Triumph and Disaster: The 20th century saw a stupendous release of energies that had been pent up for the 250 years of Tokugawa isolation. By 1930 raw-material production had tripled the figure of 1900, manufactured goods had increased twelve-fold, and heavy industry was galloping towards maturity. Britain led the World War I Ailies in large orders for munitions, while Japan expanded sales of manufactured goods to Asian and other markets cut off from their usual European suppliers. Merchant shipping doubled in size and increased its income ten-fold as the European fleets were destroyed. Setbacks in the 1930s caused by the European postwar slump were only a spur to redouble efforts by diversifying heavy industry into the machine-making, metallurgical, and chemical sectors. Even the terrible 1923 Tokyo earthquake, which cost over 100,000 lives and billions of dollars, provided another stimulus due to the construction boom that followed. Riding the crest of this economic upsurge were the zaibatsu conglomeratesa dozen family-run combines, each involved in mining, manufacturing, marketing, shipping, and banking. These tightly controlled commercial pyramids were the true heirs to the old feudal structures. Japan's progress toward parliamentary democracy was halted in the 1930s by the growing nationalism being imposed on government by the generals and admirals. They proclaimed Japan's mission to bring progress to its backward Asian neighbors in language not so very different from that of the Europeans in Africa or the US in Latin America. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Soviet Union was regarded as a major threat to Japan's security, and the army felt it needed Manchuria and whatever other Chinese territory it could control as a buffer against Russian advances. In 1931 the Japanese occupied Manchuria. And then in 1937, with the popular support of ultra-right-wing groups, the army overrode parliamentary resistance in Tokyo and went to war against the Chinese Nationalists. By 1938, they held Nanking, Hankow, and Canton. Japanese expansionist policies were leading to direct confrontation with the West. Japan hoped that war in Europe would divert the Soviet Union from interference in East Asia, giving Japan a free hand both in China and, through its alliance with Germany, in French IndoChina after the defeat of France. The US responded to the Japanese invasion of IndoChina with a trade and fuel embargo, cutting off 90 percent of Japan's supplies. The result was the attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor (7 December 1941) and total war.
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QUESTION: What event allowed the zaibatsu conglomerates to take advantage of an economic upsurge?

There once was a guy named Kevin and girl named Erin. They really liked spending time together. One day, Kevin traveled from his home in the United States of America to Erin's house in England. They then thought to take a sudden trip around the world. They first traveled by plane around Europe, where they saw many different people and sights. They then took a boat to Africa and Asia, where they went on a trip through the mountains. Later in the month, they traveled to China by train and were allowed to see how different life was over there. Next they took another plane to Australia, where they had a lot of fun seeing kangaroos and a different type of English speaking people. After spending a week in Australia, Kevin and Erin took a really long plane ride to North America, where they drove across the land. They saw everything from the mountains to forests. They even got to visit the beach! Because they had so much fun, Kevin returned home with Erin to England where they hung out and spent the next few days and months talking about all of the neat things they saw and did on their trip.
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QUESTION: What three places beginning with A did Kevin and Erin visit?

Juzo Murasaki arrives at a work construction area to take on his new job as a construction worker . To his quiet dismay , his supervising boss turns out to be Toru Akai , who with his gang had made Juzo's middle school life a living hell . Akai , however , does n't recognize Juzo . Juzo's more disconcerted when he discovers that Akai lives with his wife , Nozomi Akai and their toddler son above Juzo's new apartment . As Juzo emotionally struggles to handle these unexpected developments , a mysterious and seemingly malicious hooded figure appears . It calls itself Number 13 . As Juzo attempts to control increasing number of flashbacks and a spiral fall into psychological darkness , Akai constantly picks on Juzo and other work colleagues including Seki Hajime , a former middle school student who becomes Juzo's casual friend in spite of Juzo's anti-social tendencies , at work . Meanwhile Akai's wife , Nozomi , attempts to make friends with Juzo and entrusting the care of her toddler son to Juzo . She proudly shows Juzo her husband's school photos . In one class photo , Juzo's space is marked with an X to show he was absent . Juzo suffers a severe flashback to explain his absence that day : in their school's science room , Akai and his friends have thrown acid at Juzo's face . Seki becomes suspicious about Juzo's increasingly odd behavior and goes to inform Arai at the work site , but Arai dismisses him without giving him a chance to speak . During this incident , Seki does n't realize he's being watched by Number 13 , but as soon as he does , Number 13 kills him .
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QUESTION:
Who with Juzo gang had made Juzo's middle school life a living hell?