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 ...

Stately, stylized noh arose from primitive, rollicking ancestors — sarugaku (monkey music) and dengaku (rural music). Two qualities in particular define it: yūgen (mystery) and monomane (imitation).

You wake to pitch blackness, the house shaking crazily. Nightmare? Yes — a waking one. "Where are my glasses?" You're helpless without your glasses. The shaking gets worse. Earthquakes, typhoons, torrential rain, withering heat — this summer was a crash course in coping with natural ...

Should murderers be put to death? Yes, says Japan. No, says (increasingly) much of the rest of the world. Japan swims against the current. The execution of criminals — not just murderers — was formerly, in Japan as elsewhere, a matter of course. The social ...

"Nazism." "Fascism." "1984." "Kamikaze." Strong words, suggestive language. It's going mainstream. An Asahi Shimbun editorial on July 29 drew comparisons between the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Nazis. Sapio magazine in its July-August edition began a discussion of "neo-fascism" — part two ...

Eighth-century Japan was an infant civilization. Its prehistory had been long. Awakened at last, Japan drank eagerly from the source: China, then at its creative peak.

"O sleep, o gentle sleep, nature's soft nurse" — Shakespeare, as usual, says it best. We don't sleep well. We are restless, fidgety. We toss and turn. Dropping off at last, we dream uneasy dreams and wake up as tired as when we lay down. The ...

Ginko Ogino deserves to be better known — especially now. She was Japan’s first licensed female doctor. What she went through to earn that distinction is the theme of the 1993 novel "Hanauzumi" ("Beyond the Blossoming Fields") by Junichi Watanabe (1933-2014), who was himself a ...