Hatoyama Kazuo was a reluctant politician; you can’t say the same of his son Hatoyama Ichiro, groomed from childhood to…
This week, we’re starting a longform look at Japan’s most prominent political dynasty: the Hatoyama family, which has been a…
This week, we’re covering the art of rakugo–storytelling with a twist! How did rakugo emerge from the history of Buddhism,…
Japan would seize control of German Micronesia in the fall of 1914, but Japanese interest in the region goes back…
This week: the bizarre story of an attempted coup in Korea that, along the way, touches on everything from Japanese…
This week: a long-requested dive into the ronin police force known as the Shinsengumi. Who were the members of this…
This week is all about a biography of a fascinating figure of the Meiji Restoration: Oguri Tadamasa. But it’s also…
This week, we wrap up our imperial biographies with a look at the Meiji Emperor’s relationship to three important aspects…
This week: the life of the Meiji Emperor in the turbulent 1870s and 1880s. We’ll cover everything from the birth…
This week: the boy emperor Meiji takes responsibility for Japan’s future. But what did that mean in practice? What does…