Friends Around The World :: Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia and an archipelago consisting of 6,852 islands. About 70% to 80% of the country is forested, mountainous, and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial, or residential use, despite the country being the world's second-largest economy by nominal GDP and the third largest in purchasing power parity.

The education system in Japan is very competitive, especially for entrance to institutions of higher education. The two top-ranking universities in Japan are the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University. The Programme for International Student Assessment coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Japanese knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds as the 6th best in the world.

Post-war Japan has been heavily influenced by American and European modern music, which has led to the evolution of popular music called J-pop and Shibuya-kei (See: Cornelius, Pizzicato Five, and Fantastic Plastic Machine), but many instruments, such as the koto, were introduced in the ninth and tenth centuries.

Life expectancy in Japan is one of the highest in the world. Very few countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, San Marino, Andorra, and Macau have a slightly higher life expectancy than Japan. On an average the Japanese lives 4 years longer than an American does, and most of the Japanese have tea and rice for/with their breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Japan's national flag is called the Hinomaru (meaning "Disk of the Sun"). The flag has a red circle against a white background. This red circle symbolizes the rising sun. The Japanese deity Amaterasu Omikami is a sun goddess who was born from the left eye of Izanag as he purified himself in a river and went on to become the ruler of the Higher Celestial Plain ("Takamagahara").

Don't forget Anime, Sushi, Origami (1, 2, 3), Cinema, and SAKE BOMBS!

All of the photographs above are courtesy of our friend L. Stephenson.

Friends Around the World :: Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America and is bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The first attempt to conquer what is now known as Nicaragua was by the Spaniard Gil González Dávila, whose Central American exploits began with his arrival in Panama in January 1520.

Nicaragua became a part of the Mexican Empire and then gained its independence as a part of the United Provinces of Central America in 1821 and as an independent republic in its own right in 1838. The strip of the Caribbean coast known as the Mosquito Coast was claimed by the United Kingdom and its predecessors as a protectorate from 1655 to 1850; this was delegated to Honduras in 1859 and transferred to Nicaragua in 1860, though it remained autonomous until 1894.

In 1961 Carlos Fonseca and two others founded the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). Upon assuming office in 1981, U.S. President Ronald Reagan condemned the FSLN for joining with Cuba in supporting Marxist revolutionary movements in other Latin American countries such as El Salvador.

Daniel Ortega is the current (83rd) President of Nicaragua, but he previously served as the 79th President, between 10 January 1985 and 25 April 1990. For much of his life, he has been a leader in the FSLN.

These pictures come from the beautiful coastal community of San Juan Del Sur:

All of the photographs above are courtesy of our friend K. Dwulit.