Ghost Stories (Coldplay album)

Ghost Stories is the sixth studio album by British rock band Coldplay. Co-produced by the band with Paul Epworth along with returning Mylo Xyloto producers Daniel Green and Rik Simpson, it was released by Parlophone on 16 May 2014. The album was released by Atlantic Records in North America on 19 May 2014. It is the first album by the band in North America under Atlantic, after Coldplay were transferred from Capitol Records America in 2013, following the purchase of EMI and its assets by the Universal Music Group in 2012.

The album was recorded by the band throughout 2013 and 2014 at the band's purpose-built home studios in London, England, and in Los Angeles. It features guest producers Avicii, Timbaland and Madeon, and the band's frequent collaborator Jon Hopkins. It was heavily promoted by the band and Parlophone in the lead-up to its release, with an accompanying prime time TV special, a visual album, and a special six-date promotional tour of the album, as well as various appearances on television and radio. The album was further promoted by five singles: "Magic", the lead single, released in March; "Midnight", released in April; "A Sky Full of Stars", released in May; "True Love", released in August; and "Ink", released in October. It was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 57th Grammy Awards. At the 2015 Billboard Music Awards it was named Top Rock Album.

Ghost Stories (Amanda Ghost album)

Ghost Stories is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Amanda Ghost, released on September 12, 2000 by Warner Bros. Records. Produced by Lukas Burton and Paul Staveley O'Duffy, Ghost Stories is predominantly an alternative rock album that incorporates elements of electronica and trance, as well as influences of classical music and trip hop.

Four singles were released from the album; "Filthy Mind", "Glory Girl", "Silver Lining" and "Idol". The lead single, "Filthy Mind" peaked at number five on the Billboard Dance Club Songs. "Idol" reached number eighteen on the same chart. "Silver Lining" peaked at number thirty-one on the Adult Pop Songs chart.

Track listing

Credits and personnel

Ghost Stories (magazine)

Ghost Stories was a pulp magazine which published 64 issues between 1926 and 1932. It was one of the earliest competitors to Weird Tales, the first magazine to specialize in the fantasy and occult fiction genre. It was a companion magazine to True Story and True Detective Stories, and focused almost entirely on stories about ghosts, with many of the stories written by staff writers but presented under pseudonyms in a "true confession" style. These were often accompanied by faked photographs to make the stories appear more believable. Ghost Stories also ran original and reprinted contributions, including works by Robert E. Howard, Carl Jacobi, and Frank Belknap Long. Among the reprints were Agatha Christie's "The Last Seance" (under the title "The Woman Who Stole a Ghost"), several stories by H.G. Wells, and Charles Dickens' "The Signalman". The magazine was initially successful, but began to lose readers, and in 1930 was sold to Harold Hersey. Hersey was unable to reverse the magazine's decline, and Ghost Stories ceased publication at the start of 1932.

Japan Pavilion at Epcot

The Japan Pavilion is a Japan-themed pavilion that is part of the World Showcase, within Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Its location is between The American Adventure and Moroccan Pavilions.

History

The Japan Pavilion is one of the original World Showcase pavilions and had been in planning since the late 1970s. Many attractions have been proposed for the pavilion and one show building was built, but left unused. Meet the World was one planned attraction and was a clone of the attraction Meet the World that was once at Tokyo Disneyland. But because management thought that the Japanese film's omission of World War II might upset many Veterans, it was dropped. The show was so close to opening that the show building and rotating platform was built, but not used.

For years, Imagineers have considered building an indoor roller coaster attraction based on Matterhorn Bobsleds from Disneyland but themed to Japan's Mount Fuji inside a replica of Mount Fuji. At one point, Godzilla or a large lizard attacking guests in their cars was considered. Fujifilm originally wanted to sponsor the ride in the early 1990s, but Kodak, a major Epcot sponsor, convinced Disney to decline the sponsorship. Luckily, the Matterhorn derived design elements survived to be incorporated into Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom Park. Another proposed attraction was a walk-through version of "Circle-Vision", in which guests would board and walk through a Shinkansen (bullet train) and look through windows (actually film screens) that showcase Japan's changing landscapes. The train would have shaken and moved like a train traveling through the countryside.

Japan in Gulliver’s Travels

Japan is referred to in Gulliver's Travels, the satire by Jonathan Swift.

Part III of the book has the account of Lemuel Gulliver's visit to Japan, the only real location visited by him. It is used as a venue for Swift's satire on the actions of Dutch traders to that land. His description reflects the state of European knowledge of the country in the 17th and early 18th centuries, and the tensions due to commercial rivalry between the English and the Dutch at that time.

Description

Japan is shown on the map at the beginning of part III, which also shows the island of "Yesso" (i.e. Hokkaido), "Stats island" (Iturup) and "Companys Land" (Urup) to the north. The map also marks the Vries Strait and Cape Patience, though this is shown on the northeast coast of Yesso, rather than as part of Sakhalin, which was little known in Swift’s time. On the island of Japan itself the map shows "Nivato" (Nagato), Yedo, "Meaco" (Kyoto), Inaba and "Osacca" (Osaka)

The text describes Gulliver's journey from Luggnagg, which took fifteen days, and his landing at "Xamoschi" (i.e. Shimosa} which lies "on the western part of a narrow strait leading northward into a long arm of the sea, on the northwest part of which Yedo, the metropolis stands". This description matches the geography of Tokyo Bay, except that Shimosa is on the north, rather than the western shore of the bay.

Japanese wine

Although viticulture and the cultivation of grapes for table consumption has a long history in Japan, domestic wine production using locally produced grapes only really began with the adoption of Western culture during the Meiji restoration in the second half of the 19th century.

According to data from the Japan Wineries Association, approximately 365,000 kiloliters of wine was purchased in Japan in 2013 of which two-thirds was imported wine. Of the 110,000 kiloliters of domestically produced wine only a quarter, or 26,400 kiloliters, came from domestically grown and harvested grapes.

The main region for winemaking in Japan is in Yamanashi Prefecture which accounts for 40% of domestic production, although grapes are cultivated and wine is also produced in more limited quantities by vintners from Hokkaido in the North to Miyazaki Prefecture on the Southern island of Kyushu.

History

Early History

Legend has it that grape-growing in Japan began in 718 AD, in Katsunuma, Yamanashi Prefecture. The first regularly documented wine consumption in Japan was however in the 16th century, with the arrival of Jesuit missionaries from Portugal. Saint Francis Xavier brought wines as gifts for the feudal lords of Kyūshū, and other missionaries continued the practice, resulting in locals acquiring taste for wine and importing it regularly. They called the Portuguese wine chintashu (珍陀酒), combining the Portuguese word tinto (chinta in Japanese) meaning red and shu (酒) meaning liquor.