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Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 9, 2013

Unlike Germany, Japan's right still wrong on wartime history

It seems like there is no time like the present for Japanese to reflect on the wartime past. Japan's shared history with Asia has long been a running sore, dividing Japanese about what happened and why, a discourse that clouds the issue of war responsibility in ways that antagonize East Asian neighbors...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 21, 2011

Coming of age in Kamakura

When I first went to Kamakura I was 16 and full of wonder and anger and curiosity; a coiled hope poised at the edge of experience.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2011

Recent tension, pro-North schools' history spin hurt tuition waiver bid

Flipping through a copy of a recently obtained Korean history textbook used in pro-Pyongyang junior high schools in Japan, journalist Ryo Hagiwara points his finger to a section describing how North Korea's founding father, Kim Il Sung, and his Korean People's Revolutionary Army defeated the Japanese...
CULTURE / Books
May 30, 2010

Inspirational voice from the land of Gaza: What if postwar Japan had a similar history?

Beginning in a Gaza Strip refugee camp with the author taking tearful leave of his home to travel to the United States of America, this "untold story" is a double memoir/biography charting the lives of Ramzy Baroud's father and relatives and the history of the Palestinian people and Gaza.
EDITORIALS
Mar 31, 2010

Mutual understanding of history

Japanese and South Korean historians on March 23 issued a report on the second round of discussions on the shared history of the two nations. Objections to nationalistic content of a history textbook approved by Japan's education ministry led to the two countries agreeing in 2001 to launch the first...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2009

Interest in history, literature spawns tomb tours

Cemeteries are generally considered spooky and gloomy, which may explain why Japanese visit the graves of loved ones on few occasions yearly, such as on the anniversary of their deaths and during the spring and fall equinox.
COMMENTARY
May 25, 2004

Iraq and the end of history

U.S. President George W. Bush says often that the American aim in Iraq is to promote something called "democracy." But what is this democracy?
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2001

Tokyo schools for disabled to get contentious history text

The Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education voted Tuesday to use a controversial history textbook at three public schools for disabled children.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2001

Japan's history again haunts future relations

The ongoing controversy between Japan and South Korea over a new textbook for Japanese junior high schools has taken a toll on the bilateral diplomatic calendar.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 5, 2000

Handful of history

COLUMBIA CHRONOLOGIES OF ASIAN HISTORY AND CULTURE, edited by John S. Bowman. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000, 752 pp., $85. Oh, "if men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us! But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives is a lantern on the...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2000

China refuses to let history be

The recent visit to Japan by Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji has certainly created a favorable impression among the Japanese -- a contrast with Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit two years ago -- but it has had no significant politi cal impact on public opinion in this country.
OLYMPICS
Jul 17, 2021

Japan’s Olympic history

Looking back at some of Japan's most memorable moments at the games since the country's 1912 debut in Stockholm.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2020

Museum showcases global, Japanese timekeeping history

At the grand opening of The Seiko Museum Ginza in that district on Aug. 19, one wonders whether company founder Kintaro Hattori, who initially established K. Hattori in Ginza back in 1881, was watching proceedings from above.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Sep 20, 2019

Exhibition traces history of Okinawa tattoo tradition that became a mark of shame

Back when Okinawa was the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429-1879), tattooing the back of women's hands was a common practice, with the tattoos admired by men and women alike for their elaborate designs.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 22, 2017

Reenact history at Yakage's fabled daimyo festival

A small town in Okayama Prefecture is seeking to reestablish its relevance.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 22, 2017

Japanese revisionist drivel exposed by former 'comfort woman'

Lee Yong-soo's is a poignant saga of abduction from her village at age 16 and ending up on an air base in Taiwan, where she was beaten and tortured until she succumbed.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 11, 2017

Unlocking Tokyo's history one step at a time with guided walking tours

Tokyo has never had a reputation for being walkable.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 23, 2016

Beware Beijing's self-serving interpretations of history

While Beijing invites ridicule for making weak or baseless territorial claims, the rest of the world should not it is deadly serious in defending them.
U.S. wrestlers (from left) Christina Griffin, Madison Guinn, Etan Perez and Kellyann Ball celebrate after winning bronze in the women's team competition at the Sumo World Championships in the western Tokyo city of Tachikawa on Sunday.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Oct 11, 2023

American women make history at Sumo World Championships in Tokyo

The achievement by the U.S. team, two of whom are new to the sport, ended a 22-year wait for American women to reach the podium at the worlds.
Israeli soldiers gather around a tank near the border with the Gaza Strip on Oct. 15. The IDF is preparing to conduct a ground offensive into the Palestinian territory.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 26, 2023

When history rhymes: Are we back in 2003, at the dawn of the Iraq War?

Given the parallels between the Israeli position today and the U.S. invasion of Iraq a decade ago, history can offer important lessons.
A mid-19th century ukiyo-e woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi depicts Xu Fu’s voyage in search of the elixir of life. He can be seen near the left side of the image, with what looks to be Penglai, or Mount Fuji, in the background.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Jan 20, 2024

Eternal pursuits: A history of Japanese quests for immortality

Whether it's a permanent state of meditation or feasting on mermaid, the quest for immortality in Japan isn't too far off from those in other cultures.
Palestinians help an injured man in the aftermath of an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2024

The Gaza war isn't a Holocaust, but it's still a nightmare

There are, sadly, many examples in history of the kind of conflict under way in Gaza, and the Holocaust isn’t one of them.
Hideo Takayama (front) and Nama Yoshimura head down a narrow alley where a small stream used to run.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Mar 9, 2024

Tracing Tokyo’s hidden rivers

Underneath the pavement are remnants of the way the city used to look. Discovering them is a challenge that increasing numbers of locals enjoy.
The year 2023 was the hottest in recorded history. The next warmest 25 have all occurred since 1996.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2024

It’s officially hotter than anytime since the birth of Jesus

Tree rings hold records that can go back thousands of years, giving us the perspective we need to understand what’s happening today.
Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen at home plate during the second inning against the Blue Jays at Fenway Park in Boston on Monday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 27, 2024

Baseball history as Jansen plays for both sides in same game

A trade during a postponement saw the player swap sides part way through a game.
Tokoro Ruins Museum Director Yuuki Nakamura says that 'most Japanese people don’t know' the history of the Okhotsk culture, but he and others are betting that travelers might be intrigued enough to visit and find out more.
LIFE / Travel
Feb 22, 2025

Bear skulls and pit dwellings: Hokkaido aims to sell ancient history

The Okhostk culture thrived in northern Hokkaido from the fifth to ninth centuries and may have provided the Ainu with some of their best-known rituals.
National agency Heritage Malta worked with Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure the painstaking restoration of samurai armor that spent over half a century forgotten in storage in Valletta, Malta.
JAPAN / History
May 1, 2025

Lost and found history receives glittering homecoming at Osaka Expo

Hidden away since World War II, samurai armor gifted to Malta from Japan in 1862 has been restored to its full glory and put on display at the Malta Pavilion.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic