In 1590, having already subdued Kyushu and northeast Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi successfully took Osaka Castle after a three-month siege. But with opposition defeated, what happened next?

What a strange place a school is — a world within a world, a society within a society. Kids grow up in it asking themselves, "Is the real world like this?" Yes and no. It is and it isn't. In December, the weekly Aera published the ...

Sodanē. What an innocent, carefree year it must have been to spawn so bland a word of the year. It has a nice ring to it, especially when spoken with the Hokkaido lilt the women's curling team — surprise bronze medalists — gave it during ...

There's no such place as Imizustan. Warabistan is equally fictitious. "Stan" means "homeland" in ancient Persian — hence Pakistan, Afghanistan and so on. A substantial Pakistani community in Imizu, Toyama Prefecture, spawned the nickname Imizustan. Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, hosts a growing community of Kurds. ...

Spectacular battle scenes, honorable deaths and tragic pathos, "The Tale of Heike" is like Japan's very own "Iliad."

Do I really need this operation? Is this medication really good for me? Does my doctor really know what ails me? Who can you trust? Which of the following leading Japanese businesses, for example: Nissan Motor Co.? Subaru Corp.? Toray Industries Inc.? Kobe Steel Ltd.? ...

Japanese art has a quality all its own. The ancient and the avant-garde merge. Prehistoric figurines seem 10,000 years deep rather than 10,000 years old. And modern art takes us back even as it propels us forward. Manga, for instance, predates its name by ...

Some wars spawn myths. Some spawn epics. Some spawn both; others, neither. The 13th-century Mongol invasions of Japan spawned a myth — the "divine wind" that repulsed the invading fleet — but no epic. The 12th-century Genpei War spawned an epic — the "Heike ...

Society is crumbling into its component elements. Not only Japanese society. Economic and technological progress worldwide favors — offline at least — individuals over groups. That's good and bad, liberating and isolating. Britain earlier this year became the first nation in history to appoint a minister ...

What's wrong with the following story? A magician, skilled but unlucky, finds success passing him by. One day, wandering lost in gloomy thoughts, he meets a boy who is unhappier still. The magician does some tricks. The boy cheers up. They become friends. They agree ...