Page 77 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Japan
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       further from the Korean War, as it supplied the US forces with   1  Japanese troops on
       vehicles and technology. Industrial production surged and   the march in 1939.
       exports, such as cars and electronics, made Japan one of the   2  The Hiroshima
       world’s richest nations. It all came to a screeching halt in 1992,   Peace Memorial.
       however, when the economic bubble that inflated real estate   3  A shinkansen in Tokyo.
       and stock market prices burst. Decades of stagnation followed.
                                                  4  People praying for
                                                    the victims of the
       Japan Today                                  2011 earthquake.
       In March 2011, Northern Honshu was hit by an earthquake with
       a magnitude of 9.0, resulting in a tsunami. The disaster caused
       problems at four nuclear power plants, leading to a serious case
       of radioactive contamination and a continued loss of confidence
       in the government. In 2012, Shinzo Abe was elected prime   Did You Know?
       minister after promising to put an end to deflation but, due to a
       rise in sales tax, Japan entered another recession just two years   The average delay
       later. The Japanese economy has also been hampered by a   of a shinkansen
       workforce that is both aging and declining – between 2010 and   (bullet train) is only
       2018 the population had shrunk by about 1.3 million people.   30 seconds.
       Nontheless, the country remains prominent on the world stage
       as the host of events such as the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.




               1997                          2013       2017
          Economic recession            Tokyo is selected as   Emperor Akihito
           in Southeast Asia,            the host city of the   announces he
           spreading to Japan             32nd Olympiad.  will abdicate on
                                                        30 April 2019.


        1989
        Emperor Hirohito (Showa)   2011
        dies; his son, Akihito,   Major earthquake
        assumes his role.      and tsunami causes
                               destruction to Honshu.
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