The University of Tokyo riots of 1968-69: A photographer remembers the final days of resistance
Riot police at the University of Tokyo haul off a man wearing a white helmet, cuffed hands clasped above his bowed head. His expression is a mixture of resignation and ...
Toyotomi Hideyoshi: The brutality of victory
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?
Japan Times 1969: Police battle students at Tokyo university
Radical students holed up in Tokyo University's Yasuda Auditorium withstood a 10-hour siege by riot police who seized control of 16 other buildings held by the students on the university's Hongo campus.
Defining the Heisei Era: When communication in Japan went mobile
The launch of a pager known as the Pocket Bell marked the birth of texting and mobile communications in Japan.
Yasukuni Shrine protesters from Hong Kong remanded pending court ruling: activist group
Two Hong Kong activists who were arrested by police over trespassing after staging a protest at the Yasukuni Shrine last week were remanded in custody following a court appearance Wednesday, the duo's activist group said. A judge at the Tokyo District Court adjourned the case ...
The war that spawned the way of the warrior
Spectacular battle scenes, honorable deaths and tragic pathos, "The Tale of Heike" is like Japan's very own "Iliad."
Japan Times 1968: Bandit steals ¥294 million in daring daylight robbery
A young man posing as a motorcycle policeman robbed a bank car of ¥294 million in cash in a daring broad daylight robbery on a highway in Fuchu in western Tokyo on Tuesday.
Defining the Heisei Era: Examining the rise of otaku culture
With the number of children shrinking, popular entertainment naturally began targeting the otaku population that didn't hesitate to open their wallets for material many considered juvenile.
'The Tale of the Heike' delivers a path for salvation
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 ...
Japanese expat overcame 'color bar' to become decorated war hero for Britain in WWI
During the early days of World War I, a young Japanese man who had left his country behind seeking a new life enlisted in the British Army to fight the Germans. In the four ensuing years of war, Harry Fusao O'Hara would be wounded almost ...
