The heavily damaged Japanese cruiser Aoba after the battle
The Battle of Cape Esperance took place on 11–12 October 1942 between the Imperial Japanese Navy and U.S. Navy in the Pacific campaign of World War II. The second major surface engagement of the Guadalcanal Campaign, it took place at the entrance to the strait between Savo Island and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese sent a major supply and reinforcement convoy to their forces on Guadalcanal. At the same time, five warships (under the command of Rear Admiral Aritomo Gotō) were to bombard the Allied airfield on Guadalcanal. Shortly before midnight on 11 October, the Americans surprised Gotō's force, sinking two warships and heavily damaging another. Gotō was mortally wounded and his other warships were forced to retreat. Meanwhile, the Japanese supply convoy unloaded and began its return journey without being discovered; four of its destroyers turned back to assist Gotō's retreating warships, but U.S. aircraft sank two of them. The battle did not give either navy operational control of the waters around Guadalcanal, but it provided a significant morale boost to the U.S. Navy after its heavy losses at the earlier Battle of Savo Island. (Full article...)
A registration card for Louis Wijnhamer (1904–1975), an ethnic Dutch humanitarian who was captured soon after the Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies in March 1942. Prior to the occupation, many ethnic Europeans had refused to leave, expecting the Japanese occupation government to keep a Dutch administration in place. When Japanese troops took control of government infrastructure and services such as ports and postal services, 100,000 European (and some Chinese) civilians were interned in prisoner-of-war camps where the death rates were between 13 and 30 per cent. Wijnhamer was interned in a series of camps throughout Southeast Asia and, after the surrender of Japan, returned to what was now Indonesia, where he lived until his death.
The Japanese government-issued dollar was a form of currency issued between 1942 and 1945 for use within the territories of Singapore, Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei, under occupation by Imperial Japan during World War II. The currency, informally referred to as "banana money", was released solely in the form of banknotes, as metals were considered essential to the war effort. The languages used on the notes were reduced to English and Japanese. Each note bears a different obverse and reverse design, but all have a similar layout, and were marked with stamped block letters that begin with "M" for "Malaya". This 1942 fifty-cent Japanese-issued banknote, depicting a traveller's palm on the obverse, is part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.
Other denominations: '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000000D-QINU`"'
Flowering Plum Tree (after Hiroshige), a copy of the ukiyo-e woodblock print Plum Park in Kameido by the Japanese artist Hiroshige. Completed in 1887, this painting is one of several Japanese-influenced works created by Vincent van Gogh after the opening up of Japan. In his copy, van Gogh ignored the shading present in the trunk and background of Hiroshige's image, which there implied age, and instead used colours with more "passion" and "youthfulness".
Before the outbreak of World War I, German naval ships were located in the Pacific; Tsingtao developed into a major seaport while the surrounding Kiautschou Bay area was leased to Germany since 1898. During the war, Japanese and British Allied troops besieged the port in 1914 before capturing it from the German and Austro-Hungarian Central Powers, occupying the city and the surrounding region. It served as a base for the exploitation of the natural resources of Shandong province and northern China, and a "New City District" was established to furnish the Japanese colonists with commercial sections and living quarters. Tsingtao eventually reverted to Chinese rule by 1922.
Asahi Breweries is a Japanese global beer, spirits, soft drinks and food business group. This photograph, taken during the blue hour with a full moon, shows the headquarters of Asahi Breweries in Sumida, Tokyo, as viewed from the wharf on the Sumida River near Azuma Bridge. The Asahi Beer Hall, topped by the Asahi Flame, designed by Philippe Starck, is visible on the right, with the Tokyo Skytree in the background on the left.
This panorama by Felice Beato—called Panorama of Yedo from Atagoyama, c.1865—showes daimyō residences in Edo (now Tokyo). Five albumen silver prints were joined together to form the image.
Kishū kumano iwatake tori (Iwatake mushroom gathering at Kumano in Kishu), 1860, a ukiyo-e print created by Hiroshige II. It is part of the series "100 Famous Views of Japan".
The siege of Osaka was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in the clan's dissolution. Divided into two stages (the winter campaign and the summer campaign), and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege put an end to the last major armed opposition to the shogunate's establishment. This eight-metre-long (26 ft) painting, titled The Summer Battle of Osaka Castle and executed on a Japanese folding screen, illustrates Osaka Castle under siege, and was commissioned by the daimyoKuroda Nagamasa, who took a team of painters with him to the battlefield to record the event. The painting depicts 5071 people and 21 generals, and is held in the collection of Osaka Castle.
Geisha (芸者) are traditional Japanese artist-entertainers. Geisha were very common in the 18th and 19th centuries, and are still in existence today, although their numbers are dwindling.
The geisha tradition evolved from the taikomochi or hōkan, similar to court jesters. Geisha were traditionally trained from young childhood although modern geisha begin their training, which remains extremely long and difficult, at much older age.
Banknotes: Empire of Japan. Reproduction: National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution
The Japanese-issued Netherlands Indies gulden was the currency issued by the Japanese Empire when it occupied the Dutch East Indies during World War II. Following the Dutch capitulation in March 1942, the Japanese closed all banks, seized assets and currency, and assumed control of the economy in the territory. They began issuing military banknotes, as had previously been done in other occupied territories. These were printed in Japan, but retained the name of the pre-war currency and replaced the Dutch gulden at par. From 1943 the military banknotes were replaced by identical bank-issued notes printed within the territory, and the currency was renamed the roepiah from 1944. The currency was replaced by the Indonesian rupiah in 1946, one year after the Japanese surrender and the country's independence.
This note, denominated half gulden, is part of the 1942 series.
Ema are small wooden plaques on which Shinto worshipers write their prayers or wishes. They are then left hanging up at a shrine where the kami (spirits or gods) can read them. These ema were placed at Meiji Shrine.
We understand that the sight of hundreds of frozen tuna looks unique and interesting for foreign tourists. But they have to understand the Tsukiji market is a professional place, not an amusement park.
Kabukidō Enkyō (歌舞伎堂 艶鏡, fl. c. 1796) was a Japanese artist who designed ukiyo-e woodblock prints. Nothing is known of Enkyō's life, and only seven of his works are known, all of which are ōkubiyakusha-e, bust portrait prints of kabuki actors. Scholars divide them into two groups based on differences in the signatures, and the second group appears to be a set, as the prints depict three brothers from the same play. Enkyō's identity has been subject to speculation: a student of Sharaku's, even Sharaku himself, or a kyōgen playwright. (Full article...)
Fukuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on KyūshūIsland. The capital is the city of Fukuoka. It includes the former provinces of Chikugo, Chikuzen, and Buzen. Fukuoka Prefecture has signed Friendship Agreements with Bangkok, Thailand, Delhi, India, and Hanoi, Vietnam. Fukuoka Prefecture faces the sea on three sides, bordering on Saga, Ōita, and Kumamoto prefectures and facing Yamaguchi Prefecture across the Kanmon Straits. Fukuoka includes the two largest cities on Kyūshū, Fukuoka and Kitakyushu, and much of Kyūshū's industry. It also includes a number of small islands near the north coast of Kyūshū. Twenty-eight cities are located in Fukuoka Prefecture. Its main cities form one of Japan's main industrial centers, accounting for nearly 40% of the economy of Kyūshū. Major industries include automobiles, semiconductors and steel. The most popular places for tourists are Fukuoka City, especially at the time of the Dontaku festival, and Dazaifu, although Kitakyushu has also tried to attract tourists.
The following are images from various Japan-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1Japanese experts inspect the scene of the alleged railway sabotage on South Manchurian Railway that led to the Mukden Incident and the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. (from History of Japan)
Image 2A social hierarchy chart based on old academic theories. Such hierarchical diagrams were removed from Japanese textbooks after various studies in the 1990s revealed that peasants, craftsmen, and merchants were in fact equal and merely social categories. Successive shoguns held the highest or near-highest court ranks, higher than most court nobles. (from History of Japan)
Image 3Territorial extent of Yamato court during the Kofun period (from History of Japan)
Image 4
Edo period screen depicting the Battle of Sekigahara. It began on 21 October 1600, with a total of 160,000 men facing each other.
Image 7Mount Aso 4 pyroclastic flow and the spread of Aso 4 tephra (90,000 to 85,000 years ago). The pyroclastic flow reached almost the whole area of Kyushu, and volcanic ash was deposited of 15 cm in a wide area from Kyushu to southern Hokkaido. (from Geography of Japan)
Image 23The Kuril Islands, with their Russian names. The borders of the Treaty of Shimoda (1855) and the Treaty of St. Petersburg (1875) are shown in red. Currently, all islands northeast of Hokkaido are administered by Russia. (from Geography of Japan)
Image 38Samurai could kill a commoner for the slightest insult and were widely feared by the Japanese population. Edo period, 1798. (from History of Japan)
Image 55Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder of the Kamakura shogunate in 1192. This was the first military government in which the shogun with the samurai were the de facto rulers of Japan. (from History of Japan)
Image 77Relief map of the land and the seabed of Japan. It shows the surface and underwater terrain of the Japanese archipelago. (from Geography of Japan)
This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk·contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject Japan}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.