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Ito, Hirobumi

(Encyclopedia)Ito, Hirobumi hērōˈbo͞omē ēˈtō [key], 1841–1909, Japanese statesman, the outstanding figure in the modernization of Japan. As a young Choshu samurai, he was a xenophobe. In 1863 he visited E...

Ozu, Yasujiro

(Encyclopedia)Ozu, Yasujiro, 1903–63, Japanese film director. Ozu began working at a Tokyo studio in 1923, became an assistant director in 1926, and directed his first feature in 1927. He made 35 silent films bef...

Kyushu

(Encyclopedia)Kyushu kyo͞oˈsho͞o [key], island (1990 pop. 13,064,955), c.13,760 sq mi (35,640 sq km), S Japan. It is the third largest, southernmost, and most densely populated of the major islands of Japan. It ...

Sugihara, Chiune

(Encyclopedia)Sugihara, Chiune, 1900–1986, Japanese diplomat who saved several thousand European Jews during World War II. He served (1920–22) in the army, then joined the Japanese foreign ministry. In 1939 he ...

Ozawa, Seiji

(Encyclopedia)Ozawa, Seiji sāˈjē ōzäˈwä [key], 1935–, Japanese conductor, b. Japanese-occupied Manchuria. A graduate of the Toho School of Music, Ozawa became the first Japanese conductor to gain recogniti...

Akutagawa, Ryunosuke

(Encyclopedia)Akutagawa, Ryunosuke chōkōˈdō sho͞oˈjĭn [key], 1892–1927, Japanese author. One of Japan's finest short-story writers, he derived many of his tales from historical Japanese sources, but told t...

Say, Allen

(Encyclopedia)Say, Allen, 1937–, Japanese-American writer and illustrator of children's books, b. Yokohama, Japan, as James Allen Koichi Moriwaki Seii. After an apprentceship with a well-known cartoonist, the bas...

Shinto

(Encyclopedia)Shinto shĭnˈtō [key], ancient native religion of Japan still practiced in a form modified by the influence of Buddhism and Confucianism. In its present form Shinto is characterized less by religiou...

Chongjin

(Encyclopedia)Chongjin or Chungjin both: chŭngˈjĕnˈ [key], Jap. Seishin, city, NE North Korea, an i...

Yoshida, Shigeru

(Encyclopedia)Yoshida, Shigeru shēgāˈro͞o yōˈshēdä [key], 1878–1967, Japanese statesman. He was until 1954 the most powerful political figure in postwar Japan. He was ambassador to Italy (1930–32) and t...
 

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