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Yesso

(Encyclopedia)Yesso: see Hokkaido, Japan.

Yezo

(Encyclopedia)Yezo: see Hokkaido, Japan.

Honda, Soichiro

(Encyclopedia)Honda, Soichiro, 1906–91, Japanese automobile executive. A mechanic and race car driver, he was a self-taught engineer. Honda founded a motorcycle company in the 1940s and began producing cars in th...

Indochina

(Encyclopedia)Indochina, Fr. Indochine, former federation of states, SE Asia. It comprised the French colony of Cochin China and the French protectorates of Tonkin, Annam, Laos, and Cambodia (Cochin China, Tonkin, ...

isolationism

(Encyclopedia)isolationism, a national policy of abstaining from political, military, or economic alliances or agreements with other countries. Isolationism may be adopted in order to devote a country's energies to...

pear

(Encyclopedia)pear, name for a fruit tree of the genus Pyrus of the family Rosaceae (rose family) and for its fruit, a pome. The common pear (P. communis) is one of the earliest cultivated of fruit trees, both in i...

Horyu-ji

(Encyclopedia)Horyu-ji: see Nara, Japan.

Uji-yamada

(Encyclopedia)Uji-yamada: see Ise, Japan.

burdock

(Encyclopedia)burdock bûrˈdäk [key], common name of any plant of the genus Arctium of the family Asteraceae (aster family), coarse biennials indigenous to temperate Eurasia and mostly weedy in North America. The...

Shizuoka

(Encyclopedia)Shizuoka shĭzo͞oˈôkä [key], city (1990 pop. 472,196), capital of Shizuoka prefecture, E central Honshu, Japan, on Suruga Bay. It is a port and communications center and is known for its green tea...