Nevertheless, total assimilation where factional identites were subsumed under a greater nation rarely happened with the polities commonly defined as "empires" purely because short of genocide you will not stamp out a people's beliefs and practices. In fact the tribes that were totally assimilated into the Yamato identity still retained their local practices which can be seen today in different local shinto shrines and their related lore and customs
And if total assimilation has occured you are no longer an empire or confederacy but rather a kingdom, republic, khanate, junta etc
Japan is an empire rather than a kingdom simply because it has an emperor in charge. Even the times when shoguns ruled were called bakufu rather than teitoku
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Originally Posted by Garr
The Asian and European Empires also had other advanced structures like farms, ranches, agricultural terraces, aquaculture centers, apartment blocks, roads, highways, drawbridges, suspension bridges, causeways, ocean going ships, and even artificial islands that were used as commercial and naval relay stations for ships.
Here is a list of Asian Empires:
China
Egypt
India
Persia
Japan
Mongolia
Islamic Caliphate
Tibet
Khmer
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Which is why calling Japan "the industrial empire" is a bit weird because it isn't unique in this regard. Unless you meant to highlight Japan's economic growth throughout the ages which is impressive but still par for the course in Asia
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We really need population control if we are to reduce the depletion of the world's natural resources and pollution.
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Modern lifestyle is taking care of that just fine. If you read the recent paper in the Lancet, by 2100 most of the developed countries including upcoming ones like India will be full of elderly. The real question for everyone is if quality of life improvements can keep up