On one fateful week in 1902, Old Country systems of oversight of meat production met New Country price collusion. With the price of kosher meat skyrocketing in New York City and the Jewish population entering its hangriest period of the year, tensions spilled over into a pandemonium involving naked butchers, flying fish, and cops getting slapped in the face with raw liver.
This week: in 1940, a manuscript lost for over 600 years is recovered from the archives of the Imperial family.…
This week: how has the JMSDF gone from an afterthought to a central part of Japan’s security planning? Sources Patalano,…
A man, a plan, a violation of controlled airspace. Larry Walters was an ordinary truck driver, but he hatched an extraordinary scheme to take to the sky in a lawn chair tied to weather balloons. His stunt made international headlines, inspired movies, and launched an extreme sport.
This week: the start of a two part series on the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces. Today: how did Japan’s current…
This week, the biography of one of the most unusual figures of Bakumatsu Japan: the peasant Matsuo Taseko, whose career…
What should you do when two different governments claim to have authority over your country? Tell everyone that a third government secretly has the real claim to power! Then, start taking people’s money so you can issue your own license plates and government ID cards. What could go wrong?
This week, we’re covering the rise of the Hirata school of kokugaku, or national studies, during the Edo Period. How…
A questionably written game gave rise to one of the most exuberant and creative fandoms in recent years. What was going on with the fandom that turned a barely-there character into a beloved fan favorite, filmed an entire feature-length movie, and wrote millions of words about playing with wires in a sexy way?
An attempt to get to the bottom of steroid abuse in Major League Baseball spun out so badly that one of the lawyers involved ended up in prison. But why is punishing people for the misuse of regulated drugs in sports left up to private organizations in the first place? And wouldn’t baseball be so much more fun if everyone was still injecting meth and goat testicle juice?