I hate Mondays. Not because it’s the beginning of the work week or a fat cat told me to, but because almost all the museums are closed. So with nowhere to go indoors and rain making the outdoors unpleasant, it…
Meiji Maru and Monjayaki: Tokyo’s Free Museum Ship and Eating Tsukishima-Style
Meiji Maru is a ship with unique bragging rights- it’s the reason for a Japanese holiday. After the shogunate was deposed in 1868 and a new government took power, Japan began its rapid transition from feudalism to a modern industrial…
The Godzilla Fighter: J7W1 Shinden
(For an embarrassment of detail photos, jump to the end after addresses and references. You’re welcome, modelers.) In a war-scarred and still healing 1947 Japan, Godzilla brings his unique brand of urban renewal to Tokyo once again. Disarmed and occupied,…
National Museum of the Pacific War: My Favorite 5 Artifacts (Which Don’t Belong to Me)
Deep within the Germanic heart of Texas is the National Museum of the Pacific War, an all encompassing campus for sharing the story of those who served in the Pacific during World War II. It’s the kind of museum you…
Coloring Naval Aviation Flight Test Orange: Patuxent River Naval Air Museum
One a stretch of tarmac hidden in the Maryland woods is collection of naval aircraft embellished with orange details. They once pushed the limits of naval aviation and made it that much safer for those out in the proverbial danger…
The Last Samurai and the Satsuma Rebellion: Battle of Wadagoe and Fall Back to Tawarano (Nobeoka)
Saigo Takamori was a samurai who helped bring about the modern Japanese state in 1868 with the Meiji Restoration. He led its government for a time but retired after falling out over what he perceived as corrupt politics. A few…
Take Me Home, Kyushu Roads: Seeing Japan’s Coal Country
In 1469 a Kyushu farmer made a bonfire in the wilderness which to his surprise set a black rock on fire. Centuries later, what started as a happy accident would go on to play a starring role in a critical…
Keibin: Remembering Okinawa’s Light Railway at Yonabaru
One of Okinawa’s distinct features that sets it apart from mainland Japan is its lack of a railway system, not counting the tourist-centric monorail between the airport and Kokusai-dori. But that wasn’t always the case and for three decades railways,…
Touring Old Japan
This article was originally published in Stripes Japan; ideally I’ll do full blown pieces on each of these locations. Plus Meiji-mura, again. Nagoya is an easy access point into Japan’s cultural heartland. It is also one which samurai armies fought…
Rikkunland: The Most Accessible Display of Modern Japanese Armor and Fighting Vehicles!
I briefly wrote about Rikkunland as part of a 2017 article on bigger vacation, here I’m sharing slightly more information and a lot more photographs of the rare to see Japanese armor and fighting vehicles. In countries that are not…