Asia is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometers, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Its 4.7 billion people constitute roughly 60% of the world's population.
Japan is an island country in East Asia. It is in the northwest Pacific Ocean and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans an archipelago of 14,125 islands, with the four main islands being Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Tokyo is the country's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto.
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. It is located at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. The territories controlled by the ROC consist of 168 islands with a combined area of 36,193 square kilometres. The main island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, has an area of 35,808 square kilometres, with mountain ranges dominating the eastern two-thirds and plains in the western third, where its highly urbanized population is concentrated. The capital, Taipei, forms along with New Taipei City and Keelung the largest metropolitan area. With around 23.9 million inhabitants, Taiwan is among the most densely populated countries.
Shanghai is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of China. The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowing through it. The population of the city proper is the third largest in the world, with around 29.2 million inhabitants in 2023, while the urban area is the most populous in China, with 39.3 million residents. As of 2022, the Greater Shanghai metropolitan area was estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product (nominal) of nearly 13 trillion RMB. Shanghai is one of the world's major centers for finance, business and economics, research, science and technology, manufacturing, transportation, tourism, and culture. The Port of Shanghai is the world's busiest container port.
World War II or the Second World War was a global conflict between two alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries, including all of the great powers, participated in the conflict, and many invested all available economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities in pursuit of total war, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and delivery of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. It was by far the deadliest conflict in history, resulting in 70–85 million fatalities. Millions died due to genocides, including the Holocaust, as well as starvation, massacres, and disease. In the wake of Axis defeat, Germany, Austria, Japan and Korea were occupied, and war crime tribunals were conducted against German and Japanese leaders.
Manchuria is a term that refers to a region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China, and historically parts of the modern-day Russian Far East, often referred to as Outer Manchuria. Its definition may refer to varying geographical extents as follows: the Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning but broadly also including the eastern Inner Mongolian prefectures of Hulunbuir, Hinggan, Tongliao, and Chifeng, collectively known as Northeast China; the aforementioned regions plus the homelands of ancient Jurchen and their descendant Manchus, parts of these region were ceded to the Russian Empire by the Manchu-led Qing dynasty during the Amur Annexation of 1858–1860, which include present-day Amur Oblast, Primorsky Krai, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, the southern part of Khabarovsk Krai, and the eastern edge of Zabaykalsky Krai, collectively known as the Outer Manchuria or Russian Manchuria.
Harbin is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban population and largest metropolitan population in Northeast China. Harbin has direct jurisdiction over nine metropolitan districts, two county-level cities and seven counties, and is the eighth most populous Chinese city according to the 2020 census. The built-up area of Harbin had 5,841,929 inhabitants, while the total metropolitan population was up to 10,009,854, making it one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world.
Unit 731, short for Manchu Detachment 731 and also known as the Kamo Detachment and the Ishii Unit, was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that engaged in lethal human experimentation and biological weapons manufacturing during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. Estimates vary as to how many were killed. Between 1936 to 1945, roughly 14,000 victims were murdered in Unit 731. An estimate of at least 300,000 individuals are estimated to have died to infectious illnesses caused by the activities of Unit 731 and its affiliated research facilities. It was based in the Pingfang district of Harbin, the largest city in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo and had active branch offices throughout China and Southeast Asia.
NEC Corporation is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) platform, and telecommunications equipment and software to business enterprises, communications services providers and to government agencies, and has also been the biggest PC vendor in Japan since the 1980s when it launched the PC-8000 series.
The Honda Fit or Honda Jazz is a small car manufactured and marketed by Honda since 2001 over four generations. It has a five-door hatchback body style and is considered a supermini in the United Kingdom, a subcompact car in the United States, and a light car in Australia. Marketed worldwide and manufactured at ten plants in eight countries, sales reached almost 5 million by mid-2013. Honda uses the "Jazz" nameplate in Europe, Oceania, the Middle East, Africa, Hong Kong, Macau, Southeast Asia and India; and "Fit" in Japan, Sri Lanka, China, Taiwan and the Americas.
The Toyota Corolla is a series of compact cars manufactured and marketed globally by the Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has been one of the best-selling cars in the world since then. In 1997, the Corolla became the best-selling nameplate in the world, surpassing the Volkswagen Beetle. Toyota reached the milestone of 50 million Corollas sold over twelve generations in 2021.
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
Viorel Mateianu was a Romanian football player and coach.
Vladivostok is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, in the far east of Russia. It is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area of 331.16 square kilometers, with a population of 600,871 residents as of 2021. Vladivostok is the second-largest city in the Far Eastern Federal District, as well as the Russian Far East, after Khabarovsk. It is located approximately 45 kilometers (28 mi) from the China–Russia border and 134 kilometers (83 mi) from the North Korea-Russia border.
Viorel Năstase is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a forward.
CS Sporting Juniorul Vaslui, commonly known as Sporting Vaslui, Juniorul Vaslui or simply as Vaslui, is a Romanian professional football club based in Vaslui, Vaslui County, founded in 2002 and re-founded in 2014. The club is currently competing in the Liga V. Its official club colours are yellow and green, hence the nickname "the Yellow and Greens". The club is currently owned by CS Sporting Juniorul Vaslui and FC Vaslui Supporters Association and has the legal right to use FC Vaslui Brand.
Viorel Hrebenciuc is a Romanian politician and statistician. A member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), he was also a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania for Bacău County from 1996 to 2014.
Viorel Turcu was a Romanian footballer who played as a midfielder.
Viorel Cosma was a Romanian musician and teacher who came to wider prominence as an exceptionally prolific musicologist and a pioneering lexicographer. Through his scholarship he also achieved distinction as a teacher, researcher and music critic. Between 1989 and 2012 he produced a ten volume lexicon, running to 2,800 pages, entitled "Muzicieni din România", providing extensive information on approximately 1,500 Romanian composers and musicians, musicologists, music critics, music teachers, folklorists and other contributors to Romanian music and musicianship.
