Japan National Route 15

National Route 15 is a national highway connecting Tokyo and Yokohama in Japan. It is commonly referred to as Dai-Ichi Keihin (第一京浜, literally "Tokyo-Yokohama Number One").

Route Data

History

Municipalities passed through

Intersects with

New Jersey Route 15

Route 15 is a state highway in New Jersey, spanning Morris and Sussex counties, which heads for 19.16 miles (30.84 km) from U.S. Route 46 (East McFarland Street) in Dover to an intersection with U.S. Route 206 in Frankford Township. It becomes a divided highway in Jefferson Township until becoming a freeway bypass near Sparta. Route 15 was originally Route 6A from 1927 until 1953, when a renumbering occurred and the route was given its current number. Since the finishing of the Sparta Bypass, the New Jersey Department of Transportation and North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority have considered more bypasses and alignment changes for 15.

Route description

Route 15 begins at an interchange with U.S. Route 46, slightly to the east of the underpass Route 15 used to use to pass under U.S. Route 46 and access Dover. Route 15 then winds through Dover concurrent with several streets. The road remains two lanes past the turn for the Rockaway Townsquare Mall, in the township of Rockaway. For a very short distance Route 15 becomes a freeway as it crosses the Interstate 80 interchange. A mile north, the road becomes a four lane divided highway with exits for a few businesses and Picatinny Arsenal. At that point, Route 15 leaves Rockaway Township and enters Jefferson Township. In Jefferson Township, the northbound and southbound lanes become about a quarter mile apart as it climbs up a steep mountain. The Southbound lanes have businesses, easy access to them, and a speed limit of 40 mph as this was the original lanes of Route 15 when it was only a 2 lane highway. The northbound lanes are nearly a freeway with limited access to businesses on the southbound lanes. The northbound lanes have a speed limit of 50 mph as well. These two lanes were built in the late 1960s.

Route 15 (MTA Maryland)

Route 15 is a bus route operated by the Maryland Transit Administration in Baltimore and its suburbs. The line currently runs from Security Square Mall, Westview Mall, Windsor Hills, or Walbrook Junction (all in West Baltimore or Baltimore County) through downtown Baltimore and northeast to Overlea, with selected peak hour express trips to Perry Hall. The main roads on which it operates include Security Boulevard, Windsor Mill Road, Forest Park Avenue, Poplar Grove Street, Edmondson Avenue, Saratoga Street, Gay Street, and Belair Road, and is one of the most heavily used bus routes operated by the MTA.

The bus route is the successor to the 4 Edmondson Avenue and 15 Gay Street streetcar lines.

History

Route 15 is the successor to two streetcar lines, numbered in 1899: the west half of Route 4 on Bloomingdale Road and Edmondson Avenue and the east half of the original Route 15 on Gay Street and Belair Road.

The Baltimore City Passenger Railway opened its Gay Street Line to Boundary Avenue (now North Avenue) on December 11, 1861, and through-routed it with the Baltimore Street Line to West Baltimore (now part of Route 20) as the Red Line. The line was equipped with cable traction on July 23, 1893, and electrified in 1899.. An extension along Belair Road was built by the Central Passenger Railway in the late 1890s, branching off their Preston Street Line via Milton Avenue, and the Baltimore, Gardenville and Bel Air Electric Railway later opened an extension to Overlea.

U.S. Route 52 in Virginia

U.S. Route 52 in Virginia runs north–south through the southwestern part of the state along the Interstate 77 corridor. Though an even-numbered U.S. route, it is signed north–south in Virginia (standard convention being to label even-numbered U.S. routes with east–west designations). In some other states along its route, it is signed east–west. The Virginia segment is signed such that U.S. 52 north corresponds to the general westward direction of the highway, and vice versa.

Route description

U.S. 52 enters Virginia from West Virginia, and in Virginia closely follows Interstate 77. It enters southwestern Virginia near Bluefield and passes through Wytheville and Hillsville before leaving the state south of Cana.

History

The piece of US 52 south of Fort Chiswell was part of the state highway system defined in 1918. It was initially designated State Route 12-Z, at least south of Hillsville, but by 1924 it was State Route 15. In 1926, the U.S. Route 121 designation was applied to the whole length of SR 15, from North Carolina to Fort Chiswell, but it did not turn west on U.S. Route 11 at Fort Chiswell to connect to U.S. Route 21.

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 (band)

Japan were an English new wave music group formed in 1974 in Catford, South London by David Sylvian (guitar and vocals), Steve Jansen (drums), Richard Barbieri (keyboards) and Mick Karn (bass guitar). The band achieved success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, releasing nine UK Top 40 hits in the early 1980s, most notably "Ghosts" and their cover version of "I Second That Emotion", both top ten hits in 1982.

Japan's last performance was on 16 December 1982. The band suffered from personal and creative clashes and decided to split during a period when they were beginning to experience significant commercial success both in their native UK and internationally. Following their breakup, the band members went on to pursue other musical projects, though they reformed briefly in the early 1990s under the name Rain Tree Crow, releasing an album in 1991.

History

The band began as a group of friends in 1974. Brothers David Sylvian (guitar and vocals) and Steve Jansen (drums), keyboardist Richard Barbieri and bassist Mick Karn studied at the same school, Catford Boys', Brownhill Road, South London. As youngsters they played Sylvian's two-chord numbers mainly as a means of escape; sometimes with Karn as the front man, sometimes with Sylvian at the fore.