Ibaraki Entrance Social Studies flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Taihō Code

The 701 ritsuryō legal code that completed the centralization begun by the 645 Taika Reform, establishing the handen land allotment and a bureaucratic government modeled on Tang China.

Kamakura shogunate

Japan's first warrior government, founded when Minamoto no Yoritomo was appointed shōgun in 1192; it fell in 1333 after the Mongol invasions drained its finances.

Sakoku policy

The Tokugawa shogunate's restrictions on foreign contact, completed in 1639, limiting trade to Nagasaki's Dejima with the Dutch and Chinese, plus Korea, Ryūkyū, and Ainu contacts.

Meiji Constitution

Promulgated in 1889 and effective in 1890, it created a bicameral Diet under the Emperor's sovereignty, with the Cabinet and military responsible to the throne rather than the legislature.

Perry Expedition

The 1853 arrival of US Commodore Matthew Perry's squadron at Uraga, which forced Japan to open ports under the 1854 Kanagawa Treaty and ended over two centuries of restricted foreign contact.

San Francisco Peace Treaty

The 1951 treaty signed by 48 nations and Japan, ending the postwar occupation in 1952 and restoring Japanese sovereignty, while Japan renounced claims to Taiwan, Korea, and other territories.

Anglo-Japanese Alliance

A 1902 treaty in which Britain and Japan agreed to support each other if attacked by two or more powers; it enabled Japan's victory in the 1904–05 Russo-Japanese War.

Article 9

The Constitution of Japan's pacifism clause, renouncing war as a sovereign right and prohibiting the maintenance of land, sea, and air forces plus other war potential.

Popular sovereignty

The constitutional principle that political authority ultimately resides in the people, not in the Emperor, as expressed in the Preamble and Article 1 of the 1947 Constitution.

House of Councillors

The upper house of Japan's Diet with 248 members serving six-year terms, with half the chamber elected every three years and not subject to dissolution.

Collective self-defense

The right to use force to defend an ally under attack; Japan's 2015 security legislation reinterpreted Article 9 to permit limited exercise of this right under strict conditions.

Constitutional amendment procedure

Under Article 96, amendments require approval by two-thirds of all members in each Diet house plus a majority in a national referendum.

Consumption tax

Japan's value-added tax on goods and services, introduced at 3% in 1989 and raised to 10% in 2019, with a reduced 8% rate for food and newspapers.

Primary balance

The difference between government revenue and spending excluding interest payments on past debt; a surplus means new borrowing is not needed for current outlays.

Progressive taxation

A tax system in which the rate rises as income rises; Japan's national income tax uses brackets ranging from 5% to 45% depending on taxable income.

Comparative advantage

The principle that countries gain from trade by specializing in goods they can produce at lower opportunity cost than trading partners, even if one is more efficient overall.

Local allocation tax

A system in which the national government distributes a share of tax revenue to local governments to equalize fiscal capacity between wealthy and poorer municipalities.

Direct democracy tools

Local residents may collect signatures to enact or abolish ordinances, recall assembly members or chief executives, or dissolve the assembly under the Local Autonomy Act.

NPO and NGO

Non-profit and non-governmental organizations that pursue public-interest goals through civic participation, filling roles between government and private business.

Regional revitalization

The chihō sōsei policy launched in 2014 to counter depopulation and economic decline in rural regions by promoting migration, local industry, and tourism.

EEZ

The exclusive economic zone extending up to 200 nautical miles from a coastline, where a coastal state holds rights to explore and exploit marine resources.

Pacific Belt

Japan's main industrial corridor stretching from Tōkyō through Nagoya and Ōsaka to Kitakyūshū, concentrating heavy industry, ports, and population.

Kasumigaura

Japan's second-largest lake by area, located in Ibaraki Prefecture and used for fisheries, irrigation, and water supply to the Kantō region.

Contour line

A map line connecting points of equal elevation; closely spaced lines indicate steep slopes, and every fifth index contour is labelled with its elevation.

Population pyramid

A graph showing the age and sex distribution of a population; a constrictive urn shape indicates low birthrate and an aging society, as in Japan.

Choropleth map

A thematic map that shades regions in proportion to a value such as population density or unemployment rate, making spatial patterns easy to compare.

Primary source

An original document or artifact created at the time of an event, such as a diary, treaty, or official record, used as direct evidence by historians.

Correlation and causation

A statistical caution: two variables moving together does not prove one causes the other; omitted variables or reverse causation may explain the pattern.

Silk Road

Ancient trade networks linking China, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean; goods, Buddhism, and technologies reached Japan through Tang China and the Korean peninsula.

Mongol invasions

Kublai Khan's 1274 and 1281 attacks on Japan, repelled by typhoons called kamikaze; the defense costs weakened the Kamakura shogunate.

Jōmon period

Japan's prehistoric era roughly 14,000 BCE to 300 BCE, characterized by cord-marked pottery, hunting and gathering, and pit-dwelling settlements.

Taika Reform

The 645 political reform led by Naka no Ōe and Nakatomi no Kamatari that abolished private landholding and established the ritsuryō state system.