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145-491: The term whaler is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japan , still dedicates a single factory ship for the industry. The vessels used by aboriginal whaling communities are much smaller and are used for various purposes over the course of the year. The whale catcher was developed during the Steam-powered vesselage , and then driven by diesel engines throughout much of

290-500: A low unemployment rate of around 2.6%. Its poverty rate is the second highest among the G7 countries, and exceeds 15.7% of the population. Japan has the highest ratio of public debt to GDP among advanced economies, with a national debt estimated at 248% relative to GDP as of 2022 . The Japanese yen is the world's third-largest reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. Japan

435-701: A security alliance . The United States is a major market for Japanese exports and a major source of Japanese imports, and is committed to defending the country, with military bases in Japan. In 2016, Japan announced the Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision, which frames its regional policies. Japan is also a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue ("the Quad"), a multilateral security dialogue reformed in 2017 aiming to limit Chinese influence in

580-417: A 35–40 lb (16–18 kg) cone-shaped steel drum on a 5 ft (1.5 m) shaft, intended to be thrown at a submarine. Firing Lyddite shells, or using trench mortars , was tried. Use of nets to ensnare U-boats was also examined, as was a destroyer, HMS  Starfish , fitted with a spar torpedo . To attack at set depths, aircraft bombs were attached to lanyards which would trigger their charges;

725-462: A comparable WW2 submarine; in addition, they recharged their batteries using a snorkel and could complete a patrol without surfacing. This led to the introduction of longer-ranged forward-throwing weapons, such as Weapon Alpha , Limbo , RBU-6000 , and of improved homing torpedoes. Nuclear submarines , even faster still, and without the need to snorkel to recharge batteries, posed an even greater threat; in particular, shipborne helicopters (recalling

870-652: A country's commitment to environmental sustainability. Japan is the world's fifth-largest emitter of carbon dioxide . As the host and signatory of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol , Japan is under treaty obligation to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions and to take other steps to curb climate change. In 2020, the government of Japan announced a target of carbon-neutrality by 2050. Environmental issues include urban air pollution ( NOx , suspended particulate matter , and toxics ), waste management , water eutrophication , nature conservation , climate change , chemical management and international co-operation for conservation. Japan

1015-403: A device intended for countermining , a "dropping mine". At Admiral John Jellicoe 's request, the standard Mark II mine was fitted with a hydrostatic pistol (developed in 1914 by Thomas Firth & Sons of Sheffield) preset for 45 ft (14 m) firing, to be launched from a stern platform. Weighing 1,150 lb (520 kg), and effective at 100 ft (30 m), the "cruiser mine"

1160-473: A head start to whaling in the Dutch Republic . In the late 18th and early 19th century, the owners of whalers frequently armed their vessels with cannons to enable the vessels to protect themselves against pirates, and in wartime, privateers . Weapons were also carried on vessels visiting Pacific islands for food, water, and wood in order to defend themselves from the sometimes hostile inhabitants. At

1305-545: A kingdom in central Japan in 660 BC, beginning a continuous imperial line . Japan first appears in written history in the Chinese Book of Han , completed in 111 AD. Buddhism was introduced to Japan from Baekje (a Korean kingdom) in 552, but the development of Japanese Buddhism was primarily influenced by China. Despite early resistance, Buddhism was promoted by the ruling class, including figures like Prince Shōtoku , and gained widespread acceptance beginning in

1450-491: A large cooperative sector, with three of the world's ten largest cooperatives, including the largest consumer cooperative and the largest agricultural cooperative as of 2018 . It ranks highly for competitiveness and economic freedom . Japan ranked sixth in the Global Competitiveness Report in 2019. It attracted 31.9 million international tourists in 2019, and was ranked eleventh in

1595-410: A large role. The use of nuclear propulsion and streamlined hulls has resulted in submarines with high speed capability and increased maneuverability, as well as low "indiscretion rates" when a submarine is exposed on the surface. This has required changes both to the sensors and weapons used for ASW. Because nuclear submarines were noisy, there was an emphasis on passive sonar detection. The torpedo became

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1740-407: A large, modern submarine fleet, because all had fallen in the grip of Mahanian doctrine which held guerre de course could not win a war. At the beginning of the conflict, most navies had few ideas how to combat submarines beyond locating them with sonar and then dropping depth charges on them. Sonar proved much less effective than expected, and was no use at all against submarines operating on

1885-703: A long tail boom (fixed-wing aircraft) or an aerodynamic housing carried on a deployable tow line (helicopters). Keeping the sensor away from the plane's engines and avionics helps eliminate interference from the carrying platform. At one time, reliance was placed on electronic warfare detection devices exploiting the submarine's need to perform radar sweeps and transmit responses to radio messages from home port. As frequency surveillance and direction finding became more sophisticated, these devices enjoyed some success. However, submariners soon learned not to rely on such transmitters in dangerous waters. Home bases can then use extremely low frequency radio signals, able to penetrate

2030-462: A long time and left the whale to thrash around in its death throes. These harpoons inject air into the carcass to keep the heavier rorqual whales hunted today from sinking. However, the harpoon-cannon is still criticized for its cruelty as not all whales are killed instantly; death can take from minutes to an hour. Japan is currently the only country that engages in whaling in the Antarctic, which

2175-479: A major catalyst for further administrative reforms. These reforms culminated with the promulgation of the Taihō Code , which consolidated existing statutes and established the structure of the central and subordinate local governments. These legal reforms created the ritsuryō state, a system of Chinese-style centralized government that remained in place for half a millennium. The Nara period (710–784) marked

2320-656: A meeting with their American counterparts in June 1917. In October 1918, there was a meeting in Paris on "supersonics", a term used for echo-ranging, but the technique was still in research by the end of the war. The first recorded sinking of a submarine by depth charge was U-68 , sunk by Q-ship HMS  Farnborough off County Kerry , Ireland 22 March 1916. By early 1917, the Royal Navy had also developed indicator loops which consisted of long lengths of cables lain on

2465-554: A new constitution emphasizing liberal democratic practices. The Allied occupation ended with the Treaty of San Francisco in 1952, and Japan was granted membership in the United Nations in 1956. A period of record growth propelled Japan to become the second-largest economy in the world; this ended in the mid-1990s after the popping of an asset price bubble , beginning the " Lost Decade ". In 2011, Japan suffered one of

2610-465: A new system of taxation. The true aim of the reforms was to bring about greater centralization and to enhance the power of the imperial court, which was also based on the governmental structure of China. Envoys and students were dispatched to China to learn about Chinese writing, politics, art, and religion. The Jinshin War of 672, a bloody conflict between Prince Ōama and his nephew Prince Ōtomo , became

2755-622: A population of nearly 124 million as of 2024, and is the eleventh-most populous country . Its capital and largest city is Tokyo ; the Greater Tokyo Area is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 38 million inhabitants as of 2016. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions . About three-quarters of the country's terrain is mountainous and heavily forested, concentrating its agriculture and highly urbanized population along its eastern coastal plains . The country sits on

2900-575: A ram with which to sink submarines, and U-15 was thus sunk in August 1914. During June 1915, the Royal Navy began operational trials of the Type D depth charge, with a 300 lb (140 kg) charge of TNT ( amatol , as TNT supplies became critical) and a hydrostatic pistol, firing at either 40 or 80 ft (12 or 24 m), and believed to be effective at a distance of 140 ft (43 m);

3045-471: A result, in the latter half of 1943, US subs were suddenly sinking Japanese ships at a dramatically higher rate, scoring their share of key warship kills and accounting for almost half of the Japanese merchant fleet. Japan's naval command was caught off guard; Japan had neither the anti-submarine technology or doctrine, nor the production capability to withstand a tonnage war of attrition , nor did she develop

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3190-598: A semi-autonomous oceangoing unmanned naval vessel. Today some nations have seabed listening devices capable of tracking submarines. It is possible to detect man-made marine noises across the southern Indian Ocean from South Africa to New Zealand. Some of the SOSUS arrays have been turned over to civilian use and are now used for marine research. Several countries developed anti-submarine missiles including United States , Russia , China , South Korea , Japan and India . Anti-submarine missiles give flexibility in terms of

3335-571: A ship by an underwater vehicle are generally believed to have been during the American Revolutionary War , using what would now be called a naval mine but what was then referred to as a torpedo. Even so, various attempts to produce submarines had been made prior to this. In 1866, British engineer Robert Whitehead invented the first effective self-propelled torpedo, the eponymous Whitehead torpedo ; French and German inventions followed soon thereafter. The first submarine with

3480-465: A significant shift to urbanization. The early 20th century saw a period of Taishō democracy (1912–1926) overshadowed by increasing expansionism and militarization . World War I allowed Japan, which joined the side of the victorious Allies , to capture German possessions in the Pacific and China in 1920 . The 1920s saw a political shift towards statism , a period of lawlessness following

3625-507: A similar idea was a 16 lb (7.3 kg) guncotton charge in a lanyarded can; two of these lashed together became known as the Depth Charge Type A. Problems with the lanyards tangling and failing to function led to the development of a chemical pellet trigger as the Type B. These were effective at a distance of around 20 ft (6.1 m). Perhaps the best early concept arose in a 1913 RN Torpedo School report, describing

3770-465: A system of terraces is used to farm in small areas. This results in one of the world's highest levels of crop yields per unit area, with an agricultural self-sufficiency rate of about 50% as of 2018 . Japan's small agricultural sector is highly subsidized and protected . There has been a growing concern about farming as farmers are aging with a difficult time finding successors. Anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare ( ASW , or in

3915-719: A torpedo was Nordenfelt I built in 1884–1885, though it had been proposed earlier. By the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War , all the large navies except the Germans had acquired submarines. Nevertheless, by 1904, all powers still defined the submarine as an experimental vessel and did not put it into operational use. There were no means to detect submerged U-boats, and attacks on them were limited at first to efforts to damage their periscopes with hammers. The Royal Navy torpedo establishment, HMS Vernon , studied explosive grapnel sweeps; these sank four or five U-boats in

4060-529: Is reclaimed land ( umetatechi ). Lake Biwa is an ancient lake and the country's largest freshwater lake. Japan is substantially prone to earthquakes , tsunami and volcanic eruptions because of its location along the Pacific Ring of Fire. It has the 17th highest natural disaster risk as measured in the 2016 World Risk Index. Japan has 111 active volcanoes. Destructive earthquakes, often resulting in tsunami, occur several times each century;

4205-430: Is 377,975.24 km (145,937.06 sq mi). Japan has the sixth-longest coastline in the world at 29,751 km (18,486 mi). Because of its far-flung outlying islands, Japan's exclusive economic zone is the eighth-largest in the world, covering 4,470,000 km (1,730,000 sq mi). The Japanese archipelago is 67% forests and 14% agricultural . The primarily rugged and mountainous terrain

4350-666: Is a unitary state and constitutional monarchy in which the power of the Emperor is limited to a ceremonial role . Executive power is instead wielded by the Prime Minister of Japan and his Cabinet , whose sovereignty is vested in the Japanese people. Naruhito is the Emperor of Japan, having succeeded his father Akihito upon his accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019. Japan's legislative organ

4495-517: Is divided into 47 prefectures, each overseen by an elected governor and legislature. In the following table, the prefectures are grouped by region : 7.  Fukushima 14.  Kanagawa 23.  Aichi 30.  Wakayama 35.  Yamaguchi 39.  Kōchi 47.  Okinawa A member state of the United Nations since 1956, Japan is one of the G4 countries seeking reform of

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4640-730: Is governed by the Ministry of Defense , and primarily consists of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force , the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force , and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force . The deployment of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan marked the first overseas use of Japan's military since World War II. The Government of Japan has been making changes to its security policy which include the establishment of

4785-421: Is no longer the primary commercial product of whaling. Whaling is now done for whale meat for the relatively small culinary market. (Norwegian whalers account for about 20% of whales caught and Japanese whalers for about 60%.) Harpoon cannons , fired from harpoon ships with displacement in the hundreds of tons, are now universally used for commercial whaling operations. These motorized ships are able to keep up with

4930-539: Is not heavy, but the islands usually develop deep snowbanks in the winter. In the Sea of Japan region on Honshu's west coast, northwest winter winds bring heavy snowfall during winter. In the summer, the region sometimes experiences extremely hot temperatures because of the Foehn . The Central Highland has a typical inland humid continental climate, with large temperature differences between summer and winter. The mountains of

5075-714: Is now under the protection of the International Whaling Commission as the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary . The area formerly saw large scale commercial whaling operations by numerous countries before the moratorium. The three Japanese harpoon ships of the ICR serve a factory ship that processes the catch on board and preserves it on site in refrigerators, allowing the long endurance whaling missions. These whaling operations, which are claimed by Japan to be for research purposes, sell

5220-439: Is restricted for habitation. Thus the habitable zones, mainly in the coastal areas, have very high population densities: Japan is the 40th most densely populated country even without considering that local concentration. Honshu has the highest population density at 450 persons/km (1200/sq mi) as of 2010 , while Hokkaido has the lowest density of 64.5 persons/km as of 2016 . As of 2014 , approximately 0.5% of Japan's total area

5365-841: Is the Pequod from the novel Moby-Dick . Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia . It is located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland , and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands— Hokkaido , Honshu , Shikoku , and Kyushu —and thousands of smaller islands , covering 377,975 square kilometres (145,937 sq mi). Japan has

5510-482: Is the National Diet , a bicameral parliament . It consists of a lower House of Representatives with 465 seats, elected by popular vote every four years or when dissolved, and an upper House of Councillors with 245 seats, whose popularly-elected members serve six-year terms. There is universal suffrage for adults over 18 years of age, with a secret ballot for all elected offices. The prime minister as

5655-592: Is the oldest unamended constitution in the world. Statutory law originates in the legislature, and the constitution requires that the emperor promulgate legislation passed by the Diet without giving him the power to oppose legislation. The main body of Japanese statutory law is called the Six Codes . Japan's court system is divided into four basic tiers: the Supreme Court and three levels of lower courts. Japan

5800-574: Is typically used in everyday speech and reflects shifts in Japanese phonology during the Edo period . The characters 日本 mean "sun origin", which is the source of the popular Western epithet "Land of the Rising Sun". The name "Japan" is based on Min or Wu Chinese pronunciations of 日本 and was introduced to European languages through early trade. In the 13th century, Marco Polo recorded

5945-454: Is used for first detecting, then classifying, locating, and tracking a target submarine. Sensors are therefore a key element of ASW. Common weapons for attacking submarines include torpedoes and naval mines , which can both be launched from an array of air, surface, and underwater platforms. ASW capabilities are often considered of significant strategic importance, particularly following provocative instances of unrestricted submarine warfare and

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6090-571: Is very heavy, especially during the rainy season. The main rainy season begins in early May in Okinawa, and the rain front gradually moves north. In late summer and early autumn, typhoons often bring heavy rain. According to the Environment Ministry, heavy rainfall and increasing temperatures have caused problems in the agricultural industry and elsewhere. The highest temperature ever measured in Japan, 41.1 °C (106.0 °F),

6235-483: Is written using the kanji 日本 and is pronounced Nihon or Nippon . Before 日本 was adopted in the early 8th century, the country was known in China as Wa ( 倭 , changed in Japan around 757 to 和 ) and in Japan by the endonym Yamato . Nippon , the original Sino-Japanese reading of the characters, is favored for official uses, including on Japanese banknotes and postage stamps. Nihon

6380-899: The shōgun led to the Boshin War and the establishment of a centralized state nominally unified under the emperor (the Meiji Restoration ). Adopting Western political, judicial, and military institutions, the Cabinet organized the Privy Council , introduced the Meiji Constitution (November 29, 1890), and assembled the Imperial Diet . During the Meiji period (1868–1912), the Empire of Japan emerged as

6525-560: The Nisshin Maru of Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) is the only whaling factory ship in operation. As compared to whaling before and during the 19th century, which was executed with handheld harpoons thrown from oar-powered whaleboats (depicted most famously in Herman Melville's Moby Dick ) , whaling since the 1900s has been quite different. Whale oil , which fossil-fuel based alternatives has supplanted,

6670-542: The R1 was the first ASW submarine. 211 of the 360 U-boats were sunk during the war, from a variety of ASW methods: This period saw the development of active sonar ( ASDIC ) and its integration into a complete weapons system by the British, as well as the introduction of radar . During the period, there was a great advance due to the introduction of electronics for amplifying, processing, and displaying signals. In particular,

6815-416: The 1923 Tokyo earthquake killed over 140,000 people. More recent major quakes are the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, which triggered a large tsunami. The climate of Japan is predominantly temperate but varies greatly from north to south. The northernmost region, Hokkaido, has a humid continental climate with long, cold winters and very warm to cool summers. Precipitation

6960-493: The Admiralty . To attack submerged boats, a number of anti-submarine weapons were derived, including the sweep with a contact-fused explosive. Bombs were dropped by aircraft and depth charge attacks were made by ships. Prior to the introduction of dedicated depth charge throwers, charges were manually rolled off the stern of a ship. The Q-ship , a warship disguised as a merchantman, was used to attack surfaced U-boats, while

7105-463: The Asuka period (592–710). In 645, the government led by Prince Naka no Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari devised and implemented the far-reaching Taika Reforms . The Reform began with land reform, based on Confucian ideas and philosophies from China . It nationalized all land in Japan, to be distributed equally among cultivators, and ordered the compilation of a household registry as the basis for

7250-539: The Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. He was appointed shōgun by Emperor Go-Yōzei in 1603 and established the Tokugawa shogunate at Edo (modern Tokyo). The shogunate enacted measures including buke shohatto , as a code of conduct to control the autonomous daimyō , and in 1639 the isolationist sakoku ("closed country") policy that spanned the two and a half centuries of tenuous political unity known as

7395-519: The Chūgoku and Shikoku regions shelter the Seto Inland Sea from seasonal winds, bringing mild weather year-round. The Pacific coast features a humid subtropical climate that experiences milder winters with occasional snowfall and hot, humid summers because of the southeast seasonal wind. The Ryukyu and Nanpō Islands have a subtropical climate , with warm winters and hot summers. Precipitation

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7540-601: The Early Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of the characters 日本國 as Cipangu . The old Malay name for Japan, Japang or Japun , was borrowed from a southern coastal Chinese dialect and encountered by Portuguese traders in Southeast Asia , who brought the word to Europe in the early 16th century. The first version of the name in English appears in a book published in 1577, which spelled

7685-588: The Edo period (1603–1868). Modern Japan's economic growth began in this period, resulting in roads and water transportation routes, as well as financial instruments such as futures contracts , banking and insurance of the Osaka rice brokers . The study of Western sciences ( rangaku ) continued through contact with the Dutch enclave in Nagasaki . The Edo period gave rise to kokugaku ("national studies"),

7830-756: The Indo-Pacific region, along with the United States, Australia, and India. Japan is engaged in several territorial disputes with its neighbors. Japan contests Russia's control of the Southern Kuril Islands , which were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945. South Korea's control of the Liancourt Rocks is acknowledged but not accepted as they are claimed by Japan. Japan has strained relations with China and Taiwan over

7975-755: The Kurils . The Allies (led by the United States) repatriated millions of Japanese settlers from their former colonies and military camps throughout Asia, largely eliminating the Japanese Empire and its influence over the territories it conquered. The Allies convened the International Military Tribunal for the Far East to prosecute Japanese leaders except the Emperor for Japanese war crimes . In 1947, Japan adopted

8120-670: The National Security Council , the adoption of the National Security Strategy, and the development of the National Defense Program Guidelines. In May 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan wanted to shed the passiveness it has maintained since the end of World War II and take more responsibility for regional security. In December 2022, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida further confirmed this trend, instructing

8265-479: The Norwegian and later British Royal Navies requisitioned a number of whalers for use in a variety of functions such as minesweeping , search and rescue , and anti-submarine warfare . Ten Allied vessels categorized as whalers were lost in the war. Since the 1982 moratorium on commercial whaling, few countries still operate whalers, with Norway , Iceland , and Japan among those still operating them. Of those,

8410-559: The Pacific War and two atomic bombings , Japan surrendered in 1945 and came under Allied occupation . After the war, the country underwent rapid economic growth , although its economy has stagnated since 1990 . Japan is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature, the National Diet . A great power and the only Asian member of the G7 , Japan has constitutionally renounced its right to declare war , but maintains one of

8555-406: The Sea of Okhotsk to the East China Sea . The country's five main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido , Honshu , Shikoku , Kyushu and Okinawa . The Ryukyu Islands , which include Okinawa, are a chain to the south of Kyushu. The Nanpō Islands are south and east of the main islands of Japan. Together they are often known as the Japanese archipelago . As of 2019 , Japan's territory

8700-427: The Second World War , the Allies developed a huge range of new technologies, weapons and tactics to counter the submarine danger. These included: Italian and German submarines operated in the Mediterranean on the Axis side while French and British submarines operated on the side of the Allies. The German Navy sent 62 U-boats to the Mediterranean; all were lost in combat or scuttled. German subs first had to pass through

8845-418: The Security Council . Japan is a member of the G7 , APEC , and " ASEAN Plus Three ", and is a participant in the East Asia Summit . It is the world's fifth-largest donor of official development assistance , donating US$ 9.2 billion in 2014. In 2024, Japan had the fourth-largest diplomatic network in the world. Japan has close economic and military relations with the United States, with which it maintains

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8990-504: The Senkaku Islands and the status of Okinotorishima . Japan is the third highest-ranked Asian country in the 2024 Global Peace Index . It spent 1.1% of its total GDP on its defence budget in 2022, and maintained the tenth-largest military budget in the world in 2022. The country's military (the Japan Self-Defense Forces) is restricted by Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution , which renounces Japan's right to declare war or use military force in international disputes. The military

9135-424: The Whiskey and Zulu classes. Britain also tested hydrogen peroxide fuels in Meteorite , Excalibur , and Explorer , with less success. To deal with these more capable submarines new ASW weapons were essential. This new generation of diesel electric submarine, like the Type XXI before it, had no deck gun and a streamlined hull tower for greater underwater speed, as well as more storage battery capacity than

9280-405: The Wolfpack achieved initial success, but became increasingly costly as more capable ASW aircraft were introduced. Technologies such as the Naxos radar detector gained only a temporary reprieve until detection apparatus advanced yet again. Intelligence efforts, such as Ultra , had also played a major role in curtailing the submarine threat and guiding ASW efforts towards greater success. During

9425-469: The blimps of World War I) have emerged as essential anti-submarine platforms. A number of torpedo carrying missiles such as ASROC and Ikara were developed, combining ahead-throwing capability (or longer-range delivery) with torpedo homing. Since the introduction of submarines capable of carrying ballistic missiles , great efforts have been made to counter the threat they pose; here, maritime patrol aircraft (as in World War II) and helicopters have had

9570-401: The end of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power in 1868. In the Meiji period , the Empire of Japan pursued rapid industrialization and modernization , as well as militarism and overseas colonization . In 1937, Japan invaded China , and in 1941 attacked the United States and European colonial powers, entering World War II as an Axis power . After suffering defeat in

9715-411: The head of government has the power to appoint and dismiss Ministers of State , and is appointed by the emperor after being designated from among the members of the Diet. Shigeru Ishiba is Japan's prime minister; he took office after winning the 2024 Liberal Democratic Party leadership election . The broadly conservative Liberal Democratic Party has been the dominant party in the country since

9860-491: The postwar era, ASW continued to advance, as the arrival of nuclear submarines had rendered some traditional techniques less effective. The superpowers of the era constructed sizable submarine fleets, many of which were armed with nuclear weapons ; in response to the heightened threat posed by such vessels, various nations chose to expand their ASW capabilities. Helicopters , capable of operating from almost any warship and equipped with ASW apparatus, became commonplace during

10005-490: The samurai . In 1185, following the defeat of the Taira clan by the Minamoto clan in the Genpei War , samurai Minamoto no Yoritomo established a military government at Kamakura . After Yoritomo's death, the Hōjō clan came to power as regents for the shōgun . The Zen school of Buddhism was introduced from China in the Kamakura period (1185–1333) and became popular among the samurai class. The Kamakura shogunate repelled Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281 but

10150-428: The "life and death" urgency in the Atlantic. However, US Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood pressured the ordnance department to replace the faulty torpedoes; famously when they initially ignored his complaints, he ran his own tests to prove the torpedoes' unreliability. He also cleaned out the "deadwood", replacing many cautious or unproductive submarine skippers with younger (somewhat) and more aggressive commanders. As

10295-417: The "range recorder" was a major step that provided a memory of target position. Because the propellers of many submarines were extremely loud in the water (though it doesn't seem so from the surface), range recorders were able to gauge the distance from the U-boat by sound. This would allow mines or bombs around that area to be detonated. New materials for sound projectors were developed. Both the Royal Navy and

10440-513: The 1923 Great Tokyo Earthquake , the passing of laws against political dissent , and a series of attempted coups . This process accelerated during the 1930s, spawning several radical nationalist groups that shared a hostility to liberal democracy and a dedication to expansion in Asia. In 1931, Japan invaded China and occupied Manchuria , which led to the establishment of puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932; following international condemnation of

10585-664: The 1950s, often called the 1955 System . Historically influenced by Chinese law , the Japanese legal system developed independently during the Edo period through texts such as Kujikata Osadamegaki . Since the late 19th century, the judicial system has been largely based on the civil law of Europe, notably Germany. In 1896, Japan established a civil code based on the German Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch , which remains in effect with post–World War II modifications. The Constitution of Japan , adopted in 1947,

10730-526: The 1960s. Increasingly capable fixed-wing maritime patrol aircraft were also widely used, capable of covering vast areas of ocean. The Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD), diesel exhaust sniffers , sonobuoys and other electronic warfare technologies also became a staple of ASW efforts. Dedicated attack submarines , purpose-built to track down and destroy other submarines, became a key component as well. Torpedo carrying missiles, such as ASROC and Ikara , were another area of advancement. The first attacks on

10875-664: The Allied merchant convoys and strategic shipping lanes to any degree that German U-boats did. One major advantage the Allies had was the breaking of the Japanese "Purple" code by the US, so allowing friendly ships to be diverted from Japanese submarines and allowing Allied submarines to intercept Japanese forces. In 1942 and early 1943, US submarines posed little threat to Japanese ships, whether warships or merchant ships. They were initially hampered by poor torpedoes, which often failed to detonate on impact, ran too deep, or even ran wild. As

11020-470: The First World War. A similar approach featured a string of 70 lb (32 kg) charges on a floating cable, fired electrically; an unimpressed Admiral Edward Evans considered any U-boat sunk by it deserved to be. Another primitive technique of attacking submarines was the dropping of 18.5 lb (8.4 kg) hand-thrown guncotton bombs. The Lance Bomb was developed, also; this featured

11165-761: The National Police Agency is administered by the National Public Safety Commission . The Special Assault Team comprises national-level counter-terrorism tactical units that cooperate with territorial-level Anti-Firearms Squads and Counter-NBC Terrorism Squads . The Japan Coast Guard guards territorial waters surrounding Japan and uses surveillance and control countermeasures against smuggling, marine environmental crime , poaching, piracy, spy ships, unauthorized foreign fishing vessels, and illegal immigration. The Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law strictly regulates

11310-563: The Navy developed and introduced the Kyushu Q1W anti-submarine bomber into service in 1945. The Japanese depth charge attacks by its surface forces initially proved fairly unsuccessful against U.S. fleet submarines. Unless caught in shallow water, a U.S. submarine commander could normally escape destruction, sometimes using temperature gradients ( thermoclines ). Additionally, IJN doctrine emphasized fleet action, not convoy protection, so

11455-589: The Pacific Ring of Fire , making its islands prone to destructive earthquakes and tsunamis . The first known habitation of the archipelago dates to the Upper Paleolithic , with the beginning Japanese Paleolithic dating to c.  36,000 BC . Between the fourth and sixth centuries, its kingdoms were united under an emperor in Nara , and later Heian-kyō . From the 12th century, actual power

11600-624: The Pacific . Throughout areas occupied by Japan during the war, numerous abuses were committed against local inhabitants, with many forced into sexual slavery . After Allied victories during the next four years, which culminated in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender . The war cost Japan millions of lives and its colonies , including de jure parts of Japan such as Korea , Taiwan , Karafuto , and

11745-756: The Pacific, mainly against coastal shipping. In the immediate postwar period, the innovations of the late war U-boats were quickly adopted by the major navies. Both the United Kingdom and The United States studied the German Type XXI and used the information to modify WW2 fleet boats, the US with the GUPPY program and the UK with the Overseas Patrol Submarines Project. The Soviets launched new submarines patterned on Type XXIs,

11890-640: The Type D*, with a 120 lb (54 kg) charge, was offered for smaller ships. In July 1915, the British Admiralty set up the Board of Invention and Research (BIR) to evaluate suggestions from the public as well as carrying out their own investigations. Some 14,000 suggestions were received about combating submarines. In December 1916, the RN set up its own Anti-Submarine Division (ASD), from which came

12035-409: The U.S. Navy fitted their destroyers with active sonars. In 1928, a small escort ship was designed and plans made to arm trawlers and to mass-produce ASDIC sets. Several other technologies were developed; depth sounders that allowed measurement by moving ships were a new innovation, along with a greater appreciation of the properties of the ocean that affected sound propagation. The bathythermograph

12180-489: The US submarine menace was slight in the beginning, Japanese commanders became complacent and as a result did not invest heavily into ASW measures or upgrade their convoy protection to any degree to what the Allies in the Atlantic did. Often encouraged by the Japanese not placing a high priority on the Allied submarine threat, US skippers were relatively complacent and docile compared to their German counterparts, who understood

12325-417: The United States (9.9 percent), and Australia (9.8 percent). Japan's main imports are machinery and equipment, fossil fuels, foodstuffs, chemicals, and raw materials for its industries. The Japanese variant of capitalism has many distinct features: keiretsu enterprises are influential, and lifetime employment and seniority-based career advancement are common in the Japanese work environment . Japan has

12470-487: The best ships and crews went elsewhere. Moreover, during the first part of the war, the Japanese tended to set their depth charges too shallow, unaware U.S. submarines could dive below 150 feet (45m). Unfortunately, this deficiency was revealed in a June 1943 press conference held by U.S. Congressman Andrew J. May , and soon enemy depth charges were set to explode as deep as 250 feet (76m). Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood , COMSUBPAC , later estimated May's revelation cost

12615-476: The capital, settling on Heian-kyō (modern-day Kyoto ) in 794. This marked the beginning of the Heian period (794–1185), during which a distinctly indigenous Japanese culture emerged. Murasaki Shikibu 's The Tale of Genji and the lyrics of Japan's national anthem " Kimigayo " were written during this time. Japan's feudal era was characterized by the emergence and dominance of a ruling class of warriors,

12760-550: The civilian ownership of guns, swords, and other weaponry. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime , among the member states of the UN that report statistics as of 2018 , the incidence rates of violent crimes such as murder, abduction, sexual violence, and robbery are very low in Japan. Japanese society traditionally places a strong emphasis on collective harmony and conformity , which has led to

12905-530: The early part of the Pacific War, Japanese subs scored several tactical victories, three successful torpedo strikes on the US fleet carriers Yorktown (CV-5), USS  Saratoga and USS  Wasp (CV-7), The Saratoga survived the attack and was repaired, while the Yorktown and Wasp were both abandoned and scuttled as a result of the attack. The USS North Carolina (BB-55) received a single torpedo in

13050-628: The emergence of a Japanese state centered on the Imperial Court in Heijō-kyō (modern Nara ). The period is characterized by the appearance of a nascent literary culture with the completion of the Kojiki (712) and Nihon Shoki (720), as well as the development of Buddhist-inspired artwork and architecture . A smallpox epidemic in 735–737 is believed to have killed as much as one-third of Japan's population. In 784, Emperor Kanmu moved

13195-452: The end of World War II . While dipping hydrophones appeared before war's end, the trials were abandoned. Seaplanes and airships were also used to patrol for submarines. A number of successful attacks were made, but the main value of air patrols was in driving the U-boat to submerge, rendering it virtually blind and immobile. However, the most effective anti-submarine measure was

13340-440: The endurance of small submarines. Previously the emphasis had been largely on deep water operation but this has now switched to littoral operation where ASW is generally more difficult. There are a large number of technologies used in modern anti-submarine warfare: In modern times forward looking infrared (FLIR) detectors have been used to track the large plumes of heat that fast nuclear-powered submarines leave while rising to

13485-522: The fact a submarine of the day was often on the surface for a range of reasons, such as charging batteries or crossing long distances. The first approach to protect warships was chainlink nets strung from the sides of battleships , as defense against torpedoes . Nets were also deployed across the mouth of a harbour or naval base to stop submarines entering or to stop torpedoes of the Whitehead type fired against ships. British warships were fitted with

13630-761: The first time, initiating direct commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West. Oda Nobunaga used European technology and firearms to conquer many other daimyō ; his consolidation of power began what was known as the Azuchi–Momoyama period . After the death of Nobunaga in 1582, his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi , unified the nation in the early 1590s and launched two unsuccessful invasions of Korea in 1592 and 1597 . Tokugawa Ieyasu served as regent for Hideyoshi's son Toyotomi Hideyori and used his position to gain political and military support. When open war broke out, Ieyasu defeated rival clans in

13775-415: The government and industrial corporations; as a result, environmental pollution was widespread in the 1950s and 1960s. Responding to rising concerns, the government introduced environmental protection laws in 1970. The oil crisis in 1973 also encouraged the efficient use of energy because of Japan's lack of natural resources. Japan ranks 20th in the 2018 Environmental Performance Index , which measures

13920-633: The government to increase spending by 65% until 2027. Recent tensions, particularly with North Korea and China, have reignited the debate over the status of the JSDF and its relation to Japanese society. Domestic security in Japan is provided mainly by the prefectural police departments , under the oversight of the National Police Agency . As the central coordinating body for the Prefectural Police Departments,

14065-504: The helicopter has been used solely for sensing and rocket delivered torpedoes used as the weapon. Surface ships continue to be an important ASW platform because of their endurance, now having towed array sonars. Submarines are the main ASW platform because of their ability to change depth and their quietness, which aids detection. In early 2010 DARPA began funding the ACTUV programme to develop

14210-405: The highly defended Straits of Gibraltar , where nine were sunk, and a similar number damaged so severely they had to limp back to base. The Mediterranean is calmer than the Atlantic, which made escape for U-boats more difficult and was ringed with Allied air bases. Similar ASW methods were used as in the Atlantic but an additional menace was the use by Italians of midget submarines. Operating under

14355-653: The introduction of submarine-launched ballistic missiles , which greatly increased the lethality of submarines. At the beginning of the twentieth century, ASW techniques and submarines themselves were primitive. During the First World War , submarines deployed by Imperial Germany proved themselves to be a capable threat to shipping, being capable of striking targets even out in the North Atlantic Ocean. Accordingly, multiple nations embarked on research into devising more capable ASW methods, resulting in

14500-570: The introduction of escorted convoys , which reduced the loss of ships entering the German war zone around the British Isles from 25% to less than 1%. The historian Paul E. Fontenoy summarised the situation as: "[t]he convoy system defeated the German submarine campaign ." A major contributing factor was the interception of German submarine radio signals and breaking of their code by Room 40 of

14645-523: The introduction of practical depth charges and advances in sonar technology; the adoption of the convoy system also proved to be a decisive tactic. After a lull in progress during the interwar period, the Second World War would see submarine warfare and ASW alike advance rapidly, particularly during the critical Battle of the Atlantic , during which Axis submarines sought to prevent Britain from effectively importing supplies. Techniques such as

14790-511: The largest and longest range vessels of their type and were armed with the Type 95 torpedo . However, they ended up having little impact, especially in the latter half of the war. Instead of commerce raiding like their U-boat counterparts, they followed the Mahanian doctrine, serving in offensive roles against warships, which were fast, maneuverable and well-defended compared to merchant ships. In

14935-578: The largest earthquakes in its recorded history - the Tōhoku earthquake - triggering the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster . On May 1, 2019, after the historic abdication of Emperor Akihito , his son Naruhito became Emperor, beginning the Reiwa era. Japan comprises 14,125 islands extending along the Pacific coast of Asia. It stretches over 3000 km (1900 mi) northeast–southwest from

15080-409: The main weapon (though nuclear depth charges were developed). The mine continued to be an important ASW weapon. In some areas of the ocean, where land forms natural barriers, long strings of sonobuoys, deployed from surface ships or dropped from aircraft, can monitor maritime passages for extended periods. Bottom mounted hydrophones can also be used, with land based processing. A system like this SOSUS

15225-459: The meat from these operations on the market, allowed under the current moratorium to defer research costs. They are highly controversial, and are challenged by anti-whaling parties as being merely a disguise for commercial whaling. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has clashed with the Japanese whalers in the Antarctic in confrontations that have led to international media attention and diplomatic incidents. The most famous fictional whaling ship

15370-557: The most developed state in Asia and as an industrialized world power that pursued military conflict to expand its sphere of influence. After victories in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), Japan gained control of Taiwan, Korea and the southern half of Sakhalin , and annexed Korea in 1910. The Japanese population doubled from 35 million in 1873 to 70 million by 1935, with

15515-546: The name as Giapan in a translation of a 1565 Portuguese letter. Modern humans arrived in Japan around 38,000 years ago (~36,000 BC), marking the beginning of the Japanese Paleolithic . This was followed from around 14,500 BC (the start of the Jōmon period ) by a Mesolithic to Neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer culture characterized by pit dwelling and rudimentary agriculture. Clay vessels from

15660-478: The navy as many as ten submarines and 800 crewmen. Much later in the war, active and passive sonobuoys were developed for aircraft use, together with MAD devices. Toward the end of the war, the Allies developed better forward-throwing weapons, such as Mousetrap and Squid , in the face of new, much better German submarines, such as the Type XVII and Type XXI . British and Dutch submarines also operated in

15805-565: The northern islands. Japan has over 90,000 species of wildlife as of 2019 , including the brown bear , the Japanese macaque , the Japanese raccoon dog , the small Japanese field mouse , and the Japanese giant salamander . There are 53 Ramsar wetland sites in Japan. Five sites have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for their outstanding natural value. In the period of rapid economic growth after World War II, environmental policies were downplayed by

15950-982: The occupation , it resigned from the League of Nations in 1933. In 1936, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany ; the 1940 Tripartite Pact made it one of the Axis powers . The Empire of Japan invaded other parts of China in 1937, precipitating the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). In 1940, the Empire invaded French Indochina , after which the United States placed an oil embargo on Japan. On December 7–8, 1941, Japanese forces carried out surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor , as well as on British forces in Malaya , Singapore , and Hong Kong , among others, beginning World War II in

16095-476: The ocean's surface, to reach submarines wherever they might be. The military submarine is still a threat, so ASW remains a key to obtaining sea control. Neutralizing the SSBN has been a key driver and this still remains. However, non-nuclear-powered submarines have become increasingly important. Though the diesel-electric submarine continues to dominate in numbers, several alternative technologies now exist to enhance

16240-561: The older form A/S ) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships , aircraft , submarines , or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are typically carried out to protect friendly shipping and coastal facilities from submarine attacks and to overcome blockades . Successful ASW operations typically involved a combination of sensor and weapon technologies, along with effective deployment strategies and sufficiently trained personnel. Typically, sophisticated sonar equipment

16385-608: The opportunity arise. In July 1793 the British armed whaleship Liverpool , of 20 guns, captured the French whaleship Chardon . However, the French crew succeeded in retaking their vessel. Also that year, an armed British whaleship captured the French whaleship Hébé in Walvis Bay . During the War of 1812 , the U.S. Navy captured two British whaleships, Atlantic and Seringapatam , and used them as warships. During World War II ,

16530-464: The organizations needed (unlike the Allies in the Atlantic). Japanese antisubmarine forces consisted mainly of their destroyers, with sonar and depth charges. However, Japanese destroyer design, tactics, training, and doctrine emphasized surface nightfighting and torpedo delivery (necessary for fleet operations) over anti-submarine duties. By the time Japan finally developed a destroyer escort , which

16675-632: The outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, British privateers captured several French whalers, among them Necker and Deux Amis , and Anne . Dutch privateers captured Port de Paix and Penn . At the time, many French whalers transferred to the American flag, the United States being neutral in the Anglo-French war. Some whaleships also carried letters of marque that authorized them to take enemy vessels should

16820-528: The period are among the oldest surviving examples of pottery. The Japonic -speaking Yayoi people entered the archipelago from the Korean Peninsula, intermingling with the Jōmon ; the Yayoi period saw the introduction of practices including wet-rice farming , a new style of pottery , and metallurgy from China and Korea. According to legend, Emperor Jimmu (descendant of Amaterasu ) founded

16965-643: The same attack with the USS Wasp, causing it to miss critical naval actions of the Guadalcanal campaign. Once the US was able to ramp up construction of destroyers and destroyer escorts , as well as bringing over highly effective anti-submarine techniques learned from the British from experiences in the Battle of the Atlantic , they would take a significant toll on Japanese submarines, which tended to be slower and could not dive as deep as their German counterparts. Japanese submarines, in particular, never menaced

17110-491: The same clear-water conditions in the Mediterranean – such that British submarines were painted dark blue on their upper surfaces to make them less visible from the air when submerged at periscope depth – the Royal Navy, mostly operating from Malta , lost 41 submarines to the opposing German and Italian forces, including HMS Upholder and HMS Perseus . Japanese submarines pioneered many innovations, being some of

17255-514: The seabed to detect the magnetic field of submarines as they passed overhead. At this stage, they were used in conjunction with controlled mines which could be detonated from a shore station once a 'swing' had been detected on the indicator loop galvanometer . Indicator loops used with controlled mining were known as 'guard loops'. By July 1917, depth charges had developed to the extent that settings of between 50–200 ft (15–61 m) were possible. This design would remain mainly unchanged through

17400-562: The ship's stern , whale catchers were able to transfer their catch to factory ships operating in the open sea. Previous to that was the whaleship of the 16th to early 20th centuries, driven first by sail and then by steam. The most famous example is the fictional Pequod in Moby-Dick , based on the whaling industry in Nantucket and New Bedford . Whaleships carried multiple whaleboats , open rowing boats used to chase and harpoon

17545-589: The ships actually monitoring the enemy submarine. Submerged submarines are generally blind to the actions of a patrolling aircraft until it uses active sonar or fires a weapon, and the aircraft's speed allows it to maintain a fast search pattern around the suspected contact. Increasingly anti-submarine submarines, called attack submarines or hunter-killers, became capable of destroying, particularly, ballistic missile submarines. Initially these were very quiet diesel-electric propelled vessels but they are more likely to be nuclear-powered these days. The development of these

17690-411: The sleeker and fast-swimming rorquals such as the fin whale , that would have been impossible for the muscle-powered rowboats to chase, and allow whaling to be done more safely for the crews. The use of grenade-tipped harpoons has greatly improved the effectiveness of whaling, allowing whales to be killed often instantaneously as compared to the previous method in which whales bled to death, which took

17835-571: The study of Japan by the Japanese. The United States Navy sent Commodore Matthew C. Perry to force the opening of Japan to the outside world. Arriving at Uraga with four " Black Ships " in July 1853, the Perry Expedition resulted in the March 1854 Convention of Kanagawa . Subsequent similar treaties with other Western countries brought economic and political crises. The resignation of

17980-408: The successive generations of Allied airborne radar. The first generation of Allied airborne radar used a 1.7 meter wavelength and had a limited range. By the second half of 1942 the " Metox " radar detector was used by U-boats to give some warning from airborne attack. During 1943, the Allies began to deploy aircraft equipped with new cavity magnetron-based 10-centimeter wavelength radar (ASV III), which

18125-578: The suppression of individual rights . Japan's constitution prohibits racial and religious discrimination, and the country is a signatory to numerous international human rights treaties. However, it lacks any laws against discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity and does not have a national human rights institution. Japan has faced criticism for its gender inequality , not allowing same-sex marriages , use of racial profiling by police, and allowing capital punishment . Other human rights issues include

18270-499: The surface, as U-boats routinely did at night. The Royal Navy had continued to develop indicator loops between the wars but this was a passive form of harbour defense that depended on detecting the magnetic field of submarines by the use of long lengths of cable lain on the floor of the harbour. Indicator loop technology was quickly developed further and deployed by the US Navy in 1942. By then, there were dozens of loop stations around

18415-624: The surface. FLIR devices are also used to see periscopes or snorkels at night whenever a submariner might be incautious enough to probe the surface. Satellites have been used to image the sea surface using optical and radar techniques. Fixed-wing aircraft, such as the P-3 Orion & Tu-142 provide both a sensor and weapons platform similar to some helicopters like the Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk , with sonobuoys and/or dipping sonars as well as aerial torpedoes . In other cases

18560-497: The term "Asdic", but relations with the BIR were poor. After 1917, most ASW work was carried out by the ASD. In the U.S., a Naval Consulting Board was set up in 1915 to evaluate ideas. After American entry into the war in 1917, they encouraged work on submarine detection. The U.S. National Research Council , a civilian organization, brought in British and French experts on underwater sound to

18705-403: The treatment of marginalized groups, such as ethnic minorities , refugees and asylum seekers . Japan has the world's fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP , after that of the United States, China and Germany; and the fifth-largest economy by PPP-adjusted GDP . As of 2021 , Japan's labor force is the world's eighth-largest , consisting of over 68.6 million workers. As of 2022 , Japan has

18850-408: The twentieth century. It was designed with a harpoon gun mounted at its bow and was fast enough to chase and catch rorquals such as the fin whale . At first, whale catchers either brought the whales they killed to a whaling station , a settlement ashore where the carcasses could be processed, or to its factory ship anchored in a sheltered bay or inlet. With the later development of the slipway at

18995-445: The whale. The whaleship would keep watch from the crowsnest , so it could sail to the signal and lash the dead whale alongside. Then the work of flensing (butchering) began, to separate the whale into its valuable components. The blubber was rendered into whale oil using two or three try-pots set in a brick furnace called the tryworks . Spermaceti was especially valuable, and as sperm whaling voyages were several years long,

19140-497: The whaling ships were equipped for all eventualities. There have also been vessels which combined chasing and processing, such as the bottlenose whalers of the late 19th and early 20th century, and catcher/factory ships of the modern era. The crews of whaling vessels fought small skirmishes for the control of the Spitsbergen whale fishery between 1613 and 1638. The Dutch were the first Europeans to visit Svalbard, and this gave

19285-416: The world in 2019 for inbound tourism . The 2021 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report ranked Japan first in the world out of 117 countries. Its international tourism receipts in 2019 amounted to $ 46.1 billion. The Japanese agricultural sector accounts for about 1.2% of the country's total GDP as of 2018 . Only 11.5% of Japan's land is suitable for cultivation. Because of this lack of arable land,

19430-569: The world's strongest militaries . A developed country with one of the world's largest economies by nominal GDP , Japan is a global leader in science and technology and the automotive , robotics , and electronics industries . It has one of the world's highest life expectancies , though it is undergoing a population decline . Japan's culture is well known around the world, including its art , cuisine , film , music , and popular culture , which includes prominent comics , animation , and video game industries. The name for Japan in Japanese

19575-513: The world. Sonar was far more effective and loop technology for ASW purposes was discontinued shortly after the conflict's end. The use and improvement of radar technology was one of the most important elements in the fight against submarines. Locating submarines was the first step in being able to defend against and destroy them. Throughout the war, Allied radar technology was much better than their German counterparts. German U-boats struggled to have proper radar detection capabilities and keep up with

19720-529: Was also a potential hazard to the dropping ship. During the First World War , submarines were a major threat. They operated in the Baltic, North Sea, Black Sea and Mediterranean as well as the North Atlantic. Previously, they had been limited to relatively calm and protected waters. The vessels used to combat them were a range of small, fast surface ships using guns and good luck. They mainly relied on

19865-530: Was deployed by the US in the GIUK gap and other strategically important places. Airborne ASW forces developed better bombs and depth charges , while for ships and submarines a range of towed sonar devices were developed to overcome the problem of ship-mounting. Helicopters can fly courses offset from the ships and transmit sonar information to their combat information centres . They can also drop sonobuoys and launch homing torpedoes to positions many miles away from

20010-481: Was eventually overthrown by Emperor Go-Daigo . Go-Daigo was defeated by Ashikaga Takauji in 1336, beginning the Muromachi period (1336–1573). The succeeding Ashikaga shogunate failed to control the feudal warlords ( daimyō ) and a civil war began in 1467 , opening the century-long Sengoku period ("Warring States"). During the 16th century, Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries reached Japan for

20155-468: Was held by military dictators ( shōgun ) and feudal lords ( daimyō ), and enforced by warrior nobility ( samurai ). After rule by the Kamakura and Ashikaga shogunates and a century of warring states , Japan was unified in 1600 by the Tokugawa shogunate , which implemented an isolationist foreign policy . In 1853, a United States fleet forced Japan to open trade to the West , which led to

20300-674: Was invented in 1937, which became a common fixture amongst ASW ships within only a few years. There were relatively few major advances in weapons during the period; however, the performance of torpedoes continued to improve. During the Second World War , the submarine menace revived, threatening the survival of island nations like Britain and Japan which were particularly vulnerable because of their dependence on imports of food, oil, and other vital war materials. Despite this vulnerability, little had been done to prepare sufficient anti-submarine forces or develop suitable new weapons. Other navies were similarly unprepared, even though every major navy had

20445-515: Was more economical and better suited to convoy protection, it was too late; coupled to incompetent doctrine and organization, it could have had little effect in any case. Late in the war, the Japanese Army and Navy used Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD) gear in aircraft to locate shallow submerged submarines. The Japanese Army also developed two small aircraft carriers and Ka-1 autogyro aircraft for use in an antisubmarine warfare role, while

20590-508: Was recorded on July 23, 2018, and repeated on August 17, 2020. Japan has nine forest ecoregions which reflect the climate and geography of the islands. They range from subtropical moist broadleaf forests in the Ryūkyū and Bonin Islands , to temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the mild climate regions of the main islands, to temperate coniferous forests in the cold, winter portions of

20735-605: Was strongly influenced by the duel between HMS  Venturer and U-864 . A significant detection aid that has continued in service is the Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD), a passive device. First used during the Second World War, MAD uses the Earth's magnetosphere as a standard, detecting anomalies caused by large metallic vessels, such as submarines. Modern MAD arrays are usually contained in

20880-431: Was the world's fifth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer in 2022. Its exports amounted to 18.2% of its total GDP in 2021. As of 2022 , Japan's main export markets were China (23.9 percent, including Hong Kong) and the United States (18.5 percent). Its main exports are motor vehicles, iron and steel products, semiconductors, and auto parts. Japan's main import markets as of 2022 were China (21.1 percent),

21025-600: Was undetectable by "Metox", in sufficient numbers to yield good results. Eventually the "Naxos" radar detector was fielded that could detect 10-cm wavelength radar, but it had a very short range and only gave a U-boat limited time to dive. Between 1943 and 1945, radar equipped aircraft would account for the bulk of Allied kills against U-boats. Allied anti-submarine tactics developed to defend convoys (the Royal Navy 's preferred method), aggressively hunt down U-boats (the U.S. Navy approach), and to divert vulnerable or valuable ships away from known U-boat concentrations. During

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