'Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration' creates the man anew
One of the joys of reading about history is the way in which each generation interprets the past through its own perspective. This isn’t simply new facts coming to light or official documents being unsealed — rather, it’s the historian’s equivalent of “the observer ...
Beset by an aging, shrinking body, Japan must find the means of rebuilding its "character" if it is to survive the challenges ahead.
Reconjuring the vision of the Meiji Centennial
Japan has thus far succeeded in preserving its national character while fulfilling its growing responsibility toward the international community.
Meiji 150 as the end of an era
When Japan was a young nation-state 150 years ago, its leaders charted a course through trial and error. Now we are in need of a new vision, identity and strategy for the next 150 years.
A contextual look at the Heisei Era
To lament the 'fall of Japan' during the Heisei Era, as some pessimists do, misses the big picture.
Mass media and democracy in prewar and postwar Japan
Now, more than ever, the free press must avoid the perils of populist pandering and fulfill its responsibility as one of the key pillars of democracy.
The process of the Meiji Restoration looks all the more relevant at a time when Japan is facing an uncertain and uncharted future.
Historical jury still out on Japan's Meiji Restoration
On July 27, 1853, the Tokugawa shogunate was in crisis. Shogun Tokugawa Ieyoshi passed away from what today is believed to be heat exhaustion at Edo Castle in the heart of Edo, present-day Tokyo. Abe Masahiro, the top samurai bureaucrat under the shogun, had an ...
Lessons from diplomatic and constitutional history
The 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration presents an opportunity to make a sweeping assessment of Japan's political and diplomatic trajectory over the ensuing years.
Old photos illuminate a Japan now 'lost'
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.
For foreign nationals over 150 years ago, Kyoto’s Fushimi was end of the line
Just before reaching Chushojima Station on the Keihan Line heading into Kyoto from Osaka, or just after crossing the Uji River on the almost parallel Kintetsu train that runs between Kyoto and Nara, two towers that look old and of European design flash briefly ...
Heroism and the changing state of morality
Every age breeds its own morality. One era's good is another's evil. Today's virtue is tomorrow's vice, today's wisdom tomorrow's stupidity, today's sanity tomorrow's madness. For 700 years, from the late 12th to the mid-19th centuries, Japan's highest ideals were embodied in the samurai. Unflinching ...
