Tag - meiji-restoration

 
 

MEIJI RESTORATION

Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Apr 18, 2022
Saigo Takamori: The last ‘true’ samurai, defender of the Japanese spirit
Saigo Takamori's samurai rank was low, but that might account for his love for the land and disdain for wealth and power.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 14, 2021
‘Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai’: A historical swashbuckler full of gusto
Director Masato Harada's period film focuses on the rise and fall of the infamous Shinsengumi samurai corps during the years of political tumult leading up to the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 30, 2021
'Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration' creates the man anew
One of the joys of reading about history is the way in which each generation interprets the past through its own perspective. This isn’t simply new facts coming to light or official documents being unsealed — rather, it’s the historian’s equivalent of “the observer effect” in physics: It’s impossible to completely remove yourself from your own context and perspective. There is no such thing as objective history. This, in part, helps explain the position Sakamoto Ryoma (1836-67) holds in the pantheon of Japanese greats — every generation creates him anew.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / japan since the Meiji Restoration
Nov 26, 2018
Drawing a 150-year story line
Beset by an aging, shrinking body, Japan must find the means of rebuilding its 'character' if it is to survive the challenges ahead.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / japan since the Meiji Restoration
Nov 19, 2018
Reconjuring the vision of the Meiji Centennial
Japan has thus far succeeded in preserving its national character while fulfilling its growing responsibility toward the international community.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / japan since the Meiji Restoration
Nov 13, 2018
Meiji 150 as the end of an era
When Japan was a young nation-state 150 years ago, its leaders charted a course through trial and error. Now we are in need of a new vision, identity and strategy for the next 150 years.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / japan since the Meiji Restoration
Nov 5, 2018
A contextual look at the Heisei Era
To lament the 'fall of Japan' during the Heisei Era, as some pessimists do, misses the big picture.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 29, 2018
Mass media and democracy in prewar and postwar Japan
Now, more than ever, the free press must avoid the perils of populist pandering and fulfill its responsibility as one of the key pillars of democracy.
EDITORIALS
Oct 23, 2018
Revisiting the Meiji Restoration, 150 years on
The process of the Meiji Restoration looks all the more relevant at a time when Japan is facing an uncertain and uncharted future.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Oct 23, 2018
Historical jury still out on Japan's Meiji Restoration
On July 27, 1853, the Tokugawa shogunate was in crisis. Shogun Tokugawa Ieyoshi passed away from what today is believed to be heat exhaustion at Edo Castle in the heart of Edo, present-day Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / Japan / japan since the Meiji Restoration
Oct 22, 2018
Lessons from diplomatic and constitutional history
The 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration presents an opportunity to make a sweeping assessment of Japan's political and diplomatic trajectory over the ensuing years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 28, 2018
Old photos illuminate a Japan now 'lost'
In 'Lost Japan,' Rosella Menegazzo brings talented daguerreotype photographer Felice Beato and his previously overlooked photos of daily life in Meiji Era Japan into the foreground.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Apr 22, 2018
For foreign nationals over 150 years ago, Kyoto’s Fushimi was end of the line
Just before reaching Chushojima Station on the Keihan Line heading into Kyoto from Osaka, or just after crossing the Uji River on the almost parallel Kintetsu train that runs between Kyoto and Nara, two towers that look old and of European design flash briefly into view before disappearing among the modern houses and buildings.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Feb 17, 2018
Heroism and the changing state of morality
Every age breeds its own morality. One era's good is another's evil. Today's virtue is tomorrow's vice, today's wisdom tomorrow's stupidity, today's sanity tomorrow's madness.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Dec 24, 2017
Kyoto to mark 150th anniversary of Meiji Restoration with series of events
Kyoto's long history is one of great prosperity (the Heian Period of a millennium ago, when the arts flourished) and great tragedy (the 1467-1477 Onin War devastated the city). But in more modern times, 1868 was something of an annus horribilis.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Dec 9, 2017
Open waters: Opening of ports 150 years ago remains a watershed moment in the nation's history
The year 2018 marks the 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration, which ended about 250 years of self-imposed isolation and marked the beginning of Japan's efforts to become a major international power.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 7, 2017
Yasuyuki Namikawa: A master of cloisonne color and design
There are two ways that the skill of craftsmanship can be emphasized: by showing it off through masses of meticulous decorative details, or by stripping everything to the bare minimum and bringing into focus just a few perfectly executed qualities. Think of it as maximalism vs. minimalism — Gucci vs. Kinfolk.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Dec 10, 2016
Meiji Restoration leader's lessons of sincerity
Is there any understanding a man like Saigo Takamori? His spirit seems as vast as his bulk, and his bulk was that of a sumo wrestler. He is "the quintessential hero of modern Japanese history," said historian Ivan Morris.
JAPAN / History
Mar 22, 2014
The sloughing of Japan's corporate skin goes on
"Man is born free and is everywhere in chains."
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jun 23, 2013
The 'barbarians' were coming — like it or not
'Sonnō jōi!": "Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians!"

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on