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Upside down map of Japan

Looking at the image is a little disconcerting at first...
I can only wonder what Korea and China think of it...

There's nothing wrong with being on top...
 
Interesting map indeed, but I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I've seen maps of Australia with the south direction pointing up ! I've also seen Korean maps and Japanese maps in unoconventional orientation. I would also assume, for specific purposes, these can have positive value.

Interesting etymology of 'isolate'

1. isolate: vt. first used 1807. back-formation from isolated 'set apart' < French isole' < Italian isolato < Latin insula 'island'
1-1: to set apart from others. also quarantine.
1-2: to select from among others, esp. to separate from another substance so as to obtain pure or in a free state.
1-3: insulate
2. isolate: adj. first used 1819. being alone, solitary, isolated.
3. isolate: n. first used 1890.
3-1: a product of isolating. an individual, population, or kind obtained by or resulting from selection or separation.
3-2: an individual socially withdrawn or removed from society.

4. isolated: adj. first used 1763.
4-1: occurring alone or once. unique.
4-2: sporadic.

5. isolation: n. first used 1833. the action of isolating. the condition of being isolated. syn. with solitude.

6. isolationism: n. first used 1922. a policy of national isolation by abstention from alliances and other international political and economic relations.

Etymologically speaking, there is not much inherently negative connotation because it simply means 'to make something like an island.' The recent back-formation is interesting, and the way these words are used to describe history is interesting. What were the words used to expressed the idea before 1763, then ? Does the Independence of the US from the British colony have something to do with the new word formation ? Why was the word born so late when the idea must have been around much earlier ? :?
 
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When I first saw this map it was weird indeed.
To me, it made the Sea of Japan look like a giant lake and Japan
as an outgrowth of the rest of Asia or the land/mountains that
surround that lake.

(one map I saw recently referred stated "Sea of Japan or East Sea".
This is the first time I've seen the Sea of Japan referred to as such.
I realize that various countries, cultures, or societies might call
the same thing by different names. Is this how Koreans refer
to the Sea of Japan as?)
 
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