Happy Birthday to the countries!

Happy Birthday to Brazil!

2018-09-07

Torii (鳥居, a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine) in Liberdade, São Paulo. Liberdade is home to the largest Japanese community outside Japan in the world. *Photo from Wikipedia September 7 is Independence day, celebrates the independence of Brazil from Portugal in 1822. The first European to colonize Brazil was Pedro Álvares Cabral on April 22, 1500 under the sponsorship of the Kingdom of Portugal. From the 16th to the early 19th century, Brazil was a colony and a part of the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808,

Happy Birthday to Swaziland!

2018-09-06

Princess Sikhanyiso Dlamini, the eldest daughter of King Mswati III of Swaziland, at a festival. *Photo from Wikipedia September 6 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Swaziland from the United Kingdom in 1968. The autonomy of the Swaziland nation was influenced by British and Dutch rule of southern Africa in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Finally, in 1894, a convention placed Swaziland under the South African Republic as a protectorate. In 1903, after British victory in the Anglo-Boer war, Swaziland became a British protectorate. The constitution for independent Swaziland was promulgated by Britain in November 1963 under the

Happy Birthday to Qatar!

2018-09-03

The news desk of Al Jazeera English, a Qatari news channel. *Photo from Wikipedia September 3 is Independence Day, celebrates the second independence of Qatar from the United Kingdom in 1971. Following Ottoman rule, Qatar became a British protectorate in the early 20th century until gaining independence in 1971. Qatar has been ruled by the Al Thani family since the mid-19th century. Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a sovereign country located in Southwest Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, becoming the first

Happy Birthday to Uzbekistan!

2018-09-01

Uzbek newlywed couple. *Photo from Wikipedia September 1 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Uzbekistan from the Soviet Union in 1991. What is now Uzbekistan was in ancient times part of the predominantly Persian-speaking region of Transoxiana, with cities such as Samarkand growing rich from the Silk Road. The area was later conquered by a succession of invaders including the Arab Caliphate and Turkic states such as the Göktürk Khaganate (a political entity ruled by a Khan or Khagan), after which it was laid waste by the Mongols. The region was conquered in the early 16th century by Eastern

Happy Birthday to Kyrgyzstan!

2018-08-31

Kyrgyz family in a region of Kyrgyzstan. *Photo from Wikipedia August 31 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Kyrgyzstan from the Soviet Union in 1991. Although geographically isolated by its mountainous location, it had an important role as part of the historical Silk Road trade route. In between periods of self-government it was ruled by Göktürks (突厥, a nomadic confederation of Turkic peoples in medieval Inner Asia), the Uyghur Empire, and the Khitan (契丹) people, before being conquered by the Mongols in the 13th century; subsequently it regained independence but was invaded by Kalmyks (the Oirats in Russia), Manchus

Happy Birthday to Malaya!

2018-08-31

Kuala Lumpur was the capital city of Malaya. *Photo from Wikipedia August 31 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Malaya from the United Kingdom in 1957. The Federation of Malaya was a federation of what previously had been British Malaya comprising 11 states (nine Malay states and two of the British Straits Settlements, Penang and Malacca) that existed from February 1, 1948 until September 16, 1963. Although Muslims had passed through the Malay Peninsula as early as the 10th century, it was not until the 14th century that Islam first firmly established itself. Islam had a profound influence on

Happy Birthday to Trinidad and Tobago!

2018-08-31

Masqueraders during Carnival celebrations. *Photo from Wikipedia August 31 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Trinidad and Tobago from the United Kingdom in 1962. The island of Trinidad was a Spanish colony from the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1498 to the arrival of a British fleet of 18 warships on February 18, 1797. During the same period, the island of Tobago changed hands among Spanish, British, French, Dutch and Courlander colonizers, more times than any other island in the Caribbean. Trinidad and Tobago (remaining separate until 1889) were ceded to Britain in 1802. The country Trinidad and Tobago

Happy Birthday to Moldova!

2018-08-27

Central market in Chișinău, the capital and largest city of Moldova. *Photo from Wikipedia August 27 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Moldova from the USSR in 1991. Most of the Moldovan territory was a part of the Principality of Moldavia from the 14th century until 1812, when it was ceded to the Russian Empire by the Ottoman Empire (to which Moldavia was a vassal state) and became known as Bessarabia. In 1856, southern Bessarabia was returned to Moldavia, which three years later united with Wallachia to form Romania, but Russian rule was restored over the whole of the

Happy Birthday to Uruguay!

2018-08-25

Uruguay supporters at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. *Photo from Wikipedia August 25 is Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Uruguay from Brazil in 1825. Portuguese established “Colonia del Sacramento”, one of the oldest European settlements in the country, in 1680. Montevideo was founded as a military stronghold by the Spanish in the early 18th century, signifying the competing claims over the region. In 1816, a force of 10,000 Portuguese troops invaded the Banda Oriental (comprising the modern nation of Uruguay, the modern Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul and some parts of Santa Catarina) from Brazil;

Happy Birthday to Ukraine!

2018-08-24

Hopak, a Ukrainian folk dance. *Photo from Wikipedia August 24 is Independence Day of Ukraine. It is celebrated in commemoration of the Declaration of Independence of 1991. During the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus’ forming the basis of Ukrainian identity (*Kievan Rus’ is the East Slavic tribes in Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century). Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. A

Interviews with Tokyo People Achieving Dreams