title: Parliament of Great Britain

text: In 1801, the Parliament of the United Kingdom was created when the Kingdom of Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union 1800.


title: Mohan Agashe

text: Mohan Agashe (born 23 July 1947) is an Indian psychiatrist and actor. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1996 in theatre.


title: Mohan Agashe

text: Agashe was born in Bhor, Maharashtra. He studied in B. J. Medical College, Pune for his MBBS and MD degree in Psychiatry. He later became a professor, before becoming an actor.


title: Mohan Agashe

text: Agashe served as a professor of Psychiatry at the B. J. Medical College and Sassoon Hospital in Pune. Apart from his medical career, he also worked in the fields of clinical psychology and psychopharmacology. Agashe was also instrumental in establishing the Maharashtra Institute of Mental Health in 1991, a state level training and research institute in Mental Health Sciences, located in Pune, India. Agashe headed the five-year study on the trauma of the 1993 Latur earthquake, initiated by the Indian Council of Medical Research.


title: Mohan Agashe

text: Agashe started his early career by opting to work in a government Hospital at Pune. He also chaired the organising committee meetings for the Annual National Conference of Indian Psychiatric Society held at Armed Forces Medical College, Pune. In 1998, Agashe's project to improve mental health education and service led to the formation of a new policy on mental education by the Government of Maharashtra. He has also served as an Advisor to the Government of Maharashtra on Mental Health Education and Service. Agashe is presently Principal Investigator for an Indo–US joint project on Cultural Disorders of Fatigue and Weaknesses.


title: Mohan Agashe

text: Agashe started out as a theatre artist through Sai Paranjape's children's play. His love of acting made him take time out of his busy schedule to work in plays. He started his career in acting by working in the theatre. From April 1997 to April 2002, he was the Director General of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. He was part of a play called "Jara Samjhun Ghya," which he presented for IMA's awareness drive to strength doctor-patient relationship in Pune. In 2018, he was also part of a Harry Potter spoof video by Bharatiya Digital Party, where he portrayed Bumbledore. He was also part of a short film "#PuranaPyaar," by Gorilla Shorts.


title: Sushilkumar Shinde

text: Sushilkumar Sambhaji Shinde (born 4 September 1941) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He was the Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Power in the Manmohan Singh government, and the Leader of the House in Lok Sabha until 26 May 2014. He previously served as the Chief Minister of the state of Maharashtra from 18 January 2003 to October 2004.


title: Sushilkumar Shinde

text: Shinde was born on 4 September 1941 at Solapur in a Dhor caste to Sambhaji Rao Shinde and Sakhu Bai. Shinde completed his education with an honours degree in arts from Dayanand College, Solapur and LLB from ILS Law College and New Law College, University of Bombay, Maharashtra.


title: Sushilkumar Shinde

text: Sushilkumar Shinde started his career as a bailiff in the Sessions court of Solapur where he worked from 1957 – 1965. He then joined the Maharashtra Police as a constable. Subsequently, he served in the Maharashtra CID for six years, as a sub-inspector of police, under Amukuraj Patil, his CID mentor.


title: Sushilkumar Shinde

text: In the year 1971, Shinde became a member of the Congress Party. He won the Maharashtra state assembly elections in 1974, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1992, 24 May 2003 to August 2004–(General) by-election, September 2004 to 2 October 2004–(General). Shinde was elected to Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra during July 1992 to March 1998. In 1999, he acted as campaign manager of the Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh. In 2002, Shinde lost the election for the post of Vice-President of India contesting against the National Democratic Alliance candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. He served as the chief minister of Maharashtra from 2003 to 2004. He was appointed the Governor of Andhra Pradesh on 30 October 2004 replacing Surjit Singh Barnala, who became the Governor of Tamil Nadu. He left the office on 29 January 2006.


title: Sushilkumar Shinde

text: Shinde was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha for the second time from Maharashtra on 20 March 2006. Shinde became the leader of Lok Sabha after his predecessor Pranab Mukherjee was elected President of India. Shinde served as Power minister of India from 2006 to 2012. Later, he was appointed Home Minister of India in 2012. His tenure as a Home Minister saw two major decisions of hanging the terrorists Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab.


title: Sushilkumar Shinde

text: During the 2012 northern India power grid failure, Shinde deflected criticism by observing that India was not alone in suffering major power outages, as the United States and Brazil had both experienced similar blackouts within the previous few years. Officials in Uttar Pradesh, where the problem was believed to have begun, said the grid could not keep up with the huge demand for power in the hot summer. Uttar Pradesh power corporation chief Awanish Kumar Awasthi stated that the grid collapse was due to the states drawing more than their allotted power to meet the summer demand.


title: Sushilkumar Shinde

text: In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Shinde was the Congress party nominee. He was defeated by BJP Candidate Mr. Sharad Bansode.


title: Sushilkumar Shinde

text: Sushilkumar Shinde contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Solapur. Shinde was the Congress party nominee. He was defeated by BJP Candidate Mr. Siddheshwar Maharaj by a margin of 156,261 votes.


title: Sushilkumar Shinde

text: Shinde married Ujwala Shinde on 1 May 1970. The couple has three daughters. One of his daughters Praniti Shinde is MLA of Solapur, Maharashtra India.


title: Sushilkumar Shinde

text: The Marathi film, Dusari Goshta (2014) & one documentary film, "Andherese Ujale Ki Aour" are based on his life from childhood to becoming a popular politician.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The economic history of Japan is most studied for the spectacular social and economic growth in the 1800s after the Meiji Restoration. It became the first non-Western great power, and expanded steadily until its defeat in the Second World War. When Japan recovered from devastation to become the world's second largest economy behind the United States, and from 2010 behind China as well. Scholars have evaluated the nation's unique economic position during the Cold War, with exports going to both U.S.- and Soviet-aligned powers, and have taken keen interest in the situation of the post-Cold War period of the Japanese "lost decades".


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The Yayoi period is generally accepted to date from 300 BCE to 300 CE. However, radio-carbon evidence suggests a date up to 500 years earlier, between 1,000 and 800 BCE. During this period Japan transitioned to a settled agricultural society. As the Yayoi population increased, the society became more stratified and complex. They wove textiles, lived in permanent farming villages, and constructed buildings with wood and stone. They also accumulated wealth through land ownership and the storage of grain. Such factors promoted the development of distinct social classes. Yayoi chiefs, in some parts of Kyūshū, appear to have sponsored, and politically manipulated, trade in bronze and other prestige objects. That was made possible by the introduction of an irrigated, wet-rice agriculture from the Yangtze estuary in southern China via the Ryukyu Islands or Korean Peninsula.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The Kofun period recorded Japan's earliest political centralization, when the Yamato clan rose to power in southwestern Japan, established the Imperial House, and helped control trade routes across the region. Much of the material culture of the Kofun period demonstrates that Japan was in close political and economic contact with continental Asia (especially with the southern dynasties of China) via the Korean Peninsula; bronze mirrors cast from the same mould have been found on both sides of the Tsushima Strait. Irrigation, sericulture, and weaving were brought to Japan by Chinese immigrants, who are mentioned in ancient Japanese histories; the Chinese Hata clan introduced sericulture and certain types of weaving.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which was concentrated in the Asuka region and exercised power over clans in Kyūshū and Honshū, bestowing titles, some hereditary, on clan chieftains. The Yamato name became synonymous with all of Japan as the Yamato rulers suppressed other clans and acquired agricultural lands. Based on Chinese modelhi s (including the adoption of the Chinese written language), they developed a system of trade roads and a central administration. By the mid-seventh century, the agricultural lands had grown to a substantial public domain, subject to central policy. The basic administrative unit of the system was the county, and society was organized into occupation groups. Most people were farmers; others were fishers, weavers, potters, artisans, armorers, and ritual specialists.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: In 645, the Soga clan were overthrown in a coup launched by Prince Naka no Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari, the founder of the Fujiwara clan. Their government devised and implemented the far-reaching Taika Reforms. The Reform began with land reform, based on Confucian ideas and philosophies from China. It nationalized all land in Japan, to be distributed equally among cultivators, and ordered the compilation of a household registry as the basis for a new system of taxation. What were once called became , as the court now sought to assert its control over all of Japan and to make the people direct subjects of the throne. Land was no longer hereditary but reverted to the state at the death of the owner. Taxes were levied on harvests and on silk, cotton, cloth, thread, and other products. A corvée (labor) tax was established for military conscription and building public works.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Before the Taihō Code was established, the capital was customarily moved after the death of an emperor because of the ancient belief that a place of death was polluted. Reforms and bureaucratization of government led to the establishment of a permanent imperial capital at Heijō-kyō, or Nara, in AD 710. The capital was moved shortly (for reasons described later in this section) to Kuni-kyō (present-day Kizugawa) in 740–744, to Naniwa-kyō (present-day Osaka) in 744–745, to Shigarakinomiya (紫香楽宮, present-day Shigaraki) in 745, and moved back to Nara in 745. Nara was Japan's first truly urban center. It soon had a population of 200,000 (representing nearly 7% of the country's population) and some 10,000 people worked in government jobs.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Economic and administrative activity increased during the Nara period. Roads linked Nara to provincial capitals, and taxes were collected more efficiently and routinely. Coins were minted, if not widely used. Outside the Nara area, however, there was little commercial activity, and in the provinces the old Shōtoku land reform systems declined. By the mid-eighth century, shōen (landed estates), one of the most important economic institutions in prehistoric Japan, began to rise as a result of the search for a more manageable form of landholding. Local administration gradually became more self-sufficient, while the breakdown of the old land distribution system and the rise of taxes led to the loss or abandonment of land by many people who became the "wave people" (furōsha). Some of these formerly "public people" were privately employed by large landholders, and "public lands" increasingly reverted to the shōen.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Factional fighting at the imperial court continued throughout the Nara period. Imperial family members, leading court families, such as the Fujiwara, and Buddhist priests all contended for influence. Earlier during this period, Prince Nagaya seized power at the court after the death of Fujiwara no Fuhito. Fuhito was succeeded by four sons, Muchimaro, Umakai, Fusasaki, and Maro. They put Emperor Shōmu, the prince by Fuhito's daughter, on the throne. In 729, they arrested Nagaya and regained control. However, as a major outbreak of smallpox spread from Kyūshū in 735, all four brothers died two years later, resulting in temporary reduction in the Fujiwara dominance. In 740, a member of the Fujiwara clan, Hirotsugu, launched a rebellion from his base in Fukuoka, Kyushu. Although defeated, it is without doubt that the Emperor was heavily shocked about these events, and he moved the palace three times in only five years from 740, until he eventually returned to Nara. In the late Nara period, financial burdens on the state increased, and the court began dismissing nonessential officials. In 792 universal conscription was abandoned, and district heads were allowed to establish private militia forces for local police work. Decentralization of authority became the rule despite the reforms of the Nara period. Eventually, to return control to imperial hands, the capital was moved in 784 to Nagaoka-kyō and in 794 to Heian-kyō (literally Capital of Peace and Tranquility), about twenty-six kilometers north of Nara. By the late eleventh century, the city was popularly called Kyoto (capital city), the name it has had ever since.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: While on one hand, the Heian period was an unusually long period of peace, it can also be argued that the period weakened Japan economically and led to poverty for all but a tiny few of its inhabitants. The control of rice fields provided a key source of income for families such as the Fujiwara and was a fundamental base for their power. The aristocratic beneficiaries of Heian culture, the "Ryōmin" (良民 "Good People") numbered about five thousand in a land of perhaps five million. One reason the samurai were able to take power was that the ruling nobility proved incompetent at managing Japan and its provinces. By the year 1000, the government no longer knew how to issue currency and money was gradually disappearing. Instead of a fully realized system of money circulation, rice was the primary unit of exchange.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Throughout the Heian period, the power of the imperial court declined. The court became so self-absorbed with power struggles, and with the artistic pursuits of court nobles, that it neglected the administration of government outside the capital. The nationalization of land undertaken as part of the "ritsuryō" state decayed as various noble families and religious orders succeeded in securing tax-exempt status for their private "shōen" manors By the eleventh century, more land in Japan was controlled by "shōen" owners than by the central government. The imperial court was thus deprived of the tax revenue to pay for its national army. In response, the owners of the "shōen" set up their own armies of samurai warriors. Two powerful noble families that had descended from branches of the imperial family, the Taira and Minamoto clans, acquired large armies and many "shōen" outside the capital. The central government began to use these two warrior clans to suppress rebellions and piracy. Japan's population stabilized during the late-Heian period after hundreds of years of decline.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The samurai armies of the whole nation were mobilized in 1274 and 1281 to confront two full-scale invasions launched by Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire. Though outnumbered by an enemy equipped with superior weaponry, the Japanese fought the Mongols to a standstill in Kyushu on both occasions until the Mongol fleet was destroyed by typhoons called "kamikaze", meaning "divine wind". In spite of the Kamakura shogunate's victory, the defense so depleted its finances that it was unable to provide compensation to its vassals for their role in the victory. This had permanent negative consequences for the shogunate's relations with the samurai class. Japan nevertheless entered a period of prosperity and population growth starting around 1250. In rural areas, the greater use of iron tools and fertilizer, improved irrigation techniques, and double-cropping increased productivity and rural villages grew. Fewer famines and epidemics allowed cities to grow and commerce to boom.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: In spite of the war, Japan's relative economic prosperity, which had begun in the Kamakura period, continued well into the Muromachi period. By 1450 Japan's population stood at ten million, compared to six million at the end of the thirteenth century. Commerce flourished, including considerable trade with China and Korea. Because the "daimyōs" and other groups within Japan were minting their own coins, Japan began to transition from a barter-based to a currency-based economy. During the period, some of Japan's most representative art forms developed, including ink wash painting, "ikebana" flower arrangement, the tea ceremony, Japanese gardening, "bonsai", and "Noh" theater. Though the eighth Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimasa, was an ineffectual political and military leader, he played a critical role in promoting these cultural developments.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The Japanese contact with the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) began when China was renewed during the Muromachi period after the Chinese sought support in suppressing Japanese pirates in coastal areas of China. Japanese pirates of this era and region were referred to as "wokou" by the Chinese (Japanese "wakō"). Wanting to improve relations with China and to rid Japan of the wokou threat, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu accepted a relationship with the Chinese that was to last for half a century. In 1401 he restarted the tribute system, describing himself in a letter to the Chinese Emperor as "Your subject, the King of Japan". Japanese wood, sulfur, copper ore, swords, and folding fans were traded for Chinese silk, porcelain, books, and coins, in what the Chinese considered tribute but the Japanese saw as profitable trade.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Renaissance Europeans were quite admiring of Japan when they reached the country in the 16th century. Japan was considered a country immensely rich in precious metals, a view that owed its conception mainly to Marco Polo's accounts of gilded temples and palaces, but also due to the relative abundance of surface ores characteristic of a volcanic country, before large-scale deep-mining became possible in Industrial times. Japan was to become a major exporter of copper and silver during the period.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Japan was also perceived as a sophisticated feudal society with a high culture and advanced pre-industrial technology. It was densely populated and urbanized. Prominent European observers of the time seemed to agree that the Japanese ""excel not only all the other Oriental peoples, they surpass the Europeans as well"" (Alessandro Valignano, 1584, "Historia del Principo y Progresso de la Compania de Jesus en las Indias Orientales).


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Early European visitors were amazed by the quality of Japanese craftsmanship and metalsmithing. This stems from the fact that Japan itself is rather poor in natural resources found commonly in Europe, especially iron. Thus, the Japanese were famously frugal with their consumable resources; what little they had they used with expert skill.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The cargo of the first Portuguese ships (usually about four small ships every year) that arrived in Japan consisted almost entirely of Chinese goods (silk, porcelain). The Japanese were very much looking forward to acquiring such goods, but had been prohibited from any contacts with the Emperor of China, as a punishment for Wakō pirate raids. The Portuguese (who were called "Nanban", lit. Southern Barbarians) therefore found the opportunity to act as intermediaries in Asian trade.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: From the time of the acquisition of Macau in 1557, and their formal recognition as trade partners by the Chinese, the Portuguese started to regulate trade to Japan, by selling to the highest bidder the annual "Captaincy" to Japan, in effect conferring exclusive trading rights for a single carrack bound for Japan every year. The carracks were very large ships, usually between 1000 and 1500 tons, about double or triple the size of a large galleon or junk.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: That trade continued with few interruptions until 1638, when it was prohibited on the ground that the ships were smuggling priests into Japan.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Portuguese trade was progressively more and more challenged by Chinese smugglers on junks, Japanese Red Seal Ships from around 1592 (about ten ships per year), Spanish ships from Manila from around 1600 (about one ship per year), the Dutch from 1609, and the English from 1613 (about one ship per year).


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The Dutch, who, rather than "Nanban" were called "Kōmō" (Jp:紅毛, lit. "Red Hair") by the Japanese, first arrived in Japan in 1600, on board the "Liefde". Their pilot was William Adams, the first Englishman to reach Japan. In 1605, two of the "Liefde"'s crew were sent to Pattani by Tokugawa Ieyasu, to invite Dutch trade to Japan. The head of the Pattani Dutch trading post, Victor Sprinckel, refused on the ground that he was too busy dealing with Portuguese opposition in Southeast Asia. In 1609 however, the Dutch Jacques Specx arrived with two ships in Hirado, and through Adams obtained trading privileges from Ieyasu.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The Dutch also engaged in piracy and naval combat to weaken Portuguese and Spanish shipping in the Pacific, and ultimately became the only westerners to be allowed access to Japan from the small enclave of Dejima after 1638 and for the next two centuries.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Economic development during the Edo period included urbanization, increased shipping of commodities, a significant expansion of domestic and, initially, foreign commerce, and a diffusion of trade and handicraft industries. The construction trades flourished, along with banking facilities and merchant associations. Increasingly, "han" authorities oversaw the rising agricultural production and the spread of rural handicrafts. By the mid-18th century, Edo had a population of more than 1 million and Osaka and Kyoto each had more than 400,000 inhabitants. Many other castle towns grew as well. Osaka and Kyoto became busy trading and handicraft production centers, while Edo was the center for the supply of food and essential urban consumer goods. Rice was the base of the economy, as the daimyō collected the taxes from the peasants in the form of rice. Taxes were high, about 40% of the harvest. The rice was sold at the "fudasashi" market in Edo. To raise money, the daimyō used forward contracts to sell rice that was not yet harvested. These contracts were similar to modern futures trading.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The beginning of the Edo period coincides with the last decades of the Nanban trade period, during which intense interaction with European powers, on the economic and religious plane, took place. At the beginning of the Edo period, Japan built her first ocean-going Western-style warships, such as the "San Juan Bautista", a 500-ton galleon-type ship that transported a Japanese embassy headed by Hasekura Tsunenaga to the Americas, and then continued to Europe. Also during that period, the "bakufu" commissioned around 350 Red Seal Ships, three-masted and armed trade ships, for intra-Asian commerce. Japanese adventurers, such as Yamada Nagamasa, were active throughout Asia.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: In order to eradicate the influence of Christianization, Japan entered in a period of isolation called sakoku, during which its economy enjoyed stability and mild progress. But not long after, in the 1650s, the production of Japanese export porcelain increased greatly when civil war put the main Chinese center of porcelain production, in Jingdezhen, out of action for several decades. For the rest of the 17th century most Japanese porcelain production was in Kyushu for export through the Chinese and Dutch. The trade dwindled under renewed Chinese competition by the 1740s, before resuming after the opening of Japan in the mid-19th century.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: During the period, Japan progressively studied Western sciences and techniques (called "rangaku", literally "Dutch studies") through the information and books received through the Dutch traders in Dejima. The main areas that were studied included geography, medicine, natural sciences, astronomy, art, languages, physical sciences such as the study of electrical phenomena, and mechanical sciences as exemplified by the development of Japanese clockwatches, or wadokei, inspired from Western techniques.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: After 1854, when the Tokugawa shogunate first opened the country to Western commerce and influence (Bakumatsu), Japan went through two periods of economic development. When the Tokugawa shogunate was overthrown in 1868 and the Meiji government was founded, Japanese Westernization began completely. The first term is during Pre-war Japan, the second term is Post-war Japan.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: In the first half of the Meiji period, most labour disputes occurred in the mining and textile industries and took the form of small-scale strikes and spontaneous riots. The second half of the period witnessed rapid industrialization, the development of a capitalist economy, and the transformation of many feudal workers to wage labour. The use of strike action increased, and 1897, with the establishment of a union for metalworkers, saw the beginnings of the modern Japanese trade-union movement.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The industrial revolution first appeared in textiles, including cotton and especially silk, which was based in home workshops in rural areas. By the 1890s, Japanese textiles dominated the home markets and competed successfully with British products in China and India, as well. Japanese shippers were competing with European traders to carry these goods across Asia and even to Europe. As in the West, the textile mills employed mainly women, half of them under age twenty. They were sent there by their fathers, and they turned over their wages to their fathers. Japan largely skipped water power and moved straight to steam powered mills, which were more productive, and which created a demand for coal.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: 1907 saw the greatest number of disputes in a decade, with large-scale riots at Japan's two leading copper mines, Ashio and Besshi, which were only suppressed by the use of troops. None of these early unions were large (the metalworkers union had 3,000 members, only 5% of workers employed in the industry), or lasted longer than three or four years, largely due to strong opposition from employers and the government's anti-union policies, notably the Public Order and Police Provisions Law (1900).


title: Economic history of Japan

text: One of the biggest impacts on the economy that the Meiji period brought was the end of the feudal system. With a relatively loose social structure, the Japanese people were able to advance through the ranks of society more easily than before. They were able to do this by inventing and selling their own wares. More important was the fact that the Japanese people now had the ability to become more educated. With a more educated population, Japan's industrial sector grew significantly. Implementing the Western ideal of capitalism into the development of technology and applying it to their military helped make Japan into both a militaristic and economic powerhouse by the beginning of the 20th century.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: In the Meiji period, leaders inaugurated a new Western-based education system for all young people, sent thousands of students to the United States and Europe, and hired more than 3,000 Westerners to teach modern science, mathematics, technology, and foreign languages in Japan (O-yatoi gaikokujin). The government also built railroads, improved roads, and inaugurated a land reform program to prepare the country for further development.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: To promote industrialization, the government decided that, while it should help private business to allocate resources and to plan, the private sector was best equipped to stimulate economic growth. The greatest role of government was to help provide the economic conditions in which business could flourish. In short, government was to be the guide, and business the producer. In the early Meiji period, the government built factories and shipyards that were sold to entrepreneurs at a fraction of their value. Many of these businesses grew rapidly into the larger conglomerates. Government emerged as chief promoter of private enterprise, enacting a series of pro-business policies.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The development of banking and reliance on bank funding have been at the centre of Japanese economic development since the Meiji era. Before 1868 the feudal fiefs all issued their own money, "called hansatsu", in an array of incompatible denominations. The government sent observers to the United States, and at first copied the decentralized American system with no central bank. The "New Currency Act" of Meiji 4 (1871) did away with local currencies and established the yen as the new decimal currency. It had parity with the Mexican silver dollar. The former han (fiefs) became prefectures and their mints became private chartered banks. Initially they retained the right to print money. For a time both the central government and these so-called "national" banks issued money. That period ended when central bank—the Bank of Japan—was founded in 1882, after the Belgian model. It has since been partly privately owned (its stock is traded over the counter, hence the stock number). The national Bank was given a monopoly on controlling the money supply in 1884, and by 1904 the previously issued notes were all retired. The Bank started out on the silver standard, but adopted the gold standard in 1897. The gold standard was suspended in 1917 and dropped in 1931. In 1973 flexible exchange rates were adopted.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: After 1868 the new Meiji regime strongly encouraged railroad construction. This modernizing move had multiple objectives. It would weaken feudalistic institutions. Railroads would enable rapid military responses to invasion threats, as by Russia The movement of rice would become cheaper and foreign trade would grow. In a broader sense, modernized transportation would inspire the people and facilitate growth. The government made the final decision to build the system in 1870, using a million-pound sterling loan from Britain and British engineers. The Japanese Public Works Ministry handled the actual construction.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: In 1868 Thomas Blake Glover, a Scottish merchant, was responsible for bringing the first steam locomotive, "Iron Duke", to Japan, which he demonstrated on an 8-mile track in the Ōura district of Nagasaki. However, after centuries of a culture of 'distrust of foreigners', construction of the premier railway built by non-Japanese was considered politically unacceptable to the new Japanese regime. Therefore, the government of Japan decided to build a railway from the major port of Yokohama to Tokyo using British financing and 300 British and European technical advisors: civil engineers, general managers, locomotive builders and drivers. In order to undertake its construction, foreign experts were contracted, with the specific intent that such experts would educate Japanese co-workers so that Japan could become self-sufficient in railway construction expertise, at which time the foreign contractors were expected to leave the country. In late 1872, the first railway, between Shimbashi (later Shiodome) and Yokohama (present Sakuragichō) opened. A one-way trip took 53 minutes in comparison to 40 minutes for a modern electric train. Service started with nine round trips daily.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: British engineer Edmund Morel (1841–1871) supervised construction of the first railway on Honshu. American engineer Joseph U. Crowford (1842–1942) supervised construction of a coal mine railway on Hokkaidō in 1880, and German engineer Herrmann Rumschottel (1844–1918) supervised railway construction on Kyushu beginning in 1887. All three trained Japanese engineers to undertake railway projects. Two men trained by Crowford later became presidents of Japan National Railways.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The precise reason why a track gauge of (also known as "Cape gauge") came to be selected remains uncertain. It could be because was supposed to be cheaper to build than the internationally more widely used "Stephenson gauge" of , or because the first British agent, whose contract was later cancelled, ordered iron sleepers made for the narrower gauge. It seems most likely, however, that Morel's previous experience building Cape gauge railways in similar New Zealand terrain was a significant influence, and Cape gauge became the "de facto" standard.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The next line constructed was from another port, Kobe, to the major commercial city of Osaka (opening in 1874), and then to Kyoto (1877) and Otsu (1880) at the southern end of Lake Biwa. A line was constructed from Tsuruga, on the Sea of Japan, to Ogaki (connecting to a canal to Nagoya) via Nagahama on the northern end of Lake Biwa, opening in 1884 and utilizing trans-shipment onto water-going vessels to connect the Sea of Japan to Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Linking Tokyo to Nagoya and Kyoto became the next priority. Initially the proposed route was inland, from Tokyo north to Takasaki, then west through the Usui Pass to Karuizawa and the Kiso River valley. At this time the Nippon Railway Co. (NRC) became the first to be granted a concession to operate what became the Tohoku Main Line from Ueno to Aomori, with a branch line from Omiya to Takasaki. Construction of both lines was undertaken by the Government at the company's expense, with the government having running rights on the Takasaki-Ueno section. The line to Takasaki opened in 1884, as did the Tohoku line as far as Utsunomiya.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The NRC also financed a new line linking to the Yokohama line which was built from Akabane via Shinjuku to Shinagawa (with the NRC gaining track usage rights at the government station at Shinagawa). This was the first section of what has become the Yamanote Line, and opened in 1885.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The government funded line from Takasaki reached Yokokawa at the base of the Usui Pass in 1885, and initial surveys indicated a ruling grade of 10% (later improved to 6.67%) and extensive tunneling was required to reach Karuizawa.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Construction also started on another line from the Sea of Japan, commencing at Naoetsu and opening to Karuizawa via Nagano in 1888.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: As the costs of construction through the mountainous interior of Japan became apparent, in 1886 the construction of what became the Tokaido line was approved, approximately paralleling the southern coastline (and Tokaido road) as far as Nagoya. Although ~238 km longer, it was projected to cost 13% less, this saving then being allocated to construct a line from Otsu along the eastern side of Lake Biwa to Nagahama to remove the need for trans-shipment, which opened in 1889, as did the final section of the Tokaido Line via Gotemba. Until the opening of the Tokaido Shinkansen in 1964, this was the most important main line in Japan.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: In 1888 the San'yō Railway Co. (SRC) was granted a charter to build the San'yō Main Line from Kobe west to Shimonoseki, a port providing a connection to the port of Moji on Kyushu, from which the Kyushu Railway Co (KRC) built its line to Hakata and Kumamoto opening between 1889 and 1891, extended to Yatsushiro in 1896. The SRC line reached Hiroshima in 1894, and Shimonoseki in 1901. Other private endeavors included the Mito Railway, which opened the first section of the Joban Line in 1889 and was acquired by the NRC in 1892 which extended to Sendai via an east coastal route in 1905 and the Bantan Railway, which built a 52 km line north from Himeji between 1894 and 1901, and was acquired by the SRC in 1903.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The success of the Nippon Railway Co and other private companies led to a Japanese situation akin to the UK Railway Mania. From the mid 1880s until 1891 new railway companies had little difficulty in attracting funding, usually through issuing shares. However, in 1891 the failure of a company proposing to build a line from Gotenba to Matsumoto ended the 'mania', and the Government realized a more planned approach to the network expansion it desired was required.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: In 1887 the Japanese Army proposed building its own lines to ensure routes of military significance were given priority. The Railway Department deflected that proposal by commencing development of a policy for a comprehensive national network. The Japanese Government became increasingly interested in the policy formulation following the completion of the Tokaido Main Line in 1889, the creation of the National Diet in 1890 and the financial panic of 1891. The 1892 Railway Construction Act (RCA) listed a series of priority routes on Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku (Hokkaido was covered separately in 1896 legislation), with the specific policy that private construction of such routes would be encouraged, with the Japanese Government only funding routes not able to be privately constructed. By that year the privately owned network was ~2,124 km compared to the government owned sections totaling ~887 km. While this figure seemed to indicate the potential for further private funding of railway construction (notwithstanding the routes already targeted by private companies), subsequent events demonstrated otherwise.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: A two-phase approach was adopted in the RCA, with 40 routes totaling ~3,000 km included in the "phase one" 12-year program, with phase 2 covering another ~4,000 km of proposed lines, the priorities being set on the basis of economic development and/or military strategic importance.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: A specific outcome of the RCA was that every prefecture would be served by railway communication. The major routes proposed under the act for government construction included;


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The Chuo line, the route of which approximated the initial proposed inland line between Tokyo and Nagoya, was favored by the military as its inland alignment protected it from perceived risk of bombardment by enemy vessels. A privately built line from Shinjuku to the silk industry centre of Hachioji had opened 1889, and this became the starting point for government construction.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The newly determined route was via Kofu (through the 4,657 m Sasago tunnel, which was the longest in Japan until the Shimizu Tunnel opened in 1931), Shiojiri and then via the Kiso River valley to Nagoya. Construction was undertaken from both ends, with sections opening sequentially from 1900 until the lines were connected in 1911.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The Ou line from Fukushima to Yamagata, Akita and Aomori, serving the poorer northern Sea of Japan coastal prefectures, was seen as a priority for national development that was commercially unattractive. The government commenced construction from Aomori towards Hirosaki in 1894, and at the southern end from Fukushima in 1899, the lines connecting in 1905. Most of the major routes proposed under the act for private construction were not so funded and were ultimately constructed by the government.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The Japanese National Railways was formed by the nationalization of 17 private railways in 1907. It actively promoted uniformity and scientific management.,


title: Economic history of Japan

text: From 1918 to 1921, a wave of major industrial disputes marked the peak of organized labour power. A prolonged economic slump that followed brought cutbacks in employment in heavy industry. By 1928, the GNP of Japan at current prices peaked at ¥16,506 million. In the mid-1930s, the Japanese nominal wage rates were a tenth of those in the United States (based on mid-1930s exchange rates), while the price level is estimated to have been about 44% that of the US.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Before World War II, Japan built an extensive empire that included Ryukyu, Taiwan, Korea, Manchuria, and parts of northern China. The Japanese regarded this sphere of influence as a political and economic necessity, preventing foreign states from strangling Japan by blocking its access to raw materials and crucial sea-lanes, as Japan possessed very few natural and mining resources of its own, although it imported large amounts of coal from Korea, Manchukuo, and some regions of occupied China. Japan's large military force was regarded as essential to the empire's defense.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Rapid growth and structural change characterized Japan's two periods of economic development since 1868. In the first period, the economy grew only moderately at first and relied heavily on traditional agriculture to finance modern industrial infrastructure. When the Russo-Japanese War began in 1904, 65% of employment and 38% of the gross domestic product (GDP) was still based on agriculture but the modern industry had begun to expand substantially. During World War I, Japan used the absence of the war-torn European competitors on the world market to advance its economy, generating a trade surplus for the first time since the isolation in the Edo period. By the late 1920s, manufacturing and mining contributed 23% of GDP, compared with 21% for all of agriculture. Transportation and communications had developed to sustain heavy industrial development.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: In the 1930s, the Japanese economy suffered less from the Great Depression than most industrialized nations, its GDP expanding at a rapid rate of 5% per year. Manufacturing and mining came to account for more than 30% of GDP, more than twice the value for the agricultural sector. Most industrial growth, however, was geared toward expanding the nation's military power.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Beginning in 1937 with significant land seizures in China, and to a greater extent after 1941, when annexations and invasions across Southeast Asia and the Pacific created the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, the Japanese government sought to acquire and develop critical natural resources in order to secure economic independence. Among the natural resources that Japan seized and developed were: coal in China, sugarcane in the Philippines, petroleum from the Dutch East Indies and Burma, and tin and bauxite from the Dutch East Indies and Malaya. Japan also purchased the rice production of Thailand, Burma, and Cochinchina.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: During the early stages of Japan's expansion, the Japanese economy expanded considerably. Steel production rose from 6,442,000 tons to 8,838,000 tons over the same time period. In 1941 Japanese aircraft industries had the capacity to manufacture 10,000 aircraft per year. Much of this economic expansion benefited the "zaibatsu", large industrial conglomerates.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Over the course of the Pacific War, the economies of Japan and its occupied territories all suffered severely. Inflation was rampant; the Japanese heavy industry, forced to devote nearly all its production to meet military needs, was unable to meet the commercial requirements of Japan (which had previously relied on trade with Western countries for their manufactured goods). Local industries were unable to produce at high enough levels to avoid severe shortfalls. Furthermore, maritime trade, upon which the Empire depended greatly, was sharply curtailed by damage to the Japanese merchant fleet over the course of the war.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: By the end of the war, what remained of the Japanese Empire was wracked by shortages, inflation, and currency devaluation. Transport was nearly impossible, and industrial production in Japan's shattered cities ground to a halt. The destruction wrought by the war eventually brought the Japanese economy to a virtual standstill.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The war wiped out many of the gains which Japan had made since 1868. About 40% of the nation's industrial plants and infrastructure were destroyed, and production reverted to levels of about fifteen years earlier. The people were shocked by the devastation and swung into action. New factories were equipped with the best modern machines, giving Japan an initial competitive advantage over the victor states, who now had older factories. As Japan's second period of economic development began, millions of former soldiers joined a well-disciplined and highly educated work force to rebuild Japan. Japan's colonies were lost as a result of World War II, but since then the Japanese had extended their economic influence throughout Asia and beyond.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: After the Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945, allied forces, mostly American, rapidly began arriving in Japan. Almost immediately, the occupiers began an intensive program of legal changes designed to democratize Japan. One action was to ensure the creation of a Trade Union law to allow for the first time workers to organize, strike, and bargain collectively, which was passed by the Diet of Japan on 22 December 1945. While the law was created while Japan was under occupation, the law itself was largely a Japanese work. It was put together by a large legal advisory commission headed by the legal scholar Suehiro Izutaro. The commission was quite large, consisting of "three Welfare ministry bureaucrats and two scholars, a steering committee of 30 members (including the communist firebrand Kyuichi Tokuda), and an overall membership of more than 130 members representing universities, corporations, political parties, the bureaucracy, social workers, and labor." US assistance totaled about US$1.9 billion during the occupation, or about 15% of the nation's imports and 4% of GNP in that period. About 59% of this aid was in the form of food, 15% in industrial materials, and 12% in transportation equipment. US grant assistance, however, tapered off quickly in the mid-1950s. US military procurement from Japan peaked at a level equivalent to 7% of Japan's GNP in 1953 and fell below 1% after 1960. A variety of United States-sponsored measures during the occupation, such as land reform, contributed to the economy's later performance by increasing competition. In particular, the post-war purge of industrial leaders allowed new talent to rise in the management of the nation's rebuilt industries. Finally, the economy benefited from foreign trade because it was able to expand exports rapidly enough to pay for imports of equipment and technology without falling into debt, as had a number of developing nations in the 1980s.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: A 2018 study, using the synthetic control method whereby Japan is compared to "synthetic Japan" (a combination of which are similar to Japan but without the US alliance), found that the US alliance allowed Japan's GDP to "grow much faster" from 1958 to 1968.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: In the wake of WWII, the Japanese citizenry was suffering from widespread exhaustion and despair from the war, known as "kyodatsu," causing large-scale dejection and despondency. The term "gifts from Heaven" was coined by cartoonist Kato Etsuro in his first illustrations under US military occupation. These gifts referred to the bloodless democratic revolution from above ushered in by US forces that put an end to a socially debilitating war. Of the many aspects of the revolution from above, the reforms extending the right to vote to women, strengthening labor unionization, and liberalizing the economy were some of the most enduring changes that stand to this day.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Following the 1947 elections, in which the Japan Socialist Party came in first, Prime Minister Tetsu Katayama formed a coalition government with the Democratic Party and the National Cooperative Party. One of the first and most significant economic reforms was the division and distribution of rural land to Japanese tenant farmers. Previously, property belonged to landlords and farmers worked on it in a feudal type system. Modern capitalist theory held that this feudal practice did not incentivize growth and the rural landlord class was dissolved. In addition to the dissolution of the landlord class, the massive business conglomerates known as "Zaibatsu" that had effectively controlled the Japanese economy for almost 100 years were also broken up and faced market competition. The Law for the Elimination of Excessive Economic Concentration (passed in December 1947) provided for the dissolution of any company considered to be monopolistic, while the "law on the expulsion of Zaibatsu-affiliated controls" of January 1948 enforced the resignation of Zaibatsu board members who were related closely to Zaibatsu families, while a measure was taken to ban on holding the concurrent board posts of their affiliated companies. In addition, a government employees law was enacted, the first group of Japanese Supreme Court justices was appointed, local government and the police were reorganised, the Ministries of Home Affairs, Navy, and War were abolished, extensive revisions were made to criminal law, and progress was made on land reform. Finally, the unionization of Japanese workers was encouraged by US occupying forces that forced companies to compete on technology and innovation.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The early post-war years were devoted to rebuilding lost industrial capacity: major investments were made in electric power, coal, steel, and chemicals. By the mid-1950s, production matched prewar levels. Released from the demands of military-dominated government, the economy not only recovered its lost momentum but also surpassed the growth rates of earlier periods. Between 1953 and 1965, GDP expanded by more than 9% per year, manufacturing and mining by 13%, construction by 11%, and infrastructure by 12%. In 1965 these sectors employed more than 41% of the labor force, whereas only 26% remained in agriculture.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Japan's highly acclaimed post-war education system contributed strongly to the modernizing process. The world's highest literacy rate and high education standards were major reasons for Japan's success in achieving a technologically advanced economy. Japanese schools also encouraged discipline, another benefit in forming an effective work force.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The mid-1960s ushered in a new type of industrial development as the economy opened itself to international competition in some industries and developed heavy and chemical manufactures. Whereas textiles and light manufactures maintained their profitability internationally, other products, such as automobiles, electronics, ships, and machine tools assumed new importance. The value added to manufacturing and mining grew at the rate of 17% per year between 1965 and 1970. Growth rates moderated to about 8% and evened out between the industrial and service sectors between 1970 and 1973, as retail trade, finance, real estate, information technology, and other service industries streamlined their operations.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Japanese consumerism continued to grow throughout the 1960s, giving rise to a well-known saying that the "three treasures" which all Japanese families needed to have was a refrigerator, a washing machine, and a television set. By 1962, it was estimated that 79.4% of all urban homes and 48.9% of rural homes in Japan had television.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Trade unions emerged in Japan in the second half of the Meiji period as the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization. Until 1945, however, the labour movement remained weak, impeded by lack of legal rights, anti-union legislation, management-organised factory councils, and political divisions between "cooperative" and radical unionists.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: After the war the Occupation authorities initially encouraged the formation of independent unions. Legislation was passed that enshrined the right to organise, and membership rapidly rose to 5 million by February 1947. The organisation rate, however, peaked at 55.8% in 1949 and subsequently declined to 18.2% (2006). The labour movement went through a process of reorganisation from 1987 to 1991 from which emerged the present configuration of three major trade union federations, Rengo, Zenroren, and Zenrokyo, along with other smaller national union organisations.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Japan faced a severe economic challenge in the mid-1970s. The 1973 oil crisis shocked an economy that had become dependent on imported petroleum. Japan experienced its first post-war decline in industrial production, together with severe price inflation. The recovery that followed the first oil crisis revived the optimism of most business leaders, but the maintenance of industrial growth in the face of high energy costs required shifts in the industrial structure.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Changing price conditions favored conservation and alternative sources of industrial energy. Although the investment costs were high, many energy-intensive industries successfully reduced their dependence on oil during the late 1970s and 1980s and enhanced their productivity. Advances in microcircuitry and semiconductors in the late 1970s and 1980s led to new growth industries in consumer electronics and computers, and to higher productivity in pre-established industries. In 1978, Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry provided subsidies, which was illegal under international law, to help Japanese semiconductor companies sell their chips at artificially low prices in the United States while keeping prices high in Japan, a trade practice known as dumping The net result of these adjustments was to increase the energy efficiency of manufacturing and to expand knowledge-intensive industries. The service industries expanded in an increasingly postindustrial economy.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Structural economic changes, however, were unable to check the slowing of economic growth as the economy matured in the late 1970s and 1980s, attaining annual growth rates at only 4–6%. But these rates were remarkable in a world of expensive petroleum and in a nation of few natural resources. Japan's average growth rate of 5% in the late 1980s, for example, was far higher than the 3.8% growth rate of the United States. Despite more petroleum price increases in 1979, the strength of the Japanese economy was apparent. It expanded without the double-digit inflation that afflicted other industrial nations (and that had bothered Japan itself after the first oil crisis in 1973). Japan experienced slower growth in the mid-1980s, but its demand-sustained economic boom of the late 1980s revived many troubled industries.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Complex economic and institutional factors affected Japan's post-war growth. First, the nation's prewar experience provided several important legacies. The Tokugawa period (1600–1867) bequeathed a "vital commercial sector" in burgeoning urban centers, a relatively well-educated elite (although one with limited knowledge of European science), a sophisticated government bureaucracy, productive agriculture, a closely unified nation with highly developed financial and marketing systems, and a national infrastructure of roads. The buildup of industry during the Meiji period to the point where Japan could vie for world power was an important prelude to post-war growth from 1955 to 1973, and provided a pool of experienced labor.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Second, and more important, was the level and quality of investment that persisted through the 1980s. Investment in capital equipment, which averaged more than 11% of GNP during the prewar period, rose to about 20% of GNP during the 1950s and to more than 30% in the late 1960s and 1970s. During the economic boom of the late 1980s, the rate still hovered around 20%. Japanese businesses imported the latest technologies to develop the industrial base. As a latecomer to modernization, Japan was able to avoid some of the trial and error earlier needed by other nations to develop industrial processes. In the 1970s and 1980s, Japan improved its industrial base through licensing from the US, patent purchases, and imitation and improvement of foreign inventions. In the 1980s, industry stepped up its research and development, and many firms became famous for their innovations and creativity.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Japan's labor force contributed significantly to economic growth, because of its availability and literacy, and also because of its reasonable wage demands. Before and immediately after World War II, the transfer of numerous agricultural workers to modern industry resulted in rising productivity and only moderate wage increases. As population growth slowed and the nation became increasingly industrialized in the mid-1960s, wages rose significantly. However, labor union cooperation generally kept salary increases within the range of gains in productivity.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: High productivity growth played a key role in post-war economic growth. The highly skilled and educated labor force, extraordinary savings rates and accompanying levels of investment, and the low growth of Japan's labor force were major factors in the high rate of productivity growth.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The nation also benefited from economies of scale. Although medium-sized and small enterprises generated much of the nation's employment, large facilities were the most productive. Many industrial enterprises consolidated to form larger, more efficient units. Before World War II, large holding companies formed wealth groups, or zaibatsu, which dominated most industry. The zaibatsu were dissolved after the war, but keiretsu—large, modern industrial enterprise groupings—emerged. The coordination of activities within these groupings and the integration of smaller subcontractors into the groups enhanced industrial efficiency.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Japanese corporations developed strategies that contributed to their immense growth. Growth-oriented corporations that took chances competed successfully. "Product diversification" became an essential ingredient of the growth patterns of many keiretsu. Japanese companies added plant and human capacity ahead of demand. Seeking market share rather than quick profit was another powerful strategy.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Finally, circumstances beyond Japan's direct control contributed to its success. International conflicts tended to stimulate the Japanese economy until the devastation at the end of World War II. The Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), World War I (1914–18), the Korean War (1950–53), and the Second Indochina War (1954–75) brought economic booms to Japan. In addition, benign treatment from the United States after World War II facilitated the nation's reconstruction and growth.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: As late as 1955, some 40% of the labor force still worked in agriculture, but this figure had declined to 17% by 1970 and to 7.2% by 1990 and under 5% in the 21st century as Japan imported more and more of its food and small family farms disappeared.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Japan's economic growth in the 1960s and 1970s was based on the rapid expansion of heavy manufacturing in such areas as automobiles, steel, shipbuilding, chemicals, and electronics. The secondary sector (manufacturing, construction, and mining) expanded to 35.6% of the work force by 1970. By the late 1970s, however, the Japanese economy began to move away from heavy manufacturing toward a more service-oriented (tertiary sector) base. During the 1980s, jobs in wholesaling, retailing, finance, insurance, real estate, transportation, communications, and government grew rapidly, while secondary-sector employment remained stable. The tertiary sector grew from 47% of the work force in 1970 to 59.2% in 1990.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Throughout the 1970s, Japan had the world's third largest gross national product (GNP)—just behind the United States and Soviet Union—and ranked first among major industrial nations in 1990 in per capita GNP at US$23,801, up sharply from US$9,068 in 1980. After a mild economic slump in the mid-1980s, Japan's economy began a period of expansion in 1986 that continued until it again entered a recessionary period in 1992. Economic growth averaging 5% between 1987 and 1989 revived industries, such as steel and construction, which had been relatively dormant in the mid-1980s, and brought record salaries and employment. In 1992, however, Japan's real GNP growth slowed to 1.7%. Even industries such as automobiles and electronics that had experienced phenomenal growth in the 1980s entered a recessionary period in 1992. The domestic market for Japanese automobiles shrank at the same time that Japan's share of the United States' market declined. Foreign and domestic demand for Japanese electronics also declined, and Japan seemed on the way to losing its leadership in the world semiconductor market to the United States, Korea and Taiwan.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Unlike the economic booms of the 1960s and 1970s, when increasing exports played the key role in economic expansion, domestic demand propelled the Japanese economy in the late 1980s. This development involved fundamental economic restructuring, moving from dependence on exports to reliance on domestic demand. The boom that started in 1986 was generated by the decisions of companies to increase private plant and equipment spending and of consumers to go on a buying spree. Japan's imports grew at a faster rate than exports. Japanese post-war technological research was carried out for the sake of economic growth rather than military development. The growth in high-technology industries in the 1980s resulted from heightened domestic demand for high-technology products such as electronics, and for higher living, housing, and environmental standards; better medical care and more welfare; expanded leisure-time facilities; and improved ways to accommodate a rapidly aging society.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: During the 1980s, the Japanese economy shifted its emphasis from primary and secondary activities (notably agriculture, manufacturing, and mining) to processing, with telecommunications and computers becoming increasingly vital. Information became an important resource and product, central to wealth and power. The rise of an information-based economy was led by major research in highly sophisticated technology, such as advanced computers. The selling and use of information became very beneficial to the economy. Tokyo became a major financial center, home to some of the world's major banks, financial firms, insurance companies, and the world's largest stock exchange, the Tokyo Securities and Stock Exchange. Even here, however, the recession took its toll. In 1992, the Nikkei 225 stock average began the year at 23,000 points, but fell to 14,000 points in mid-August before leveling off at 17,000 by the end of the year.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: In the decades following World War II, Japan implemented stringent tariffs and policies to encourage the people to save their income. With more money in banks, loans and credit became easier to obtain, and with Japan running large trade surpluses, the yen appreciated against foreign currencies. This allowed local companies to invest in capital resources more easily than their overseas competitors, which reduced the price of Japanese-made goods and widened the trade surplus further. And, with the yen appreciating, financial assets became lucrative.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: With so much money readily available for investment, speculation was inevitable, particularly in the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the real estate market. The Nikkei stock index hit its all-time high on 29 December 1989 when it reached an intra-day high of 38,957.44 before closing at 38,915.87. The rates for housing, stocks, and bonds rose so much that at one point the government issued 100-year bonds. Additionally, banks granted increasingly risky loans.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: At the height of the bubble, real estate was extremely over-valued. Prices were highest in Tokyo's Ginza district in 1989, with choice properties fetching over US$1.5 million per square meter ($139,000 per square foot). Prices were only slightly less in other areas of Tokyo. By 2004, prime "A" property in Tokyo's financial districts had slumped and Tokyo's residential homes were a fraction of their peak, but still managed to be listed as the most expensive real estate in the world. Trillions were wiped out with the combined collapse of the Tokyo stock and real estate markets.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: With Japan's economy driven by its high rates of reinvestment, this crash hit particularly hard. Investments were increasingly directed out of the country, and Japanese manufacturing firms lost some degree of their technological edge. As Japanese products became less competitive overseas, some people argue that the low consumption rate began to bear on the economy, causing a deflationary spiral.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The easily obtainable credit that had helped create and engorge the real-estate bubble continued to be a problem for several years to come, and as late as 1997, banks were still making loans that had a low guarantee of being repaid. Loan officers and investment staff had a hard time finding anything to invest in that would return a profit. Meanwhile, the extremely low interest rate offered for deposits, such as 0.1%, meant that ordinary Japanese savers were just as inclined to put their money under their beds as they were to put it in savings accounts. Correcting the credit problem became even more difficult as the government began to subsidize failing banks and businesses, creating many so-called "zombie businesses". Eventually a carry trade developed in which money was borrowed from Japan, invested for returns elsewhere and then the Japanese were paid back, with a nice profit for the trader.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The time after the , which occurred gradually rather than catastrophically, is known as the in Japan. The Nikkei 225 stock index eventually bottomed out at 7603.76 in April 2003, moved upward to a new peak of 18,138 in June 2007, before resuming a downward trend. The downward movement in the Nikkei is likely due to global as well as national economic problems.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Deflation in Japan started in the early 1990s. On 19 March 2001, the Bank of Japan and the Japanese government tried to eliminate deflation in the economy by reducing interest rates (part of their 'quantitative easing' policy). Despite having interest rates near zero for a long period, this strategy did not succeed. Once the near-zero interest rates failed to stop deflation, some economists, such as Paul Krugman, and some Japanese politicians spoke of deliberately causing (or at least creating the fear of) inflation. In July 2006, the zero-rate policy was ended. In 2008, the Japanese Central Bank still had the lowest interest rates in the developed world and deflation continued.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: "The Economist" has suggested that improvements to bankruptcy law, land transfer law, and tax law will aid Japan's economy. In October 2009 the Japanese government announced plans to increase tobacco and green taxes while reducing rates for small and medium-sized companies, according to NHK.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: In 2011 Japan under Yoshihiko Noda decided to consider joining the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: The global economic recession of the late 2000s significantly harmed the economy of Japan. The nation suffered a 0.7% loss in real GDP in 2008 followed by a severe 5.2% loss in 2009. In contrast, the data for world real GDP growth was a 3.1% hike in 2008 followed by a 0.7% loss in 2009.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Economic policy over the past several quarters in Japan has been influenced by the 'Abenomics' debate, with the government pursuing aggressive government infrastructure spending hikes and significant yen devaluations.


title: Economic history of Japan

text: Prior to the global COVID-19 recession, the 2019 4th quarter GDP shrank an annualized 7.1% from the previous quarter due to two main factors. One is the government's raise in consumption tax from 8% to 10%. The other is the devastating effects of Typhoon Hagibis, also known as the , or . The 38th depression, 9th typhoon and 3rd super typhoon of the 2019 Pacific typhoon season, it was the strongest typhoon in decades to strike mainland Japan, and one of the largest typhoons ever recorded at a peak diameter of 825 nautical miles (950 mi; 1529 km). It was also the costliest Pacific typhoon on record, surpassing Typhoon Mireille's record by more than US$5 billion (when not adjusted for inflation). In the resort town of Hakone, record rainfall of almost a meter (942.3 mm, 37.1 inches) fell in only 24 hours. This adds to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people's lives and the economy, the prime minister unveiling a "massive" stimulus amounting to 20% of GDP. In April 2020, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, which also forced a national state of emergency, gave the nation its worst economic crisis since the end of World War II. Jun Saito of the Japan Center for Economic Research stated that the pandemic delivered the "final blow" to Japan's long fledging economy, which also resumed slow growth in 2018. Two stimulus packages, in April and May 2020, injected 234 trillion yen (US$2.2 trillion), or almost 40% of Japan's GDP.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: Tomorrow, When the War Began is a 2010 Australian action-adventure war drama film written and directed by Stuart Beattie and based on the 1993 novel of the same name (the first in a heptalogy) by John Marsden. The film was produced by Andrew Mason and Michael Boughen. The story follows Ellie Linton, one of seven teenagers waging a guerrilla war against an invading foreign power in their fictional hometown of Wirrawee. The film stars Caitlin Stasey as Ellie Linton and features an ensemble cast including Rachel Hurd-Wood, Lincoln Lewis and Phoebe Tonkin. Production began in September 2009.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: Principal photography began on 28 September 2009, and concluded on 6 November 2009; filming took place in the Hunter Region and the Blue Mountains, in New South Wales. The teaser trailer for the film was released on 31 March 2010. The film was released in Australia and New Zealand on 2 September 2010. It was later released on 15 April 2011 in the United Kingdom, and on 24 February 2012 in the United States.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: The film begins with a video log by Ellie Linton. She asks the camera how she can tell their story. She suggests to herself "from the beginning."


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: Ellie, a high school student in the fictional rural New South Wales town of Wirrawee sets off on a camping trip to a remote valley known as "Hell's Gate", or simply "Hell". She is joined by her close childhood friend Corrie McKenzie, Corrie's boyfriend Kevin Holmes, Ellie's next-door neighbour Homer Yannos, her high school crush Lee Takkam, and her friends Robyn Mathers and Fiona "Fi" Maxwell. During their second night camping, Ellie wakes to a sky full of military aircraft.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: Returning to Wirrawee, the group finds their homes abandoned, without power, internet or telephone service. From a hilltop, the group sees that the only lights are at the hospital and the showground. Upon reaching the showground, they find that the townspeople are being detained by a foreign military force. Ellie witnesses a man being shot in the head, and in her horror retreats too quickly, being spotted by a searchlight. They flee but are pursued by soldiers into the backyard of a house. Ellie explodes the fuel tank of a ride-on lawn mower, eliminating the soldiers. In the confusion, Lee and Robyn go missing.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: Hiding at Corrie's house, the group witness an RAAF jet fighter being shot down by enemy aircraft. When an enemy helicopter performs a close examination of the house, Homer shoots out its searchlight. The group barely escape as a jet destroys the home.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: Ellie and Homer sneak back into town, and find Robyn in her house. Lee has been wounded, and is being treated by Dr. Clements, the local dentist, who informs them that the invading forces are bringing in their equipment from ships moored in Cobbler's Bay, over the Heron Bridge. After a brief skirmish with a pair of armed buggies, Robyn, Homer, Lee and Ellie meet back at Corrie's home. They decide to return to Hell. On the way, they stop at a house and are greeted by school mate Chris, who is incredibly stoned and has no idea that a war is going on.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: Ellie and Lee have a deep conversation about their lives, briefly kissing. When Ellie checks on Chris, who is meant to be standing watch, she finds him asleep while a military car narrowly passes by the house. She angrily wakes Chris up, rebuking him for almost getting them killed, and prepares to shoot him, but when her friends witness this, she relents.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: They return to Hell, with plans to use it as a secluded hideout. While there, Lee tries to talk to Ellie about their feelings towards each other, but she angrily replies that she is confused and storms off. The group hears a radio transmission revealing that Australia has been invaded by Asian "Coalition Nations", who want Australia's vast natural resources to sustain their own growing populations. The transmission also reveals that Cobbler's Bay is one of only three main ports being used by the invaders. The group then makes plans to destroy the Heron Bridge, disrupting the supply chain.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: The group sneaks into Wirrawee. Ellie and Fi steal a petrol tanker, park it near the bridge and wait for the rest of the team to take their positions. After being discovered by guards, they rush to drive the tanker under the bridge. Homer and Lee scare a herd of cattle onto the bridge, forcing the sentries to flee their posts, allowing Ellie to park the tanker under the bridge. They manage to explode the tanker, destroying the bridge, but Corrie is shot as the group escapes.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: Despite certain capture, Kevin decides to drive Corrie to the hospital and remain by her side. After those two depart to an unknown future, Ellie breaks down and cries in Lee's arms.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: Ellie then finishes her video log, revealing that the group have returned to Hell for their ongoing guerrilla war. She states that they will keep on fighting until the war is over.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: In June 2009, Screen Australia announced that it would fund the development of the feature film to be produced based on the novel, to be written and directed by screenwriter Stuart Beattie. The film was released on 2 September 2010. Critical response to the film was mixed and it failed to find an overseas audience.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: Filming began in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia on 28 September 2009 with early shooting in Dungog. Raymond Terrace was chosen as a major location for producing the film as it is "a great country town". Historic King Street, the former main street of the town, was transformed from a normally quiet location into Main Street, Wirrawee. The street began its transformation in September 2009, with set areas including the "Wirrawee Cinema" and the Lee family's Thai restaurant. Filming began in King Street on 21 October 2009 and continued until 27 October 2009. Filming in other locations in the town ended on 6 November 2009. Other filming locations included Maitland, the Blue Mountains and the Luskintyre bridge. The Fox Studios site in Sydney was also used. The explosions of the house and bridge were filmed, scaled-down, at Terrey Hills in northern Sydney.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 64% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The site's consensus is that "While the script isn't amazing and the story's race issues linger, this adaptation of John Marsden's book is an exciting, action-heavy adventure that should please fans of the series." On Metacritic the film has a score of 54% based on reviews from 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: Marc Fennell of "Triple J" wrote that "Tomorrow, When the War Began" has "patchy acting, fantastic action and some great slivers of humour in a movie that only gives off the faintest whiff of a xenophobic nation terrified of being invaded." Margaret Pomeranz of "At the Movies" wrote that "Stuart Beattie handles the action well; I think he's less adept at handling the development of character, but I'm sure the numerous fans of the book will be satisfied with the movie." A review by the Australian Special Broadcasting Service was less generous, pointing out parallels to the 1984 film "Red Dawn", starring Charlie Sheen and Patrick Swayze. It called the plot weak and the ending a letdown.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: Despite not coming close to its A$27 million budget, the film was popular at the Australian and New Zealand box office, though internationally it was far less successful. In Australia, the film debuted at No. 1 and made $3.86 million during its first weekend and grossed 358,653 in its No. 1 debut in New Zealand. Within two weeks, the film grossed over $7.7 million in Australia to become the highest-grossing domestic film of 2010. Paramount acquired distribution rights for the UK, Russia, South Africa, Portugal and Scandinavia and said upon its acquisition that they "look forward to bringing this story to international audiences." The film earned over $13.5 million at the Australian box office, but "failed to find an international audience" and earned a total of under $3 million in the rest of the world combined. This included $341,995 in the U.K. and $1,026,705 in New Zealand.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: The DVD and Blu-ray editions of the film were released on 30 December 2010. Both editions were released in widescreen and have additional special features.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: Some Australian stores released the DVD of the film earlier than expected on 21 December 2010, nine days before the official release date. This was later confirmed by the film's official Facebook page. Special features include John Marsden's view and an alternate ending. "Tomorrow, When the War Began" now holds the record for the biggest first week sales for an Australian independently produced and financed film after selling almost 105,000 DVD copies since its release on 30 December. The previous record was held by George Miller's animated film "Happy Feet", which sold about 95,000 copies in its first week in 2007.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: In September 2010, executive producer Christopher Mapp stated that there may be two sequels, based on the novels "The Dead of the Night" and "The Third Day, The Frost". He also stated that there may be a television series, adapting the remainder of the book series. In December 2010, "The Age" reported that "The Dead of the Night" had been green-lit for production, which would commence once the script by Stuart Beattie was completed, with release scheduled for 2012. Filming was due to commence in September 2011. On 20 November 2011, Sydney's "Daily Telegraph" reported that the sequel had apparently been cancelled. Lincoln Lewis stated "At this stage it doesn't look like it's going to go ahead." In December 2011, the official "Tomorrow, When the War Began" Facebook page posted that Kieran Darcy-Smith is working on a script for a sequel. In August 2012, it was announced by producers that they hoped for filming to start in early 2013.


title: Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)

text: After several years of no word on the sequel, in 2015 it was announced that a television adaptation of the "Tomorrow" series was then in the works. The cast from the film adaptation did not reprise their roles. The series consists of six episodes and aired on ABC3. Filming took place from 14 September to 13 November 2015 in Melbourne, and premiered on 23 April 2016.


title: Fleet carrier

text: A fleet carrier is an aircraft carrier designed to operate with the main fleet of a nation's navy. The term was developed during World War II, to distinguish it from the escort carrier and other less capable types. In addition to many medium-sized carriers, supercarriers, as well as some light carriers, are also classed as fleet carriers.


title: Fleet carrier

text: Aircraft carriers were designed in the years between World War I and World War II. Flight decks were installed on several different types of ships to explore the possibilities of operating naval aircraft without the performance limitations of flotation devices required for seaplanes and flying boats. The most successful of these early aircraft carriers were built from battlecruisers. Battlecruisers typically had a speed of about , which was several knots faster than the speed of contemporary battleships. Additional speed was not necessary for maintaining station with the battle fleet, but enabled the carrier to catch up with the battle fleet after temporarily leaving formation to turn into the wind for launch or recovery of aircraft. The speed of the carrier during launch effectively decreased the takeoff distance for embarked aircraft, so faster carriers could operate heavier aircraft with greater range and superior combat capability. As such naval aircraft became operational, no nation could risk fielding less capable aircraft; so the speed of later purpose-designed aircraft carriers was set by the speed of the converted battle cruisers. The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 limited the displacement of purpose-designed aircraft carriers to 23,000 tons.


title: Fleet carrier

text: The idea of a modern fleet carrier was developed in 1931 by Admirals J.J. Clark and Harry E. Yarnell of the United States Navy. Fleet carriers, instead of operating as scouts for the fleet, would operate in unison with the fleet, to ward off air attacks and to strike opposing forces from the air. Cruisers and destroyers would protect fleet carriers. The fleet carriers would then displace battleships as the preeminent assets of the surface fleet. A fleet carrier would carry more than 50 aircraft, and be fast enough to keep up with other major elements of the fleet, such as cruisers and battleships.


title: Fleet carrier

text: As combat experience demonstrated the importance of aircraft carriers, numerous ships were rapidly converted to operate aircraft during World War II; and it became important to differentiate ships with the speed and size allowed by the Washington Naval Treaty from ships that were slower and/or carried fewer aircraft. Ships of similar speed carrying fewer aircraft were identified as light aircraft carriers (CVL) and ships of lower speed became known as escort aircraft carriers (CVE). Fleet aircraft carrier became the term to distinguish front-line aircraft carriers from the generic description of any warship carrying aircraft.


title: Fleet carrier

text: In the post-war era, the United States Navy sought to give aircraft carriers a strategic bombing capability in addition to their tactical role. The largest bombs carried by carrier aircraft during the second world war had been about but experience had indicated some hardened targets like submarine pens were impervious to bombs of less than . The fleet carriers of World War II were incapable of operating meaningful numbers of aircraft large enough to carry such heavy bombs over anticipated distances with performance characteristics to avoid defending aircraft. The term fleet carrier then evolved to differentiate the supercarriers designed for strategic bombing roles from the older fleet carriers delegated limited tactical roles like anti-submarine (CVS) or amphibious warfare (LPH).


title: Fleet carrier

text: The following is not an exhaustive list, but does provide context by comparing some examples, from three types, of fleet carriers active during WWII.


title: Fleet carrier

text: The earliest carrier aircraft were designed as fighters, scouts and gunfire observers. Torpedo bombers were developed to slow enemy ships so friendly battleships might catch and sink them. Dive bombing tactics were developed as aircraft strength improved through the 1930s, but limited aircraft capacity encouraged production of dual-purpose fighter-bombers or scout-bombers rather than dedicated dive bombers. Japanese and American fleet carriers usually carried fighter squadrons, torpedo bomber squadrons, and dive bomber squadrons through World War II; but British fleet carriers were less likely to include a dive bomber squadron. The fleet carriers' longer range bombers were often used for the scouting role.


title: Fleet carrier

text: By the time of the Korean War, the typical United States Navy fleet carrier embarked two squadrons of jet fighters, two squadrons of piston fighter-bombers, and a squadron of attack planes. Smaller numbers of specialized aircraft were also carried, including night fighters, night-attack bombers, and planes uniquely modified for aerial reconnaissance, airborne early warning and control (AEW), electronic countermeasures (ECM), and carrier onboard delivery (COD). When the supercarriers became operational, they carried a heavy attack squadron, two light attack squadrons, and two fighter squadrons with similar numbers of specialized aircraft, except the night fighters and bombers. As improved aircraft sensors became available, one or more full squadrons of fighters and bombers became capable of night operations.


title: Fleet carrier

text: Early United States 21st-century fleet carriers typically embarked 45 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet aircraft for traditional fighter, attack and ECM roles with twelve Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk helicopters, four Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye AEW aircraft and two Grumman C-2 Greyhound COD aircraft.


title: Manspreading

text: "Manspreading" or "man-sitting" is a pejorative neologism referring to the practice of men sitting in public transport with legs wide apart, thereby covering more than one seat.


title: Manspreading

text: A public debate began when an anti-manspreading campaign started on the social media website Tumblr in 2013; the term appeared a year later. These campaigns have been heavily criticised as public shaming campaigns, as the subjects are often clearly identifiable, and the associated practice of taking non-consensual photos of men with emphasis on their crotch has been compared to creepshots or revenge porn.


title: Manspreading

text: The usage of the term has received substantial criticism from both feminists and antifeminists. Law enforcement regarding manspreading has unduly targeted Latino men, including a case where a Latino teenager was allegedly charged for having a backpack next to him on the train.


title: Manspreading

text: OxfordDictionaries.com added the word "manspreading" in August 2015. Lyndsay Kirkham, an English professor at Humber College, Toronto, said the practice was a metaphor for the permission men were given to take up a disproportionate share of space in society.


title: Manspreading

text: Author and fitness journalist Lou Schuler writes that "manspreading" is natural due to men's inherent physical differences which make spreading knees the "least-stressed sitting position for men":


title: Manspreading

text: The male anatomy typically has a higher center of mass, partially due to increased shoulder and upper arm musculature and partially due to lessened fat deposits on the thighs and buttocks. Men with long torsos also have a longer pendulum arm, which amplifies lateral forces due to motion of the vehicle. Men on average also have narrower backsides than women, providing a less secure base. If the chair offers lateral lumbar support, this can help to alleviate swaying, but much public transportation features spartan seating design, and spreading the legs to increase the base of support is the natural option to maintain a secure posture.


title: Manspreading

text: Larger men with broad shoulders are often as wide at the shoulder (or wider) than the seat provided; there's often very little tolerance for swaying sideways without contacting the person in the adjacent seat, especially for larger men seated side by side. Men can reduce their shoulder width somewhat by curling the shoulders forward and sitting with their forearms crossed over their horizontal thighs, an upper body posture akin to manunspreading.


title: Manspreading

text: Manspreading could also be due to the factors such as the overall width of the pelvis, which is relatively greater in females and the angle of the femoral neck, which is more acute.


title: Manspreading

text: Sitting more expansively may also signal dominance and sexual attractiveness for males. Tanya Vacharkulksemsuk, a UC Berkeley post-doctorate researcher recently published studies that found spreading out legs and arms is more sexually attractive when males do it. Using photographs, she found that images of men spreading out got 87% of interest among female viewers. Expansive poses were not as effective for women, who appeared "vulnerable" and "starfish-like" according to other researchers. On the other hand, some analysts have found that women sitting cross-legged may be perceived positively as an expression of femininity. The opposite seating posture to manspreading, leg-crossing, is often viewed as effeminate.


title: Manspreading

text: On many modern commercial aircraft, due to highly restricted leg room, it's extremely difficult for the tallest individuals (predominantly male) to sit with knees directly forward, and even when managed, only serves to jab the kidneys of the person in the seat forward.


title: Manspreading

text: In other modes of transportation, such as trains, where facing seats are common, it can also be difficult for taller individuals to sit knee forward.


title: Manspreading

text: In 2014, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in the New York metropolitan area and Sound Transit of Seattle instituted poster campaigns encouraging respectful posture when other passengers have to stand due to crowding on buses and trains. The MTA campaign, which criticized many behaviors such as leaning on poles and applying make-up, used the slogan "Dude, stop the spread please!" Transport officials in Philadelphia, Chicago and Washington D.C. have not noted complaints against manspreading in particular although the Philadelphia Transportation Authority at that time had an etiquette campaign with the slogan “Dude It's Rude... Two Seats — Really?” aimed at people who occupied seats with bags. Despite social media pressure and public debate to extend the campaign to the Canadian city of Toronto a representative of the Toronto Transit Commission stated “We’re not commenting on the manspreading campaign," and she reminded the users to be courteous to each other, allowing someone else to take an empty seat beside them. Since 2017, taking more than one seat is forbidden by Madrid Municipal Transport Company. In some cases, people who find manspreading offensive have taken to photographing manspreading, and posting those images on the Internet.


title: Manspreading

text: The term came into controversy after laws against manspreading were used to unduly target the Latino population. Two Latino men were arrested for 'manspreading' under the MTA rules, and a teenager was allegedly charged after keeping a backpack next to him. Huffpost called it an example of 'broken windows' policing.


title: Manspreading

text: Both this posture and the use of the neologism "manspreading" have occasioned some internet criticism and debates in the US, UK, Turkey, and Canada. The controversy surrounding manspreading has been described by equity feminist writer Cathy Young as "pseudo feminism – preoccupied with male misbehavior, no matter how trivial." She argued that the usage of the term is 'about shaming directed at males.'


title: Manspreading

text: According to UNSW professor and academic Emma Jane, "A key component of activism in this domain has involved feminists taking candid photographs of male commuters engaged in manspreading and posting these images on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr. Many of the male subjects are identifiable and appear alongside mocking captions and comments." The criticism and campaigns against manspreading have been counter-criticized for not addressing similar behavior by women. Men's rights groups have taken issue at the gendered nature of the term, and have contended that anti-social behaviour in transport is an issue of individual etiquette rather than gender, pointing to instances of women taking up more than one seat by keeping bags on them, a practice dubbed as she-bagging. The practice of taking non-consensual photos of men with emphasis on their crotch has been compared to creepshots or revenge porn.


title: Manspreading

text: The practice has also been described as a form of public shaming. As an example, in New York, actor Tom Hanks was photographed on the subway, taking up two seats and criticized for it. He responded on a talk show, "Hey Internet, you idiot! The train was half empty! It was scattered – there was plenty of room!"


title: Manspreading

text: The Canadian Association for Equality (CAFE), a Canadian men's rights group, has been critical of campaigns against manspreading by transit authorities. The CAFE has argued that it is "physically painful for men to close their legs" and that campaigns against manspreading is comparable to "[forcing] women to stop breast feeding on buses or trains..." Commentators in media have made similar arguments regarding the need for men to spread their legs to properly accommodate their testicles. Peter Post, the author of the book “Essential Manners for Men” has been cited as saying that the proper way for men to sit is with their legs parallel rather than in a V-shape.


title: Manspreading

text: In 2016, the word appeared on Lake Superior State University's list of "banished" words and phrases. In 2019, two women received criticism for a "womanspreading" banner that they displayed on a feminist march in Pakistan.


title: Manspreading

text: In 2019, Laila Laurel, a student of the University of Brighton, created a chair which was designed to encourage men to sit with their legs closed; she also made a different chair designed to encourage women to sit while taking up a larger portion of space. These chairs received criticism online, with some deeming the chairs and the student misandristic. Her chairs won the Belmond Award, an award at a showcase of work from various universities. According to Laurel, the chairs' designs were not meant to be taken seriously.


title: Manspreading

text: The practice of manspreading itself has also been criticized, generally for taking up too much space. It has also been viewed as a result of gender bias. Certain measures against manspreading have been praised, with some wanting other cities to adopt similar measures. It has been described by journalist Barbara Ellen in 2013 as "essentially anger at the space these men feel entitled to take up." She also argued against the argument that men need to spread their legs by arguing that "Judging by the number of men who manage to sit perfectly normally, there seems to be a modicum of delusional bragging going on here." Finally, she expressed concern that manspreading could lead to more serious behavior towards women.


title: Galleria dell'Accademia

text: The Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze, or "Gallery of the Academy of Florence", is an art museum in Florence, Italy. It is best known as the home of Michelangelo's sculpture "David". It also has other sculptures by Michelangelo and a large collection of paintings by Florentine artists, mostly from the period 1300–1600 (the Trecento to the Late Renaissance). It is smaller and more specialized than the Uffizi, the main art museum in Florence. It adjoins the Accademia di Belle Arti or academy of fine arts of Florence, but despite the name has no other connection with it.