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pillbox

(Encyclopedia)pillbox, small, low fortification that houses machine guns and antitank weapons. Similar to a blockhouse, it is usually made of concrete, steel, logs, or filled sandbags. Pillboxes came into use durin...

Biwa

(Encyclopedia)Biwa bēˈwä [key], lake, c.40 mi (60 km) long and from 2 to 12 mi (3.2–19 km) wide, Shiga prefecture, S Honshu, Japan. The lake, shaped like the biwa, a musical instrument, is the largest in Japan...

Isozaki, Arata

(Encyclopedia)Isozaki, Arata äräˈtä ēˌsōzäˈkē [key], 1931–, Japanese architect, b. Oita. One of his nation's most important contemporary architects, he has an international reputation and has designed n...

Hatta, Mohammad

(Encyclopedia)Hatta, Mohammad hătˈə [key], 1902–80, Indonesian political leader. He was born on Sumatra into an aristocratic family. Interested in economics, he went to the Netherlands to study. There he joine...

concentration camp

(Encyclopedia)concentration camp, a detention site outside the normal prison system created for military or political purposes to confine, terrorize, and, in some cases, kill civilians. The term was first used to d...

Russian Far East

(Encyclopedia)Russian Far East, formerly Soviet Far East, federal district (1989 est. pop. 7,941,000), c.2,400,000 sq mi (6,216,000 sq km), encompassing the entire northeast coast of Asia and including the Sakha Re...

Kiyonaga

(Encyclopedia)Kiyonaga kēyōnäˈga [key], 1752–1815, Japanese painter and designer of woodcuts of the Torii school. After working as a bookseller in Tokyo, he took lessons from the Torii master Kiyomitsu but cr...

Koiso, Kuniaki

(Encyclopedia)Koiso, Kuniaki ko͞onēäˈkē koiˈsō [key], 1880–1950, Japanese general. He was chief of staff of the Kwantung army, commander in chief in Korea, and governor-general of Korea before he replaced ...

Kurashiki

(Encyclopedia)Kurashiki ko͞oräˈshēkē [key], city (1990 pop. 414,693), Okayama prefecture, SW Honshu, Japan. A rail junction, the city produces refined petroleum and petrochemicals, motor vehicles, textiles. an...

Toyokuni

(Encyclopedia)Toyokuni tōyōˈko͞onē [key], 1769–1825, Japanese color-print artist, whose name in full was Toyokuni Utagawa. He was one of the leading masters of the period of the popular ukiyo-e school. After...