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November 06, 2025
 

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SAMURAI

Chris Glenn (right) will play Oda Nobunaga, known as one of Japan’s three great unifiers, in the 71st annual Nagoya Festival on Oct. 18 and 19.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 17, 2025
A samurai-loving radio host prepares to become Oda Nobunaga for a day
Nagoya-based radio host Chris Glenn will portray warlord Oda Nobunaga, becoming the first non-Japanese to join the city’s historic parade.
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to 2020's smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, is a violent, vengeful and engaging romp through 17th-century Hokkaido that fails to stick the landing on its most sensitive cultural material.
LIFE / Digital
Oct 11, 2025
Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity
Set in Ezo (modern-day Hokkaido), the highly anticipated samurai action-adventure game contains familiar thrills but subpar substance.
This year marked the ninth annual championship put on by the Hogyokukai school of traditional Japanese swordsmanship.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 26, 2025
Traditional Japanese swordsmanship — with modern matches
Held on July 12, the Hogyokukai’s ninth annual championship once again blended classic techniques with contemporary competition.
Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
May 5, 2025
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan
How one artist is using history, culture and community spirit to revive a fading samurai legacy — and possibly reshape rural Japan’s future.
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.
An idealistic samurai (Taiga Nakano) leads a motley gang of felons on a suicide mission to defend a fortress during the 1868-69 Boshin War.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 31, 2024
‘11 Rebels’: Underdog antiheroes deliver a crowd pleaser
A knotty period in Japanese history gets a modern treatment in Kazuya Shiraishi’s spectacle-driven samurai period drama.
The conduct and business of love in Japan’s Edo Period (1603-1867) was rough, and nowhere was it rougher than in the pleasure quarters of the capital city.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Sep 29, 2024
Good or bad, both or neither: Edo Japan and the moral conscience
The era's warrior class and its martial virtues were redundant but lived on — overshadowed by the pursuit of pleasure.
The first season of 'Shogun' wraps up just prior to the 1600 Battle of Sekigahara, where Tokugawa Ieyasu (Yoshii Toranaga in the TV show) faced off against Ishida Mitsunari (Ishido Kazunari) to determine the new ruler of Japan.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 17, 2024
The real-world inspirations behind 'Shogun' are a shinkansen away
“Shogun” has cleaned up at the Emmys, so why not pack a bag and see the real history behind the award-winning show?
A cardboard cutout of the Monkey King character, or Sun Wukong, from the Chinese action role-playing game Black Myth: Wukong is displayed on the day of its launch in Beijing on Aug. 20.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 27, 2024
Black myth, Black samurai and gaming nationalism
While China has to date enjoyed success in mobile and PC gaming, those lucrative sectors carry relatively little prestige. That makes Wukong’s breakout a landmark event.
Gamers can play Assassin's Creed Shadows as either female assassin Naoe or Yasuke, a Black samurai.
LIFE / Digital
Jul 25, 2024
Assassin's Creed makers defend 'creative liberties' in Black samurai row
UbiSoft, the game's maker, said its Assassin's Creed games aren't meant to be perceived as factual representations of history or historical characters.
Yasuke, a historical Black samurai, will star in the newly announced Assassin's Creed Shadows — a choice that has riled some critics online.
LIFE / Digital
May 25, 2024
Gaming's latest culture war targets Yasuke, Japan's Black samurai
For a vocal minority of gamers, a Black protagonist of a game set in feudal Japan was a call to war.
The Netflix series "House of Ninjas" partially succeeds in elevating its subject, but there is still room in Hollywood to give ninja the "samurai" treatment.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
May 8, 2024
Shine and shadow: Unpacking favoritism in ‘Shogun’ and ‘House of Ninjas’
When it comes to Japanese archetypes in Hollywood, samurai are like rock stars compared to the less-considered ninja. It's time ninja took the spotlight.
Chojuro Kawarasaki plays Kuranosuke Ooishi in Kenji Mizoguchi’s 1941 film “Genroku Chushingura” (The 47 Ronin). The story, sometimes told with 46 retainers, has fascinated Japanese audiences since first being performed as a puppet play in 1748. 
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Mar 15, 2024
Edo samurai spirit: From the battlefield to the stage
Life under the Tokugawa shogunate wasn't exactly freedom but neither was it constant war. The Japanese instead sated their bloodlust with theater.
An ukiyo-e print by Utagawa Kuniteru depicts the assault of Asano Naganori on Kira Yoshinaka, an incident that triggered the tragedy of the 47 Ronin and one that was re-created in the play “Chushingura.”
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Mar 8, 2024
Revenge: A dish seldom served in Japanese history but still cold as ice
When Confucius was asked, "Should we kill those who are evil?" The response came, "What need is there for you to kill?"
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 25, 2023
High-tech 'sassen' duels are an active otaku's dream
In a world of endless options for virtual entertainment, could this be the perfect marriage of tech and athletics?
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Jan 22, 2023
The Heian and Edo periods couldn't have been more different, which is why it's odd they ended in such a similar way
The transition from Heian Period peace to the war-prone Kamakura Period was a rough one. Surprisingly, the transition from conflict to the boardrooms of modern Japan were just as rough.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 20, 2022
'The Samurai Castle Master': Long-maligned samurai gets overdue redemption
Chris Glenn's new book on Todo Takatora portrays him as an intelligent and honest warrior worthy of Tokugawa Ieyasu's trust, rather than the disloyal man his enemies made him out to be.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 10, 2022
‘An Illustrated Guide to Samurai History and Culture’ brings the warriors to life in color
Journalist and author Gavin Blair offers a nuanced view of samurai history and their influence on modern pop culture in his latest book.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Apr 18, 2022
Saigo Takamori: The last ‘true’ samurai, defender of the Japanese spirit
Saigo Takamori's samurai rank was low, but that might account for his love for the land and disdain for wealth and power.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Nov 21, 2021
Loyalty before love in the tales of Saikaku’s samurai
A group of travelers comes to a river and must decide whether or not to cross. Scornful of danger, the young lord among them proceeds u2026 and samurai politics soon come into play.
The second life of Japan's net cafes
Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
More Japanese universities pushing toward teaching in English
Waseda University in Tokyo
Takaichi leads first ministerial meeting on policies regarding foreign residents
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a ministerial meeting on policies regarding foreign nationals and immigration on Tuesday at the Prime Minister's Office.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slumps 4%, led by losses in tech sector
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock average index briefly tumbled more than 2,000 points on Wednesday morning following a downbeat session on Wall Street fueled by fears of a bubble in the artificial intelligence sector.
A narrow Pacific waterway at heart of U.S. plans to choke China’s vast navy
Philippine and Australian troops fire an M777 howitzer during live fire exercises as part of joint military drills in Laur, Nueva Ecija, the Philippines, in August.
Takaichi’s balancing act: Supporting Taiwan and stabilizing China ties
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi shakes hands with Lin Hsin-i, Taiwan’s presidential adviser, on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Saturday in this image posted to Takaichi's official X account.
From 1973 to 2025: A Japanese American skater’s long ride to recognition
Judi Oyama at Winchester Skatepark in San Jose, California, in January 1979. The Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee and Guinness World Record holder still skates and hopes to inspire older women.
More Japanese universities pushing toward teaching in English
Waseda University in Tokyo
Young Indonesians in Japan find their political voice
Indonesian students at Hiroshima University hold posters of the 17+8 Demands, demanding transparency and action from their homeland’s government.
The unstoppable rise of konbini tourism
Guests typically follow Ryo Ito’s lead as he weaves through the narrow, colorful aisles of convenience stores.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes
By Alex K.T. Martin

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