title: Economy of Finland

text: Like other Nordic countries, Finland has liberalized its system of economic regulation since late 1980s. Financial and product market regulations were modified. Some state enterprises were privatized and some tax rates were altered.


title: Economy of Finland

text: In 1991, the Finnish economy fell into a severe recession. This was caused by a combination of economic overheating (largely due to a change in the banking laws in 1986 which made credit much more accessible), depressed markets with key trading partners (particularly the Swedish and Soviet markets) as well as local markets, slow growth with other trading partners, and the disappearance of the Soviet bilateral trade. Stock market and housing prices declined by 50%. The growth in the 1980s was based on debt, and when the defaults began rolling in, GDP declined by 13% and unemployment increased from a virtual full employment to one fifth of the workforce. The crisis was amplified by trade unions' initial opposition to any reforms. Politicians struggled to cut spending and the public debt doubled to around 60% of GDP. Much of the economic growth in the 1980s was based on debt financing, and the debt defaults led to a savings and loan crisis. A total of over 10 billion euros were used to bail out failing banks, which led to banking sector consolidation.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Finland joined the European Union in 1995. The central bank was given an inflation-targeting mandate until Finland joined the euro zone. The growth rate has since been one of the highest of OECD countries and Finland has topped many indicators of national performance.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Finland was one of the 11 countries joining the third phase of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union, adopting the euro as the country's currency, on 1 January 1999. The national currency markka (FIM) was withdrawn from circulation and replaced by the euro (EUR) at the beginning of 2002.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Finland's climate and soils make growing crops a particular challenge. The country lies between 60° and 70° north latitude - as far north as Alaska - and has severe winters and relatively short growing seasons that are sometimes interrupted by frosts. However, because the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift Current moderate the climate, and because of the relatively low elevation of the land area, Finland contains half of the world's arable land north of 60° north latitude. In response to the climate, farmers have relied on quick-ripening and frost-resistant varieties of crops. Most farmland had originally been either forest or swamp, and the soil had usually required treatment with lime and years of cultivation to neutralise excess acid and to develop fertility. Irrigation was generally not necessary, but drainage systems were often needed to remove excess water.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Until the late nineteenth century, Finland's isolation required that most farmers concentrate on producing grains to meet the country's basic food needs. In the fall, farmers planted rye; in the spring, southern and central farmers started oats, while northern farmers seeded barley. Farms also grew small quantities of potatoes, other root crops, and legumes. Nevertheless, the total area under cultivation was still small. Cattle grazed in the summer and consumed hay in the winter. Essentially self-sufficient, Finland engaged in very limited agricultural trade.


title: Economy of Finland

text: This traditional, almost autarkic, production pattern shifted sharply during the late nineteenth century, when inexpensive imported grain from Russia and the United States competed effectively with local grain. At the same time, rising domestic and foreign demand for dairy products and the availability of low-cost imported cattle feed made dairy and meat production much more profitable. These changes in market conditions induced Finland's farmers to switch from growing staple grains to producing meat and dairy products, setting a pattern that persisted into the late 1980s.


title: Economy of Finland

text: In response to the agricultural depression of the 1930s, the government encouraged domestic production by imposing tariffs on agricultural imports. This policy enjoyed some success: the total area under cultivation increased, and farm incomes fell less sharply in Finland than in most other countries. Barriers to grain imports stimulated a return to mixed farming, and by 1938 Finland's farmers were able to meet roughly 90 percent of the domestic demand for grain.


title: Economy of Finland

text: The disruptions caused by the Winter War and the Continuation War caused further food shortages, especially when Finland ceded territory, including about one-tenth of its farmland, to the Soviet Union. The experiences of the depression and the war years persuaded the Finns to secure independent food supplies to prevent shortages in future conflicts.


title: Economy of Finland

text: After the war, the first challenge was to resettle displaced farmers. Most refugee farmers were given farms that included some buildings and land that had already been in production, but some had to make do with "cold farms," that is, land not in production that usually had to be cleared or drained before crops could be sown. The government sponsored large-scale clearing and draining operations that expanded the area suitable for farming. As a result of the resettlement and land-clearing programs, the area under cultivation expanded by about 450,000 hectares, reaching about 2.4 million hectares by the early 1960s. Finland thus came to farm more land than ever before, an unusual development in a country that was simultaneously experiencing rapid industrial growth.


title: Economy of Finland

text: During this period of expansion, farmers introduced modern production practices. The widespread use of modern inputs—chemical fertilisers and insecticides, agricultural machinery, and improved seed varieties—sharply improved crop yields. Yet the modernisation process again made farm production dependent on supplies from abroad, this time on imports of petroleum and fertilisers. By 1984 domestic sources of energy covered only about 20 percent of farm needs, while in 1950 domestic sources had supplied 70 percent of them. In the aftermath of the oil price increases of the early 1970s, farmers began to return to local energy sources such as firewood. The existence of many farms that were too small to allow efficient use of tractors also limited mechanisation. Another weak point was the existence of many fields with open drainage ditches needing regular maintenance; in the mid-1980s, experts estimated that half of the cropland needed improved drainage works. At that time, about 1 million hectares had underground drainage, and agricultural authorities planned to help install such works on another million hectares. Despite these shortcomings, Finland's agriculture was efficient and productive—at least when compared with farming in other European countries.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Forests play a key role in the country's economy, making it one of the world's leading wood producers and providing raw materials at competitive prices for the crucial wood processing industries. As in agriculture, the government has long played a leading role in forestry, regulating tree cutting, sponsoring technical improvements, and establishing long-term plans to ensure that the country's forests continue to supply the wood-processing industries.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Finland's wet climate and rocky soils are ideal for forests. Tree stands do well throughout the country, except in some areas north of the Arctic Circle. In 1980 the forested area totaled about 19.8 million hectares, providing 4 hectares of forest per capita—far above the European average of about 0.5 hectares. The proportion of forest land varied considerably from region to region. In the central lake plateau and in the eastern and northern provinces, forests covered up to 80 percent of the land area, but in areas with better conditions for agriculture, especially in the southwest, forests accounted for only 50 to 60 percent of the territory. The main commercial tree species—pine, spruce, and birch—supplied raw material to the sawmill, pulp, and paper industries. The forests also produced sizable aspen and elder crops.


title: Economy of Finland

text: The heavy winter snows and the network of waterways were used to move logs to the mills. Loggers were able to drag cut trees over the winter snow to the roads or water bodies. In the southwest, the sledding season lasted about 100 days per year; the season was even longer to the north and the east. The country's network of lakes and rivers facilitated log floating, a cheap and rapid means of transport. Each spring, crews floated the logs downstream to collection points; tugs towed log bundles down rivers and across lakes to processing centers. The waterway system covered much of the country, and by the 1980s Finland had extended roadways and railroads to areas not served by waterways, effectively opening up all of the country's forest reserves to commercial use.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Forestry and farming were closely linked. During the twentieth century, government land redistribution programmes had made forest ownership widespread, allotting forestland to most farms. In the 1980s, private farmers controlled 35 percent of the country's forests; other persons held 27 percent; the government, 24 percent; private corporations, 9 percent; and municipalities and other public bodies, 5 percent. The forestlands owned by farmers and by other people—some 350,000 plots—were the best, producing 75 to 80 percent of the wood consumed by industry; the state owned much of the poorer land, especially that in the north.


title: Economy of Finland

text: The ties between forestry and farming were mutually beneficial. Farmers supplemented their incomes with earnings from selling their wood, caring for forests, or logging; forestry made many otherwise marginal farms viable. At the same time, farming communities maintained roads and other infrastructure in rural areas, and they provided workers for forest operations. Indeed, without the farming communities in sparsely populated areas, it would have been much more difficult to continue intensive logging operations and reforestation in many prime forest areas.


title: Economy of Finland

text: The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has carried out forest inventories and drawn up silvicultural plans. According to surveys, between 1945 and the late 1970s foresters had cut trees faster than the forests could regenerate them. Nevertheless, between the early 1950s and 1981, Finland was able to boost the total area of its forests by some 2.7 million hectares and to increase forest stands under 40 years of age by some 3.2 million hectares. Beginning in 1965, the country instituted plans that called for expanding forest cultivation, draining peatland and waterlogged areas, and replacing slow-growing trees with faster-growing varieties. By the mid-1980s, the Finns had drained 5.5 million hectares, fertilized 2.8 million hectares, and cultivated 3.6 million hectares. Thinning increased the share of trees that would produce suitable lumber, while improved tree varieties increased productivity by as much as 30 percent.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Comprehensive silvicultural programmes had made it possible for the Finns simultaneously to increase forest output and to add to the amount and value of the growing stock. By the mid-1980s, Finland's forests produced nearly 70 million cubic meters of new wood each year, considerably more than was being cut. During the postwar period, the annual cut increased by about 120 percent to about 50 million cubic meters. Wood burning fell to one-fifth the level of the immediate postwar years, freeing up wood supplies for the wood-processing industries, which consumed between 40 million and 45 million cubic meters per year. Indeed, industry demand was so great that Finland needed to import 5 million to 6 million cubic meters of wood each year.


title: Economy of Finland

text: To maintain the country's comparative advantage in forest products, Finnish authorities moved to raise lumber output toward the country's ecological limits. In 1984 the government published the Forest 2000 plan, drawn up by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The plan aimed at increasing forest harvests by about 3 percent per year, while conserving forestland for recreation and other uses. It also called for enlarging the average size of private forest holdings, increasing the area used for forests, and extending forest cultivation and thinning. If successful, the plan would make it possible to raise wood deliveries by roughly one-third by the end of the twentieth century. Finnish officials believed that such growth was necessary if Finland was to maintain its share in world markets for wood and paper products.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Since the 1990s, Finnish industry, which for centuries had relied on the country's vast forests, has become increasingly dominated by electronics and services, as globalization lead to a decline of more traditional industries. Outsourcing resulted in more manufacturing being transferred abroad, with Finnish-based industry focusing to a greater extent on R&D and hi-tech electronics.


title: Economy of Finland

text: The Finnish electronics and electrotechnics industry relies on heavy investment in R&D, and has been accelerated by the liberalisation of global markets. Electrical engineering started in the late 19th century with generators and electric motors built by Gottfried Strömberg, now part of the ABB. Other Finnish companies – such as Instru, Vaisala and Neles (now part of Metso) - have succeeded in areas such as industrial automation, medical and meteorological technology. Nokia was once a world leader in mobile telecommunications.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Finland has an abundance of minerals, but many large mines have closed down, and most raw materials are now imported. For this reason, companies now tend to focus on high added-value processing of metals. The exports include steel, copper, chromium, gold, zinc and nickel, and finished products such as steel roofing and cladding, welded steel pipes, copper pipe and coated sheets. Outokumpu is known for developing the flash smelting process for copper production and stainless steel.


title: Economy of Finland

text: In 2019, the country was the world's 5th largest producer of chromium, the 17th largest world producer of sulfur and the 20th largest world producer of phosphate


title: Economy of Finland

text: With regard to vehicles, the Finnish motor industry consists mostly of manufacturers of tractors (Valtra, formerly Valmet tractor), forest machines (f.ex. Ponsse), military vehicles (Sisu, Patria), trucks (Sisu Auto), buses and Valmet Automotive, a contract manufacturer, whose factory in Uusikaupunki produces Mercedes-Benz cars. Shipbuilding is an important industry: the world's largest cruise ships are built in Finland; also, the Finnish company Wärtsilä produces the world's largest diesel engines and has market share of 47%. In addition, Finland also produces train rolling stock.


title: Economy of Finland

text: The chemical industry is one of the Finland's largest industrial sectors with its roots in tar making in the 17th century. It produces an enormous range of products for the use of other industrial sectors, especially for forestry and agriculture. In addition, its produces plastics, chemicals, paints, oil products, pharmaceuticals, environmental products, biotech products and petrochemicals. In the beginning of this millennium, biotechnology was regarded as one of the most promising high-tech sectors in Finland. In 2006 it was still considered promising, even though it had not yet become "the new Nokia".


title: Economy of Finland

text: Forest products has been the major export industry in the past, but diversification and growth of the economy has reduced its share. In the 1970s, the pulp and paper industry accounted for half of Finnish exports. Although this share has shrank, pulp and paper is still a major industry with 52 sites across the country. Furthermore, several of large international corporations in this business are based in Finland. Stora Enso and UPM were placed No. 1 and No. 3 by output in the world, both producing more than ten million tons. M-real and Myllykoski also appear on the top 100 list.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Finland's energy supply is divided as follows: nuclear power 26%, net imports 20%, hydroelectric power 16%, combined production district heat 18%, combined production industry 13%, condensing power 6%.


title: Economy of Finland

text: One half of all the energy consumed in Finland goes to industry, one fifth to heating buildings and one fifth to transport. Lacking indigenous fossil fuel resources, Finland has been an energy importer. This might change in the future since Finland is currently building its fifth nuclear reactor, and approved building permits for its sixth and seventh ones. There are some uranium resources in Finland, but to date no commercially viable deposits have been identified for exclusive mining of uranium. However, permits have been granted to Talvivaara to produce uranium from the tailings of their nickel-cobalt mine.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Notable companies in Finland include Nokia, the former market leader in mobile telephony; Stora Enso, the largest paper manufacturer in the world; Neste Oil, an oil refining and marketing company; UPM-Kymmene, the third largest paper manufacturer in the world; Aker Finnyards, the manufacturer of the world's largest cruise ships (such as Royal Caribbean's "Freedom of the Seas"); Rovio Mobile, video game developer most notable for creating Angry Birds; KONE, a manufacturer of elevators and escalators; Wärtsilä, a producer of power plants and ship engines; and Finnair, the largest Helsinki-Vantaa based international airline. Additionally, many Nordic design firms are headquartered in Finland. These include the Fiskars owned Iittala Group, Artek a furniture design firm co-created by Alvar Aalto, and Marimekko made famous by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Finland has sophisticated financial markets comparable to the UK in efficiency. Though foreign investment is not as high as some other European countries, the largest foreign-headquartered companies included names such as ABB, Tellabs, Carlsberg and Siemens.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Around 70-80% of the equity quoted on the Helsinki Stock Exchange are owned by foreign-registered entities. The larger companies get most of their revenue from abroad, and the majority of their employees work outside the country. Cross-shareholding has been abolished and there is a trend towards an Anglo-Saxon style of corporate governance. However, only around 15% of residents have invested in stock market, compared to 20% in France, and 50% in the US.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Between 2000 and 2003, early stage venture capital investments relative to GDP were 8.5 percent against 4 percent in the EU and 11.5 in the US. Later stage investments fell to the EU median. Invest in Finland and other programs attempt to attract investment. In 2000 FDI from Finland to overseas was 20 billion euro and from overseas to Finland 7 billion euro. Acquisitions and mergers have internationalized business in Finland.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Although some privatization has been gradually done, there are still several state-owned companies of importance. The government keeps them as strategic assets or because they are natural monopoly. These include e.g. Neste (oil refining and marketing), VR (rail), Finnair, VTT (research) and Posti Group (mail). Depending on the strategic importance, the government may hold either 100%, 51% or less than 50% stock. Most of these have been transformed into regular limited companies, but some are quasi-governmental ("liikelaitos"), with debt backed by the state, as in the case of VTT.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Finland's income is generated by the approximately 1.8 million private sector workers, who make an average 25.1 euro per hour (before the median 60% tax wedge) in 2007. According to a 2003 report, residents worked on average around 10 years for the same employer and around 5 different jobs over a lifetime. 62 percent worked for small and medium-sized enterprises. Female employment rate was high and gender segregation on career choices was higher than in the US. In 1999 part-time work rate was one of the smallest in OECD.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Future liabilities are dominated by the pension deficit. Unlike in Sweden, where pension savers can manage their investments, in Finland employers choose a pension fund for the employee. The pension funding rate is higher than in most Western European countries, but still only a portion of it is funded and pensions exclude health insurances and other unaccounted promises. Directly held public debt has been reduced to around 32 percent in 2007. In 2007, the average household savings rate was -3.8 and household debt 101 percent of annual disposable income, a typical level in Europe.


title: Economy of Finland

text: In 2008, the OECD reported that "the gap between rich and poor has widened more in Finland than in any other wealthy industrialised country over the past decade" and that "Finland is also one of the few countries where inequality of incomes has grown between the rich and the middle-class, and not only between rich and poor."


title: Economy of Finland

text: In 2006, there were 2,381,500 households of average size 2.1 people. Forty percent of households consisted of single person, 32 percent two and 28 percent three or more. There were 1.2 million residential buildings in Finland and the average residential space was 38 square metres per person. The average residential property (without land) cost 1,187 euro per square metre and residential land on 8.6 euro per square metre. Consumer energy prices were 8-12 euro cent per kilowatt hour. 74 percent of households had a car. There were 2.5 million cars and 0.4 other vehicles.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Around 92 percent have mobile phones and 58 percent Internet connection at home. The average total household consumption was 20,000 euro, out of which housing at around 5500 euro, transport at around 3000 euro, food and beverages excluding alcoholic at around 2500 euro, recreation and culture at around 2000 euro. Upper-level white-collar households (409,653) consumed an average 27,456 euro, lower-level white-collar households (394,313) 20,935 euro, and blue-collar households (471,370) 19,415 euro.


title: Economy of Finland

text: The unemployment rate was 10.3% in 2015. The employment rate is (persons aged 15–64) 66.8%. Unemployment security benefits for those seeking employment are at an average OECD level. The labor administration funds labour market training for unemployed job seekers, the training for unemployed job seeker can last up to 6 months, which is often vocational. The aim of the training is to improve the channels of finding employment.


title: Economy of Finland

text: The American economist and "The New York Times" columnist Paul Krugman has suggested that the short term costs of euro membership to the Finnish economy outweigh the large gains caused by greater integration with the European economy. Krugman notes that Sweden, which has yet to join the single currency, had similar rates of growth compared to Finland for the period since the introduction of the euro.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Membership of the euro protects Finland from currency fluctuations, which is particularly important for small member states of the European Union like Finland that are highly integrated into the larger European economy. If Finland had retained its own currency, unpredictable exchange rates would prevent the country from selling its products at competitive prices on the European market. In fact, business leaders in Sweden, which is obliged to join the euro when its economy has converged with the eurozone, are almost universal in their support for joining the euro. Although Sweden's currency is not officially pegged to the euro like Denmark's currency the Swedish government maintains an unofficial peg. This exchange rate policy has in the short term benefited the Swedish economy in two ways; (1) much of Sweden's European trade is already denominated in euros and therefore bypasses any currency fluctuation and exchange rate losses, (2) it allows Sweden's non-euro-area exports to remain competitive by dampening any pressure from the financial markets to increase the value of the currency.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Maintaining this balance has allowed the Swedish government to borrow on the international financial markets at record low interest rates and allowed the Swedish central bank to quantitatively ease into a fundamentally sound economy. This has led Sweden's economy to prosper at the expense of less sound economies who have been impacted by the 2008 financial crisis. Sweden's economic performance has therefore been slightly better than Finland's since the financial crisis of 2008. Much of this disparity has, however, been due to the economic dominance of Nokia, Finland's largest company and Finland's only major multinational. Nokia supported and greatly benefited from the euro and the European single market, particularly from a common European digital mobile phone standard (GSM), but it failed to adapt when the market shifted to mobile computing.


title: Economy of Finland

text: One reason for the popularity of the euro in Finland is the memory of a 'great depression' which began in 1990, with Finland not regaining it competitiveness until approximately a decade later when Finland joined the single currency. Some American economists like Paul Krugman claim not to understand the benefits of a single currency and allege that poor economic performance is the result of membership of the single currency. These economists do not, however, advocate separate currencies for the states of the United States, many of which have quite disparate economies.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Finnish politicians have often emulated other Nordics and the Nordic model. Nordic's have been free-trading and relatively welcoming to skilled migrants for over a century, though in Finland immigration is a relatively new phenomenon. This is due largely to Finland's less hospitable climate and the fact that the Finnish language shares roots with none of the major world languages, making it more challenging than average for most to learn. The level of protection in commodity trade has been low, except for agricultural products.


title: Economy of Finland

text: As an economic environment, Finland's judiciary is efficient and effective. Finland is highly open to investment and free trade. Finland has top levels of economic freedom in many areas, although there is a heavy tax burden and inflexible job market. Finland is ranked 16th (ninth in Europe) in the 2008 Index of Economic Freedom. Recently, Finland has topped the patents per capita statistics, and overall productivity growth has been strong in areas such as electronics. While the manufacturing sector is thriving, OECD points out that the service sector would benefit substantially from policy improvements. The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2007 ranked Finland 17th most competitive, next to Germany, and lowest of the Nordics. while the World Economic Forum report has ranked Finland the most competitive country. Finland is one of the most fiscally responsible EU countries.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Economists attribute much growth to reforms in the product markets. According to OECD, only four EU-15 countries have less regulated product markets (UK, Ireland, Denmark and Sweden) and only one has less regulated financial markets (Denmark). Nordic countries were pioneers in liberalising energy, postal, and other markets in Europe. The legal system is clear and business bureaucracy less than most countries. For instance, starting a business takes an average of 14 days, compared to the world average of 43 days and Denmark's average of 6 days. Property rights are well protected and contractual agreements are strictly honored. Finland is rated one of the least corrupted countries in Corruption Perceptions Index. Finland is rated 13th in the Ease of Doing Business Index. It indicates exceptional ease to trade across borders (5th), enforce contracts (7th), and close a business (5th), and exceptional hardship to employ workers (127th) and pay taxes (83rd).


title: Economy of Finland

text: According to the OECD, Finland's job market is the least flexible of the Nordic countries. Finland increased job market regulation in the 1970s to provide stability to manufacturers. In contrast, during the 1990s, Denmark liberalised its job market, Sweden moved to more decentralised contracts, whereas Finnish trade unions blocked many reforms. Many professions have legally recognized industry-wide contracts that lay down common terms of employment including seniority levels, holiday entitlements, and salary levels, usually as part of a Comprehensive Income Policy Agreement. Those who favor less centralized labor market policies consider these agreements bureaucratic, inflexible, and along with tax rates, a key contributor to unemployment and distorted prices. Centralized agreements may hinder structural change as there are fewer incentives to acquire better skills, although Finland already enjoys one of the highest skill-levels in the world.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Tax is collected mainly from municipal income tax, state income tax, state value added tax, customs fees, corporate taxes and special taxes. There are also property taxes, but municipal income tax pays most of municipal expenses. Taxation is conducted by a state agency, Verohallitus, which collects income taxes from each paycheck, and then pays the difference between tax liability and taxes paid as tax rebate or collects as tax arrears afterward. Municipal income tax is a flat tax of nominally 15-20%, with deductions applied, and directly funds the municipality (a city or rural locality). The state income tax is a progressive tax; low-income individuals do not necessarily pay any. The state transfers some of its income as state support to municipalities, particularly the poorer ones. Additionally, the state churches - Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church and Finnish Orthodox Church - are integrated to the taxation system in order to tax their members.


title: Economy of Finland

text: The middle income worker's tax wedge is 46% and effective marginal tax rates are very high. Value-added tax is 24% for most items. Capital gains tax is 30-34% and corporate tax is 20%, about the EU median. Property taxes are low, but there is a transfer tax (1.6% for apartments or 4% for individual houses) for home buyers. There are high excise taxes on alcoholic beverages, tobacco, automobiles and motorcycles, motor fuels, lotteries, sweets and insurances. For instance, McKinsey estimates that a worker has to pay around 1600 euro for another's 400 euro service - restricting service supply and demand - though some taxation is avoided in the black market and self-service culture. Another study by Karlson, Johansson & Johnsson estimates that the percentage of the buyer's income entering the service vendor's wallet (inverted tax wedge) is slightly over 15%, compared to 10% in Belgium, 25% in France, 40% in Switzerland and 50% in the United States. Tax cuts have been in every post-depression government's agenda and the overall tax burden is now around 43% of GDP compared to 51.1% in Sweden, 34.7% in Germany, 33.5% in Canada, and 30.5% in Ireland.


title: Economy of Finland

text: State and municipal politicians have struggled to cut their consumption, which is very high at 51.7% of GDP compared to 56.6% in Sweden, 46.9 in Germany, 39.3 in Canada, and 33.5% in Ireland. Much of the taxes are spent on public sector employees, which amount to 124,000 state employees and 430,000 municipal employees. That is 113 per 1000 residents (over a quarter of workforce) compared to 74 in the US, 70 in Germany, and 42 in Japan (8% of workforce). The Economist Intelligence Unit's ranking for Finland's e-readiness is high at 13th, compared to 1st for United States, 3rd for Sweden, 5th for Denmark, and 14th for Germany. Also, early and generous retirement schemes have contributed to high pension costs. Social spending such as health or education is around OECD median. Social transfers are also around OECD median. In 2001 Finland's outsourced proportion of spending was below Sweden's and above most other Western European countries. Finland's health care is more bureaucrat-managed than in most Western European countries, though many use private insurance or cash to enjoy private clinics. Some reforms toward more equal marketplace have been made in 2007–2008. In education, child nurseries, and elderly nurseries private competition is bottom-ranking compared to Sweden and most other Western countries. Some public monopolies such Alko remain, and are sometimes challenged by the European Union. The state has a programme where the number of jobs decreases by attrition: for two retirees, only one new employee is hired.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Finland's export-dependent economy continuously adapted to the world market; in doing so, it changed Finnish society as well. The prolonged worldwide boom, beginning in the late 1940s and lasting until the first oil crisis in 1973, was a challenge that Finland met and from which it emerged with a highly sophisticated and diversified economy, including a new occupational structure. Some sectors kept a fairly constant share of the work force. Transportation and construction, for example, each accounted for between 7 and 8 percent in both 1950 and 1985, and manufacturing's share rose only from 22 to 24 percent. However, both the commercial and the service sectors more than doubled their share of the work force, accounting, respectively, for 21 and 28 percent in 1985. The greatest change was the decline of the economically active population employed in agriculture and forestry, from approximately 50 percent in 1950 to 10 percent in 1985. The exodus from farms and forests provided the labour power needed for the growth of other sectors.


title: Economy of Finland

text: Studies of Finnish mobility patterns since World War II have confirmed the significance of this exodus. Sociologists have found that people with a farming background were present in other occupations to a considerably greater extent in Finland than in other West European countries. Finnish data for the early 1980s showed that 30 to 40 percent of those in occupations not requiring much education were the children of farmers, as were about 25 percent in upper-level occupations, a rate two to three times that of France and noticeably higher than that even of neighboring Sweden. Finland also differed from the other Nordic countries in that the generational transition from the rural occupations to white-collar positions was more likely to be direct, bypassing manual occupations.


title: Economy of Finland

text: The most important factor determining social mobility in Finland was education. Children who attained a higher level of education than their parents were often able to rise in the hierarchy of occupations. In the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, those who are more educated, in the long-run, will move to newer centrally located buildings. A tripling or quadrupling in any one generation of the numbers receiving schooling beyond the required minimum reflected the needs of a developing economy for skilled employees. Obtaining advanced training or education was easier for some than for others, however, and the children of white-collar employees still were more likely to become white-collar employees themselves than were the children of farmers and blue-collar workers. In addition, children of white-collar professionals were more likely than not to remain in that class.


title: Economy of Finland

text: The economic transformation also altered income structure. A noticeable shift was the reduction in wage differentials. The increased wealth produced by an advanced economy was distributed to wage earners via the system of broad income agreements that evolved in the postwar era. Organized sectors of the economy received wage hikes even greater than the economy's growth rate. As a result, blue-collar workers' income came, in time, to match more closely the pay of lower level white-collar employees, and the income of the upper middle class declined in relation to that of other groups.


title: Economy of Finland

text: The long trend of growth in living standards paired with diminishing differences between social classes was dramatically reversed during the 1990s. For the first time in the history of Finland income differences have sharply grown. This change has been mostly driven by the growth of income from capital to the wealthiest segment of the population.


title: Circumnavigation

text: Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth.


title: Circumnavigation

text: The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Magellan–Elcano expedition, which sailed from Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain in 1519 and returned in 1522, after crossing the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. Since the rise of commercial aviation in the late 20th century, circumnavigating Earth is straightforward, usually taking days instead of years. Today, the challenge of circumnavigating Earth has shifted towards human and technological endurance, speed, and less conventional methods.


title: Circumnavigation

text: The word "circumnavigation" is a noun formed from the verb "circumnavigate", from the past participle of the Latin verb "circumnavigare", from "circum" "around" + "navigare" "to sail" (see further Navigation § Etymology).


title: Circumnavigation

text: A person walking completely around either pole will cross all meridians, but this is not generally considered a "circumnavigation". The path of a true (global) circumnavigation forms a continuous loop on the surface of Earth separating two regions of comparable area. A basic definition of a global circumnavigation would be a route which covers roughly a great circle, and in particular one which passes through at least one pair of points antipodal to each other. In practice, people use different definitions of world circumnavigation to accommodate practical constraints, depending on the method of travel. Since the planet is quasispheroidal, a trip from one Pole to the other, and back again on the other side, would technically be a circumnavigation. There are practical difficulties (namely, the Arctic ice pack and the Antarctic ice sheet) in such a voyage, although it was successfully undertaken in the early 1980s by Ranulph Fiennes.


title: Circumnavigation

text: The first single voyage of global circumnavigation was that of the ship "Victoria", between 1519 and 1522, known as the Magellan–Elcano expedition. It was a Castilian (Spanish) voyage of discovery. The voyage started in Seville, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and after several stopovers rounded the southern tip of South America, where the expedition discovered the Strait of Magellan, named after the fleet's captain. It then continued across the Pacific, discovering a number of islands on its way, including Guam, before arriving in the Philippines. The voyage was initially led by the Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan, although he died during the voyage in Mactan in the Philippines in 1521. The remaining sailors decided to circumnavigate the world instead of making the return voyage and continued the voyage across the Indian Ocean, round the Cape of Good Hope, north along the Atlantic Ocean, and back to Spain in 1522. Only 18 men were still with the expedition at the end, including the Spanish Juan Sebastián Elcano, who was its captain at the end.


title: Circumnavigation

text: The next to circumnavigate the globe were the survivors of the Spanish expedition of García Jofre de Loaisa between 1525 and 1536. None of the seven ships of the Loaisa expedition nor the successive expedition leaders (Loaísa, Elcano, Salazar, Iñiguez, De la Torre died during the voyage) completed the voyage, but the Santa María de la Victoria reached the Moluccas in 1526 before being sunk in a Portuguese attack. Fernando de la Torre and eight other survivors, including Andres de Urdaneta, returned to Spain in 1536 aboard Portuguese ships via Portuguese India, the Cape of Good Hope and Portugal, and completed the second circumnavigation in history.


title: Circumnavigation

text: In 1577, Elizabeth I sent Francis Drake to start an expedition against the Spanish along the Pacific coast of the Americas. Drake set out from Plymouth, England in November 1577, aboard "Pelican", which he renamed "Golden Hind" mid-voyage. In September 1578, the ship passed south of Tierra del Fuego, the southern tip of South America, through the area now known as the Drake Passage. In June 1579, Drake landed somewhere north of Spain's northernmost claim in Alta California, which is known as Drakes Bay, California. Drake completed the second circumnavigation of the world in September 1580, becoming the first commander to lead an entire circumnavigation.


title: Circumnavigation

text: Thomas Cavendish completed his circumnavigation between 1586 and 1588 in record time - in two years and 49 days; nine months faster than Drake. It was also the first deliberately planned voyage of the globe.


title: Circumnavigation

text: For the wealthy, long voyages around the world, such as was done by Ulysses S. Grant, became possible in the 19th century, and the two World Wars moved vast numbers of troops around the planet. However, it was the rise of commercial aviation in the late 20th century that made circumnavigation, when compared to the Magellan–Elcano expedition, quicker and safer.


title: Circumnavigation

text: The nautical global and fastest circumnavigation record is currently held by a wind-powered vessel, the trimaran IDEC 3. The record was established by six sailors: Francis Joyon, Alex Pella, Clément Surtel, Gwénolé Gahinet, Sébastien Audigane and Bernard Stamm; who wrote themselves into history books on 26 January 2017, by circumnavigating the globe in 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds. The absolute speed sailing record around the world followed the North Atlantic Ocean, Equator, South Atlantic Ocean, Southern Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, Equator, North Atlantic Ocean route in an easterly direction.


title: Circumnavigation

text: The map on the right shows, in red, a typical, non-competitive, route for a sailing circumnavigation of the world by the trade winds and the Suez and Panama canals; overlaid in yellow are the points antipodal to all points on the route. It can be seen that the route roughly approximates a great circle, and passes through two pairs of antipodal points. This is a route followed by many cruising sailors, going in the western direction; the use of the trade winds makes it a relatively easy sail, although it passes through a number of zones of calms or light winds.


title: Circumnavigation

text: In yacht racing, a round-the-world route approximating a great circle would be quite impractical, particularly in a non-stop race where use of the Panama and Suez Canals would be impossible. Yacht racing therefore defines a world circumnavigation to be a passage of at least 21,600 nautical miles (40,000 km) in length which crosses the equator, crosses every meridian and finishes in the same port as it starts. The second map on the right shows the route of the Vendée Globe round-the-world race in red; overlaid in yellow are the points antipodal to all points on the route. It can be seen that the route does not pass through any pairs of antipodal points. Since the winds in the higher southern latitudes predominantly blow west-to-east it can be seen that there are an easier route (west-to-east) and a harder route (east-to-west) when circumnavigating by sail; this difficulty is magnified for square-rig vessels due to the square rig's dramatic lack of upwind ability when compared to a more modern Bermuda rig.


title: Circumnavigation

text: For around the world sailing records, there is a rule saying that the length must be at least 21,600 nautical miles calculated along the shortest possible track from the starting port and back that does not cross land and does not go below 63°S. It is allowed to have one single waypoint to lengthen the calculated track. The equator must be crossed.


title: Circumnavigation

text: The solo wind powered circumnavigation record of 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds was established by François Gabart on the maxi-multihull sailing yacht MACIF and completed on 7 December 2017. The voyage followed the North Atlantic Ocean, Equator, South Atlantic Ocean, Southern Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, Equator, North Atlantic Ocean route in an easterly direction.


title: Circumnavigation

text: Since the advent of world cruises in 1922, by Cunard's "Laconia", thousands of people have completed circumnavigations of the globe at a more leisurely pace. Typically, these voyages begin in New York City or Southampton, and proceed westward. Routes vary, either travelling through the Caribbean and then into the Pacific Ocean via the Panama Canal, or around Cape Horn. From there ships usually make their way to Hawaii, the islands of the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, then northward to Hong Kong, South East Asia, and India. At that point, again, routes may vary: one way is through the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean; the other is around Cape of Good Hope and then up the west coast of Africa. These cruises end in the port where they began.


title: Circumnavigation

text: In 1960, the American nuclear-powered submarine USS "Triton" circumnavigated the globe in 60 days, 21 hours for Operation Sandblast.


title: Circumnavigation

text: The current circumnavigation record in a powered boat of 60 days 23 hours and 49 minutes was established by a voyage of the wave-piercing trimaran "Earthrace" which was completed on 27 June 2008. The voyage followed the North Atlantic Ocean, Panama Canal, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Suez Canal, Mediterranean Sea route in a westerly direction.


title: Circumnavigation

text: In 1922 Norman Macmillan (RAF officer), Major W T Blake and Geoffrey Malins made an unsuccessful attempt to fly a "Daily News"-sponsored round-the-world flight. The first aerial circumnavigation of the planet was flown in 1924 by aviators of the U.S. Army Air Service in a quartet of Douglas World Cruiser biplanes.


title: Circumnavigation

text: Since the development of commercial aviation, there are regular routes that circle the globe, such as Pan American Flight One (and later United Airlines Flight One). Today planning such a trip through commercial flight connections is simple.


title: Circumnavigation

text: The first lighter-than-air aircraft of any type to circumnavigate under its own power was the rigid airship LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin", which did so in 1929.


title: Circumnavigation

text: Aviation records take account of the wind circulation patterns of the world; in particular the jet streams, which circulate in the northern and southern hemispheres without crossing the equator. There is therefore no requirement to cross the equator, or to pass through two antipodal points, in the course of setting a round-the-world aviation record. Thus, for example, Steve Fossett's global circumnavigation by balloon was entirely contained within the southern hemisphere.


title: Circumnavigation

text: For powered aviation, the course of a round-the-world record must start and finish at the same point and cross all meridians; the course must be at least long (which is approximately the length of the Tropic of Cancer). The course must include set control points at latitudes outside the Arctic and Antarctic circles.


title: Circumnavigation

text: In ballooning, which is totally at the mercy of the winds, the requirements are even more relaxed. The course must cross all meridians, and must include a set of checkpoints which are all outside of two circles, chosen by the pilot, having radii of and enclosing the poles (though not necessarily centred on them).


title: Circumnavigation

text: The first person to fly in space, Yuri Gagarin, also became the first person to complete an orbital spaceflight in the Vostok 1 spaceship within 2 hours in 1961.


title: Circumnavigation

text: Flight started at 63° E and ended 45° E longitude; thus Gagarin did not circumnavigate Earth completely.


title: Circumnavigation

text: Gherman Titov in the Vostok 2 was the first human to circumnavigate Earth in spaceflight and made 17.5 orbits.


title: Circumnavigation

text: According to adjudicating bodies "Guinness World Records" and Explorersweb, Jason Lewis completed the first human-powered circumnavigation of the globe on 6 October 2007. This was part of a thirteen-year journey entitled Expedition 360.


title: Circumnavigation

text: In 2012, Turkish-born American adventurer Erden Eruç completed the first entirely "solo" human-powered circumnavigation, travelling by rowboat, sea kayak, foot and bicycle from 10 July 2007 to 21 July 2012, crossing the equator twice, passing over 12 antipodal points, and logging in 1,026 days of travel time, excluding breaks.


title: Circumnavigation

text: National Geographic lists Colin Angus as being the first to complete a global circumnavigation. However, his journey did not cross the equator or hit the minimum of two antipodal points as stipulated by the rules of "Guinness World Records" and AdventureStats by Explorersweb.


title: Circumnavigation

text: People have both bicycled and run around the world, but the oceans have had to be covered by air or sea travel, making the distance shorter than the "Guinness" guidelines. To go from North America to Asia on foot is theoretically possible but very difficult. It involves crossing the Bering Strait on the ice, and around of roadless swamped or freezing cold areas in Alaska and eastern Russia. No one has so far travelled all of this route by foot. David Kunst was the first verified person to walk around the world between 20 June 1970 and 5 October 1974.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: A port of the game, titled "", was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 with additional content in Japan. Unlike the original, the international version of the game was published by Konami, and only the PlayStation 3 version of the game was localized in English. A port of the original version was later released for the Nintendo Switch in 2020, and for the Amazon Luna and Windows via Steam in 2021. The game was followed by three sequels: "" (2010), "" (2019), and "No More Heroes III" (2021).


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: Throughout the game, the player controls the character Travis Touchdown. The game has a free roaming world, allowing Travis to move around on foot or on his modified scooter, the "Schpeltiger". Gameplay is open-ended, with the condition that the player must kill the top ten assassins to make the storyline progress. There are numerous part-time job side quests to earn money which can be spent on weapons, training sessions, clothes and video tapes. Money is also required to compete in a Ranking fight.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: Control is handled through the Wii Remote and Nunchuk attachment, with the Remote controlling his weapon, the beam katana, and the Nunchuk moving Travis. Most attacks are performed using the "A" button, with certain other moves, including the "death blow" and sword lock struggles, executed by following on-screen instructions. Further, since the beam katanas run on batteries, they must be charged from time to time by pressing the "1" button on the remote and shaking it. Travis's beam katana can also be upgraded and replaced throughout the game by visiting Dr. Naomi. While the katana does not follow the exact position of the remote, it is able to distinguish between a "high" and "low" position which varies the character stance and the attacks done. In addition to attacks with the beam katana Travis can kick and punch, and when enemies are stunned he can throw them with a number of professional wrestling maneuvers, done by manipulating both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: Travis has a secondary mode, "Dark Side", that is accessed when three icons line up in a slot machine after a successful death blow. In this mode, Travis gains a super powerful move depending on what symbols are lined up ranging from a speed increase to outright killing every enemy on screen instantly.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: The story follows Travis Touchdown, who is a stereotypical otaku – his motel room decorated with professional wrestling and anime collectibles – living in near poverty in the No More Heroes motel of the fictional town of Santa Destroy, California. After winning a beam katana in an internet auction, he runs out of money to buy video games and wrestling videos. After meeting with Sylvia Christel, he accepts a job to kill Helter Skelter, also known as "the Drifter," which earns him rank 11 by the United Assassins Association, a governing body of assassins. Realizing that he has the opportunity to make it to the top, he sets out to secure himself the coveted position of number one assassin in the UAA.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: After killing the tenth ranked assassin, Sylvia reveals that if Travis stops killing, he'll eventually be targeted by other aspiring assassins. Travis, now convinced there's no way out, goes on to kill every other assassin except for number eight, Shinobu, whom he spares because he wants her to get stronger. During the 5th ranked battle he meets Henry, a mysterious Irish man who wields a beam katana similar to Travis' own.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: Before meeting the top-ranked assassin, Travis is told that the UAA was just an elaborate con set up by Sylvia, who overheard his drunken ramblings and organized his entry so that he could finally have revenge on his half-sister, Jeane, who murdered his parents. Jeane reveals in a fast-forwarded cutscene that their father had sexually abused her all her life, thus forcing her to become a prostitute to survive and become a killer. Travis is eventually saved by Shinobu and kills Jeane.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: The game really ends with Travis being attacked by another assassin before Henry saves him, and challenges him to one last fight. It is during this fight that Henry reveals two twists: first, that he is Travis's twin brother, and second, that Sylvia is his wife (which would make her Travis' sister-in-law), and has a habit of disappearing before returning with lots of money (presumably due to conning people). Travis says to Henry "She's a bad wife, but a good woman." Insinuating Travis slept with Sylvia after becoming the #1 ranked assassin. Still locked in combat, the brothers discuss the nature of these revelations and their situation while they run down a long street. Finally, as the two leap towards each other for the final clash, the screen flashes and is revealed to be a painting hanging in an art gallery, where a little girl, Jeane, and her mother, Sylvia, are observing it.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: The Japanese version's instruction booklet, entitled the "United Assassins Association Official Manual", contains a small manga which contained much of the backstory about the UAA and Travis' first kill. This manga was not included in the North American release of the game, but is available on the official website.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: Above Travis in the UAA are ten other assassins. The person that provides ranks and sets up matches for the assassins is Sylvia Christel, a "mysterious" and "cold" woman. Travis is aided by a weapons maker named Doctor Naomi, former pro-wrestler Thunder Ryu, and a drunk, Randall Lovikov. Naomi sells beam katanas and upgrades for them, Ryu operates a gym and trains Travis – allowing him to increase his strength, combos and health for a small fee – and Lovikov is a drunken old man who teaches new maneuvers and techniques in exchange for Lovikov balls which are scattered around the city.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: The other ranked members of the UAA include Helter Skelter (AKA "The Drifter"), Deathmetal, Dr Peace, Shinobu, Destroyman, Holly Summers, Letz Shake, Harvey Moiseiwitsch Volodarskii, Speedbuster, Bad Girl, and Darkstar.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: "No More Heroes", under its working title "Project Heroes", was initially planned as an Xbox 360 game, until Yasuhiro Wada suggested the Wii and its unique control structure to director Goichi Suda ("Suda51"). Previously titled "Heroes"., Suda51 has said that "No More Heroes" focuses on social issues.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: A number of films, actors and music have inspired Suda51's design for "No More Heroes". Besides the title coming from UK Punk band The Stranglers 1977 album No More Heroes, the structure of the United Assassins' Association is based on the film "El Topo" which features a similar, albeit smaller, ranking system. Travis Touchdown and his antics are based on Johnny Knoxville of "Jackass" and wrestler Josh Barnett, who also served as the persona from which the Destroyman character was created. Contrary to popular belief, Travis' weapon, the beam katana, is not based on the lightsaber from Star Wars but from the 1980s Japanese TV series "Space Sheriff Gavan" and 1987 film "Spaceballs". Other character influences included Scarlett Johansson as the UAA's Sylvia, Ian Curtis as Travis' twin-brother Henry, Charles Bronson as assassin Dr. Peace, and Genichiro Tenryu as Travis' mentor Thunder Ryu.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: The city of Santa Destroy is based on San Diego, California (though, possibly mistaken, Suda implied that he used the version of San Diego shown in "Dirty Harry", which takes place entirely in San Francisco, California), with the "No More Heroes" motel inspired by a similar one from the movie "Memento". The Japanese cult movie "Gozu" provided the basis for the in-game video store "Beef Head". Two fictional anime series, "Glastonbury" and "Bizarre Jelly", that are shown within the game were influenced by "Space Runaway Ideon" and "Pretty Cure", respectively. Suda also noted that Grasshopper Studios also worked on the anime-based video games "" and "", both which inspired the development of "No More Heroes", considering the three together as a "sword action trilogy".


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: In one interview Suda wanted to make "No More Heroes" "as violent, or even more violent than "Manhunt 2"," a game that received an AO rating from the ESRB in its original form. A trailer shown at the March 2007 Game Developers Conference featured Travis Touchdown using the beam katana to decapitate or cut enemies in half, with copious amounts of blood being spilled. Later videos featured clouds of black pixels and objects resembling coins spurting from enemies instead of blood. It was later explained that the "black clouds" version would be released in Japan, while North America would receive the game with the previously seen blood. Later, however, Suda51 decided to release the bloodless version in Europe as well. The two versions both feature common enemies eventually burning away and a fountain of coins, with or without the inclusion of blood.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: Yūsuke Kozaki, who has previously designed characters for "Speed Grapher", designed the characters for "No More Heroes". Others on the team include costume designer Okama, who designed the OP for "Densha Otoko", and weapons and mechanics designer Shigeto Koyama, who worked on "Eureka Seven" as an illustrator.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: On November 17, 2009, "Famitsu" magazine revealed that "No More Heroes" would receive a port to both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 from the company feelplus titled "". The game features new modes, revamped high-definition graphics, though it lacks motion control on the Xbox 360. Only the Xbox 360 version is uncensored, causing Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) to label the game with its adult "Z" rating. The ports were released in Japan on April 15, 2010. The PlayStation 3 version of the game was released in North America by Konami with added PlayStation Move support, instead of Ubisoft, the game's original publisher, which had stated that they would not be publishing this version in North America. The Switch port was released on October 28, 2020, in the eShop, with the help of Engine Software, who previously helped Suda with the port of Killer7 to PC a couple of years ago. Rather than retaining the black clouds in the PAL/JP versions like previous ports, it was uncensored. The port was published by XSEED Games. XSEED also published the port of "No More Heroes" and its sequel for Windows, released on June 9, 2021.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: The song "Heavenly Star" by Genki Rockets is used in many parts of the game. In the Japanese and PAL versions, a music video of it can be watched on Travis' television, but it was replaced with the original "Heroes" trailer for the game in the North American (NTSC) version. The song was no longer there in the Switch version as it was replaced by in-game music.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: The three-disc "No More Heroes Original Sound Tracks", featuring 71 tracks of original compositions by Masafumi Takada and Jun Fukuda, was released in Japan on January 23, 2008. A remix soundtrack, titled "No More Heroes Sound Tracks: Dark Side", was later released on March 14, 2008.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: The Outer Rim, a band featuring game composer Norihiko Hibino, released its self-titled debut album featuring an English drama using "No More Heroes" characters in a far future setting.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: Overall, "No More Heroes" received positive reviews. The game received a 34/40 from "Famitsu". "GameSpot" gave it an Editor's Choice Award, praising the unique story, gameplay, and sense of humor. X-Play gave the game 5/5, citing "exceptional writing, sharp satire, satisfying game progression, unique visual style, intuitive controls, and a catchy and distinctive soundtrack. Xplay also called it the third best game and best Wii game released in the first half of 2008". "Cheat Code Central" called the game "a must-buy blast that out-shines all other third-party Wii titles to date." Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw praised the game for its satire, quirky aesthetic, and unpredictable story while criticizing the repetition and restrictive overworld. "GamePro" also praised "No More Heroes" with a Game of the Month Award and Editor's Choice award, saying "The entries for the best new character of 2008 are closed here's your winner (Travis Touchdown)" and that the game "easily ranks among the Wii's finest titles." "GameTrailers", although reviewing the game positively, found its open world to be somewhat limited, an assessment shared by "IGN", who went even further, claiming it ground an otherwise exciting game to a dead halt. Despite awarding the game a less positive review than others, "IGN" awarded it "Game of the Month" for January, calling it a "must-play" despite its flaws. "Game Informer" gave it one of the lowest scores, stating that "the repetition and lack of substance behind the flash" was among the many problems they had with the game. "Nintendo Power" gave it an 8/10, stating that "No More Heroes's zany charm and zest for excess go a long way to make up for its weaknesses." They also listed it as the 7th best Wii game to date. "No More Heroes" won multiple Wii-specific awards from "IGN" in their 2008 video game awards, including Best Story and Best Action Game. It was also a nominee for several other Wii-specific "IGN" awards, including Best Artistic Design, Best Voice Acting, and Best New IP. "GameSpot" awards this game for 2008 for its original IP and platform award. Daniel Wilks of "Hyper" commended the game for its "very clever writing and great combat mechanics". However, he criticised it for being "deliberately repetitive". It was nominated for "Best Wii Game" at the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: For the Japanese release, a poorly attended launch event for the game was held on December 6, 2007, at Akihabara's Sofmap Amusement featuring both Suda51 and Yasuhiro Wada signing copies of the games and giving away premiums. After 20 minutes passed without any purchases, a "Famitsu" reporter had a copy signed while others took photos. "No More Heroes" sold approximately 10,000 copies on its first day of release in Japan.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: Suda51 expressed disappointment in the Japanese sales of the game, saying that only Nintendo is doing well in regard to the Wii's success because of its adoption by casual gamers. He later retracted his comment, saying his "point was that "No More Heroes", unlike a lot of Nintendo Wii titles currently available is the kind of product which will attract a different kind of consumer to the hardware, "i.e." gamers who are looking for a different genre to the products which have been successful on this platform thus far."


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: By February 15, 2008, "No More Heroes" had sold 40,000 copies in Japan. The game saw shipments of 200,000 units in North America with about 100,000 of those units sold within the first five weeks. By January 2009, the game had sold 208,000 copies in USA. "No More Heroes" was expected to sell 160,000 copies in Europe. Shortly after "No More Heroes's" European release, PAL publisher Rising Star raved about its sales, with manager Martin Defries proclaiming, "We are weeping with delight. Especially as sales should improve further with the TV campaign moving up a gear from tonight. It is a verification of all the posturing and ambitious claims made these past months. I think a 'told you so' would be apt at some point. Thanks to Nintendo and the Wii console. Thanks to Mastertronic for their sales efforts and all our retail partners. Most of all thanks to Grasshopper for the greatest of products."


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: Sales for the Japanese launch of "No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise" were combined slightly better than with the original Wii version. The PlayStation 3 version of the game sold 16,000 units in its first week on sale in the country.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: Marvelous stated the Switch ports of "No More Heroes" and its sequel had seen "strong sales" in North America and Europe.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: A 2010 sequel named "" has been developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and published by Ubisoft in the U.S. on January 26, 2010, and was released in Europe for the Wii by Rising Star Games on May 28, 2010. The Japanese version was released on October 21, 2010.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: A new game in the series, "", was first hinted at during the initial reveal of the Switch in January 2017, and fully revealed in a Nintendo Direct presentation the following August. Grasshopper Manufacture teamed with several other indie developers for the title, which sees Travis and Badman, Bad Girl's vengeful father, being transported into the demonic "Death Drive MK-II" video game console where they must fight boss battles within the games. It was released on January 18, 2019, for the Nintendo Switch and was later ported to the PlayStation 4 and Windows on October 17, 2019.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: A new installment, "No More Heroes III", was announced at E3 2019 to be released in 2020 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. On September 10, 2020, director Goichi Suda announced that the game would be delayed until 2021, citing disruption to development caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The game was released for Switch in August 2021, and for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Microsoft Windows in October 2022.


title: No More Heroes (video game)

text: In 2018, it was reported that Suda was in talks with Marvelous Entertainment to bring "No More Heroes" and "No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle" to the Nintendo Switch. The ports were later announced in a Nintendo Partner Showcase video on October 28, 2020, and released the same day.


title: Starman (song)

text: "Starman" is a song by English musician David Bowie. It was released on 28 April 1972 by RCA Records as the lead single of his fifth studio album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars". Co-produced by Ken Scott, Bowie recorded the song on 4 February 1972 at Trident Studios in London with his backing band known as the Spiders from Mars – comprising guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick Woodmansey. The song was a late addition to the album, written as a direct response to RCA's request for a single; it replaced the Chuck Berry cover "Round and Round" on the album. The lyrics describe Ziggy Stardust bringing a message of hope to Earth's youth through the radio, salvation by an alien 'Starman'. The chorus is inspired by "Over the Rainbow", sung by Judy Garland, while other influences include T. Rex and the Supremes.


title: Starman (song)

text: Upon release, "Starman" sold favorably and earned positive reviews. Following Bowie's performance of the song on the BBC television programme "Top of the Pops", the song reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart and helped propel the album to number five. It was his first major hit since "Space Oddity" three years earlier. The performance made Bowie a star and was watched by a large audience, including many future musicians, who were all impacted by it; these included Boy George, Bono, Robert Smith and Ian McCulloch. Retrospectively, the song is considered by music critics as one of Bowie's finest.


title: Starman (song)

text: "Starman" was written as a direct response to the head of RCA Dennis Katz's request for a single. Author Kevin Cann writes that the title may allude to Robert A. Heinlein's 1953 novel "Starman Jones" while Chris O'Leary attributes David Rome's 1965 short story "There's a Starman in Ward 7". The song was recorded on 4 February 1972 at Trident Studios in London, towards the end of the "Ziggy Stardust" sessions. Also recorded during this session was "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" and "Suffragette City". Co-produced by Ken Scott, Bowie recorded it with his backing band the Spiders from Mars – comprising Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansey. Doggett writes that it's similar to his earlier hit "Space Oddity" in that it's a "space-age novelty hit". The song begins on twelve-string acoustic guitar—a "subdominant" chord followed by "the major 7th of the root" according to author Peter Doggett—that is played across both channels. There are strums of a six-string electric guitar at certain points until the verse begins, then both guitars merge into one channel. The song features a string arrangement from Ronson, which biographer Nicholas Pegg describes as being more similar to the style of Bowie's previous album "Hunky Dory" (1971) than the rest of "Ziggy Stardust".


title: Starman (song)

text: The chorus is loosely based on "Over the Rainbow" from the film "The Wizard of Oz", alluding to the "Starman"'s extraterrestrial origins (over the rainbow) (the octave leap on ("Star-"man"") is identical to that of Judy Garland's ("some-"where"") in "Over the Rainbow"). Doggett states that whereas "Over the Rainbow" "used its cathartic rise to introduce a refrain that was emotionally, and melodically, expansive", the leap in "Starman" "was followed by a more uncertain melody, reflecting his character's innate lack of confidence." Pegg notes that Bowie would change the chorus to "There's a Starman, over the rainbow" during his performances at the Rainbow Theatre in August 1972, effectively establishing the connection between the two songs. Other influences cited for the track are the T. Rex songs "Hot Love" and "Telegram Sam", showcased on the line "Let all the children boogie" and "la la la" chorus, and the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On", which contained the same morse code-esque guitar and piano breaks as "Starman". The English rock band Suede later "borrowed" the same octave leap for their debut single "The Drowners" and the "la la la" chorus for "The Power" and "Beautiful Ones".


title: Starman (song)

text: The lyrics describe Ziggy Stardust bringing a message of hope to Earth's youth through the radio, salvation by an alien 'Starman'. The story is told from the point of view of one of the youths who hears Ziggy. The song has inspired interpretations ranging from an allusion to the Second Coming of Christ, to an accurate prediction of the plot for the film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977). Similar to fellow album track


title: Starman (song)

text: "Moonage Daydream", Bowie uses American slang, including "boogie", "Hey, that's far out", "Don't tell your papa", and "Some cat was layin' down some rock 'n' roll", which, according to Pegg, "vie with an intensely British sensibility to create a bizarre and beautiful hybrid." Speaking about the lyrics to William S. Burroughs for "Rolling Stone" magazine in 1973, Bowie said:


title: Starman (song)

text: According to Pegg, this "black-hole jumping" is identical to the BBC television programme "Doctor Who" serial "The Three Doctors", which featured a reunion of the show's lead actors to celebrate its tenth anniversary. The serial was broadcast in early 1973 when Bowie was recording his follow up album "Aladdin Sane".


title: Starman (song)

text: "Starman" was released as the lead single of "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" on 28 April 1972 by RCA Records (as RCA 2199) with "Suffragette City" as the B-side. According to Cann, the single was released in the US on 20 May with a slight variant from the UK single: Bowie's spoken intro was edited out and "to comply with the preferred duration among American radio stations," the song was shortened by ten seconds. The US single was released in both mono and stereo formats. The single originally featured a "loud mix" of the "morse-code" piano-and-guitar section between the verse and the chorus. This single mix appeared on the original UK album, but not on other vinyl editions of the album internationally, in which the "morse-code" section was lower in the mix. The single mix appeared on the 1980 compilation album "The Best of Bowie", but "ChangesTwoBowie" (1981) and subsequent compilations featured the more subdued mix, until the "loud mix" finally reappeared on "Nothing Has Changed" (2014) and on "Re:Call 1" as part of the 2015 box set "Five Years (1969–1973)".


title: Starman (song)

text: "Starman" was sequenced as the fourth track on the album, between "Moonage Daydream" and "It Ain't Easy", released on 16 June 1972. It was a late addition to the album, replacing a cover of American singer-songwriter Chuck Berry's "Round and Round". According to Rob Sheffield, "Round and Round" would have fit the concept of the album but it was excessive, as side two featured multiple Berry-style tracks. Pegg also commented: "It's extraordinary to consider that one of Bowie's definitive songs replaced a Chuck Berry cover almost as an afterthought."


title: Starman (song)

text: From a commercial point of view, "Starman" was a milestone in Bowie's career: it was his first hit since "Space Oddity" three years before. "NME" critics Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray reported that "many thought it was his first "record" since 'Space Oddity'", and assumed that it was a sequel to the earlier single. Pegg states that due to this assumption, the title and acoustic intro might have given the suggestion that Bowie had "only one song in his playbook", but the first lyric changes that. While "Space Oddity" was a pure "science-fiction story", "Starman" is less that and more of a "self-aggrandizing announcement that there's a new star in town."


title: Starman (song)

text: The single initially sold steadily rather than spectacularly but earned many positive reviews. BBC broadcaster John Peel, in his "Disc & Music Echo" column wrote: "Now this is magnificent – quite superb. "David Bowie is, with Kevin Ayers, the most important, under-acknowledged innovator in contemporary popular music in Britain and if this record is overlooked it will be nothing less than stark tragedy." Chris Welch of "Melody Maker" predicted: "[Bowie] is taking longer than most to become a superstar, but he should catch up with Rod and Marc soon." On 15 June, Bowie and the Spiders from Mars performed "Starman" on the Granada children's music programme "Lift Off with Ayshea", which was presented by Ayshea Brough, whom Bowie had met as a performer in 1969. Joined by Nicky Graham on keyboards, according to Pegg, they performed against a "backdrop of coloured stars"; Woodmansey had at this point not "peroxided" his hair. The performance was broadcast on 21 June in a "post-school" time slot, where it was witnessed by thousands of British children. On 24 June, "Starman" rose to number 49 on the UK Singles Chart and by 1 July, number 41, earning Bowie an invitation to perform on the BBC television programme "Top of the Pops".


title: Starman (song)

text: On 5 July 1972, Bowie, the Spiders and Graham recorded a performance of "Starman" for "Top of the Pops," which was broadcast on BBC One the next night. The group mimed to a pre-recorded backing track, four takes of which were recorded on 29 June, and sang live as per Musicians Union rules. Bowie appeared in a brightly-coloured rainbow jumpsuit, "shocking" red hair and astronaut boots while the Spiders wore blue, pink, scarlet and gold velvet attire. During the performance, Bowie was relaxed and confident and wrapped his arm around Ronson's shoulder, revealing his white-coloured fingernails and, in Cann's words, "driving home the ambiguous glamour of the Ziggy persona." He altered the line "Some cat was laying down some rock 'n' roll" to "Some cat was laying down some get-it-on rock 'n' roll" as a tribute to Bolan. Upon singing the line "I had to phone someone so I picked on you ooh ooh", Bowie pointed at the camera, engaging the audience directly, which one fan recalled, "It was as if Bowie actually singled me out...a chosen one...it was almost a religious experience." Transmitted the following day, the three minute performance launched Bowie to stardom. According to author David Buckley, "Many fans date their conversion to all things Bowie to this "Top of the Pops" appearance". It embedded Ziggy Stardust in the nation's consciousness, helping push "Starman" to number 10 and the album, released the previous month, to number five. The "Starman" single remained in the UK charts for 11 weeks. In the United States, the single peaked at number 65 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in August 1972.


title: Starman (song)

text: The "Top of the Pops" performance was included on the DVD version of "Best of Bowie" in 2002. In addition to the TV performances, Bowie played the song for radio listeners on the BBC's "Johnny Walker Lunchtime Show" on 22 May 1972. This performance was broadcast in early June 1972 and eventually released on "Bowie at the Beeb" in 2000.


title: Starman (song)

text: Ian Fortnam of "Classic Rock", when ranking every track on the album, placed "Starman" at number two, behind "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide", writing that there are several things an octave leap can do: one can "guarantee" a hit, one can elicit an emotional response in listeners, but most importantly, when used the right way, can launch a career. While he calls Judy Garland's leap in "Over the Rainbow" the greatest octave leap of all time, Bowie's use of one on both "Starman" and "Life on Mars?" both launched his career. In 2018, the writers of "NME" listed "Starman" as Bowie's 15th greatest song. In a list of Bowie's 50 greatest songs, Alexis Petridis of "The Guardian" ranked the song 11th, calling it "a series of compelling musical steals" – mentioning the likes of T. Rex, "Over the Rainbow" and "Melting Pot" by Blue Mink –  and "a brash announcement of Bowie’s commercial rebirth." In a 2016 list ranking every Bowie single from worst to best, "Ultimate Classic Rock" placed "Starman" at number 17.


title: Starman (song)

text: In February 1999, "Q" magazine listed the single as one of the 100 greatest singles of all time, as voted by readers. According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 471st most celebrated song in popular music history, and the 12th most from 1972.


title: PopCap Games

text: PopCap Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Seattle, and a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. The company was founded in 2000 by John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka.


title: PopCap Games

text: Originally founded under the name "Sexy Action Cool", their first title was a strip poker game that served as a revenue stream for future titles. PopCap has developed several games for computers, consoles and mobile devices, with their most popular games being "Bejeweled" and "Plants vs. Zombies" games. PopCap was sold to Electronic Arts in 2011.


title: PopCap Games

text: PopCap Games was founded by John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka in 2000. They originally incorporated as "Sexy Action Cool", a phrase taken from a poster of "Desperado". Their first title was a strip poker game called "Foxy Poker" and was supposed to serve as a revenue stream for their future titles.


title: PopCap Games

text: Their first game as PopCap was "Bejeweled", a gem-swapping game, which was supported on all major platforms and awarded by Computer Gaming World Hall Of Fame in 2002. The company expanded in 2005 with the acquisition of Sprout Games, a Seattle-based casual games developer company like PopCap Games, founded by James Gwertzman. Sprout Games is the creator of the game "Feeding Frenzy". The Sprout team helped PopCap to make a sequel to the game, "", with Gwertzman becoming the Director of Business Development at PopCap. In early 2006, PopCap International was opened, based in Dublin, Ireland, working on product localization, mobile games development, marketing, sales and business development.


title: PopCap Games

text: PopCap began another round of expansion in July 2007 by buying other casual game developers including the creators of an online consumer portal, SpinTop Games. One week prior, the company acquired the Chicago-based development house Retro64, founded by Mike Boeh, which is best known for their retro-arcade action and puzzle titles. After these acquisitions, the PopCap logo was rebranded, dropping the "Games" portion. PopCap's premium games list on their website are mixed with other games from other developers/distributors. PopCap hosted several games on PopCap.com and other websites, online and premium, until 2014, when they stopped offering games from their site.


title: PopCap Games

text: On April 5, 2011, PopCap announced the creation of a new subsidiary, 4th and Battery, started in order to create "edgier" games. Their first creation was the game "Unpleasant Horse". On July 12, 2011, Electronic Arts announced it was acquiring PopCap for $650 million with an additional $100 million stock option.


title: PopCap Games

text: On August 21, 2012, PopCap laid off 50 employees in North America in a move to address a shift to mobile and free-to-play games and evaluated ceasing operations of its Dublin studio. The Dublin studio was closed on September 24, 2012.


title: PopCap Games

text: PopCap has developed over 50 games over the past 20 years. Games developed by PopCap include "Bejeweled", "Plants vs. Zombies", "Peggle", and "Bookworm".


title: PopCap Games

text: "Bejeweled" is a series of tile-matching puzzle video games created by PopCap Games. "Bejeweled" was released initially for browsers in 2001, followed by five sequels: "Bejeweled 2" (2004), "Bejeweled Twist" (2008), "Bejeweled Blitz" (2009), "Bejeweled 3" (2010), "Bejeweled Stars" (2016) and more, all by PopCap Games and its parent, Electronic Arts.


title: PopCap Games

text: "Plants vs. Zombies" is a tower defense and strategy video game developed and originally published by PopCap Games for Windows and OS X in May 2009, and ported to consoles, handhelds, mobile devices, and remastered versions for personal computers.


title: PopCap Games

text: "Peggle" is a series of casual puzzle video games created by PopCap Games. "Peggle" was released initially for desktop in 2007, followed by three sequels: "Peggle Nights" (2008), "Peggle 2" (2013), and "Peggle Blast" (2014).


title: Horemheb

text: Horemheb, also spelled Horemhab or Haremhab (, meaning "Horus is in Jubilation") was the last pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt (1550–1295 BC). He ruled for at least 14 years between 1319 BC and 1292 BC. He had no relation to the preceding royal family other than by marriage to Mutnedjmet, who is thought (though disputed) to have been the daughter of his predecessor Ay; he is believed to have been of common birth.


title: Horemheb

text: Before he became pharaoh, Horemheb was the commander in chief of the army under the reigns of Tutankhamun and Ay. After his accession to the throne, he reformed the Egyptian state and it was under his reign that official action against the preceding Amarna rulers began. Due to this, he is considered the ruler who restabilized his country after the troublesome and divisive Amarna Period.


title: Horemheb

text: Horemheb demolished monuments of Akhenaten, reusing the rubble in his own building projects, and usurped monuments of Tutankhamun and Ay. Horemheb presumably had no surviving sons, as he appointed his vizier Paramesse as his successor, who would assume the throne as Ramesses I.


title: Horemheb

text: Horemheb is believed to have originally come from Hnes, on the west bank of the Nile, near the entrance to the Fayum, since his coronation text formally credits the god Horus of Hnes for establishing him on the throne.


title: Horemheb

text: His parentage is unknown but he is believed to have been a commoner. According to the French Egyptologist Nicolas Grimal, Horemheb does not appear to be the same person as Paatenemheb ("Aten Is Present In Jubilation") who was the commander-in-chief of Akhenaten's army. Grimal notes that Horemheb's political career first began under Tutankhamun where he "is depicted at this king's side in his own tomb chapel at Memphis."


title: Horemheb

text: In the earliest known stage of his life, Horemheb served as "the royal spokesman for [Egypt's] foreign affairs" and personally led a diplomatic mission to visit the Nubian governors. This resulted in a reciprocal visit by "the Prince of Miam (Aniba)" to Tutankhamun's court, "an event [that is] depicted in the tomb of the Viceroy Huy." Horemheb quickly rose to prominence under Tutankhamun, becoming commander-in-chief of the army and advisor to the pharaoh. Horemheb's specific titles are spelled out in his Saqqara tomb, which was built while he was still only an official: "Hereditary Prince, Fan-bearer on the Right Side of the King, and Chief Commander of the Army"; the "attendant of the King in his footsteps in the foreign countries of the south and the north"; the "King's Messenger in front of his army to the foreign countries to the south and the north"; and the "Sole Companion, he who is by the feet of his lord on the battlefield on that day of killing Asiatics."


title: Horemheb

text: When Tutankhamun died while a teenager, Horemheb had already been officially designated as the "rpat" or "iry-pat" (basically the "hereditary or crown prince") and "idnw" ("deputy of the king" in the entire land) by the child pharaoh; these titles are found inscribed in Horemheb's then private Memphite tomb at Saqqara which dates to the reign of Tutankhamun since the child king's


title: Horemheb

text: The title "iry-pat" (Hereditary Prince) was used very frequently in Horemheb's Saqqara tomb but not combined with any other words. When used alone, the Egyptologist Alan Gardiner has shown that the "iry-pat" title contains features of ancient descent and lawful inheritance which is identical to the designation for a "Crown Prince." This means that Horemheb was the openly recognised heir to Tutankhamun's throne, and not Ay, Tutankhamun's immediate successor. As the Dutch Egyptologist Jacobus van Dijk observes:


title: Horemheb

text: The aged Vizier Ay sidelined Horemheb's claim to the throne and instead succeeded Tutankhamun, probably because Horemheb was in Asia with the army at the time of Tutankhamun's death. No objects belonging to Horemheb were found in Tutankhamun's tomb, but items among the tomb goods donated by other high-ranking officials, such as Maya and Nakhtmin, were identified by Egyptologists. Further, Tutankhamun's queen, Ankhesenamun, refused to marry Horemheb, a commoner, and so make him king of Egypt. Having pushed Horemheb's claims aside, Ay proceeded to nominate the aforementioned Nakhtmin, who was possibly Ay's son or adopted son, to succeed him rather than Horemheb.


title: Horemheb

text: After Ay's reign, which lasted for a little over four years, Horemheb managed to seize power, presumably thanks to his position as commander of the army, and to assume what he must have perceived to be his just reward for having ably served Egypt under Tutankhamun and Ay. Horemheb quickly removed Nakhtmin's rival claim to the throne and arranged to have Ay's WV 23 tomb desecrated by smashing the latter's sarcophagus, systematically chiselling Ay's name and figure out of the tomb walls and probably destroying Ay's mummy. However, he spared Tutankhamun's tomb from vandalism presumably because it was Tutankhamun who had promoted his rise to power and chosen him to be his heir. Horemheb also usurped and enlarged Ay's mortuary temple at Medinet Habu for his own use and erased Ay's titulary on the back of a 17 foot colossal statue by carving his own titulary in its place.


title: Horemheb

text: Upon his accession, Horemheb initiated a comprehensive series of internal transformations to the power structures of Akhenaten's reign, due to the preceding transfer of state power from Amun's priests to Akhenaten's government officials. Horemheb "appointed judges and regional tribunes ... reintroduced local religious authorities" and divided legal power "between Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt" between "the Viziers of Thebes and Memphis respectively."


title: Horemheb

text: These deeds are recorded in a stela which the king erected at the foot of his Tenth Pylon at Karnak. Occasionally called "The Great Edict of Horemheb", it is a copy of the actual text of the king's decree to re-establish order to the Two Lands and curb abuses of state authority. The stela's creation and prominent location emphasizes the great importance which Horemheb placed upon domestic reform.


title: Horemheb

text: Horemheb also reformed the Army and reorganized the Deir el-Medina workforce in his 7th year while Horemheb's official Maya renewed the tomb of Thutmose IV, which had been disturbed by tomb robbers in his 8th year. While the king restored the priesthood of Amun, he prevented the Amun priests from forming a stranglehold on power, by deliberately reappointing priests who mostly came from the Egyptian army since he could rely on their personal loyalty.


title: Horemheb

text: Horemheb was a prolific builder who erected numerous temples and buildings throughout Egypt during his reign. He constructed the Second, Ninth, and Tenth Pylons of the Great Hypostyle Hall, in the Temple at Karnak, using recycled talatat blocks from Akhenaten's own monuments here, as building material for the first two Pylons.


title: Horemheb

text: Horemheb continued Tutankhamun's restoration of the old order that had been established before the Amarna period. He reintroduced the ancient cults, particularly Amun, thus proving himself a true pharaoh who established Maat (world order).


title: Horemheb

text: Because of his unexpected rise to the throne, Horemheb had two tombs constructed for himself: the first – when he was a mere nobleman – at Saqqara near Memphis, and the other in the Valley of the Kings, in Thebes, in tomb KV 57 as king. His chief wife was Queen Mutnedjmet, who may have been Nefertiti's younger sister. They had no surviving children, although examinations of Mutnedjmet's mummy show that she gave birth several times, and she was buried with an infant, suggesting that she and her last child died in childbirth. Horemheb is not known to have any children by his first wife, Amenia, who died before Horemheb assumed power.


title: Horemheb

text: Scholars have long disputed whether Horemheb reigned for 14 or 27 years. Manetho's Epitome assigns a reign length of 4 years and 1 month to a king called Harmais. Scholars previously assigned this reign-length to Ay; however, evidence from excavations in Horemheb's tomb (KV57) indicates that this figure should be raised by a decade to [1]4 years and 1 month and attributed to Horemheb. These excavations, conducted under G.T. Martin in 2006 and 2007, uncovered a large hoard of 168 inscribed wine sherds and dockets, below densely compacted debris in a great shaft (called Well Room E) in KV 57. Of the 46 wine sherds with year dates, 14 have nothing but the year date formula, 5 dockets have year 10+X, 3 dockets have year 11+X, 2 dockets preserve year 12+X and 1 docket has a year 13+X inscription. 22 dockets "mention year 13 and 8 have year 14 [of Horemheb]" but none mention a higher date for Horemheb.


title: Horemheb

text: Meanwhile, the year 14 dockets, in contrast, are all individual and mention specific wines such as "very good quality wine" or, in one case "sweet wine" and the location of the vineyard is identified. A general example is this text on a year 14 wine docket:


title: Horemheb

text: Other year 14 dockets mention Memphis (?), the Western River while their vintners are named as Nakhtamun, [Mer-]seger-men, Ramose, and others.


title: Horemheb

text: The "quality and consistency of the KV 57 dockets strongly suggest that Horemheb was buried in his year 14, or at least before the wine harvest of his year 15 at the very latest." This evidence is consistent "with the Horemheb dockets from Deir el-Medina which mention years 2, 3, 4, 6, 13, and 14, but again no higher dates ..." while a docket ascribed to Horemheb from Sedment has year 12." The lack of dated inscriptions for Horemheb after his year 14 also explains the unfinished state of Horemheb's royal KV 57 tomb – "a fact not taken into account by any of those [scholars] defending a long reign [of 26 or 27 years]. The tomb is comparable to that of Seti I in size and decoration technique, and Seti I's tomb is far more extensively decorated than that of Horemheb, and yet Seti managed to virtually complete his tomb within a decade, whereas Horemheb did not even succeed in fully decorating the three rooms he planned to have done, leaving even the burial hall unfinished. Even if we assume that Horemheb did not begin the work on his royal tomb until his year 7 or 8, ... it remains a mystery how the work could not have been completed had he lived on for another 20 or more years." Therefore, most scholars now accept a reign of 14 years and 1 month.


title: Horemheb

text: The argument for a 27 year reign derived from two texts. The first is an anonymous hieratic graffito written on the shoulder of a now fragmented statue from his mortuary temple in Karnak which mentions the appearance of the king himself, or a royal cult statue representing the king, for a religious feast. The ink graffito reads "Year 27, first Month of Shemu day 9, the day on which Horemheb, who loves Amun and hates his enemies, entered" [the temple for the event]. It was disputed whether this was a contemporary text or a reference to a festival commemorating Horemheb's accession written in the reign of a later king. The second text is the Inscription of Mes, from the reign of Ramesses II, which records that a court case decision was rendered in favour of a rival branch of Mes' family in year 59 of Horemheb. It was argued that the year 59 Horemheb date included the reigns of all the rulers between Amenhotep III and Horemheb. Subtracting the nearly 17 year reign of Akhenaten, the 2 year reign of Neferneferuaten, the 9 year reign of Tutankhamun and the reign of Ay suggested a reign of 26–27 years for Horemheb. However, the length of Ay's reign is not actually known and Wolfgang Helck argues that there was no standard Egyptian practice of including the years of all the rulers between Amenhotep III and Horemheb.


title: Horemheb

text: Horemheb turned to several gods because of his various names: his throne name means 'Sacred are the manifestations of Ra' and his name birth name is accompanied by the epithet 'beloved of Amun'.


title: Horemheb

text: It is not yet proven whether Horemheb had really exorcised the Amarna period; the great iconoclasm began only after his death. To be able to build for himself, however, he did have the Per-Aten temple at Karnak pulled down and constructed a pylon of the Amun temple with its stone blocks. The Aten reliefs from the Amarna period on those blocks therefore remained fairly well preserved.


title: Horemheb

text: Horemheb appear in reliefs wearing the typical pleated linen robe of a high ranking official depicted sitting in front of an offering table, as a pharaoh holding the pole and the sekhem sceptre of a high official (the uraeus was added after his ascension to the throne), with a benu-bird regarded as the protector of the dead as the soul of Ra sitting on a stand, and finally a man worshipping a benu-bird.


title: Horemheb

text: The coronation inscription on the back of a double statue, showing Horemheb with his wife, tells that he is under the protection of Horus and appointed by Amun. It reports further that he had the damaged statues of the old gods remade and had the temples that had fallen into disrepair rebuilt. For the Amun cult, 'he provided them with servants to the god and lector priests from the military elite'. In a decree on a stele in Karnak, he again officially confirms the restoration of the old order.