Japanese cuisine is one of the most popular in the world. Yet if you had visited Japan 150 years ago, you would not have found most of the dishes that constitute Japanese cuisine today. I’ve compiled a list of Japanese dishes in chronological order from the time of their invention or importation...
Citizens group 'Kodomo to Kyokasho Zenkoku Net 21' reported that information on the 1945 Battle of Okinawa had been scaled back in some Japanese textbooks planned to be used from the 2024 school year, leaving out the Japanese military's involvement in mass suicides on the islands after U.S...
The story of the terrible Ōnin War (応仁の乱, Ōnin no Ran) has now been told. In this groundbreaking book, the author has drawn on previously untranslated primary sources to set the famous yet misunderstood conflict in its true context. Its history begins with the glory days of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu...
The ultimate visual guide to Samurai history and culture!
The Samurai are continuously celebrated as the greatest warriors the world has ever seen. They ruled Japan for centuries, finally uniting the nation after a prolonged period of brutal war and bloodshed. Though famed for their loyalty...
The stories collected here were written for a monthly Japan Times column called The Living Past over the past seven years. They range from earliest prehistory to modern times. The column still runs. The living past is inexhaustible. It never runs out of stories to tell.
Column and book both...
Sekigahara was the greatest samurai battle in history. Japan had long been at civil war until brought under the rule of Oda Nobunaga, and then, following his death at the hands of a traitorous general, that of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. It was Hideyoshi who completed the unification of Japan and...
Yamada Takaichi of Nagano Prefecture was a conscientious objector before the term was even coined. He faked his own death to avoid military conscription in the Pacific War. He died in 1990 at the age of 82. Only then was his son Shigehiko able to put the pieces of the puzzle together, decades...
The final volume in the Eisner-nominated history of Japan; one of NPR's Best Books of 2014
"Showa 1953 1989: A History of Japan" concludes Shigeru Mizuki's dazzling autobiographical and historical account of Showa-period Japan, a portrait both intimate and ranging of a defining epoch. The final...
A sweeping yet intimate portrait of the legacy of World War II in Japan
"Showa 1944 1953: A History of Japan" continues the award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki's autobiographical and historical account of the Showa period in Japan. This volume recounts the events of the final years of the...
A master cartoonist and war vet details Japan's involvement in World War II
"Showa 1939" "1944: A History of Japan" continues the award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki's autobiographical and historical account of Showa-era Japan. This volume covers the final moments of the lead-up to World War II...
A fascinating period in Japanese history explored by a master of manga
Showa 1926–1939: A History of Japan is the first volume of Shigeru Mizuki's meticulously researched historical portrait of twentieth-century Japan. This volume deals with the period leading up to World War II, a time of high...
Yanaka is one of Tokyo's few neighbourhoods where the local environment, a historic town culture reflective of Tokyo in previous decades, has persisted. There is a feeling of charm and old beauty in the district. It is within a short walk of Ueno Park and offers a unique sightseeing experience...
The idea of the sword-wielding samurai, beholden to a strict ethical code and trained in deadly martial arts, dominates popular conceptions of the samurai. As early as the late seventeenth century, they were heavily featured in literature, art, theatre, and even comedy, from The Tale of the...
Hi all! I recently spent a lot of time researching the Battle of Sekigahara with the goal of writing a condensed, yet comprehensive and approachable post which I thought I'd share with you here.
So without further ado:
The Battle of Sekigahara which occurred on October 21st 1600 was perhaps...
Hello all, nice to meet you! I’m a writer from Indonesia, and currently working on a fiction about Japan and its culture. The story revolves around the four mythical creatures in Japanese belief (Seiryu, Suzaku, Byakko, and Genbu), and will see the protagonist human characters exploring around...
The short-lived Kenmu regime (1333–1336) of Japanese Emperor Go-Daigo is often seen as an inevitably doomed, revanchist attempt to shore up the old aristocratic order. But far from resisting change, Andrew Edmund Goble here forcefully argues, the flamboyant Go-Daigo and his iconoclastic...
Hey guys!
I've been reading up on the Japanese good luck flags of WW2. This forum has been a great treasure trove of knowledge! I'm excited to say that I have purchased one of the fantastic pieces of history and was wondering if anyone had any knowledge about this particular flag. There's not...
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