science

List of Japanese inventions and discoveries

List of Japanese inventions and discoveries is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of Japanese inventions and discoveries rather than just read about it. In short: This is a list of Japanese inventions and discoveries. The Japanese have made contributions across a number of scientific, technological and art domains.

Key takeaways

List of Japanese inventions and discoveries belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of Japanese inventions and discoveries to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of Japanese inventions and discoveries from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

This is a list of Japanese inventions and discoveries. The Japanese have made contributions across a number of scientific, technological and art domains. In particular, the country has played a crucial role in the digital revolution since the 20th century, with many modern revolutionary and widespread technologies in fields such as electronics and robotics introduced by Japanese inventors and entrepreneurs.

Arts Comic book Adam L. Kern has suggested that kibyoshi, picture books from the late 18th century, may have been the world's first comic books. These graphical narratives share with modern manga humorous, satirical, and romantic themes. Some works were mass-produced as serials using woodblock printing. Folding hand fan In ancient Japan, the first hand fans were oval and rigid fans, influenced greatly by Chinese fans. The earliest visual depiction of fans in Japan dates back to the 6th century AD, with burial tomb paintings showed drawings of fans. The folding fan was invented in Japan, with dates ranging from the 6th to 9th centuries and later exported to East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the West. Such a flourishing trade involving Japanese hand fans existed in the Ming dynasty times, when folding fans almost absolutely displaced the old rigid type in China. Manga The history of manga has origins in scrolls dating back to the 12th century, and it is believed they represent the basis for the right-to-left reading style. During the Edo period (1603–1867), Toba Ehon embedded the concept of manga. The word itself first came into common usage in 1798, with the publication of works such as Santō Kyōden's picturebook Shiji no yukikai (1798), and in the early 19th century with such works as Aikawa Minwa's Manga hyakujo (1814) and the Hokusai Manga books (1814–1834). Revolving stage Invented for the Kabuki theatre in Japan in the 18th century, the revolving stage was introduced into Western theater at the Residenz theatre in Munich in 1896 under the influence of japonism fever.

Film and animation

Anime Japanese animation, or anime, today widely popular both in Japan and abroad, began in the early 20th century. Man with No Name A stock character that originated with Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), where the archetype was first portrayed by Toshirō Mifune. The archetype was adapted by Sergio Leone for his Spaghetti Western Dollars Trilogy (1964–1966), with Clint Eastwood playing the role of the "Man with No Name" in Japan. The first depiction of mecha Super Robots being piloted by a user from within a cockpit was introduced in the manga and anime series Mazinger Z by Go Nagai in 1972. Postcyberpunk animation/film The first postcyberpunk media work in an animated/film format was Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex in 2002. It has been called "the most interesting, sustained postcyberpunk media work in existence." Steampunk animation The earliest examples of steampunk animation are Hayao Miyazaki's anime works Future Boy Conan (1978), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) and Castle in the Sky (1986). Superflat A postmodern art form, founded by the artist Takashi Murakami, which is influenced by manga and anime.

Architecture

Capsule hotel The first capsule hotel in the world opened in 1979 and was the Capsule Inn Osaka, located in the Umeda district of Osaka, Japan and designed by Kisho Kurokawa. From there, it spread to other cities within Japan. Since then, the concept has further spread to various other territories, including Belgium, China, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, and Poland. Japanese castle Fortresses constructed primarily out of stone and wood used for military defence in strategic locations. Metabolism A post-war Japanese architectural movement developed by a wide variety of Japanese architects including Kiyonori Kikutake, Kisho Kurokawa and Fumihiko Maki, Metabolism aimed to fuse ideas about architectural megastructures with those of organic biological growth. Tahōtō Tahōtō is a form of Japanese pagoda found primarily at Esoteric Shingon and Tendai school Buddhist temples. Unlike most pagodas, it has two stories.

Atmospheric sciences Downburst Downbursts, strong ground-level wind systems that emanate from a point above and blow radially, were discovered by Ted Fujita. Fujita scale The first scale designed to measure tornado intensity, the Fujita scale, was first introduced by Ted Fujita (in collaboration with Allen Pearson) in 1971. The scale was widely adopted throughout the world until the development of the Enhanced Fujita scale. Fujiwhara effect The Fujiwhara effect is an atmospheric phenomenon where two nearby cyclonic vortices orbit each other and close the distance between the circulations of their corresponding low-pressure areas. The effect was first described by Sakuhei Fujiwhara in 1921. Jet stream Jet streams were first discovered by Japanese meteorologist Wasaburo Oishi by tracking ceiling balloons. However, Oishi's work largely went unnoticed outside Japan because it was published in Esperanto. Microburst The microburst was first discovered and identified as a small scale downburst affecting an area 4 km (2.5 mi) in diameter or less by Ted Fujita in 1974. Microbursts are recognized as capable of generating wind speeds higher than 270 km/h (170 mph). In addition, Fujita also discovered macrobursts and classified them as downbursts larger than 4 km (2.5 mi).

Sports Drifting competition In 1988, Keiichi Tsuchiya alongside Option magazine founder and chief editor Daijiro Inada organised the first contest specifically for sliding a car sideways. In 1996, Option organized the first contest outside Japan which began to spread to other countries. Ekiden (Road Relay) Gateball Keirin Started as a gambling sport in 1948 and became an Olympic sport in 2000.

Martial arts

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of Japanese inventions and discoveries

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of Japanese inventions and discoveries claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of Japanese inventions and discoveries before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of Japanese inventions and discoveries ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of Japanese inventions and discoveries

In research: List of Japanese inventions and discoveries appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of Japanese inventions and discoveries in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of Japanese inventions and discoveries is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Japan history-related lists, Japanese inventions, Lists of inventions or discoveries, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of Japanese inventions and discoveries outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of Japanese inventions and discoveries in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of Japanese inventions and discoveries means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of Japanese inventions and discoveries out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of Japanese inventions and discoveries in simple terms?

This is a list of Japanese inventions and discoveries. The Japanese have made contributions across a number of scientific, technological and art domains.

Why does List of Japanese inventions and discoveries matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of Japanese inventions and discoveries?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of Japanese inventions and discoveries.