We’re beginning a month on radical activism in the 1960s with a look at the student uprisings of 1968. Today is all about where those uprisings came from, how they’re related to the “two Zens” of the 1960s, and the specific example of the University of Tokyo, where a debate about student medical internships turned into a violent and bloody battle between leftist student groups.
A long-requested dive into the ronin police force known as the Shinsengumi. Who were the members of this group, and how, despite their rather marginal role in the history of the 1860s, have they become one of the most famous organizations in Japanese history?
This week is all about a biography of a fascinating figure of the Meiji Restoration: Oguri Tadamasa. But it’s also about much more: about how the present shapes our view of the past, and about how, as a result, the ways we talk about someone long dead can shift and change as well.
This week: how has the JMSDF gone from an afterthought to a central part of Japan’s security planning? Sources Patalano,…
This week: the start of a two part series on the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces. Today: how did Japan’s current…
This week: how did a spate of right wing violence in the early years of the 1960s help to fundamentally…
This week: why did the Japanese Socialist Party and the left more generally utterly fail to capitalize on the momentum…
This week, we’re kicking off a short series on the transformations of 1960s Japan with a look at the unassuming…
This week, we’re taking a look at the life of one of Japan’s most famous artists: Miyazaki Hayao. How did…
This week: whaling during the modern era in Japan, and the circumstances that have led to Japan being one of…