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Metal Gear

Metal Gear (メタルギア) is a franchise of stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, Metal Gear, was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operative (usually Solid Snake or Big Boss), who is assigned the task of finding the titular superweapon, "Metal Gear", a bipedal walking tank with the ability to launch nuclear weapons.

Several sequels have been released for multiple consoles, which have expanded the original game's plot, adding characters opposing and supporting Snake, while several prequels have explored the origins of Metal Gear and recurring characters. The third game in the series, Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation, marked a transition to 3D graphics and gained the series international fame.

The series is credited for pioneering and popularizing stealth video games   and "cinematic video games". Notable traits of the series include cinematic cutscenes, intricate storylines, offbeat and fourth-wall humor, and exploration of cyberpunk, dystopian, political and philosophical themes, as well as references to Hollywood films. Individual installments have been critically acclaimed, as well as receiving several awards. The series has sold 61 million units as of December 2023. The franchise has also been adapted into other media, such as comics, novels, and drama CDs. Solid Snake has also gone on to appear in other games, such as the Super Smash Bros. series, Ape Escape 3, LittleBigPlanet, and Fortnite.

Games
Hideo Kojima designed the original Metal Gear, which debuted in Japan and Europe in 1987 for the MSX2 computer platform. A separate team created a heavily modified Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) port of the game that was released in Japan on December 22, 1987, North America in June 1988, and Europe and Australia sometime in 1989. Konami produced an NES sequel, Snake's Revenge, again without Kojima, released in North America and Europe in 1990. One of that game's designers became acquainted with Kojima and asked him to create a "real Metal Gear sequel". In reaction, Kojima began development of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, which was released in Japan in 1990 for the MSX2.

Following Metal Gear 2's completion, Kojima worked on other projects before directing his third Metal Gear game, Metal Gear Solid, for the PlayStation. It began development in 1994 and debuted at the 1996 Tokyo Game Show, before being released in 1998. The success of Metal Gear Solid resulted in a series of sequels, prequels, spin-offs, ports, and remakes for Microsoft Windows, the Game Boy Color, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Metal Gear Solid was followed up by the sequel Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty released in November 2001 for the PlayStation 2. A remake of the original Metal Gear Solid called Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes was made for the Nintendo GameCube in early 2004. Later that year, the third numbered entry, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, was released on the PlayStation 2. This is the first prequel which was set prior to all the previously released Metal Gear games and which acted as an origin to the franchise. These games were followed by a sequel to Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, which was released on the PlayStation Portable in 2006. The series' main storyline was concluded in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PlayStation 3 in 2008. The game featured a multiplayer spin-off called Metal Gear Online.

In April 2010, another sequel to Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, was released for the PlayStation Portable and was set shortly after the events of Portable Ops. The spin-off game, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, was released in 2013 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and in Jan 2014 on Steam (PC). The game is set after Guns of the Patriots and stars Raiden, the protagonist of Sons of Liberty who turned into a cyborg ninja.

Expanded re-releases of games in the series were produced as well, such as Integral (Metal Gear Solid), Substance (Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty), and Subsistence (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater). The series' portable installments are usually set outside the main storyline. Metal Gear: Ghost Babel was released for the Game Boy Color, and several games were released for Sony's PlayStation Portable. In a departure from the series' style, Metal Gear Acid and its sequel used turn-based strategy mechanics based on collectible cards.

On May 18, 2009, a teaser site for the following installment in the Metal Gear series was uploaded by Kojima Production. The site initially consisted of a series of countdowns leading to several flashing letters and the images of two characters looking like a middle-aged Big Boss and a cyborg Raiden. An article published in the July 2009 issue of Famitsu PSP + PS3 covers the content of the site and features an interview with Hideo Kojima. The interview, revealing many details, is heavily censored and was published that way as a request by Kojima, who was directing and designing the new game. Famitsu was to publish the full interview in its following issue. The new game was eventually revealed to be Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, which was announced on June 1, 2009, at E3, during the Microsoft Press Conference.

At E3 2010, a demo, "Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater – The Naked Sample", was shown on the Nintendo 3DS. The official E3 Kojima site later released screenshots and official art for the demo. Kojima did state, however, that this was not a preview for a full game but just a sample of what could be done on the 3DS hardware. Another mobile port of a previously released game was shown at Sony's PlayStation Meeting on January 27, 2011, where Hideo Kojima demonstrated a possible portable version of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the upcoming PlayStation Vita.

On June 2, 2011, Konami announced the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection which was released in November 2011 for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The collection features remastered versions of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, rendered in 720p and running at 60fps, including Trophies/Achievements, and remastered audio. On August 15, 2011, UK retailer Zavvi secured the exclusive right to sell the Metal Gear Solid: Ultimate HD Collection only available for the PlayStation 3, which was released on November 25.

In November 2011, Kojima discussed with PlayStation Official Magazine (UK) the series' future commenting an upcoming Metal Gear Solid 5. Kojima said: "I think we'll probably have to make it [a sequel to MGS4] at some point, but what that will be, we have no idea". Kojima stated that when Konami does get around to building the game, he will have less influence than he had on previous iterations in the series. After the mixed fan reactions of the reveal of the rebooted action gameplay focused spin-off Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Hideo Kojima reassured fans that an "authentic stealth Metal Gear Solid" sequel would be coming in the future.

During a discussion panel at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in March 2012, Kojima stated: "I am working on something that I think will become the shining moment" for his career and the Metal Gear series. During the franchise's 25th anniversary, Konami revealed a demo for a new game in the Metal Gear series, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. A social game for the GREE, Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops, was released in December 2012.

On December 7, 2012, a teaser for The Phantom Pain was revealed on the Spike Video Game Awards. Following the teaser trailer, numerous video game-related websites and fansites reported the trailer's seemed connection to the Metal Gear series of video games.

On March 27, 2013, Kojima announced at GDC 2013 that Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain were two different portions of one work, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, with Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes serving as the prologue and The Phantom Pain serving as the main story. Snake's usual English-language voice actor David Hayter was not cast for the role. Instead, Hollywood actor and producer Kiefer Sutherland portrayed the character through voice acting and facial capture.

In 2015, Konami revealed that they were recruiting new staff members to develop a new Metal Gear game as Kojima left the company. On August 17, 2016, Konami announced during Gamescom 2016 that a new Metal Gear game was in the works, known as Metal Gear Survive. It is a spin-off game as well as a supplemental to Metal Gear Solid V as a whole, taking place between Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain.

On May 24, 2023, during Sony's PlayStation Showcase event, a remake of Snake Eater, titled Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater was announced, as well as the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, which was released on October 24 of that year. It includes the first five mainline Metal Gear games, as well as extra content including the NES version of Metal Gear, Snake's Revenge, Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel, and Bande Dessinée, as well as additional content such as screenplay books, master books, character profiles, story summaries, strategy guides, and a playable soundtrack.

Storyline
In the Metal Gear universe, history had diverged at some point during World War II, with the fictional Cobra Unit, led by The Boss, being instrumental in the defeat of the Axis Powers. Cloning, AI and robotics technology of the 1970s are more advanced. The eleven games in the main Metal Gear series continuity reveal a narrative that spans five and a half decades, from the Cold War, until the near future. Big Boss is the most relevant character within the story of the series and of the canonical 11 games five are prequels centering on his story, set decades before the events of the original Metal Gear. However, Solid Snake is still depicted as the primary main character of the series, as the prequels create context of his purpose and him being the antithesis of his father.

Plot
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, which is chronologically the first game in the series, introduces Naked Snake (or Snake for short), an operative working for the fictional Force Operation X (FOX) unit of the CIA during the Cold War. The game focuses on the rise of Snake from an apprentice to a legendary soldier, as well as the downfall of his mentor and matriarchal figure, The Boss. After The Boss defects to the Soviet Union, Snake is sent into Russia to kill her and end the threat posed by Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin, a GRU colonel with plans to overthrow the Soviet government. Snake's heroics during the game earn him the nickname "Big Boss" at the end. The origins of The Patriots, an organization founded by Zero, are also explored.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops serves as a direct sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and follows Naked Snake's life after disbanding from FOX. With Snake not yet accepting the Big Boss codename, the plot features the origins of his mercenary unit as he attempts to escape the San Hieronymo Peninsula and battles his old unit. The canonicity of Portable Ops is disputed, with Kojima having stated that "the main story of Portable Ops is part of the Saga, is part of the official Metal Gear timeline, while some of the small details that are in Portable Ops are outside the Saga, not part of the main timeline of the game."

The next game, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, is set ten years after the events of Snake Eater and returns to the story of the young Big Boss. Now the head of the mercenary corporation Militaires Sans Frontières (MSF), Big Boss discovers that nuclear warheads are being transported to Latin America and decides that he must put a stop to it. Peace Walker features a new cast of characters to provide both aid and intelligence for Big Boss. A few characters from later games, such as a younger Kazuhira Miller, make appearances in the game.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, serves as the direct sequel to Peace Walker and is composed of two chapters. The prologue, Ground Zeroes, is set a few weeks after the final mission in Peace Walker, as Big Boss is tasked with rescuing two VIPs from a U.S. military black site on the coast of Cuba. Big Boss' mission coincides with a visit to Mother Base by the IAEA, which turns out to be a cover for an attack on Mother Base orchestrated by the mysterious organization XOF. In the chaos, Big Boss' helicopter collides with another, and he is sent to the hospital for nine years, which leads to the events of the main chapter, The Phantom Pain. The basis of the main story revolves around Big Boss forming a new private military company, the Diamond Dogs to retaliate for the destruction of MSF and the loss of his comrades. However, this "Big Boss" is revealed to be a part of the medical staff who survived the helicopter crash, who was brainwashed to believe himself to be Big Boss, while the real Big Boss went into hiding to create Outer Heaven, a place where soldiers can live without having to abide by any particular ideology.

The first Metal Gear game for the MSX follows Solid Snake, a rookie of the FOXHOUND special operations unit. He is sent by his superior Big Boss to the fortress in South Africa known as Outer Heaven, with the goal of finding the missing squad member Gray Fox and investigating a weapon known as Metal Gear. However, after Snake unexpectedly completes his goals, Big Boss is revealed to be the leader of Outer Heaven, which he has created as a place for soldiers to fight free of any ideology that he believes has been forced upon them by governments. He fights Snake and is killed. However, it turns out that this was actually the body double from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. In Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake the real Big Boss has established a new military nation, Zanzibar Land, and he and Snake face off again, with Snake achieving victory and seemingly killing Big Boss for good.

Metal Gear Solid elaborates on the storyline of the earlier games and reveals that Solid Snake is a genetic clone of Big Boss, created as part of a secret government project. An antagonist is introduced in the form of Liquid Snake, Snake's twin brother who takes control of FOXHOUND after Snake's retirement. Liquid and FOXHOUND take control of a nuclear weapons disposal facility in Alaska and commandeer REX, the next-generation Metal Gear weapons platform being tested there. They threaten to detonate REX's warhead unless the government turns over the remains of Big Boss. Solid Snake destroys Metal Gear REX and kills the renegade FOXHOUND members, with the exception of Revolver Ocelot.

A third Snake brother known as Solidus Snake is introduced as the United States President at the end of Metal Gear Solid and serves as the main antagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. During his time as president, Solidus became aware of a secretive cabal known as "The Patriots" who were steadily manipulating the course of history. After his tenure as president is over, Solidus takes control of the "Big Shell" offshore facility, which is being used to develop Arsenal Gear, a mobile undersea fortress designed to house and protect a network of AIs created to influence human development by filtering the availability of information across the Internet. The game is set four years after Liquid's death in Metal Gear Solid, and it puts the player in control of Raiden, a soldier who fights against Solidus, who is revealed to be his former commander during his time as a child soldier. Raiden joins forces with Snake and learns that they are being manipulated by Revolver Ocelot, who has been working for the Patriots. At the end of the game, Ocelot seemingly becomes possessed by Liquid Snake as the nanomachines from Liquid's arm (which Ocelot took to replace his own arm after Gray Fox slices it off in Metal Gear Solid) work their way into Ocelot's thought process.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots deals with a rapidly aging Solid Snake (now branded "Old Snake") who is on a mission to find and defeat Revolver Ocelot, now known as Liquid Ocelot. Despite the destruction of the Arsenal Gear in Sons of Liberty, the Patriots have continued in their plans to influence the course of human history, installing artificial intelligence systems around the world. Ocelot, opposed to this, has assembled armies with which to fight back and intends to hijack their entire operating system for his own ends. Solid Snake's objective later changes to destroying the AIs of the Patriots and stop their oppression. After he and his allies succeed, Snake decides to live out his life peacefully.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is set four years after Guns of the Patriots and it stars Raiden as a cyborg ninja mercenary. Raiden joins the private military firm, Maverick Security Consulting, and is tasked with defending the prime minister of an unspecified African country. However, the situation goes awry and the prime minister is killed by a rival PMC company named Desperado Enforcement LLC. Raiden is defeated in the battle, but decides to re-avenge his failure and is sent out with a brand new cyborg body to fight the mysterious military group.

Tone and themes
The original Metal Gear, which was released in 1987 during the Cold War, dealt with the manipulation of soldiers by politicians of the East and West, countered by the concept of "Outer Heaven", a country without politics. Its sequel Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, which was released in 1990 at the end of the Cold War, expanded on this with themes regarding political intrigue, battlefield ethics, military history, and the negative effects of warfare.

The overarching theme of the Metal Gear Solid series is that of the "gene, meme, scene, sense, peace, revenge and race," and how people are affected by these factors according to the game's producer Kojima—Metal Gear Solid deals with genetics and the moral implications of genetic engineering, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty deals with how identity can be affected by the philosophies of one's society (a "meme") and the effects of censorship on society, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater deals with how the time and place one lives in (a "scene") affects their identity, how politics change along with the times and hyperreality, the inability to distinguish fact and fiction in an information-saturated world.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots deals with "sense", which is a person's understanding of the world that is lost when they die. It also encompasses how some things cannot be passed down to future generations and be misinterpreted as well as the artificially controlled (and globally shared) sense-data of the new era's nanotech-enhanced soldiers. With Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker the plot deals with the true nature of 'peace', and the concept of conflict in human societies. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain deals with the themes "race" and "revenge" and how the latter can make one lose his humanity. Following the initial Metal Gear, each game has been a deconstruction of action movies and video games, using tropes to invoke the themes and ideas especially those of spy movies - it examines what kind of mind and complete control of a situation would be needed to pull off the absurdly complex and convoluted plans that rely on events completely within the realm of chance yet comes off without a hitch. Furthermore, it examines what happens to a child soldier forced to take up a normal life through the characters Eli (also known as Liquid Snake) in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Jack (primarily known as Raiden) in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance also deals with "revenge". Raiden is defeated in the beginning and feels a deep sense of vengeance, and as such exacts his 'revenge' on the group who sabotaged him, as well as coming to terms with his own past and embracing his true nature. The games carry many implicit parallels to Nietzschean philosophy. Solid Snake serves as a deconstruction of the action hero archetype, as his wartime experiences have turned him into a bitter, broken-down soldier who wishes to retire, but cannot escape the life of conflict that had entwined him for so long. This concept is further explored through Raiden, who is put through the same torments as Snake in explicit detail. Big Boss is similarly not immune to this theme: as Naked Snake, he does not resemble a suave, impeccable secret agent that would otherwise fit into the 1960s spy film pastiche of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, but is instead an everyman character. Only after undergoing immense psychological and physical scarring does he begin to resemble the ultimate soldier known as Big Boss.

Although the series takes place in a realistic military setting, the Metal Gear video games also feature a strong focus on supernatural elements, leading the series to be commonly described as magic realism.

Characters

In games, players control a character who has to infiltrate into his enemy's area alone to complete his mission. Across the mission, the player receives assistance from a supporting team communicated by Codec. While the team tells the player hints about the mission, it also helps expand the characters through their interactions. During their debuts, player characters Solid Snake and Raiden are meant to represent the player while in the following games they acquire more defined personalities. A common motif in the series is the use of powerful enemies. As games were released, new concepts were given to the bosses to make them innovative and notice their strength. As the first games used humans with supernatural abilities, for Metal Gear Solid 4, the designers decided to use monsters rather than humans as enemies. A notable boss battle was The End from Metal Gear Solid 3 that was meant to differentiate it from all the other bosses in the franchise due to its strategic gameplay. Another common motif has been the transformation of a previously normal character returning as a ninja. It started with Kyle Schneider in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake when he fought against Snake as "Black Ninja". Several other characters have done the same, including Gray Fox, Olga Gurlukovich, and Raiden.

Much as Metal Gear began as partially a pastiche of action movies of the time, characters were sometimes pastiches of contemporary action movie heroes. Metal Gear Solid characters have been designed by Yoji Shinkawa. Several of their real names and aliases are references to various Hollywood films. Because of the time skip between games, a few of the characters have been redesigned to fit in the game's year. With the improvements from new video game consoles like the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, the staff gave the characters a more realistic look although they initially had doubts about it. Kojima's thoughts regarding Snake's improved abilities by the time of Metal Gear Solid led to the concept of cloned characters who would be able to match him in combat. By Metal Gear Solid 2, Kojima was inspired by the Sherlock Holmes novels to introduce a sidekick character in order to view Snake from a different perspective.

Development

The first Metal Gear game was intended to be an action game that featured modern military combat. However, the MSX2's hardware limited the number of on-screen bullets and enemies, which Hideo Kojima felt impeded the combat aspect. Inspired by The Great Escape, he altered the gameplay to focus on a prisoner escaping. In a series of articles written for Official PlayStation 2 Magazine, Hideo Kojima identified several Hollywood films as the primary sources of inspiration for the storylines and gameplay of the Metal Gear series. He further noted that the James Bond series is what influenced him the most regarding the creation of Metal Gear Solid. The original plot has references to the nuclear war paranoia during the mid-1980s that resulted from the Cold War. Following games would revolve around nuclear weapon inspections in Iraq and Iran, but this idea was left out due to growing concern regarding the political situation in the Middle East. Other changes to the series were made in Metal Gear Solid 2 as a result of the September 11 attacks.

After Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Kojima planned to release the third Metal Gear game in 1994 for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in 1994. Besides changing the game's platform to the PlayStation, the game was renamed, and its subsequent sequels were given the word "Solid" as the series started using 3D computer graphics. Since then, the games were designed to be more realistic to further entertain the players. Metal Gear Solid 3 was initially meant to be made for the PlayStation 3, but due to the long wait for the console, the game was developed for the PlayStation 2 instead. As previous game's settings were indoors areas due to difficulties with the consoles, since Metal Gear Solid 3, Kojima wished to drastically change it despite difficulties. Since Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty had several plot points unresolved, it was originally meant to leave it to players to discuss them to come to their own conclusions. This has led to consistency issues in the English versions of Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 as they mentioned plot elements that were further explored in Metal Gear Solid 4.

Printed adaptations
A novel adaptation of the original Metal Gear was published in 1988 as a part of Scholastic's Worlds of Power line of novelizations, which were based on third-party NES games. It was written by Alexander Frost. The novelization is not based on the game's official storyline, but rather on Konami of America's localization of the plot. The book takes further liberties by giving Solid Snake the name of Justin Halley, and by changing the name of Snake's unit from FOXHOUND to the "Snake Men". In Japan, a Metal Gear gamebook was published on March 31, 1988, shortly after the release of the game on the Famicom. It is set two years after the events of the original Metal Gear and is part of the Konami Gamebook Series. A novelization of Metal Gear Solid was published in 2008. It was written by Raymond Benson, the author of nine James Bond novels. Benson also wrote a Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty novelization, which was published in 2009. Critical reaction to Benson's novelizations has been generally positive, with Bookgasm.com writing that "Benson does a fine job translating the game to the page" with Metal Gear Solid, and MishMashMagazine.com calling Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty "a great companion to the game". A Japanese-language novelization of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots by Project Itoh was published on June 12, 2008. The novel was translated into English by Viz Media and was released on June 19, 2012.

A comic book adaptation of the original Metal Gear Solid was published by IDW Publishing in 2004. It was written by Kris Oprisko and with illustrations by Ashley Wood. The series lasted 24 issues and has been collected in two trade paperbacks as well as a single hardback collector's edition which is currently out-of-print. The entire run of the comic was collected again in a paperback book, Metal Gear Solid Omnibus, and released in June 2010. A comic book adaptation of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty has also been published by IDW, written by Alex Garner with illustrations by Ashley Wood. A digital version of the first comic book adaptation was released for the PlayStation Portable, Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel, in 2006. A second digital version, Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinée, was released exclusively in Japan as a DVD release in 2008 and features fully voiced versions of both comic book adaptations. All the Japanese voice actors from the games reprised their roles with the exception of those that have died.

CDs
A radio drama based on the original Metal Gear Solid aired in Japan from 1998 to 1999 as part of Konami's syndicated CLUB db program. Directed by Shuyo Murata and written by Motosada Mori, the serial lasted over 12 weekly installments spanning three story arcs. The series was later collected as a two-volume set. The series serves as an alternate continuation to the events of Shadow Moses, with Solid Snake, Meryl Silverburgh, Mei Ling and Roy Campbell going on further missions as FOXHOUND operatives (Mei Ling and Meryl are depicted wearing a battle dress uniform and a sneaking suit respectively), although the stories are not considered part of the mainstream Metal Gear canon. The Japanese voice actors from the game reprised their roles for the series, while new characters are introduced as well.

Several promotional DVDs have been released detailing the Metal Gear series. Metal Gear Saga vol. 1 was released in 2006 as a pre-order disc for MGS3: Subsistence. It is divided into five chapters, each dealing with one game of the then five-part Metal Gear series in chronological order (beginning with MGS3), and each includes discussions by Hideo Kojima. Metal Gear Saga vol. 2 was first shown at the 20th Metal Gear Anniversary Party, and then released as a pre-order disc for MGS4. In this, the video is presented as a pseudo-documentary about Solid Snake and is divided into a prologue and four chapters: Naked Snake-the birth of Snake (chronicling the events of MGS3, MG1, and MG2), Liquid Snake-the second snake (MGS), Solidus Snake-the third Snake (MGS2) and Solid Snake-the first Snake (setting the stage for MGS4).

Film adaptation
In May 2006, Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima announced that an English-language film adaptation of Metal Gear Solid was in early development. Kojima also announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo later that month that he had negotiated a contract with a party in Hollywood to adapt the video game into a film, though no further details were shared at that time. David Hayter, the English voice actor for Solid Snake, submitted a film treatment that executives passed on. Producers had expressed interest in Equilibrium director Kurt Wimmer as writer and/or director, or Paul Thomas Anderson to direct; Kojima also denied claims that German director Uwe Boll was a possible contender. Viggo Mortensen and Hugh Jackman were considered for the role of Snake, while Christian Bale denied rumors of his involvement. On January 11, 2010, producer Michael De Luca confirmed that work on a Metal Gear film adaptation had been postponed indefinitely. He said Konami expressed concern that the entire Metal Gear franchise could be seriously affected if a movie version performed poorly. In March 2012, during The Art of Video Games exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Kojima stated that he did not have a desire to write or direct a potential Metal Gear Solid movie himself.

At the Metal Gear 25th Anniversary on August 30, 2012, Hideo Kojima announced that Arad Productions, owned by Arad brothers Avi and Ari, have agreed to produce a movie version of Metal Gear Solid with Columbia Pictures. Columbia's parent company, Sony Pictures Entertainment, will be in charge of distribution. On June 3, 2014, Deadline Hollywood reported that Sony was in talks with Jordan Vogt-Roberts to direct the film; he was confirmed to be attached as director of the project in 2015. In February 2017, Vogt-Roberts said the filmmakers are working on the film's script with Kojima. He has stated a desire for the film to receive an R rating, stating, "It's about doing it for a price so you can make the riskier, balls-to-the-wall, Kojima-san version of it. [...] it's a way to make the first great video game movie where it doesn't matter that it's based on a video game." Although Jay Basu was initially announced as screenwriter in 2015, Derek Connolly was hired to rewrite the script in November 2017. Connolly completed the first draft of the film's screenplay in July 2018, and another draft in December 2019. In December 2020, it was announced that Oscar Isaac had been officially cast as Solid Snake following his having expressed interest in the role; a 2024 insider rumor suggests Isaac may have dropped out of the project. Updates have been minimal since 2020, with comments from Isaac in 2022 and Arad in 2024 indicating that the script was still in progress.

Toys
In 1999, McFarlane Toys, with the collaboration of Konami, launched a series of action figures depicting key characters from Metal Gear Solid. In 2001, following the success of the first series, and with the release of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, McFarlane Toys, and Konami combined their efforts to produce a line of action figures depicting Sons of Liberty's main characters. Each character has a piece of Metal Gear RAY, so collecting the entire set is essential to build the robot.

Konami has also released 4" scale blind-box figures based on MGS2 released in Japan, Sons of Liberty in 2002 and Substance shortly after in 2003; the Substance series was eventually brought to the US and UK markets packaged on card rather than blind boxed. During the release of MGS3, Medicom released 12" figures of Snake as part of their Real Action Heroes line. Medicom continued to support the franchise with the release of Kubrick figures for Snake Eater and Guns of the Patriots, which also included seven- and 12-inch versions of the game's characters.

In 2009, toy company ThreeA joined forces with Kojima to make related products. The first fruit of this partnership came in late 2012, when ThreeA released a massive 1/48 scale figure of Metal Gear REX, with working LED lights. It can also be dressed up to depict REX's decrepit condition in Guns of the Patriots. The company is also cooperating with graphic artist Ashley Wood to develop a similarly scaled Metal Gear RAY. A prototype was first unveiled at the ReVenture hobby show in Hong Kong in April 2012.

Square Enix also joined the production of toys based on the franchise starting with the boss vehicles and characters from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. The toys, which are from Square's Play Arts Kai line, were released in 2010. The line has since expanded to include characters from Metal Gear Solid, Sons of Liberty, Ground Zeroes, and The Phantom Pain, with the detail more pronounced than the original McFarlane Toys figures.

In 2012, Hot Toys released a 1/6th action figure of Naked Snake in his original sneaking suit attire from MGS3, as well as the Boss.

To celebrate the franchise's 25th anniversary, model kit company Kotobukiya released a 1/100 scale Metal Gear REX, which features small figures of Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, and Gray Fox in both standing and near-death versions., and later followed suit with RAY. Kaiyodo's Revoltech action figure line includes versions of Big Boss from Peace Walker and Raiden from Rising: Revengeance, plus Venom Snake and a generic Soviet Army soldier from The Phantom Pain for the smaller RevoMini action figure category.

Soundtracks
Soundtracks for the first two games were produced by Iku Mizutani, Shigehiro Takenouchi, and Motoaki Furukawa. For Metal Gear Solid, Kojima wanted "a full orchestra right next to the player"; a system which made modifications such as tempo and texture to the currently playing track, instead of switching to another pre-recorded track. Although these features could not be achieved at that time, they were implemented in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Hideo Kojima's choice of Harry Gregson-Williams, a Hollywood film composer from Hans Zimmer's studio, as the composer for Metal Gear Solid 2 was highly publicized in the run-up to the game's release. Gregson-Williams would reprise his role in Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4. Starting with Metal Gear Solid, theme songs have been provided by popular artists such as Rika Muranaka. Several soundtracks based on the games have also been published.

Reception and legacy
The Metal Gear franchise has achieved great success, selling over 61.1 million copies. By February 2007, the series had grossed more than US$1 billion (equivalent to between US$– billion adjusted for inflation) from 20 million copies sold, in addition to having sold ancillary merchandise including 3 million strategy guides, 1.5 million action figures and 200,000 comic books. , the franchise has grossed about US$2.5 billion worldwide.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty sold 7.03 million copies worldwide, and is followed in sales by Metal Gear Solid with over 7 million copies sold, and then Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, each with over 6 million copies sold. According to Chart-Track, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was the second fastest-selling PlayStation 3 game in the United Kingdom after Grand Theft Auto IV. The Phantom Pain grossed US$179 million on release day, higher than the combined opening day box office of the films Avengers: Age of Ultron and Jurassic World. The PlayStation Portable games were met with notably lower sales, but it has been analyzed that this was because of the low sales of the console when the games were released. Metal Gear Survive, the first Metal Gear game to be developed since series creator Hideo Kojima left Konami, sold only a fraction of the sales made by Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

The series as a whole (namely concerning the Kojima-directed titles) is often regarded as one of the most influential of all time and has received largely critical acclaim from critics and players. Most of the numbered installments are considered to be some of the greatest video games of all time. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty currently possesses 95.09% on GameRankings and 96/100 on Metacritic, making it the highest-scoring game of the series to date. In 2002, IGN's editors ranked Metal Gear Solid as the best PlayStation game ever. In Game Informer Magazine's list of top 200 games of all time, Metal Gear Solid 2 ranked at No. 50 on the list. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was also voted as the fifth greatest PlayStation game in a poll from PlayStation Official Magazine (UK). Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 were featured in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's "The Art of Video Games" exhibition taking place from March 16 to September 30, 2012. Games have won multiple awards such as Metal Gear Solid, which won the "Excellence Award for Interactive Art" by the Japan Media Arts Festival, and Metal Gear Solid 2, which was given the Game of the Year award by Game Informer.

Metal Gear was the first mainstream stealth game, with the player starting the game unarmed, and sold over a million copies in the United States. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake evolved the stealth gameplay of its predecessor and is considered one of the best 8-bit games of all time. Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 are credited with pioneering stealth mechanics. Metal Gear Solid, which debuted at the 1996 Tokyo Game Show, was the first 3D stealth game, and is credited with popularizing the stealth game genre, as well as the hiding-behind-cover mechanic. The series pioneered the integration of cinematic techniques into video games, especially Metal Gear Solid which Eurogamer considers the "first modern video game".

Several boss fights have been praised for their variety and strategy required to beat them. The series is notorious for its fourth wall breaking scenes. The storyline has been commented to maintain "rich characterization" while touching on some controversial themes. Hideo Kojima's ambitious script in Metal Gear Solid 2 has been praised, some calling it the first example of a postmodern video game,  while others have argued that it anticipated concepts such as post-truth politics, fake news, echo chambers and alternative facts. The series' storytelling in general has received praise for being among "the most fascinating science fiction stories in any medium". The series' cutscenes have often been praised for their graphics and the characters' stunt performances. Nevertheless, a common criticism has been the scenes' lengthiness, as well as some parts of the storyline. Raiden's unexpected introduction as the main protagonist in Metal Gear Solid 2, due to his lack of appearances in the games' trailers and how he replaces fan-favorite character Solid Snake, has been deemed as one of the most controversial parts of the entire series. The series' audio has been acclaimed to the point of receiving awards for its use of sound and music.

The Metal Gear series inspired numerous video game developers. Splinter Cell and Far Cry 2 designer Clint Hocking stated that every stealth-action game "owes its existence to the success of Metal Gear" and that, "Without Metal Gear, there would be no stealth games." Splinter Cell producer Mathieu Ferland said "Metal Gear Solid was a huge inspiration for Splinter Cell" and it "was a pioneer for both the genre and the quality of directing". Silicon Knights founder Denis Dyack said Metal Gear Solid's "story, script, characters, voice acting, and cinemas" were "a landmark" and "guiding light to the future of videogames." Unreal and Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski cited the military themes and action gameplay of Metal Gear as a major influence on his work, and he named Gears of War in homage to Metal Gear. Tenchu creator Takuma Endo cited the early 2D Metal Gear games as an influence. Thief creator Tom Leonard said Metal Gear Solid's success convinced them that experimental stealth gameplay could be marketable and "revitalized the team" in "the closing months of the project." Sumo Digital designer Emily Knox cited Metal Gear Solid as an early formative influence on their work. Crysis 2 animator Luke Kelly said the game's animations were inspired by Metal Gear Solid 4. Neil Druckmann cited the revelation of Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2 as an influence on The Last of Us Part II (2020).

Beyond video games, filmmaker Jordan Peele cited the series as an inspiration, particularly Metal Gear Solid 2. Several critics have also drawn comparisons between the Metal Gear Solid series, especially Metal Gear Solid 2, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).

title: Metal Gear


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Rensselaer

Rensselaer may refer to:

Places

 * Rensselaer, Indiana, a city
 * Rensselaer (Amtrak station), serving the city
 * Rensselaer, Missouri, a village
 * Rensselaer County, New York
 * Rensselaer, New York, a city in Rensselaer County
 * Rensselaer Falls, New York, a village in St. Lawrence County
 * Rensselaerville, New York, a town in Albany County
 * Manor of Rensselaerswyck, the Van Rensselaer family's estate during colonial times

People

 * Van Rensselaer (surname)
 * Rensselaer R. Bigelow (1848–1907), justice of the Supreme Court of Nevada
 * Rensselaer Morse Lewis (1820-1888), Wisconsin state legislator
 * Rensselaer Nelson (1826-1904), U.S. federal judge
 * Rensselaer Westerlo (1776–1851), U.S. Congressman from New York
 * Bret Rensselaer, an American-born, British spy in the Bernard Samson novels

Other

 * Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a university in Troy, New York

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Rensselaer


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Queenborough

Queenborough is a town on the Isle of Sheppey in the Swale borough of Kent in South East England.

Queenborough is 2 mi south of Sheerness. It grew as a port near the Thames Estuary at the westward entrance to the Swale where it joins the River Medway. It is in the Sittingbourne and Sheppey parliamentary constituency.

Queenborough Harbour offers moorings between the Thames and Medway. It is possible to land at Queenborough on any tide and there are boat builders and chandlers in the marina. Admiral Lord Nelson is reputed to have learned many of his seafaring skills in these waters, and also shared a house near the small harbour with his mistress, Lady Hamilton.

Queenborough today still reflects something of its original 18th-century seafaring history, from which period most of its more prominent buildings survive. The church is the sole surviving feature from the medieval period. The town was first represented by two members of parliament in 1572.

Saxon
In Saxon times, the settlement on the site was known as Cyningburh, "king's borough".

Medieval and Tudor
A fortress, called Sheppey Castle or Queenborough Castle, was built to guard the passage of ships along the Swale upon the command of King Edward III between 1361 and 1377, during the Hundred Years' War with France. It was built on the site of a much earlier, but smaller castle. Its unusual design – round and symmetrical – was described by historians Howard Colvin and R. Allen Brown as "exemplifying the principles of cylindrical and concentric fortification carried to their logical conclusion with perfect symmetry". They also suggest that the design, which bore similarities to Henry VIII's Device Forts of the 16th century, may have been designed to defend against and to make best use of gunpowder artillery. Queenborough was the only true concentric castle built in England. It regained importance in the 16th century under Thomas Cheney, when it is thought to have influenced the construction of nearby Deal Castle and Walmer Castle.

In those days north Kent was divided by open waters and marshes stretching inland. The safest navigation to the open sea was then the route from the Thames into the Yantlet Creek (separating the Isle of Grain from the rest of Hoo Peninsula), and thus into the Swale from the Medway estuary, around the leeward side of the Isle of Sheppey into the Wantsum Channel, navigating past the Isle of Thanet to Sandwich and only then into the open waters of the English Channel. It was thus an easily defensible planned-town centre for the wool trade.

King Edward III had the town renamed after his Queen, Philippa of Hainault, and conferred upon it the rights of a free borough, with a governing body of a mayor and two bailiffs. He granted Queenborough a charter in 1366 and two years later bestowed the duties of a royal borough upon it.

During this period, Queenborough, on the Isle of Sheppey, was an important town for the export of wool, a significant crown revenue. In 1368, the Wool Staple was transferred from Canterbury to Queenborough: Sandwich and Queenborough became the two centres in Kent for wool trading.

The castle was excavated in 2005 by Channel 4's archaeology television programme Time Team.

The town was first represented by two members of parliament in 1572, one of its earlier MPs being explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1580. Matthias Falconer of Brabant established the first copperas factory in England at Queenborough in 1579.

17th century
King Charles I had the town reincorporated under the title of the "mayor, jurats, bailiffs and burgesses of Queenborough", during which time the population was chiefly employed in the local oyster fishery. However the fort having protected the Swale and Medway estuaries for 300 years was never in fact to realise its function as a garrison, and recorded no active military history. After being seized by Parliamentarians in 1650, after the Civil War, and being considered unsuitable for repair, being of "no practical use" it was demolished during the interregnum.

Not long after this, in 1667, the Dutch captured the new Sheerness fort (then under construction) and invaded Queenborough. The occupation lasted only a few days; though the Dutch caused widespread panic, they were unable to maintain their offensive, and withdrew having captured the Royal Charles and burnt numerous other ships in the Thames and Medway. Following this raid on the Medway, much-needed attention was given to the improvement of the naval defences of the Medway, which at length helped strengthen the economy of Queenborough and Sheppey. Some 300 years later, in 1967, The Queenborough and Brielle (the Netherlands) twinning project was established.

Work began on overhauling the parish church in 1690.

18th century
The parish church overhaul continued through to 1730, and a number of houses added to the growing town during the 18th century. With the general prosperity of the colonial and mercantile trades of the age, Queenborough thrived. Queenborough Guildhall was completed in 1793.

With the silting up of the Yantlet creek and the Wantsum channel and improved navigation through the Thames estuary to London, Queenborough began to lose its importance, becoming something of a backwater. Daniel Defoe described it as "a miserable and dirty fishing town (with) the chief traders ... alehouse keepers and oyster catchers".

The Royal Navy eventually became less prominent on the River Medway as other dockyards developed and ships grew in size, so that they were largely replaced by prison hulks which would frequently dispose of their dead charges on a salt marsh at the mouth of the Swale, which was subsequently to become known as Dead Man's Island, and can still be found as such, on local maps today. The new fort and harbour developments completed at Sheerness by this time further replaced Queenborough by being better positioned at the mouth of the Medway.

19th century to date
Records from between 1815 and 1820 show that the Corporation of Queenborough was in some financial difficulties, owing some £14,500 that it could not hope to pay. It appears that the mayor and other officials had been less than honest in their duties toward the community, with the use of the public money at their disposal. This fraud caused a great financial burden upon the fishers and oyster catchers, who were driven to "unlawful and riotous assembly", in protest against unwarranted charges made upon them in the course of their trade. So serious had this deterioration in conditions become, that by the middle of the 19th century the corporation was bankrupt. A leading figure was Thomas Young Greet, who frequently held the office of mayor, and treasurer, and first came to Queenborough in 1814. He and his friends used their positions to cream off the profits of the fisheries. Parliament was called upon to act, vesting by an Act of Parliament much of the town's business in the hands of trustees who were able to refinance the economy by selling land, property and the ancient oyster fishery. The oyster trade having been corrupted by smuggling and the bribery of the island's members of parliament, the town lost its franchise in the Reform Act of 1832.

The economy of Queenborough was boosted significantly by the establishment of a branch line from Sittingbourne by the Sittingbourne and Sheerness Railway (later part of the London, Chatham & Dover Railway), which operated in conjunction with a mail and passenger service by steamer to Vlissingen in the Netherlands. The Swale was bridged when the railway was built in 1860.

From the town's depression in the 1850s there began a process of recovery. New industries came to Queenborough including a glass works and a company engaged in coal washing. Besides these many other small industries developed, including potteries, the Sheppy Fertilizer company (which used the old spelling of Sheppey) and the glue works. The Portland cement works opened in 1890, and there is still a considerable trade in timber.

A borough charter granted in 1885 gave some renewed impetus to the struggling borough council, but it was not until 1937 that the Charity Commissioners were at last able to appoint a borough council, but the town and its fisheries never fully recovered. The present trustees are Swale Borough Council, which incorporated the old borough council in the local government reorganisation of 1974. Queenborough now has a town council, which includes a mayor.

Unsightly modern sea wall defences have hindered the character of the beaches but were deemed necessary; a large yachting harbour exists, where the pirate radio ship Radio Caroline (in the river Medway 2003–04) anchored for a while. Tourism is today a major feature of the island, with Queenborough enjoying some of the fruits of local investment.

Government
Queenborough is in the parliamentary constituency of Sittingbourne and Sheppey. Since 2010, the constituency's member of parliament has been Gordon Henderson, a Conservative.

Queenborough is within the Swale local government district and its electoral ward of Queenborough and Halfway. This ward has three of the forty seven seats on Swale Borough Council. As of the 2019 local elections, all three seats are held by the Conservative Party.

Queenborough continues the traditions of having a town council and a mayor. The town council is made up of eleven elected members, seven from Queenborough and four from Rushenden. The current Mayor of Queenborough is Councillor Ashley Shiel.

In 2000, Chris "Screwy" Driver of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party was elected to the town council and as leader of the Rock 'n' Roll Loony Party was elected Mayor of Queenborough in 2002.

Demography
At the 2001 UK census, the parish of Queenborough had a population of 3,471.

For every 100 females, there were 94.5 males. The age distribution was 7% aged 0–4 years, 18% aged 5–15 years, 10% aged 16–24 years, 28% aged 25–44 years, 23% aged 45–64 years and 13% aged 65 years and over.

The ethnicity of the Queenborough and Halfway electoral ward, which includes the neighbouring villages of Minster-on-Sea, Rushenden and Halfway Houses, was 98.6% white, 0.7% mixed race, 0.3% black, 0.2% non-Chinese Asian and 0.3% Chinese or other.

The place of birth of Queenborough and Halfway residents was 97.2% United Kingdom, 0.6% Republic of Ireland, 0.4% Germany, 0.3% other Western Europe countries, 0.3% Far East, 0.3% Africa, 0.3% North America, 0.2% South Asia, 0.2% Oceania and 0.1% Middle East.

Religion was recorded as 77.6% Christian, 0.1% Muslim and 0.1% Jewish. 14.7% were recorded as having no religion, 0.3% had an alternative religion and 7.7% didn't state their religion.

7% of Queenborough and Halfway residents aged 16–74 had a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 20% nationally.

Economy

A modern pharmaceutical factory and laboratories, and a steel rolling mill are among the more recent developments, but the mill has suffered greatly as a result of the restrictions in place by the American steel trade.

At the 2001 UK census, the economic activity of residents aged 16–74 of Queenborough and its neighbouring villages of Minster-on-Sea, Rushenden and Halfway Houses was 42.0% in full-time employment, 12.7% in part-time employment, 7.1% self-employed, 3.4% unemployed, 1.5% students with jobs, 3.0% students without jobs, 14.6% retired, 8.0% looking after home or family, 5.3% permanently sick or disabled and 2.4% economically inactive for other reasons. The unemployment rate of 3.40% was similar to the national rate of 3.35%.

The industry of employment of residents was 24% manufacturing, 16% retail, 9% construction, 9% real estate, 10% transport & communications, 7% health & social work, 7% public administration, 5% education, 4% hotels & restaurants, 2% finance, 1% agriculture and 3% other community, social or personal services. Compared to national figures, the town had a relatively high percentage of workers in manufacturing, construction, public administration and transport & communications, and a relatively low percentage in agriculture, health & social work, education, finance and real estate.

Media
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South East and ITV Meridian. Television signals are received from the Bluebell Hill TV transmitter.

The town is served by county-wide radio stations: BBC Radio Kent, Heart South, Gold Radio. Community radio based stations are BRFM 95.6 FM, and Sheppey FM 92.2.

The Sheerness Times Guardian is the local weekly newspaper.

Rail
Trains pass through Queenborough railway station on the Sheerness line between Sittingbourne, where the line links with the rest of the network, and Sheerness-on-Sea.

Sailing

The harbour and creek at Queenborough on the Isle of Sheppey has mooring facilities for a range of boats. There is an all-tide landing owned by Queenborough Harbour Trust situated on Crundells Wharf, which can be used by mooring holders and visiting yachtsmen.

title: Queenborough


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Queen bee

A queen bee is typically an adult, mated female (gyne) that lives in a colony or hive of honey bees. With fully developed reproductive organs, the queen is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive. Queens are developed from larvae selected by worker bees and specially fed in order to become sexually mature. There is normally only one adult, mated queen in a hive, in which case the bees will usually follow and fiercely protect her.

The term "queen bee" can be more generally applied to any dominant reproductive female in a colony of a eusocial bee species other than honey bees. However, as in the Brazilian stingless bee (Schwarziana quadripunctata), a single nest may have multiple queens or even dwarf queens, ready to replace a dominant queen in case of a sudden death.

Development

During the warm parts of the year, female "worker" bees leave the hive every day to collect nectar and pollen. While male bees serve no architectural or pollinating purpose, their primary function (if they are healthy enough) is to mate with a queen bee. If they are successful, they fall to the ground and die after copulation. Any fertilized egg has the potential to become a queen. Diet in the larval stage determines whether the bee will develop into a queen or a worker. Queens are fed only royal jelly, a protein-rich secretion from glands on the heads of young workers. Worker larvae are fed bee bread which is a mixture of nectar and pollen. All bee larvae are fed some royal jelly for the first few days after hatching but only queen larvae are fed the jelly exclusively. As a result of the difference in diet, the queen will develop into a sexually mature female, unlike the worker bees.

Queens are raised in specially constructed queen cells. The fully constructed queen cells have a peanut-like shape and texture. Queen cells start out as queen cups, which are larger than the cells of normal brood comb and are oriented vertically instead of horizontally. Worker bees will only further build up the queen cup once the queen has laid an egg in a queen cup. In general, the old queen starts laying eggs into queen cups when conditions are right for swarming or supersedure. Swarm cells hang from the bottom of a frame while supersedure queens or emergency queens are generally raised in cells built out from the face of a frame.

As the young queen larva pupates with her head down, the workers cap the queen cell with beeswax. When ready to emerge, the virgin queen will chew a circular cut around the cap of her cell. Often the cap swings open when most of the cut is made, so as to appear like a hinged lid.

During swarming season, the old queen is likely to leave with the prime swarm before the first virgin queen emerges from a queen cell.

Virgin queen bee
A virgin queen is a queen bee that has not mated with a drone. Virgins are intermediate in size between workers and mated, laying queens, and are much more active than the latter. They are hard to spot while inspecting a frame, because they run across the comb, climbing over worker bees if necessary, and may even take flight if sufficiently disturbed. Virgin queens can often be found clinging to the walls or corners of a hive during inspections.

Virgin queens appear to have little queen pheromone and often do not appear to be recognized as queens by the workers. A virgin queen in her first few hours after emergence can be placed into the entrance of any queenless hive or nuc and acceptance is usually very good, whereas a mated queen is usually recognized as a stranger and runs a high risk of being killed by the older workers.

When a young virgin queen emerges from a queen cell, she will generally seek out virgin queen rivals and attempt to kill them. Virgin queens will quickly find and kill (by stinging) any other emerged virgin queen (or be dispatched themselves), as well as any unemerged queens. Queen cells that are opened on the side indicate that a virgin queen was likely killed by a rival virgin queen. When a colony remains in swarm mode after the prime swarm has left, the workers may prevent virgins from fighting and one or several virgins may go with after-swarms. Other virgins may stay behind with the remnant of the hive. Some virgins have been seen to escape the hive to avoid being killed and seek out another without a queen, such as in the eusocial bee Melipona scutellaris. This can contain multiple virgin queens. When the after-swarm settles into a new home, the virgins will then resume normal behavior and fight to the death until only one remains. If the prime swarm has a virgin queen and an old queen, the old queen will usually be allowed to live. The old queen continues laying. Within a couple of weeks she will die a natural death and the former virgin, now mated, will take her place.

Unlike the worker bees, the queen's stinger is not barbed and she is able to sting repeatedly without dying.

Piping
Piping is a noise made by virgin and mated queen bees during certain times of the virgin queens' development. Fully developed virgin queens communicate through vibratory signals: "quacking" from virgin queens in their queen cells and "tooting" from queens free in the colony, collectively known as piping. A virgin queen may frequently pipe before she emerges from her cell and for a brief time afterwards. Mated queens may briefly pipe after being released in a hive.

Piping is most common when there is more than one queen in a hive. It is postulated that the piping is a form of battle cry announcing to competing queens and show the workers their willingness to fight. It may also be a signal to the worker bees which queen is the most worthwhile to support.

The adult queen pipes for a two-second pulse followed by a series of quarter-second toots. The queens of African bees produce more vigorous and frequent bouts of piping.

Reproduction cycle
The surviving virgin queen will fly out on a sunny, warm day to a drone congregation area where she will mate with 12–15 drones. If the weather holds, she may return to the drone congregation area for several days until she is fully mated. Mating occurs in flight. The young queen stores up to 6 million sperm from multiple drones in her spermatheca. She will selectively release sperm for the remaining 2–7 years of her life.

The young virgin queen has a limited time to mate. If she is unable to fly for several days because of bad weather and remains unmated, she will become a "drone layer." Drone-laying queens usually signal the death of the colony, because the workers have no fertilized (female) larvae from which to raise worker bees or a replacement queen.

Though timing can vary, matings usually take place between the sixth and tenth day after the queen emerges. Egg laying usually begins 2 to 3 days after the queen returns to the beehive, but can start earlier than this.

A special, rare case of reproduction is thelytoky: the reproduction of female workers or queens by laying worker bees by parthenogenesis. Thelytoky occurs in the Cape bee, Apis mellifera capensis, and has been found in other strains at very low frequency.

Supersedure
As the queen ages, her pheromone output diminishes. A queen bee that becomes old, or is diseased or failing, is replaced by the workers in a procedure known as "supersedure".

Supersedure may be forced by a beekeeper, for example by clipping off one of the queen's middle or posterior legs. This makes her unable to properly place her eggs at the bottom of the brood cell; the workers detect this and then rear replacement queens. When a new queen becomes available, the workers kill the reigning queen by "balling" her, clustering tightly around her. Death through balling is accomplished by surrounding the queen and raising her body temperature, causing her to overheat and die. Balling is often a problem for beekeepers attempting to introduce a replacement queen.

If a queen suddenly dies, the workers will attempt to create an "emergency queen" by selecting several brood cells where a larva has just emerged which are then flooded with royal jelly. The worker bees then build larger queen cells over the normal-sized worker cells which protrude vertically from the face of the brood comb. Emergency queens are usually smaller and less prolific than normal queens.

Daily life

The primary function of a queen bee is to serve as the reproducer. A well-mated and well-fed queen of quality stock can lay about 1,500 eggs per day during the spring build-up—more than her own body weight in eggs every day. She is continuously surrounded by worker bees who meet her every need, giving her food and disposing of her waste. The attendant workers also collect and then distribute queen mandibular pheromone, a pheromone that inhibits the workers from starting queen cells.

The queen bee is able to control the sex of the eggs she lays. The queen lays a fertilized (female) or unfertilized (male) egg according to the width of the cell. Drones are raised in cells that are significantly larger than the cells used for workers. The queen fertilizes the egg by selectively releasing sperm from her spermatheca as the egg passes through her oviduct.

Identification
The queen bee's abdomen is longer than the worker bees surrounding her and also longer than a male bee's. Even so, in a hive of 60,000 to 80,000 honey bees, it is often difficult for beekeepers to find the queen with any speed; for this reason, many queens in non-feral colonies are marked with a light daub of paint on their thorax. The paint usually does not harm the queen and makes her easier to find when necessary.

Although the color is sometimes randomly chosen, professional queen breeders use a color that identifies the year a queen hatched, which helps them to decide whether their queens are too old to maintain a strong hive and need to be replaced. The mnemonic taught to assist beekeepers in remembering the colour order is Will You Raise Good Bees (white, yellow, red, green, blue).

Sometimes tiny convex disks marked with identification numbers (Opalithplättchen) are used when a beekeeper has many queens born in the same year —a method that can also be used to keep multiple bees in the same hive under observation for research purposes.

Queen rearing
Queen rearing is the process by which beekeepers raise queen bees from young fertilized worker bee larvae. The most commonly used method is known as the Doolittle method. In the Doolittle method, the beekeeper grafts larvae, which are 24 hours or less of age, into a bar of queen cell cups. The queen cell cups are placed inside of a cell-building colony. A cell-building colony is a strong, well-fed, queenless colony that feeds the larva royal jelly and develops the larvae into queen bees.

After approximately 10 days, the queen cells are transferred from the cell building colony to small mating nuclei colonies, which are placed inside of mating yards. The queens emerge from their cells inside of the mating nuclei. After approximately 7–10 days, the virgin queens take their mating flights, mate with 10–20 drone bees, and return to their mating nuclei as mated queen bees.

Queen rearing can be practiced on a small scale by hobbyist or sideline beekeepers raising a small number of queens for their own use, or can be practiced on a larger, commercial scale by companies that produce queen bees for sale to the public. As of 2017, the cost of a queen honeybee ranges from $25 to $32.

Beekeepers can also utilize alternative methods of queen rearing. Examples are the Jenter kit, walk-away split, Cloake board, and artificial insemination.

title: Queen bee


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Education in Japan

Education in Japan is managed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan. Education is compulsory at the elementary and lower secondary levels. Throughout all levels, the academic year starts in April and ends in March, with two long holidays: summer and winter.

The contemporary Japanese education system is a product of historical reforms dating back to the Meiji period, which established modern educational institutions and systems. This early start of modernisation enabled Japan to provide education at all levels in the native language (Japanese), rather than using the languages of powerful countries that could have had a strong influence in the region. Current educational policies focus on promoting lifelong learning, advanced professional education, and internationalising higher education through initiatives such as accepting more international students, as the nation has a rapidly ageing and shrinking population.

Japanese students consistently achieve high rankings in reading, mathematics, and sciences according to OECD evaluations. In the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Japan ranked eighth globally, with an average score of 520 compared to the OECD average of 488. Despite this relatively high performance, Japan’s spending on education as a percentage of GDP is 4.1%, below the OECD average of 5%. However, the expenditure per student is relatively high. As of 2023, around 65% of Japanese aged 25 to 34 have attained some form of tertiary education, with a significant number holding degrees in science and engineering, fields crucial to Japan’s technology-driven economy. Japanese women surpass men in higher education attainment, with 59% holding university degrees compared to 52% of men. MEXT reports that 80.6% of 18-year-olds pursue higher education, with a majority attending universities.

History

Formal education in Japan began in the 6th century AD with the adoption of Chinese culture. Buddhist and Confucian teachings, along with sciences, calligraphy, divination, and Japanese and Chinese literature, were taught at the courts of Asuka (538-710), Nara (710-794), and Heian (794-1185). Unlike in China, Japan did not fully implement an meritocratic examination system for court positions, and these positions remained largely hereditary. The Kamakura period saw the rise of the bushi (or samurai, the military class) and decline in the influence of the traditional cultured court nobility (kuge), which also reduced the influence of scholar officials based in Kyoto, as samurai spread across the country. However, Buddhist monasteries continued to be significant centres of learning. In the Edo period, the Yushima Seidō in Edo (modern-day Tokyo) became the chief educational institution. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, the daimyō vied for power in the largely pacified country. Since their influence could not be raised through war, they competition the economic field. Their warrior-turned-bureaucrat Samurai elite had to be educated not only in military strategy and the martial arts but also in literature, agriculture and accounting. Samurai schools, known as hankō, educated samurai and their children, instilling Confucian values and military skills. Merchants also sought education for business purposes, leading to the establishment of terakoya, which taught basic reading, writing, and arithmetic. Despite limited contact with foreign countries (sakoku), books from China and Europe were imported, and Rangaku (“Dutch studies”) became popular, especially in the field of natural sciences. By the end of the Edo period, literacy rates had significantly increased, with about 50% of men and 20% of women being literate. 'Commoners' would also form communal gatherings to try to educate themselves with the help of a scholar. One such, Baigan Ishida, was a great orator and writer who reached the merchant class. There were wakashu-gumi, or youth groups, that consisted of young men ages fourteen to seventeen, who at these groups learned about ceremonies, cooperative living, language, manners, marriage, straw weaving, and world information, not to mention talking and singing. Japan was thriving with the want for enlightenment.

Meiji Restoration
After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the methods and structures of Western learning were adopted as a means to make Japan a strong, modern nation. Students and even high-ranking government officials were sent abroad to study, such as the Iwakura mission. Compulsory education was introduced, primarily modelled after the Prussian model. In 1877, the nation's first university, the University of Tokyo was established by merging Edo-era institutions and schools, including the aforementioned Yushima Seidō. Foreign scholars, the so-called o-yatoi gaikokujin, were invited to teach at this newly founded university and military academies. These scholars were gradually replaced by Japanese scholars who had been educated at this university or abroad. In 1897, Kyoto Imperial University was established as the country's second university, which was followed by other imperial universities and private universities such as Keio and Waseda after the 1920s. In the 1890s, Japan saw a rise in reformers, child experts, magazine editors, and educated mothers who embraced new ideas about childhood and education. They introduced the upper middle class to a concept of childhood that involved children having their own space, reading children's books, playing with educational toys, and spending significant time on school homework. These concepts quickly spread across all social classes. The Meiji government established the nation's first modern public library in 1872, which is regarded as the origin of today's National Diet Library.

Post-WWII
After Japan’s defeat in the Second World War, the Allied occupation introduced educational reforms, officially to promote democracy and pacifism. The reforms aimed to decentralise education, reduce state control, weaken the class structure and encourage teacher initiative. The Fundamental Law of Education and the School Education Law, both enacted in 1947, laid the foundation for a new education system modelled after the American system, with six years of elementary, three years of lower secondary, three years of upper secondary, and four years of university education. Compulsory education was extended to nine years, and coeducation became more common. After the occupation period ended in 1951, Japan’s education system continued to evolve. The 1950s saw efforts to re-centralise some aspects of education, including curriculum and textbook standards, under the Ministry of Education. Moral education was reintroduced, and measures were taken to standardise teacher performance and administration. During the 1960s and 1970s, Japan experienced rapid economic growth and became the second largest economy in the world, which impacted its education system. The government invested heavily in education to support industrial development and technological advancement. This period saw a significant increase in the number of universities and vocational schools to meet the demands of a growing economy. University admissions became intensely selective and competitive during this period.

By the 1980s, Japan’s education system faced new challenges. The pressure of entrance examinations and the intense competition for university places led to significant stress among students. In response, the government implemented several reforms aimed at reducing the academic burden and promoting a more holistic education (Yutori education). These included curriculum revisions, the introduction of more creative and critical thinking subjects, and a greater emphasis on moral and character education. This policy caused major concerns that academic skills for Japanese students may have declined from the mid-1990s, and after gradual changes, it was abolished completely by 2011. Japanese students showed a significant improvement in math and science scores in the 2011, compared to in 2007, according to the TIMSS survey.

School levels
The school year in Japan begins in April and classes are normally held from Monday to Friday. At the primary and secondary level, the school year consists of two or three terms, which are separated by short holidays in spring and winter, and a six-week-long summer break.

The year structure is summarized below:

Lower secondary school

The lower secondary school covers grades seven through nine, with children typically aged twelve through fifteen. There are 3.2 million primary school students in Japan as of 2023, down from over 5.3 million in 1991. However, the number of junior high schools has remained relatively static, falling from 11,275 in 1993 to 9,944 in 2023. The number of junior high school teachers has also changed little, with 257,605 junior high school teachers in 1996, and 247,485 in 2023. Approximately 8% of junior high students attend private junior high schools (accounting for 7% of all junior high schools by number). Private schools are considerably more expensive: as of 2013, the average annual cost of private primary school attendance was ¥1,295,156 per student, roughly thrice the ¥450,340 cost for a public school. Japan's compulsory education ends at grade nine, but less than 2% drop out; 60% of students advanced to senior education as of 1960, increasing rapidly to over 90% by 1980, rising further each year until reaching 98.3% as of 2012.

Instruction in primary schools is often in the form of lectures. Teachers also use other Media, such as television and Radio, and there is some laboratory work. By 1989 about 45% of all public primary schools had computers, including schools that used them only for administrative purposes. All course contents are specified in the Course of Study for Lower-Secondary Schools. Some subjects, such as Japanese language and mathematics, are coordinated with the elementary curriculum. Others, such as foreign-language study, begin at this level, though from April 2011, English became a compulsory part of the elementary school curriculum. The junior school curriculum covers Japanese language, social studies, mathematics, science, music, fine arts, health, and physical education. All students are also exposed to industrial arts and homemaking. Moral education and special activities continue to receive attention.

The ministry recognizes a need to improve the teaching of all foreign languages, especially English. To improve instruction in spoken English, the government invites many young native speakers of English to Japan to serve as assistants to school boards and prefectures under its Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET). Beginning with 848 participants in 1987, the program grew to a high of 6,273 participants in 2002. Today, the program is again growing due to English becoming a compulsory part of the elementary school curriculum in 2011. As of July 2023, 5,831 language teachers are hired through the JET programme, most of them coming from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. The total number of foreign nationals hired as language teachers is 20,249 as of 2021.

Upper secondary school
Though upper-secondary school is not compulsory in Japan, 98.8% of all junior high school graduates enrolled as of 2020. Upper secondary consists of three years. Private upper-secondary schools account for about 55% of all upper-secondary schools. Beginning in 2010, public high schools do not collect tuition fees any more, while private and national high schools are free in certain prefectures including Tokyo.

The most common type of upper-secondary school has a full-time, general program that offers academic courses for students preparing for higher education as well as technical and vocational courses for students expecting to find employment after graduation. A small number of schools offer part-time programs, evening courses, or correspondence education.

The first-year programs for students in both academic and commercial courses are similar. They include basic academic courses, such as Japanese language, English, mathematics, and science. In upper-secondary school, differences in ability are first publicly acknowledged, and course content and course selection are far more individualized in the second year. However, there is a core of academic material throughout all programs.

Training of disabled students, particularly at the upper-secondary level, emphasizes vocational education to enable students to be as independent as possible within society. Vocational training varies considerably depending on the student's disability, but the options are limited for some. The government is aware of the necessity of broadening the range of possibilities for these students. Advancement to higher education is also a goal of the government, and it struggles to have institutions of higher learning accept more students with disabilities.

Higher and tertiary education
Higher and tertiary education in Japan is provided in universities (daigaku), junior colleges (tanki daigaku), colleges of technology (koto senmon gakko), and special training colleges (senmon gakko). Of these four types of institutions, only universities and junior colleges are strictly considered as higher education.

As of 2017, more than 2.89 million students were enrolled in 780 universities. At the top of the higher education structure, these institutions provide a four-year training leading to a bachelor's degree, and some offer six-year programs leading to a professional degree. There are two types of public four-year universities: the 86 national universities (including the Open University of Japan) and the 95 local public universities, founded by prefectures and municipalities. The 597 remaining four-year colleges in 2010 were private. With a wealth of opportunities for students wishing to pursue tertiary education, the nation's prestigious schools are the most appealing for students seeking top employment prospects. The University of Tokyo and Kyoto University, the nation's oldest universities, are the most prestigious and selective. In terms of international recognition, there are 49 Japanese universities listed on the  QS World University Rankings 2025, with the University of Tokyo ranked 32nd and Kyoto University 50th.

Most university and college students attend full-time day programs. In 1990 the most popular courses, enrolling almost 40 percent of all undergraduate students, were in the social sciences, including business, law, and accounting. Other popular fields were engineering (19 percent), the humanities (15 percent), and education (7 percent).

The average costs (tuition, fees, and living expenses) for a year of higher education in 1986 were ¥1.4 million. Some students work part-time or take out loans through the government-supported Japan Scholarship Association, local governments, non-profit corporations, and other institutions.

School subjects at the secondary level
The following is the set of compulsory subjects currently taught in the Japanese education system from the primary to secondary levels:

 * Japanese (the national language)
 * Arithmetic, mathematics, etc.
 * Science, technology, etc.
 * Foreign languages: English (rarely: Korean, Spanish, Arabic, French, German, or Chinese)
 * Social studies (history, geography, and civics).
 * Physical education (health, sports, etc.)
 * Moral education (usually taught at the primary school level).
 * Informatics, information technology, etc.
 * Home economics, etc.

In Japanese elementary, junior, and senior secondary schools, textbooks that have passed the certification process from the Ministry of Education (MEXT) must be used.

Academic grading
Japanese schools tend to follow different academic grading principles. Many universities use the following for assessment scores and marks:

Primary school levels
Elementary school students (years 1 through 6) are expected to complete their compulsory primary school education (義務教育, gimu kyoiku) as well as pass the admissions examinations for junior high schools.

Secondary school levels
For students to enter the secondary school level, students are required to sit for and pass the admissions examinations set by the schools. Failure indicates that students cannot proceed to secondary school.

Secondary education in Japan is difficult because it rigorously prepares students for university entrance. Many parents often send children to private cram schools known as juku (塾) to help prepare them for university entrance examinations such as the National University Entrance Qualification Examination (大学入試共通テスト). Classes for juku are typically held in the evenings after students have completed their regular day courses.

Most secondary schools in Japan have a numerical grading system from 5 to 1 with 5 being the highest score.

Government intervention
Under the Basic Act on Education (2007) Japan has signed to provide equal opportunity in education including individuals with disabilities. Along with the Basic Act on Education, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was passed in 200 and was ratified in 2014 as part of welfare. These two acts promised that the national and local governments would provide special needs education programs with adequate accommodation according to their level of disability. The purpose of the Special Needs Education is to help individuals develop their potential under their capabilities to gain independence and to gain vocational training in special fields. Some schools accommodate students with a disability under traditional school settings, but in certain cases, students are placed in independent schools specialized in the special needs education program. This program supports students with visual impairment, hearing impairment, physical disability, emotional behavioral disorder, learning disabilities, speech-language impairment (communication disorder), health impairment and development delay.

Reforms
Children with disabilities, along with their parents, did not have a voice until the 1990s when special needs education started to receive public attention. Before then, children with disabilities were deemed "slow learners" or "difficult to blend in". The education department of the Japanese government slowly started to focus on giving equal rights to children with disabilities, and the first major reform began as an introduction of a "Resource Room System", which served as a supplemental special need program for students with disabilities attending traditional school settings. In 2006, a greater educational reform took place to promote the notion of "inclusive education". This inclusive education program came into being due to the influence of three political factors: the international movement for school inclusion, the reform of welfare for people with disabilities, and a general reform of the education system in Japan. The purpose of this act was to avoid isolation of students with disabilities with the rest of the mainstream society and integrate special need education with traditional education system by providing a more universal and diverse classroom setting. In recent years, the Japanese government continues to pass equal rights to children with disabilities under special need education and inclusive education as public welfare.

Extracurricular activities
The Japanese educational system is supplemented by a heavy emphasis on extracurricular activities, also known as shadow education, which are any educational activities that do not take place during formal schooling. This is largely motivated by the extreme weight that is placed upon formal examinations as a prerequisite to attend university, something that is seen as integral to their future career and social status to gain a competitive edge, Japanese families are willing to expend money and have their child put in time and effort into a supplementary education. Forms of shadow education include mogi shiken, which are practice exams given by private companies that determine the child's chances of getting into a university. Juku are private after-school classes that aim to develop abilities for students to excel in formal school curricula or to prepare for university examinations. Ronin are students who undergo full-time preparation for university exams following high school due to their inability to get into their school of choice.

Over 86% of students with college plans participate in at least one form of shadow education, with 60% participating in two or more.

Criticisms
Japanese students are faced with immense pressure to succeed academically from their parents, teachers, peers, and society. This is largely a result of a society that has long placed a great amount of importance on education, and a system that places all of its weight upon a single examination that has significant life-long consequences. This pressure has led to behaviors such as school violence, cheating, suicide, and significant psychological harm. In some cases, students have experienced nervous breakdowns that have required hospitalization as young as twelve. In 1991, it was reported that 1,333 people in the age group of 15–24 had killed themselves, much of which was due to academic pressure. In an international perspective, teenage suicide rates are close to the OECD average and below those of the United States. A survey by the Education Ministry showed that students at public schools were involved in a record number of violent incidents in 2007: 52,756 cases, an increase of some 8,000 on the previous year. In almost 7,000 of these incidents, teachers were the target of assault.

The Japanese educational system has also been criticized for failure to foster independent thinkers with cultural and artistic sensibility. Japanese students who attend schools overseas often face difficulty adapting and competing in that environment due to a lack of international viewpoints.

There is also criticism about the amount of free time students are given and/or are allowed within their middle school and high school careers. As Japanese students grow, their time to assert what they have learned in class to real life is cut dramatically, starting with the elevation from elementary to lower secondary school. A large part of this has to do with cram schooling, or Juku, which can start as early as elementary and takes full effect toward the end of junior high school, with roughly 60% of all students participating. This number has increased drastically over the past couple decades, as well as the view of Juku within the Japanese academic system. While initially seen as a problem, cram schools have become synonymous with Japan's schooling and are even seen as a support to the structure of said schooling. With Juku costing between 600,000 and 1.5 million yen, depending on how old the student is and how much the guardian can pay, cram school is a very profitable part of the economy, with over 48,000 Juku schools active today. With these extra school sessions ranging between 1 and 6 days a week on top of normal classes, there is a fear that students will be unable to incorporate what they have learned into their lives, and thus could foreseeably lose the retained knowledge once the Entrance Exams are over.

Bullying
There is criticism about insufficient efforts to reduce bullying in schools. In fiscal 2019, there were a record 612,496 bullying cases in schools across Japan. This includes public and, private elementary, junior high, high school, ls, and special schools for children with disabilities. Serious incidents with severe physical or psychological damage were 723 (a 20% increase from 2018). Bullying happens mostly in elementary schools (484,545 cases in 2019) followed by junior high schools (106,524 cases in 2019) and high schools (18,352 cases in 2019). In fiscal 2019, 317 students died from suicide of which 10 suffered from bullying. 61.9 percent of cases were verbal bullying and online bullying accounted for 18.9 percent in high schools. In 2019 there were 78,787 cases of violent acts by students in elementary, junior high, and high schools.

International education
As of 2016, Japan has 30 to 40 international schools. Many kindergarten-type schools use the word "international" in their names, but this is not an indicator that they are Japanese schools in the traditional sense. The United Nations University is located in Japan and Temple University has a branch campus in Japan. The International Christian University is an internationally top-ranked, partially English-taught university in Japan. Akita International University is also a partially English-taught university. Sophia University's Faculty of Liberal Arts and the Sophia Program for Sustainable Futures are fully taught in English. Tokyo University of Foreign Studies is a highly selective, specialist institution for International Studies and offers some languages that are rarely taught elsewhere in the world. Waseda University's Faculty of International Liberal Studies, Political Science & Economics, and Science & Engineering provide English-taught programs. Keio University's Faculty of Policy Management and Faculty of Economics also provide English-taught programs.

By city

 * Education in Tokyo
 * Education in Kobe

title: Education in Japan


text:
Scrivener

A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who, before the advent of compulsory education, could read and write or who wrote letters as well as court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying written material. This usually indicated secretarial and administrative duties such as dictation and keeping business, judicial, and historical records for kings, nobles, temples, and cities. Scriveners later developed into notaries, court reporters, and in England and Wales, scrivener notaries.

They were and are generally distinguished from scribes, who in the European Middle Ages mostly copied books; with the spread of printing this role largely disappeared, but scriveners were still required. Styles of handwriting used by scriveners included secretary hand, book hand and court hand.

Current role
Scriveners remain common mainly in countries where literacy rates remain low, for example India; they read letters for illiterate customers, as well as write letters or fill out forms for a fee. Many now use portable typewriters to prepare letters for their clients. In areas with very high literacy rates, they are far less common; however, social services organizations, libraries, and the like sometimes offer assistance to service users with low literacy skills to help them fill out forms, draft official correspondence, and the like.

Despite the high literacy rate, in France, "public writers" (écrivains publics) are still common. Their job mainly consists of composing formal writings like curricula vitae or motivation letters for people who do not write well, as well as other things like advertisements, or ghostwriting books. In French-speaking Belgium their return dates from 1999, in an effort to curb semi-literacy and broader socio-cultural inequality; they also include services like reading out loud. See the French sister article Écrivain public for more.

Etymology
The word comes from Middle English scriveiner, an alteration of obsolete scrivein, from Anglo-French escrivein, ultimately from Vulgar Latin *scriban-, scriba, itself an alteration of Latin scriba (scribe).

In Japan, the word "scrivener" is used as the standard translation of shoshi (書士), in referring to legal professions such as judicial scriveners and administrative scriveners.

In the Irish language, a scríbhneoir is a writer, or a person who writes. Similarly, in Welsh, ysgrifennu is 'to write', ysgrifennwr is 'writer' and ysgrifennydd is 'secretary, scribe'.

In literature
A famous work of fiction featuring scriveners is the short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener" by Herman Melville, first published in 1853.

Scrivener notaries
In England and Wales, a scrivener notary is a notary who is fluent in multiple languages.

Scrivener notary tasks generally include authentication and drafting of legal documents for use in international contexts.

Doctrine of "scrivener's error"
The doctrine of a "scrivener's error" is the legal principle that a map-drafting or typographical error in a written contract may be corrected by oral evidence if the evidence is clear, convincing, and precise. If such correction (called scrivener's amendment) affects property rights then it must be approved by those affected by it.

It is a mistake made while copying or transmitting legal documents, as distinguished from a judgment error, which is an error made in the exercise of judgment or discretion, or a technical error, which is an error in interpreting a law, regulation, or principle. There is a considerable body of case law concerning the proper treatment of a scrivener's error. For example, where the parties to a contract make an oral agreement that, when reduced to a writing, is mis-transcribed, the aggrieved party is entitled to reformation so that the writing corresponds to the oral agreement.

A scrivener's error can be grounds for an appellate court to remand a decision back to the trial court. For example, in Ortiz v. State of Florida, Ortiz had been convicted of possession of less than 20g of marijuana, a misdemeanor. However, Ortiz was mistakenly adjudicated guilty of a felony for the count of marijuana possession. The appellate court held that "we must remand the case to the trial court to correct a scrivener's error."

In some circumstances, courts can also correct scrivener's errors found in primary legislation.

title: Scrivener