In a city with over a million people, where do you put them all? Tokyo’s upper class had their estates and mansions, and the merchants had their townhouse businesses that lined the busy streets. As for commoners, many lived in…
See Ancient Egypt in Japan!
A new exhibition has brought a culture even more ancient than Japan’s to Fukuoka. The Brooklyn Museum’s “Unraveling the Secrets of Ancient Egypt” is going on now at the Fukuoka Art Museum. The exhibit explores the land of…
Defend the Home Islands: Building a Japanese Home Guard Platoon in Bolt Action
“If the enemy chooses to attack the mainland a combined force of 100 million Tokko, special attack soldiers, will obliterate them. They will, with absolute certainty, defend this imperial land.” National Resistance Manual, as published in the Chubu Nihon newspaper…
Last Samurai Standing in Meiji-mura
In 1878, Japan was becoming a modern nation freeing itself of its feudal past. But what should be done with the men who fought and died to make that modern nation a reality, the samurai? In Last Samurai Standing, hundreds…
Waltz on the Western Edge: New exhibition opens at Sasebo’s Shimanose Art Museum
Sasebo’s Shimanose Art Center opened its latest exhibition, “Waltz on the Western Edge,” on Oct. 31, 2025. As a coastal city, the ocean has always been vital to Sasebo’s livelihood and its place on Kyushu’s western edge has put it…
Stories Told in Stone: History and Remembrance at Sasebo’s Navy Cemetery
I like to visit Sasebo’s former naval cemetery at Highasi Park from time to time, looking at ship memorials and enjoying the changing seasons there. It’s Japan’s largest naval cemetery and since the first burials in 1892, it’s kept alive…
Hasami, Hand Grenades, (Emperor) Hirohito and the Holidays
This is my first “editorial” style of article in awhile. While I did research these topics, I feel it’s a bit too casual to be called a proper article. This is especially true when I talk about Golden Week and…
Kyushu’s Underwater Kamikazes: Hiji Oga Kaiten Memorial Park and Ruins
The suicidal kamikazes were the Japanese empire’s last ditch effort to slow advancing Allied forces. Viewed as tragic heroes today, most of them sortied out from Kyushu and many of the former kamikaze bases have sprouted memorial hall museums and…
Okinawa Quest
Okinawa abounds with legends and myths, surprises where least expected and rare animals that can’t be seen anywhere else. The island is dense with sacred places and scattered tombs that can be found by wandering off an unmarked side trail…
The Forgotten Story of Oba Castle
A samurai lord sits on a hillside, still dressed in his armor, looking across the swamp that stretches before him. Ise Sozui, known to history as the great Hojo Soun and founder of the mighty Late Hojo Clan, looks…