They were called abolitionists. <span />
Gunpowder was invented somewhere around 900 in China.
Well, that's basically it... :P
Japan has many mountains, thus, the outsiders could not easily enter Japan and Japanese could not leave the country. And, thus the self-isolation was helped by the presence of a mountain terrain. This policy was implemented by Togukawa, who insisted on preventing Japan from foreigners.
The primary difference between paper value and real value is that paper has no "real" value in that the currency is based entirely on faith--whereas real value (as it exists in something like Gold) is intrinsically useful. <span />
She ruled in Hawaii in the 1800s as the queen
