Japan black (also called simply japan) is a lacquer or varnish suitable for many substrates but known especially for its use on iron and steel. It is named after Japan. Its high bitumen content provides a protective finish that is durable and dries quickly. This allowed japan black to be used extensively in the production of automobiles in the early 20th century in the United States. It can also be called japan lacquer and Brunswick black. Used as a verb, japan means "to finish in japan black." Thus japanning and japanned are terms describing the process and its products.

Japan black consisted mostly of an asphaltic base dissolved in naphtha or turpentine, sometimes with other varnish ingredients, such as linseed oil. It is applied directly to metal parts, and then baked at about 200°C (400°F) for up to an hour.

Japan black's popularity was due in part to its durability as an automotive finish. However, it was the ability of japan black to dry quickly that made it a favorite of early mass produced automobiles such as Henry Ford's Model T. The Ford company's reliance on japan black led Henry Ford to quip "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black".

Japan ⁱ/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国  Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".

Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.

Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.

The term black people is used in some socially-based systems of racial classification for humans of a dark-skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups represented in a particular social context. Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class and socio-economic status also play a role, so that relatively dark-skinned people can be classified as white if they fulfill other social criteria of "whiteness" and relatively light-skinned people can be classified as black if they fulfill the social criteria for "blackness" in a particular setting.

As a biological phenotype being "black" is often associated with the very dark skin colors of some people who are classified as "black". But, particularly in the United States, the racial or ethnic classification also refers to people with all possible kinds of skin pigmentation from the darkest through to the very lightest skin colors, including albinos, if they are believed by others to have African ancestry, or to exhibit cultural traits associated with being "African-American". As a result, in the United States the term "black people" is not an indicator of skin color but of socially based racial classification.

Shelby Rogers (born February 27, 1975 in Kingsville, Texas – September 24, 2006) was a professional boxer and mixed martial arts fighter.

After 5 total years active and reserves in the United States Army, Walker began her mixed martial arts career, having 6 MMA fights, winning 3 fights and losing 3. Walker owns the record for the fastest KO in the history of women's MMA being a 5 second KO against Angela Wilson at Ring Of Fury 3 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Walker started her professional boxing career in 2002. As a professional boxer, she had a record of 7-6-1 with 6 KOs. She had 4 title fights including high profile matches with Jaime Clampitt and Mia St John.

Walker was found dead from an apparent overdose of pain medication on September 24, 2006.

Shelby Walker was the post-fight interviewer for Cage Fury Fighting Championships (CFFC) at CFFC I. Walker was to perform the duties again at CFFC II prior to her death. In her honor, CFFC created the Shelby Walker Heart of a Lion Award, to be awarded to the fighter that showed the most heart at each event. Al Buck received the award at CFFC II for surviving a long Rear Naked Choke attempt by Malachy Friedman on route to a TKO victory.