angeles, and other Southern California cities. In the episode "Didn't Pay Taxes", Earl and Randy climb the landmark Artesia water tower, although they do not refer to it by name.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: Other episodes have listed states that were unlikely to have Camden County. In the episode "Our Other Cops is On", officer Stuart Daniels states that his surveillance equipment was "supposed to go to Camden, New Jersey, but came here instead". In "Earl and Joy's Anniversary", when killer bees have invaded Camden and then left, Iqball says that the bees are heading for Texas. The flashback episodes "Inside Probe" describe Camden County as trying to stay independent during the American Civil War and forming its own country called Central, which lasted less than a day. In episode "Y2K", Joy states that she "may move to Florida", while in episode "BB" Randy suggests they go to Arizona.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: The series ended abruptly on May 19, 2009, after running for four seasons. Season four had ended with the caption 'To Be Continued'. The series' producer, 20th Century Fox Television, approached the Fox, TBS and TNT networks to continue the series, but they were unable to come to terms without "seriously undermining the artistic integrity of the series."


title: My Name Is Earl

text: In October 2011, Jason Lee told "E! Online" he has been in talks with Greg Garcia to finish the list via a movie, possibly to be released online.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: On October 1, 2013, creator Greg Garcia participated in an "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) on Reddit. Fan Jerry Denton asked "Who was Earl Jr's. real father and did Earl ever finish the list?"


title: My Name Is Earl

text: The show was well received by critics and audiences alike. One reviewer speculated that Earl's forthrightness to having led a life of idiocy is what endears him to the viewer, and is what suggests there is a depth to his character beyond what is initially seen. Many of the negative and ambivalent reviews center on what is perceived to be base.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: The series was nominated twice for Best International Programme at the British Academy Television Awards in 2007 and 2008. The pilot episode won Emmy awards for Outstanding Writing and Directing in a Comedy Series for Greg Garcia and Marc Buckland respectively at the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards. Jaime Pressly won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy series at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards. Other Emmy nominations include Beau Bridges and Giovanni Ribisi for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: Some critics questioned if the series had been influenced by Scientology, with actors Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee being Scientologists at that time; the show also featured guest appearances from high-profile Scientologist actors including Michael Peña, Giovanni Ribisi and Juliette Lewis. In 2008, Alec Baldwin publicly named "Earl" creator Greg Garcia as being a Scientologist; Garcia quickly denied any involvement with Scientology, claiming that the "Daily Mirror" had incorrectly reported him to be a Scientologist.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: The series premiered on September 20, 2005, drew in 14.9 million viewers in the United States, earning a 6.6 rating. By the airing of the third episode it was apparent that "My Name Is Earl" was the highest rated of NBC's new fall offerings, and a full season (22 episodes) was ordered. In its first month, it was also the highest rated new sitcom of the season to air on any network and was the highest rated sitcom on any network in the 18–49-year-old demographic. The show was renewed for a second season (2006–07), a third (2007–08), and a fourth (2008–09).


title: My Name Is Earl

text: 20th Century Fox Television has cleared "My Name Is Earl" in nearly 50% of the U.S., said Bob Cook, the company's president and chief operating officer. 20th had sold the off-net sitcom to the Fox, Tribune, CBS, Hearst-Argyle, and Sinclair station groups for a fall 2009 debut.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: "My Name Is Earl" aired in off-network syndication and on TBS, Ion Television, and MyNetworkTV in the United States.


title: My Name Is Earl

text: The series premiered in January 2006 on Channel 4 in the UK. The fourth season was shown on E4 in October 2008. In 2013, 5Star gained the repeat rights to the series. The show was repeated on Comedy Central Extra from March 5, 2018.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Giorgio Chiellini (; born 14 August 1984) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. Considered one of the best defenders of his generation, Chiellini is known for his strength, aggressiveness and man-marking, as well as his ability to play in either a three or four-man defence. He is likewise considered to be the greatest Juventus player of all time, having spent seventeen years with the club. Earlier in his career, he played as a left-back.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: At club level, Chiellini began his career with Livorno in 2000, also later playing for Fiorentina, before moving to Juventus in 2005. With Juventus, he has won a record-nine consecutive Serie A titles from 2012 to 2020, as well as five Coppa Italia titles and five Supercoppa Italiana titles, having also played two UEFA Champions League finals in 2015 and 2017. Chiellini has been named in the Serie A Team of the Year five times: in 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18 and 2018–19 and has been awarded the Serie A Defender of the Year also three times: in 2008, 2009 and 2010.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Having made his international debut for Italy in 2004, Chiellini was selected in the nation's squads for the 2004 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal, as well as for four UEFA European Championships, two FIFA World Cups and two FIFA Confederations Cups, helping the "Azzurri" to win UEFA Euro 2020, reach the final of UEFA Euro 2012, and achieve a third-place finish at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. He retired from international football in 2022 with 117 caps, making him Italy's joint fourth-highest appearance holder.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Chiellini joined the youth teams at Livorno at age six and started out as a central midfielder. As he matured, he switched to playing as a winger and finally he found his position as a left back. He played in the club's youth academy between 1990 and 2000. In 2000, he took part in "Torneo di Arco" as a squad player for AC Milan's U-17 team as a part of his trial; despite rated satisfactory by the youth coach Davide Ballardini, he did not receive an offer to join the team permanently. In the 2000–01 Serie C1 season, Chiellini started to receive his first call-ups to the senior team and eventually made three appearances and followed that up with five more appearances the following season.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: In June 2002, Chiellini was signed by Roma in a co-ownership deal, for €3.1 million, (who also saw Marco Amelia, move in the opposite direction, for €2.8 million) however, he was loaned back to Livorno for the 2002–03 Serie B season, after they had earned promotion. In his first Serie B season, Chiellini made six seasonal appearances, also making his Coppa Italia debut. In his second Serie B season, Chiellini broke into the starting line-up for the club, and would go on to make 42 official appearances, also scoring four goals from his left back position.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: In June 2004, Livorno officially bought back Chiellini for €3 million. During his four-season spell with the clubs' first team, Chiellini made a total of 57 appearances, scoring four goals, before his transfer to Juventus.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Chiellini was signed by Juventus in the summer 2004 for €6.5 million from Livorno, but was immediately sold in a co-ownership deal to Fiorentina for €3.5 million, and played on the Florentine team during the 2004–05 Serie A season. The complex deal actually meant Juventus bought Roma's half for €3 million and Fiorentina bought Livorno's half for €3.5 million. In his loan season with the club, Chiellini was a regular in the club's starting XI, making 42 official appearances, also scoring three goals.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: After an excellent first season in Serie A, Chiellini was recalled for the 2005–06 season and Juventus paid €4.3 million for the rest of his contract. He became a regular under Fabio Capello and made 23 appearances in his first season with the club, also helping the "Old Lady" to their 29th "scudetto" (which was later assigned to Inter following the 2006 "Calciopoli" scandal).


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: While in the Serie B, he started playing at centre back, partnering Nicola Legrottaglie, Jean-Alain Boumsong and Robert Kovač at various stages of the season. Juventus won the 2006–07 Serie B title, gaining Serie A promotion with the best goal difference, conceding only 30 goals and scoring over 80 in 42 matches. He scored a double in a 5–1 thrashing at Arezzo in May, a result that mathematically sealed promotion for Juventus.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: With Juventus back in Serie A for the 2007–08 season, Chiellini again was a starter for the club at left back, but following injuries to Jorge Andrade and Domenico Criscito, he was shifted to centre back again. Chiellini had a tremendous season and eventually made the position his own. Alongside fellow centre-half Nicola Legrottaglie, the duo were instrumental as Juventus finished the season with the joint second-best defensive record. The surprising aspect of this is that neither were considered remotely close to pinning down a centre back position in the summer before the season, with Domenico Criscito and Jorge Andrade preferred as the starting duo. He has been a regular fixture in the Juventus backline since their return to Serie A and was notably named Man of the Match in a game against Juventus rivals, Internazionale when he won a physical and heated duel with former teammate Zlatan Ibrahimović, keeping the Swedish striker at bay. Chiellini extended his original contract from until 2009 to 2011 on 12 October 2006. On 27 April 2008, Chiellini scored twice for Juventus in 5–2 win over Lazio that confirmed Juventus's place in the Serie A top four. on 26 June 2008, Chiellini extended his contract with Juventus until 2013.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: During the 2008–09 season, Chiellini remained as first choice in central defence alongside Nicola Legrottaglie. Chiellini scored his first goal in Europe on 13 August 2008 as Juve beat Artmedia Petržalka 4–0 in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie. Four days later, he injured his left knee again during the Trofeo Luigi Berlusconi against AC Milan and missed the start of the Serie A season, returning to duty in September starting in each of Juve's first three Champions League group games. At the end of the year, he was named Serie A Defender of the Year for 2008 at the annual "Oscar del Calcio" awards ceremony. On 10 March 2009, Chiellini was sent off for a second bookable offense during the Champions League first knockout round second leg tie at home in a tightly contested match against Chelsea, but Juventus were eliminated 3–2 on aggregate after holding the former English champions to a 2–2 draw.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: An injury sustained in the win over Fiorentina on 6 March 2010 sidelined him for several important games and, in his absence, Juventus embarked on a miserable run of form, conceding nine goals in the four games he missed. He marked his return by scoring the opening goal away at Napoli but was unable to prevent Juventus from succumbing to a 3–1 defeat. On 23 November 2010, Chiellini extended his contract with Juventus again until 30 June 2015 and was given a pay raise.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: During the beginning of the 2010–11 season, Chiellini was mostly partnered with newly signed youngster Leonardo Bonucci. With the arrival of fellow Italy international Andrea Barzagli in the winter transfer window, Chiellini occasionally played at left back to accommodate the Bonucci-Barzagli partnership and sometimes partnered Barzagli.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Under manager Antonio Conte, Chiellini returned to his original position at left back due to Barzagli and Bonucci's good run of form. After struggling to re-adapt back to his former position, he grew into his role and managed to keep Paolo De Ceglie, the only other natural left back in the squad, on the bench for much of the first half of the 2011–12 season. In the second half of the 2011–12 season, Conte switched to a three-man defence, where Chiellini partnered Bonucci and Barzagli in a very successful defensive system for Juve, who ended the season as Serie A champions, with the best defensive record, as well as being unbeaten in the league. Due to their performances together, the three-man defence earned the nickname "BBC", a reference to the players' initials, and soon the trio established themselves as one of the best defences in world football during the following seasons. Juventus lost the 2012 Coppa Italia Final against Napoli, but would later defeat them in the 2012 Supercoppa Italiana, although Chiellini would miss the match.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Chiellini made his 250th appearance with Juventus on 22 September 2012, on his first appearance of the 2012–13 season after coming back from injury, in a 2–0 home win over Chievo. On 1 March 2013, after coming back from another injury suffered in mid-December, he scored a header in a 1–1 draw over Napoli at the San Paolo stadium, which allowed Juventus to keep their 6-point lead over Napoli, who were in second place. Juventus retained the Serie A title and the Supercoppa Italiana that season, once again finishing the year with the best defensive record in Italy. Chiellini was the only Italian player to be nominated for the 2013 UEFA Team of the Year.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 6 October 2013, Chiellini scored in Juventus's 3–2 win over Milan, scoring the match winning goal; the next day he announced the renewal of his contract with Juventus, which would keep him at the club until 2017. He made his 300th appearance with Juventus in a 3–0 Serie A victory against Roma on 5 January 2014, as he went on to win his third consecutive league title with Juventus that season.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: In the 2014 Supercoppa Italiana on 22 December 2014, Juventus were defeated by Napoli on penalties after a 2–2 draw following extra-time; Chiellini missed one of Juventus's spot-kicks in the resulting shoot-out. On 20 May, Chiellini captained Juventus in the club's 2–1 win over Lazio in the 2015 Coppa Italia Final, also scoring Juventus's first goal of the night.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 4 June 2015, it was confirmed that Chiellini would not participate in the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final against Barcelona as a scan on his left leg revealed he had a first degree calf muscle tear. In the absence of Chiellini, Juventus were defeated 3–1 by Barcelona at Berlin's Olympiastadion.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Chiellini was ruled out of the 2015 Supercoppa Italiana after sustaining an injury in a 2–1 away friendly victory over Lechia Gdańsk on 29 July, which kept him sidelined for three weeks. On 24 November, Chiellini was nominated for the 2015 UEFA Team of the Year.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 9 February 2016, it was confirmed that Chiellini would miss the Serie A match on 13 February against Napoli, as well as the first round of 16 leg of the Champions League on 23 February against Bayern Munich due to an injury. Chiellini returned to action on 28 February to take on rivals Internazionale, yet again sustaining an injury to his thigh which caused him to limp off the pitch and substituted off in the 35th minute. After already having missed the first round of 16 leg against Bayern, there was further doubt as to if he would miss the second leg as well on 16 March. However, after medical testing it was estimated he would only be out for ten days, initially thought to only miss the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-finals against Internazionale on 2 March and a Serie A match against Atalanta on 6 March; he wouldn't be fit for the second round of 16 leg of the Champions League, and missed the match. He returned from injury on 2 April, starting in a 1–0 home win over Empoli, but sustained yet another injury to his adductor longus muscle in his right thigh before being substituted off in the 54th minute of that match; further tests in the following days revealed he would be out for 20 days. He returned to action once again in a 2–1 away defeat to Verona, on 8 May. After constant injury spells throughout the season, Chiellini scored in the last match of the season on 14 May in the 77th minute of a 5–0 home win over Sampdoria, as Juventus celebrated winning the league title for a fifth consecutive time since the 2011–12 season; this was Chiellini's 400th appearance for Juventus. On 21 May, Chiellini captained Juventus in the 2016 Coppa Italia Final in Rome; he played a key role in a 1–0 extra-time victory over Milan (the club's eleventh Coppa Italia title in total), helping his team to defend the title and keep a clean sheet. He later lifted the trophy as Juventus became the first Italian club ever to win consecutive domestic doubles.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 26 October 2016, Chiellini scored two goals in a 4–1 home win over Sampdoria after three weeks out due to injury. On 23 December, Chiellini scored the opening goal in the Supercoppa Italiana against Milan, but it ended in defeat as Milan won 4–3 in penalty shoot-out following a 1–1 draw after extra time.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 28 April, he made his 300th appearance in Serie A with Juventus in a 2–2 away draw against Atalanta. On 3 June, after Chiellini missed out on the 2015 Champions League Final, he started in the 2017 final, Juventus' second final appearance in three years, but were defeated 4–1 by defending champions Real Madrid.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 12 September 2017, Chiellini missed the opening 2017–18 Champions League group stage match of the season against Barcelona, due to a calf injury.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 11 January 2018, Chiellini was named to the 2017 UEFA Team of the Year. He made his 350th appearance in Serie A in a 0–0 away draw against S.P.A.L., on 17 March.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 29 June 2018, Chiellini was given a two-year contract extension until 2020 and also named the club's new captain after the departure of Buffon.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 16 January 2019, Chiellini lifted his first title as Juventus's new official captain – the Supercoppa Italiana – following a 1–0 victory over Milan. On 12 March, Chiellini marked his 500th appearance in a Juventus jersey with a 3–0 win home to Atlético Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 second leg to overturn a 2–0 deficit to reach the quarter-finals. Juventus ended the season as league champions, with Chiellini capturing his record eighth Serie A title with the club.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 24 August, in Juventus's opening match of the 2019–20 season against Parma, Chiellini scored the only goal of the match in a 1–0 away win in Serie A. On 30 August, Chiellini tore his anterior cruciate ligament during training. He returned on 16 February 2020, in a match against Brescia, replacing Leonardo Bonucci in the 78th minute. On 29 June, Chiellini signed a new contract with Juventus, extending until June 2021.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 20 October 2020, Chiellini made his 71st Champions League appearance with Juventus in the team's opening European game of the season, a 2–0 away win over Dynamo Kyiv, overtaking Alessio Tacchinardi as the club's third–most capped player of all time in the competition; however, he suffered an injury during the first half and was replaced by Merih Demiral.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 2 August 2021, Chiellini renewed his contract with Juventus, signing a two-year contract extension until June 2023. However, after losing the 2022 Coppa Italia Final, Chiellini announced that he would leave Juventus at the end of the season.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 13 June 2022, Chiellini agreed to join Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC on a contract through 2023 using Targeted Allocation Money. On 17 July, 2022, Chiellini made his debut during a 2–1 win against Nashville SC and was substituted at the 60th minute. On November 5, Chiellini lifted the MLS Cup following LAFC’s penalty shoot-out win over Philadelphia Union.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Chiellini represented Italy at all youth levels, and he won the European Under-19 Championship with Italy in 2003, and was also a member of the Italy team that won the bronze medal at the football tournament of the 2004 Summer Olympics. He participated in the 2006 and 2007 U-21 Championships as Italy's captain, scoring 2 goals over both tournaments, although Italy were eliminated in the group stage on both occasions. He was named in the 'UEFA Team of the tournament' of the 2007 U-21 Championships held in the Netherlands, where Italy also obtained qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics. In total, he made 26 appearances for the Under-21 side, scoring 6 goals.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: He made his debut for the Italian national team on 17 November 2004 against Finland under Marcello Lippi, at the age of 20. He became a regular squad member since 2007 and he scored his first goal for Italy on 21 November 2007, against the Faroe Islands, in Modena, in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Chiellini was called up to Italy's squad for UEFA Euro 2008 under manager Roberto Donadoni, and injured captain Fabio Cannavaro in a collision during a training session, that resulted in Cannavaro missing out on the tournament. He was sidelined in the opening game against the Netherlands, which Italy went on to lose 3–0. He subsequently received the nod to partner Christian Panucci at centre-back from the second game onwards, cementing his place in the "Azzurri" defence; in the second group match of the tournament, he assisted Panucci's equaliser in a 1–1 draw against Romania. While he also featured in the final group game, keeping a clean-sheet in a 2–0 win against France, his most impressive display was arguably against Spain in the quarter-finals, where he famously neutralised the threat of the Spanish attacking duo of David Villa and Fernando Torres. The game ended 0–0, with Italy eventually losing 4–2 on penalties.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: During 2010 World Cup qualifying, Chiellini cemented his place as an undisputed first-choice in Marcello Lippi's squad. He played the full 90 minutes in all three group matches at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup but Italy were eliminated at the group stages on goal difference. He was also the starting Italy centre back, along with Cannavaro, in the 2010 World Cup, although Italy disappointed and exited in the first round, finishing in last place in their group with two points, and failing to win a match or keep a clean sheet.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Under Cesare Prandelli, Chiellini was once again the starting centre back during Italy's UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign. Along with Juventus teammates Andrea Barzagli and Leonardo Bonucci, and also Daniele De Rossi, he started in defence for Italy in the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament, after recovering from an injury he had encountered during the final Serie A game of the season. He suffered another injury in Italy's final group match against Ireland, which ended in a 2–0 win, ruling him out of the quarter-final fixture against England; he returned to the starting line-up for Italy's 2–1 semi-final victory over Germany. Italy reached the final, but were defeated once again by Spain, suffering a 4–0 loss. Despite suffering a minor injury in the semi-final, Chiellini started as left back in the final, but was substituted after sustaining yet another injury; Spain's first goal of the match arose from his mistake, due to his precarious physical condition.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 14 November 2012, in a 2–1 friendly defeat to France, Chiellini wore the captain's armband with Italy for the first time in his career.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 22 June 2013, Chiellini scored his third goal for Italy against Brazil in the 2013 Confederations Cup in a 2–4 defeat, a low shot to the net after the referee Ravshan Irmatov had initially signaled for a penalty kick to Italy. Italy managed to finish the tournament in third place, following a 3–2 penalty shootout win over Uruguay in the bronze medal match.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: In the 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifying fixture against the Czech Republic, at the Juventus Stadium in Turin, on 10 September 2013, Chiellini scored Italy's first goal in a 2–1 home win, which allowed the nation to clinch the top spot in their group and qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil with two games at hand; this was the first time that the Italian squad had done so.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: During the 2014 World Cup, in Italy's final group stage game against Uruguay, Chiellini, while defending Luis Suárez in the penalty area, was bitten in the left shoulder by Suárez from behind. It was Suárez's third career biting incident. As the Italian players protested to the Mexican referee Marco Antonio Rodríguez for not penalizing Suárez, Uruguay won a corner and scored, winning 1–0 to qualify for the last 16 and eliminating Italy. As a result, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee launched an investigation into the incident. On 26 June, The FIFA Disciplinary Committee announced that Suárez would be suspended for nine matches and banned from any football activity (including entering any stadium) for four months. Suárez was also fined CHF100,000 (approx. £65,700/€82,000/US$119,000). Even so, Chiellini expressed his view that the four-month ban on Suárez for all football-related activities including was "excessive". "There only remains the anger and the disappointment about the match. At the moment, my only thought is for Luis and his family, because they will face a very difficult period." Chiellini said after the game, noting that he hoped Suarez would be allowed to remain with his teammates during World Cup games, "because such a ban is really alienating for a player." Chiellini wrote in his autobiography that he could sympathsize with Suarez's competitive determination.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 10 October 2014 in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match against Azerbaijan in Palermo, Chiellini put Italy ahead with a first-half header. He then scored a late own goal, but headed a winner three minutes from time to give Italy a 2–1 victory. Italy qualified for Euro 2016 on 10 October of the following year after a 3–1 win over Azerbaijan. On 17 November 2015, Chiellini made his 82nd appearance for Italy in a 2–2 friendly home draw against Romania, overtaking Franco Baresi, Giuseppe Bergomi, and Marco Tardelli as Italy's tenth most capped player of all time. On 31 May 2016, Chiellini was named to Conte's 23-man Italy squad for Euro 2016. Playing alongside Bonucci and Barzagli, Chiellini drew praise for his defensive performances, as he helped Italy keep clean-sheets in both of their opening two victories over Belgium and Sweden, which enabled the nation to top their group and advance to the second round. Having been booked for a tactical foul in Italy's opening match on 13 June, Chiellini was rested for Italy's final group match against Ireland on 22 June, which ended in a 1–0 defeat. In the round of 16 at Stade de France in Paris on 27 June, he scored the opening goal in a 2–0 win over reigning European champions Spain and helped Italy record their third clean-sheet of the tournament. Italy were eliminated from the competition in a 6–5 penalty shoot-out defeat to reigning World Cup champions Germany in the quarter-finals, on 2 July.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: In Italy's opening 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Israel on 5 September 2016, Chiellini earned his 90th international cap, but was later given his first ever national team red card after a second bookable offense in the 55th minute of an eventual 3–1 away win; causing him to miss the next group match against Spain on 6 October, an eventual 1–1 draw.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Chiellini also missed the return match against Spain on 2 September 2017, an eventual 3–0 away loss, as well as the return march against Israel on 5 September, an eventual 1–0 home win, with a calf injury. On 9 October, Chiellini made his 94th appearance for Italy in a 1–0 away victory over Albania in a World Cup qualifier, equalling Giacinto Facchetti as the nation's joint-eighth highest appearance holder of all time. Italy finished in Group G in second place behind Spain, and advanced to the play-off against Sweden. Italy failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup after a 1–0 aggregate loss to Sweden. The second leg, a 0–0 home draw on 13 November, was initially thought to be his final international appearance, as Chiellini announced his retirement from the national team immediately after the match.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 17 March 2018, despite Chiellini's initial decision to retire, he was called up for the March 2018 friendlies against Argentina and England by interim manager Luigi Di Biagio. After sustaining an injury, however, he was dropped from the squad, and Angelo Ogbonna was called up in his place.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: He was once again called up to the national team in September 2018, by manager Roberto Mancini, for Italy's opening UEFA Nations League matches against Poland and Portugal later that month. Chiellini was also named the new captain of the Italian national team following Gianluigi Buffon's international retirement. He subsequently wore the captain's armband in Italy's 1–1 home draw against Poland on 7 September, in their UEFA Nations League opener. On 11 October, he made his 98th appearance for Italy in a 1–1 friendly draw against Ukraine in Genoa, equalling Gianluca Zambrotta as his nation's joint-seventh highest appearance holder of all time. On 17 November, he made his 100th appearance for Italy in a 0–0 draw against Portugal at the San Siro stadium in Milan, in his team's final UEFA Nations League match.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: In June 2021, Chiellini was included in Italy's squad for UEFA Euro 2020. In the opening match on 11 June, a 3–0 win over Turkey, he became the oldest player to appear for Italy at the European Championships, at the age of . In their second group match against Switzerland in Rome on 16 June, he had a goal disallowed for an apparent handball and was later forced off in the first half due to injury, being replaced by Francesco Acerbi; Italy won the match 3–0, allowing them to advance to the round of 16 of the tournament. Chiellini would however recover from his injury, starting in Italy's 2–1 victory over Belgium in the quarter-finals on 2 July. He subsequently went on to captain Italy to its second ever European Championship victory on 11 July, following a 3–2 penalty shoot-out victory over England in the final at Wembley Stadium after a 1–1 draw in extra time.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: On 25 April 2022, Chiellini announced that he would retire from the Italy national team after the 2022 Finalissima against reigning Copa América champions Argentina on 1 June. During the match, he made his final and 117th international appearance, equalling Daniele De Rossi as the team's fourth–most capped player of all time; Italy were defeated 3–0 at Wembley Stadium, with Chiellini coming off at half time.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Chiellini began his professional career as a defensive-minded left-back, but later made his name as an aggressive, courageous, physical, and hard-tackling centre-back, with a penchant for scoring headers from set-pieces, due to his height, aerial prowess, athleticism, and strength. A versatile, consistent, commanding, and dependable left-footed defender, with good awareness, positional sense, and an ability to read the game, he is capable of playing both in a three or four-man defence. A hard-working player, he is also known for his ability to cover ground and put pressure on or anticipate opponents in positions higher up on the pitch.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Regarded as a promising defender in his youth, he came to be considered one of the best defenders in world football, one of the greatest defenders of his generation, and one of Juventus's greatest defenders ever. In 2018, his Juventus manager at the time – Massimiliano Allegri – described him as "the best defender in the world." Regarding Chiellini's strength and man-marking ability, his former Livorno manager Walter Mazzarri once labeled him as "a force of nature", also adding "he's a universal player that any coach would love to have on his team. He is from another planet; he can mark three players by himself."


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Due to his tenacious, no-nonsense playing style, Chiellini has been described as an "old-fashioned" centre-back, who primarily serves as a ball-winner; his physicality and aggression as a defender, as well as his trademark goal celebration, which involves him beating his chest, have earned him the nickname "King Kong". Although he is not particularly skilful or elegant from a technical standpoint, he possesses good vision and reliable distribution, which allows him to play the ball out or launch attacks from the back after winning back possession.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: A popular figure with fans, he is also known for his dedication and vocal leadership on the pitch, and was Juventus's long-time vice captain, behind Gianluigi Buffon; following Buffon's departure in 2018, Chiellini was appointed the team's new captain. With Andrea Barzagli's retirement, the subsequent Bonucci-Chiellini axis was considered, in terms of longevity and performance at high levels, one of the most solid and complementary in international football, as well as being compared to duets from the past such as Beckenbauer-Schwarzenbeck, Scirea-Gentile or Baresi-Costacurta. He has also proved to be popular captain with the Italian national team, stating that a captain's role was to ease the tension for the rest of the team during important moments. Although he is not known for his pace over short distances, he is also a mobile defender. Moreover, he possesses a strong mentality, good temperament under pressure, determination, and excellent concentration, as well as an ability to organise his back-line. Despite his ability as a defender, he has often struggled with injuries in recent seasons.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Chiellini was raised in Livorno and is one of twin boys. He completed a "laurea" (bachelor's degree) in economics and commerce at the University of Turin in July 2010, and earned a "" (master's degree) in business administration in April 2017 from the same institution, graduating "cum laude" (with honours). Chiellini also speaks English fluently.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: In July 2014, Chiellini married his long-time girlfriend Carolina Bonistalli at a private Catholic ceremony at the Sanctuary of Montenero in Livorno. The couple have two daughters: Nina born July 2015, and Olivia born June 2019. That same year, he published a book, "C'è un angelo bianconero. Il mio maestro si chiama Scirea".


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: Chiellini features in EA Sports' "FIFA" video game series; he was on the covers of the Italian editions of "FIFA 10", alongside global cover star Ronaldinho, and "FIFA 11", alongside global cover star Kaká.


title: Giorgio Chiellini

text: In 2020, Chiellini released his autobiography "Io, Giorgio", with the profits going to the "insuperabili" charity during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. However, Chiellini attracted controversy due to his strong criticism of his former club and international teammates Felipe Melo and Mario Balotelli in his book.


title: Jason Biggs

text: Jason Matthew Biggs (born May 12, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Jim Levenstein in the "American Pie" comedy film series and Larry Bloom in the Netflix original series "Orange Is the New Black". He also starred in "Boys and Girls", "Loser", "Saving Silverman", "Anything Else", "Jersey Girl", "Eight Below", "Over Her Dead Body", and "My Best Friend's Girl". Biggs initially gained recognition from his role in the soap opera "As the World Turns", for which he was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series in 1995.


title: Jason Biggs

text: Biggs was born on May 12, 1978 in Pompton Plains, New Jersey, to Angela (née Zocco), a nurse, and Gary Louis Biggs, a shipping company manager. His father is of English and Italian descent and his mother is of Sicilian descent. His last name is derived from his English ancestry. He was raised Roman Catholic.


title: Jason Biggs

text: Biggs grew up in Hasbrouck Heights and attended Hasbrouck Heights High School, where he achieved success in tennis. He attended New York University before transferring to Montclair State University, where he eventually dropped out.


title: Jason Biggs

text: Biggs began acting at the age of five. In 1991, he made his television debut in the short lived FOX series "Drexell's Class".


title: Jason Biggs

text: In 1988, aged 10, he received his Screen Actors Guild card for appearing in a TV commercial for Pathmark. He later recalled in a 2015 interview in "TV Guide", "I remember I had to eat a doughnut in one of the shots. Over and over again. Awesome."


title: Jason Biggs

text: When Biggs was 12, he starred in a one-off HBO special, "The Fotis Sevastakis Story", but due to licensing arguments, it was never aired. That same year, Biggs debuted on Broadway in "Conversations with My Father" with Judd Hirsch. He then starred in the daytime soap opera, "As the World Turns", for which he was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Best Younger Actor.


title: Jason Biggs

text: Biggs attended New York University briefly from 1996 to 1997, but soon afterwards, he left to pursue acting. And soon he would be seen again in another short lived television series, 1997's "Camp Stories". He starred in "American Pie", which went on to become an international hit that has spawned three sequels (also starring Biggs) and four spinoffs (that did not star Biggs). He accepted starring roles in movies such as "Loser" in 2000, and others. He also starred (along with his "Loser" co-star Mena Suvari) in the music video for the song "Teenage Dirtbag" by American rock band Wheatus. In 2001, Biggs starred in the comedy "Saving Silverman".


title: Jason Biggs

text: He appeared in the 2002 Broadway production of "The Graduate" as Benjamin Braddock alongside Kathleen Turner and Alicia Silverstone. In 2003, Biggs appeared as Jerry Falk in the Woody Allen romantic comedy "Anything Else". In the 2004–2005 season, Biggs portrayed an Orthodox Jew in Daniel Goldfarb's comedy, "Modern Orthodox", staged at Dodger Stages theater in New York City. In 2006, Biggs was seen in the MTV reality show "Blowin' Up" with Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone which led to his participation in a hip-hop recording with Bay Area rapper E-40. Biggs returned to the stage in the fall of 2008 in Howard Korder's "Boys' Life" at New York City's Second Stage Theatre.


title: Jason Biggs

text: Biggs has appeared in several other films, including "Eight Below" and "Over Her Dead Body". In 2010, Biggs made his literary debut by contributing "Scratch-and-Sniff", a poem about growing up in New Jersey, to the anthology, "What's Your Exit? A Literary Detour through New Jersey" (Word Riot Press, 2010). In 2012, he contributed to the anthology "Oy! Only Six? Why Not More: Six-Word Memoirs on Jewish Life" with the self-ironic article "This is a Roman nose, OK?" (Biggs is not Jewish.) A year later, Larry Smith, the editor of the anthology, and creator of "Six-Word Memoirs", would be the basis for Bigg's "Orange Is the New Black" character Larry Bloom. He departed the series in February 2015 after two seasons.


title: Jason Biggs

text: Biggs reprised his role as Jim Levenstein in "American Reunion", which was released on April 6, 2012. In the summer of 2012, Biggs took a job voicing Leonardo on Nickelodeon in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". He left the series during its second season and was temporarily replaced by Dominic Catrambone. Seth Green permanently took over the role from Biggs beginning in season 3, with Leonardo's voice change being explained in the show's universe, as it was due to his throat getting injured in a battle against Shredder. Biggs also plays the cowbell in the supergroup Yukon Kornelius.


title: Jason Biggs

text: It was announced in September 2014 that Biggs would star on Broadway in "The Heidi Chronicles". The play opened on March 19.


title: Jason Biggs

text: In December 2014, "The Hollywood Reporter" announced Biggs was cast to star in the comedy "Amateur Night". Biggs plays a well-meaning expectant father who unwittingly accepts a job chauffeuring prostitutes (Janet Montgomery, Ashley Tisdale) around Los Angeles. Jenny Mollen, who is Biggs' wife in real life, appears as his wife in the film.


title: Jason Biggs

text: Biggs is sometimes cast as an explicitly or implicitly Jewish character, as he was in "American Pie", "Saving Silverman", "Anything Else, "and "Orange is the New Black", although he is not Jewish and in fact, Biggs grew up Catholic.


title: Jason Biggs

text: In January 2008, he became engaged to his "My Best Friend's Girl" co-star, actress Jenny Mollen; they married on April 23, 2008. They have a son, Sid, who was born on February 15, 2014. Their second son, Lazlo, was born on October 2, 2017. Biggs and Mollen sold their house in Los Angeles, California, which was situated near the Sunset Strip, in 2015 and moved to Manhattan, New York City. The family currently reside in the West Village.


title: Jason Biggs

text: From 2012–14, Biggs regularly caused controversy with his posts on Twitter, including sexual jokes about Ann Romney and Janna Ryan in response to the 2012 Republican National Convention, joking about the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in 2014, joking about Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down later that year, and mocking the death of "The Bachelorette" contestant Eric Hill.


title: Jason Biggs

text: In a 2012 interview, Biggs stated that he has "a very fucked up sense of humor" and said he enjoyed the ability to "surprise people on a daily basis" on Twitter because his real personality is so different from those of the characters he usually plays.


title: Jason Biggs

text: He apologized for and deleted his tweet about Malaysian Flight 17; in a later interview he said that it had led to death threats against him.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: Japan was occupied and administered by the victorious Allies of World War II from the 1945 surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of the war until the


title: Occupation of Japan

text: Treaty of San Francisco took effect in 1952. The occupation, led by the United States with support from the British Commonwealth and under the supervision of the Far Eastern Commission, involved a total of nearly 1 million Allied soldiers. The occupation was overseen by American General Douglas MacArthur, who was appointed Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers by US President Harry Truman; MacArthur was succeeded as supreme commander by General Matthew Ridgway in 1951. Unlike in the occupation of Germany, the Soviet Union had little to no influence over the occupation of Japan, declining to participate because it did not want to place Soviet troops under MacArthur's direct command.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: This foreign presence marks the only time in Japan's history that it has been occupied by a foreign power. However, unlike in Germany the Allies never assumed direct control over Japan's civil administration. In the immediate aftermath of Japan's military surrender, the country's government continued to formally operate under the provisions of the Meiji Constitution. Furthermore, at MacArthur's insistence, Emperor Hirohito remained on the imperial throne and was effectively granted full immunity from prosecution for war crimes after he agreed to replace the wartime cabinet with a ministry acceptable to the Allies and committed to implementing the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, which among other things called for the country to become a parliamentary democracy. Under MacArthur's guidance, the Japanese government introduced sweeping social reforms and implemented economic reforms that recalled American "New Deal" priorities of the 1930s under President Roosevelt. In 1947, a sweeping amendment to the Meiji Constitution was passed which effectively repealed it in its entirety and replaced it with a new, American-written constitution, and the emperor's theoretically vast powers, which for many centuries had been constrained only by conventions that had evolved over time, became strictly limited by law. Article 9 of the constitution explicitly forbade Japan from maintaining a military or pursuing war as a means to settle international disputes.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: The occupation officially ended with coming into force of the San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed on September 8, 1951, and effective from April 28, 1952, after which the U.S. military ceased any direct involvement in the country's civil administration thus effectively restoring full sovereignty to Japan with the exception of the Ryukyu Islands. The simultaneous implementation of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty allowed tens of thousands of American soldiers to remain based in Japan indefinitely, albeit at the invitation of the Japanese government and not as an occupation force.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: The occupation of Japan can be usefully divided into three phases: the initial effort to punish and reform Japan; the so-called "Reverse Course" in which the focus shifted to suppressing dissent and reviving the Japanese economy to support the U.S. in the Cold War; and the final establishment of a formal peace treaty and enduring military alliance.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: American planning for a post-war occupation of Japan began as early as February 1942, when President Franklin Roosevelt established an Advisory Committee on Postwar Foreign Policy to advise him on the postwar reconstruction of Germany, Italy, and Japan. On matters related to Japan, this committee was later succeeded by the smaller Inter-Departmental Area Committee on the Far East (IDAFE), which met 234 times between fall 1942 and summer 1945 and had frequent discussions with the President.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: 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. Under the final plan, however, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) was to be given direct control over the main islands of Japan (Honshu, Hokkaido, Shikoku, and Kyushu) and the immediately surrounding islands, while outlying possessions were divided between the Allied Powers as follows:


title: Occupation of Japan

text: In early August 1945, with Japan's surrender seeming probable, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended to President Truman that Pacific Theatre Commander General Douglas MacArthur be named Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) to oversee the surrender and occupation of Japan. Truman agreed, and MacArthur asked his staff in Manila to begin making concrete preparations for the occupation of Japan.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: In a bid to occupy as much Japanese territory as possible, Soviet troops continued offensive military operations even after the Japanese surrender, causing large-scale civilian casualties. Such operations included final battles on the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin well past the end of August in 1945. In the end, despite its initial hopes, the Soviet Union did not manage to occupy any part of the Japanese home islands, largely due to significant US opposition which was backed by the leverage gained by its then-newly-realized status as the world's only nuclear-armed state.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: In any case, Stalin was not inclined to press the Americans very far following Japan's surrender. He was not willing to place Soviet troops under MacArthur's direct command. Furthermore, in terms of both strategic interests and prestige the Soviets had achieved most of their war aims in the Far East. Moreover, whereas China, Korea and Japan were all a considerable distance from the USSR's European heartland, Stalin regarded establishing a powerful buffer against further military threats from the west to be vital to the Soviet Union's future existence. He therefore placed a far greater priority on establishing Soviet communist influence in Europe rather than in Asia.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: Following the dropping of atomic bombs and the entry of the Soviet Union into the war against Japan, on the night of 9-10 August 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced his decision to accept the terms demanded by the Allies in the Potsdam Declaration. On August 15, 1945; Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's unconditional surrender to the Japanese people in a nationwide radio broadcast.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: Japanese officials left for Manila on August 19 to meet MacArthur and to discuss surrender terms. On August 28, 1945, a week before the official surrender ceremony, one hundred fifty US personnel flew to Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture. They were followed by the USS "Missouri", whose accompanying vessels landed the 4th Marine Regiment on the southern coast of Kanagawa. The 11th Airborne Division was airlifted from Okinawa to Atsugi Airdrome, from Tokyo. Other Allied personnel followed.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: MacArthur arrived in Tokyo on August 30 and immediately decreed several laws. No Allied personnel were to assault Japanese people or eat the scarce Japanese food. Flying the "Hinomaru" (sun disc) flag was initially severely restricted (although individuals and prefectural offices could apply for permission to fly it); this restriction was partially lifted in 1948 and completely lifted the following year.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: 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 Japan's war potential and turning Japan into a democratic nation with pro-United Nations orientation.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: By the end of 1945, around 430,000 American soldiers were stationed throughout Japan. Of the main Japanese islands, Kyūshū was occupied by the 24th Infantry Division, with some responsibility for Shikoku. Honshu was occupied by the First Cavalry Division and Sixth Army. Hokkaido was occupied by the 11th Airborne Division. By the beginning of 1946, replacement troops began to arrive in the country in large numbers and were assigned to MacArthur's Eighth Army, headquartered in Tokyo's Dai-Ichi building. In total, including rotations of replacement troops throughout the seven years, nearly 1 million American soldiers would serve in the Occupation, in addition to thousands of civilian contractors and tens of thousands of dependents.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: The American forces were supplemented by around 40,000 troops from the British Commonwealth. The official British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF), composed of Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand personnel, did not begin deployment to Japan until February 21, 1946. While US forces were responsible for the overall occupation, BCOF was responsible for supervising demilitarization and the disposal of Japan's war industries. BCOF was also responsible for occupation of several western prefectures and had its headquarters at Kure. At its peak, the force numbered about 40,000 personnel. During 1947, BCOF began to decrease its activities in Japan, and officially wound up in 1951.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: The Far Eastern Commission and Allied Council for Japan were also established to supervise the occupation of Japan. The establishment of a multilateral Allied council for Japan was proposed by the Soviet government as early as September 1945, and was supported partially by the British, French and Chinese governments.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: The initial phase of the Occupation focused on punishing Japan for having made war on the Allies, and undertook a thorough reformation of Japanese society to ensure that Japan would never again be a threat to world peace. Reforms targeted all major sectors of Japanese society, government, and economy. Historians have emphasized similarities to the American New Deal programs of the 1930s. Moore and Robinson note that, "New Deal liberalism seemed natural, even to conservative Republicans such as MacArthur and Whitney."


title: Occupation of Japan

text: Before reforms could be undertaken, MacArthur's first priority was to set up a food distribution network. Following the collapse of the ruling government and the wholesale destruction of most major cities, virtually the entire Japanese populace was starving. The air raids on Japan's urban centers left millions displaced, and food shortages (created by bad harvests and the demands of the war) worsened when the seizure of foodstuffs from Korea, Taiwan, and China ceased. Repatriation of Japanese people living in other parts of Asia and hundreds of thousands of demobilized prisoners of war only aggravated the hunger problem in Japan, as these people put more strain on already scarce resources. Around 5.1 million Japanese returned to Japan in the fifteen months following October 1, 1945, and another million returned in 1947. As expressed by Kazuo Kawai, "Democracy cannot be taught to a starving people". Initially, the US government provided emergency food relief through Government Aid and Relief in Occupied Areas (GARIOA) funds. In fiscal year 1946, this aid amounted to US$92 million in loans. From April 1946, under the guise of Licensed Agencies for Relief in Asia, private relief organizations were also permitted to provide relief. Even with these measures, millions of people were still on the brink of starvation for several years after the surrender.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: Once the food network was in place, MacArthur set out to win the support of Hirohito. The two men met for the first time on September 27; the photograph of the two together is one of the most famous in Japanese history. Some were shocked that MacArthur wore his standard duty uniform with no tie, instead of his dress uniform, when meeting the emperor. The difference in height between the towering MacArthur and the diminutive Hirohito also impressed upon Japanese citizens who was in charge now. With the cooperation of Japan's reigning monarch, MacArthur had the political ammunition he needed to begin the real work of the occupation. While other Allied political and military leaders pushed for Hirohito to be tried as a war criminal, MacArthur resisted such calls, arguing that any such prosecution would be overwhelmingly unpopular with the Japanese people. He also rejected calls for abdication, promoted by some members of the imperial family such as Prince Mikasa and Prince Higashikuni and demands of intellectuals like Tatsuji Miyoshi.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: Japanese soldiers were rapidly disarmed and demobilized en masse. On September 15, 1945, the Japanese Imperial Headquarters was dissolved. By December, all Japanese military forces in the Japanese home islands were fully disbanded. Occupation forces also exploded or dumped into the sea over 2 million tons of unused munitions and other war materiel.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: The issuing of the Removal of Restrictions on Political, Civil, and Religious Liberties directive by SCAP on October 4, 1945, led to the abolition of the Peace Preservation Law and the release of all political prisoners. Japanese communists were released from jail, and the Japan Communist Party was granted legal status.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: On December 15, 1945, the Shinto Directive was issued, abolishing Shinto as a state religion and prohibiting some of its teachings and rites that were deemed to be militaristic or ultra-nationalistic.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: On December 22, 1945, at SCAP's direction, the Diet passed Japan's first ever trade union law protecting the rights of workers to form or join a union, to organize, and take industrial action. There had been pre-war attempts to do so, but none that were successfully passed until the Allied occupation. A new Trade Union Law was passed on June 1, 1949, which remains in place to the present day. According to Article 1 of the Act, the purpose of the act is to "elevate the status of workers by promoting their being on equal standing with the employer".


title: Occupation of Japan

text: In January 1946, SCAP issued directives calling for the purge of wartime officials from public offices. Individuals targeted in the purge included accused war criminals, military officers, leaders of ultranationalist societies, leaders in the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, business leaders involved in Japanese overseas economic expansion, governors of former Japanese colonies, and national leaders involved in the decisions leading Japan into war. Ultimately, SCAP screened a total of 717,415 possible purgees, and wound up excluding 201,815 of them from holding public office. However, as part of the "Reverse Course" in Occupation policy, most of the purgees would be de-purged and allowed to return to public life by 1951.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: In September 1945, at SCAP's urging, the Japanese government agreed to lower the voting age and extend the voting franchise to women in future elections. On April 10, 1946, an election with 78.52% voter turnout among men and 66.97% among women was held, giving Japan its first prime minister partially elected by women, Shigeru Yoshida.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: At SCAP's insistence, as part of a New Year's Day message, Emperor Hirohito publicly renounced his own divinity, declaring:


title: Occupation of Japan

text: In 1947, the Diet ratified a new Constitution of Japan that followed closely a "model copy" drafted by American civilian officials within SCAP, and was promulgated to replace the old Prussian-style Meiji Constitution that had granted the Emperor theoretically unlimited powers. The new constitution drew inspiration from the U.S. Bill of Rights, New Deal social legislation, the liberal constitutions of several European states and even the Soviet Union, and transferred sovereignty from the Emperor to the people in an attempt to depoliticize the Throne and reduce it to the status of a state symbol. Included in the revised charter was the famous Article Nine, whereby Japan forever renounced war as an instrument of state policy and became forbidden to maintain a standing army. The 1947 Constitution also officially enfranchised women, guaranteed fundamental human rights, strengthened the powers of Parliament and the Cabinet, and decentralized the police and local government.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: To further remove Japan as a potential future threat to the United States, the Far Eastern Commission decided that Japan was to be partly de-industrialized. In the end, SCAP adopted a program of de-industrialization and de-concentration in Japan that was implemented to a lesser degree than the similar U.S. "industrial disarmament" program in Germany. To this end, the prewar "zaibatsu" industrial conglomerates were pressured into undergoing "voluntary" dissolution into smaller independent companies. Although SCAP originally planned to break up 325 Japanese companies, as a result of changes in priorities in connection with the "Reverse Course," in the end only the 11 largest companies were dissolved.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: The Labor Standards Act was enacted on April 7, 1947, to govern working conditions in Japan. According to Article 1 of the Act, its goal is to ensure that "Working conditions shall be those which should meet the needs of workers who live lives worthy of human beings." Support stemming from the Allied occupation has introduced better working conditions and pay for numerous employees in Japanese business. This allowed for more sanitary and hygienic working environments along with welfare and government assistance for health insurance, pensions plans and work involving other trained specialists. While it was created while Japan was under occupation, the origins of the Act have nothing to do with the occupation forces. It appears to have been the brainchild of Kosaku Teramoto, a former member of the Thought Police, who had become the head of the Labor Standards section of the Welfare Ministry.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: Before and during the war, Japanese education was based on the German system, with "Gymnasien" (selective grammar schools) and universities to train students after primary school. During the occupation, Japan's secondary education system was changed to incorporate three-year junior high schools and senior high schools similar to those in the US: junior high school became compulsory but senior high school remained optional. The Imperial Rescript on Education was repealed, and the Imperial University system reorganized. The longstanding issue of Japanese script reform, which had been planned for decades but continuously opposed by more conservative elements, was also resolved during this time. The Japanese writing system was drastically reorganized with the Tōyō kanji-list in 1946, predecessor of today's Jōyō kanji, and orthography was greatly altered to reflect spoken usage.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: A sweeping land reform was also conducted, led by Wolf Ladejinsky from SCAP. However, Ladejinsky would claim that the real architect of the reform was , former Japanese Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. Between 1947 and 1949, approximately of land (approximately 38% of Japan's cultivated land) were purchased from the landlords under the government's reform program and resold at extremely low prices (after inflation) to the farmers who worked them. MacArthur's land reform redistribution resulted in only 10% of the land being worked by non-owners. By 1950, three million peasants had acquired land, dismantling a power structure that the landlords had long dominated.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: While these other reforms were taking place, various military tribunals, most notably the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Ichigaya, were trying Japan's war criminals and sentencing many to death and imprisonment. However, many suspects such as Masanobu Tsuji, Nobusuke Kishi, Yoshio Kodama and Ryōichi Sasakawa were never judged, while the Emperor Hirohito, all members of the imperial family implicated in the war such as Prince Chichibu, Prince Yasuhiko Asaka, Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu, Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni and Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda, and all members of Unit 731—including its director Dr. Shirō Ishii—were granted immunity from criminal prosecution by General MacArthur.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: Before the war crimes trials actually convened, the SCAP, its International Prosecution Section (IPS) and Shōwa officials worked behind the scenes not only to prevent the imperial family from being indicted, but also to slant the testimony of the defendants to ensure that no one implicated the Emperor. High officials in court circles and the Shōwa government collaborated with Allied GHQ in compiling lists of prospective war criminals, while the individuals arrested as "Class A" suspects and incarcerated in Sugamo prison solemnly vowed to protect their sovereign against any possible taint of war responsibility. Thus, months before the Tokyo tribunal commenced, MacArthur's highest subordinates were working to attribute ultimate responsibility for Pearl Harbor to Hideki Tojo by allowing "the major criminal suspects to coordinate their stories so that the Emperor would be spared from indictment." According to historian John W. Dower, "With the full support of MacArthur's headquarters, the prosecution functioned, in effect, as a defense team for the emperor."


title: Occupation of Japan

text: In Dower's view, "Even Japanese peace activists who endorse the ideals of the Nuremberg and Tokyo charters, and who have labored to document and publicize Japanese atrocities, cannot defend the American decision to exonerate the emperor of war responsibility and then, in the chill of Cold War, release and soon afterwards openly embrace accused right-wing war criminals like the later prime minister Kishi Nobusuke."


title: Occupation of Japan

text: The is the name commonly given to a major shift in the Occupation policies that began in 1947 in response to the emerging global Cold War. In particular, U.S. priorities shifted from punishing and reforming Japan to ensuring internal political stability, rebuilding the shattered economy, and remilitarizing Japan to the extent possible under Article 9, in support of U.S. Cold War objectives in East Asia. This involved relaxing and in some cases even partially undoing earlier reforms the Occupation had enacted in 1945 and 1946. As a U.S. Department of State official history puts it, "this 'Reverse Course'...focused on strengthening, not punishing, what would become a key Cold War ally."


title: Occupation of Japan

text: An early sign of the shift in SCAP's thinking came in January 1947 when MacArthur announced that he would not permit a massive, nationwide general strike that labor unions had scheduled for February 1. Thereafter, the broader shift in Occupation policies became more and more apparent. Thousands of conservative and nationalist wartime leaders were de-purged and allowed to reenter politics and government ministries. In the industrial sector, plans for further anti-trust actions against the remains of the old "zaibatsu" industrial conglomerates were scrapped, and some earlier anti-trust policies were partially undone. The incomplete suppression of the "zaibatsu" allowed them to partially reform as "informal associations" known as "keiretsu." SCAP also attempted to weaken the labor unions they had recently empowered, most notably issuing an edict stripping public-sector workers of their right to go on strike.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: In order to stabilize the Japanese economy as soon as possible, American banker Joseph Dodge was brought in as an economic consultant. Dodge implemented the "Dodge Line" in 1949, a set of draconian contractionary fiscal and monetary policies that caused much hardship for the Japanese populace but succeeded in getting rampant inflation under control. Dodge also fixed the exchange rate at 360 yen to the dollar, a favorable rate which would help boost Japanese exports in the years to come and power the Japanese economic miracle.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: As part of the Reverse Course, the United States also began pressuring Japan to remilitarize. In 1950, SCAP established the National Police Reserve (NPR), which would later become the basis of the present-day Japan Self Defense Forces (JSDF)


title: Occupation of Japan

text: The climax of the Reverse course came in the so-called "Red Purge" ("reddo pāji") of 1950. The "fall" of China to the communists in 1949 and the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 had heightened conservative fears that communism was on the march in East Asia. Against this backdrop, the Japanese government and business leaders, with the connivance and encouragement of SCAP, purged tens of thousands of communists, alleged communists, and other leftists from government posts, private sector jobs, and teaching positions at schools and universities.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: The Reverse Course significantly weakened left-wing forces and strengthened conservatives, laying the foundations for decades of conservative rule. At the same time, it did not completely destroy leftist forces that had been deliberately unleashed in the Occupation's early stages, setting the stage for extremely contentious political struggles and labor strife in the 1950s, culminating in the massive Anpo protests and Miike Coal Mine Strike, both in 1960.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: In 1949, MacArthur made a sweeping change in the SCAP power structure that greatly increased the power of Japan's native rulers, and the Occupation began to draw to a close. The Treaty of San Francisco, which was to end the occupation, was signed on September 8, 1951. It came into effect on April 28, 1952, formally ending all occupation powers of the Allied forces and restoring full sovereignty to Japan, except for the island chains of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, which the United States continued to hold. Iwo Jima was returned to Japan in 1968, and most of Okinawa was returned in 1972.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: As a condition of securing the end of the Occupation and the restoration of Japanese sovereignty, Japan was compelled by the United States to agree to the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, which has allowed U.S. troops to remain based on Japanese soil on an indefinite basis. Even after the Occupation officially ended in 1952, a


title: Occupation of Japan

text: total of 260,000 American soldiers remained based on mainland Japan (exclusive of U.S.-controlled Okinawa, which based tens of thousands more). Even today, some 31,000 U.S. military personnel remain based in Japan, including at major bases near Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Aomori, Sapporo, and Ishikari.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: Popular anger at the continuing presence of these U.S. military bases in Japan even after the official end of the Occupation continued to grow over the course of the 1950s, leading to a nationwide anti-base movement and a number of spectacular protests, including Bloody May Day in 1952, the Sunagawa protests from 1955 to 1957, and the Girard Incident protests in 1957. Partially in response to these protests, the original 1951 Security Treaty was revised into a somewhat less one-sided pact in 1960, resulting in the current U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, which has had the effect of establishing a military alliance between the United States and Japan. However, even the revised treaty was opposed by many in Japan, leading to the massive 1960 Anpo protests, which were the largest protests in Japan's modern history.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: Since the end of the Occupation, the United States has continuously pressured Japan to revise its American-imposed constitution to remove Article 9 and fully remilitarize. As a result, in 1954 the National Police Reserve was reorganized into the Japan Self-Defense Forces, a "de facto" military force, with U.S. assistance. However, thus far Japan has resisted U.S. pressures to fully rearm and remilitarize. Under the Yoshida Doctrine, Japan continued to prioritize economic growth over defense spending, relying on American military protection to ensure it could focus mainly on economic recovery. Through "guided capitalism," Japan was able to use its resources to economically recover from the war and revive industry, eventually sparking a lengthy period of unprecedented economic growth remembered as the Japanese economic miracle.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: With the acceptance of the Allied occupation authorities, the Japanese organized a brothel system (the euphemistically named "Recreation and Amusement Association," or RAA) for the benefit of the more than 300,000 occupation troops. Many Japanese civilians and government officials feared that the Allied occupation troops were likely to rape Japanese women. "The strategy was, through the special work of experienced women, to create a breakwater to protect regular women and girls."


title: Occupation of Japan

text: In December 1945, a senior officer with the Public Health and Welfare Division of the occupation's General Headquarters wrote regarding the typical prostitute: "The girl is impressed into contracting by the desperate financial straits of her parents and their urging, occasionally supplemented by her willingness to make such a sacrifice to help her family", he wrote. "It is the belief of our informants, however, that in urban districts the practice of enslaving girls, while much less prevalent than in the past, still exists. The worst victims ... were the women who, with no previous experience, answered the ads calling for 'Women of the New Japan.'"


title: Occupation of Japan

text: MacArthur issued an order, SCAPIN 642 (SCAP Instruction), on January 21 ending licensed brothels for being "in contravention of the ideals of democracy". Although SCAPIN 642 ended the RAA's operations, it did not affect "voluntary prostitution" by individuals. Ultimately, SCAP responded by making all brothels and other facilities offering prostitution off-limits to Allied personnel on March 25, 1946. By November, the Japanese government had introduced the new system in which prostitution was permissible only in certain designated areas.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: According to Toshiyuki Tanaka, 76 cases of rape or rape-murder were reported during the first five years of the American occupation of Okinawa. However, he asserts this is probably not the true figure, as most cases were unreported. Some historians have estimated that U.S. troops committed thousands of rapes among the population of the Ryukyu Islands during the Okinawa Campaign and the beginning of the American occupation in 1945. One Okinawan historian estimated as many as 10,000 Okinawan women may have been raped in total.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: As described above, Japanese authorities had set up a large system of prostitution facilities in order to protect the population from sexual assault. According to John W. Dower, precisely as the Japanese government had hoped when it created the prostitution facilities, while the RAA was in place "the incidence of rape remained relatively low given the huge size of the occupation force." However, there was a resulting large rise in venereal disease among the soldiers, which led MacArthur to close down the prostitution in early 1946. The incidence of rape increased after the closure of the brothels, possibly eight-fold; Dower states that "According to one calculation the number of rapes and assaults on Japanese women amounted to around 40 "daily" while the RAA was in operation, and then rose to an average of 330 a day after it was terminated in early 1946." Brian Walsh disputes Dower's numbers and states that rape was uncommon throughout the Occupation, with the number of daily rapes being much lower. According to Walsh, the increase in rapes during the termination of the RAA was brief in duration, and the numbers quickly declined thereafter. Michael S. Molasky states that while rape and other violent crime were widespread in naval ports like Yokosuka and Yokohama during the first few weeks of occupation, according to Japanese police reports and journalistic studies, the number of incidents declined shortly after and they were not common on mainland Japan throughout the rest of occupation.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: After the surrender of Japan in 1945, SCAP abolished all forms of Japanese censorship and controls on freedom of speech, which would later be enshrined in Article 21 of the 1947 Constitution of Japan. However, two weeks into the Occupation, SCAP began censoring all media; on September 10, 1945, SCAP "issued press and pre-censorship codes outlawing the publication of all reports and statistics 'inimical to the objectives of the Occupation'." This included any mention of rape or other sensitive social issues.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: It has been argued that the granting of rights to women played an important role in the radical shift Japan underwent from a war nation to a democratized and demilitarized country. In the first postwar general elections of 1946, over a third of the votes were cast by women. This unexpectedly high female voter turnout led to the election of 39 female candidates, and the increasing presence of women in politics was perceived by Americans as evidence of an improvement of Japanese women's condition.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: American feminists saw Japanese women as victims of feudalistic and chauvinistic traditions that had to be broken by the Occupation. American women assumed a central role in the reforms that affected the lives of Japanese women: they educated Japanese about Western ideals of democracy, and it was an American woman, Beate Sirota, who wrote the articles guaranteeing equality between men and women for the new constitution. General Douglas MacArthur did not mean for Japanese women to give up their central role in the home as wives and mothers, but rather that they could now assume other roles simultaneously, such as that of worker.