Years of extensive research and interviews make Anna Fifield's biography of Kim Jong Un and others in the Kim dynasty a must-read for those striving to understand North Korea's enigmatic comrade-in-chief.

The Washington Post Beijing bureau chief Anna Fifield's new book, "The Great Successor," details the life of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un.

As a fulcrum of exchange, the Ryukyu archipelago was multilingual and multicultural from its earliest days.

Ohara Koson created a large body of ukiyo-e prints that delighted a foreign clientelle, yet garnered relatively little attention in Japan. More than 70 years after his death, he is finally being honored with a retrospective in his native country.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi was a true son of Edo. Born near Nihonbashi in 1797, his father a dyer, he grew up among the hoi polloi in the crowded streets of the low city, where popular stories of tattooed otokodate, the revered "street knights" of the ...

Natsume Soseki, widely viewed as Japan's greatest literary figure, was a complicated man. A new full-length biography by John Nathan, "Soseki: Modern Japan's Greatest Novelist," sheds light on the challenging, and often painful, life of this literary giant.

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.

The space was bare. Except for a dirty mattress, there was no furniture. Bugs were crawling on the walls, the chamber pot reeked. Unshaved, unwashed and alone, Jack Riley had only a few benzedrine pills left to feed his addiction. Soon, he would be ...

When Masatoshi Naito first began researching Tohoku folklore, he expected to find places "haunted with a macabre atmosphere." Instead, he stumbled into a vivacious traditional society "filled with elderly women who throw boisterous bashes all night long."

The "Konjaku Monogatari" is one of Japan's oldest collection of stories. Many are supernatural folktales that warn against foxes and demons. All are meant to educate.