Cultural Property (Japan)

A Cultural Property (文化財, bunkazai) is administered by the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs, and includes tangible properties (structures and works of art or craft); intangible properties (performing arts and craft techniques); folk properties both tangible and intangible; monuments historic, scenic and natural; cultural landscapes; and groups of traditional buildings. Buried properties and conservation techniques are also protected. Together these cultural properties are to be preserved and utilized as the heritage of the Japanese people.

To protect Japan's cultural heritage, the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties contains a "designation system" (指定制度) under which selected important items are designated as Cultural Properties, which imposes restrictions on the alteration, repair, and export of such designated objects. Designation can occur at a national (国指定文化財), prefectural (都道府県指定文化財) or municipal (市町村指定文化財) level. As of 1 February 2012, there were approximately 16,000 nationally designated, 21,000 prefecturally designated, and 86,000 municipally designated properties (one property may include more than one item). Besides the designation system there also exists a "registration system" (登録制度), which guarantees a lower level of protection and support.

Japan Pavilion at Epcot

The Japan Pavilion is a Japan-themed pavilion that is part of the World Showcase, within Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Its location is between The American Adventure and Moroccan Pavilions.

History

The Japan Pavilion is one of the original World Showcase pavilions and had been in planning since the late 1970s. Many attractions have been proposed for the pavilion and one show building was built, but left unused. Meet the World was one planned attraction and was a clone of the attraction Meet the World that was once at Tokyo Disneyland. But because management thought that the Japanese film's omission of World War II might upset many Veterans, it was dropped. The show was so close to opening that the show building and rotating platform was built, but not used.

For years, Imagineers have considered building an indoor roller coaster attraction based on Matterhorn Bobsleds from Disneyland but themed to Japan's Mount Fuji inside a replica of Mount Fuji. At one point, Godzilla or a large lizard attacking guests in their cars was considered. Fujifilm originally wanted to sponsor the ride in the early 1990s, but Kodak, a major Epcot sponsor, convinced Disney to decline the sponsorship. Luckily, the Matterhorn derived design elements survived to be incorporated into Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom Park. Another proposed attraction was a walk-through version of "Circle-Vision", in which guests would board and walk through a Shinkansen (bullet train) and look through windows (actually film screens) that showcase Japan's changing landscapes. The train would have shaken and moved like a train traveling through the countryside.

Japan in Gulliver’s Travels

Japan is referred to in Gulliver's Travels, the satire by Jonathan Swift.

Part III of the book has the account of Lemuel Gulliver's visit to Japan, the only real location visited by him. It is used as a venue for Swift's satire on the actions of Dutch traders to that land. His description reflects the state of European knowledge of the country in the 17th and early 18th centuries, and the tensions due to commercial rivalry between the English and the Dutch at that time.

Description

Japan is shown on the map at the beginning of part III, which also shows the island of "Yesso" (i.e. Hokkaido), "Stats island" (Iturup) and "Companys Land" (Urup) to the north. The map also marks the Vries Strait and Cape Patience, though this is shown on the northeast coast of Yesso, rather than as part of Sakhalin, which was little known in Swift’s time. On the island of Japan itself the map shows "Nivato" (Nagato), Yedo, "Meaco" (Kyoto), Inaba and "Osacca" (Osaka)

The text describes Gulliver's journey from Luggnagg, which took fifteen days, and his landing at "Xamoschi" (i.e. Shimosa} which lies "on the western part of a narrow strait leading northward into a long arm of the sea, on the northwest part of which Yedo, the metropolis stands". This description matches the geography of Tokyo Bay, except that Shimosa is on the north, rather than the western shore of the bay.

Japan (Buronson manga)

Japan (ジャパン) is a Japanese manga written by Buronson (author of Fist of the North Star) and illustrated by Kentaro Miura (author of Berserk). It was published in the Hakusensha magazine Young Animal in 1992 and licensed in English by Dark Horse Comics and released on August 24, 2005.

Plot

A yakuza, in love with a TV reporter, comes to Barcelona, Spain, where she's making a reportage on what's the foreigners' idea of the Japanese people, and how Japanese people see themselves; during her speech, she makes a parallel between modern day Japan and the ancient Carthage, saying that the Carthaginians were wiped out by the Romans because of the same attitude Japanese people have nowadays, and because economic superiority brings war, and in the end loses to military strength. Suddenly there's an earthquake, and the ghosts of the Carthaginians bring the group (the two yakuza, the TV reporter and some university students) to the future, when the sea level has increased and all the islands which compose the Japanese archipelago have been submerged; the Japanese people have thus emigrated in the other countries, and they're now scattered around the world, and in particular in Europe, where after the cataclysm a dictatorship has been established, they've become slaves and bandits. Japan is long gone, and Japanese people are lost and oppressed; but among the newcomers, desperate of what they learn, the yakuza, who mostly wishes to protect the woman he dearly loves, has a dream: Japan can be refounded, if the Japanese people come together to fight for it.