If only Iwo Jima had been captured sooner
Had the capture of Iwo Jima taken place in the summer of 1944 as the Tojo Cabinet was collapsing, the war probably would have taken a different course and many lives could have been spared.
Wat Misaka leaves an admirable legacy
When Wataru "Wat" Misaka passed away on Nov. 20, he left an indelible legacy on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. He showed what was possible for someone who looked like he did on the basketball court. And to his eternal credit, he reached ...
Mamoru Shinozaki: Japan's forgotten humanitarian
A monument and a suitable memorialization for Mamoru Shinozaki would communicate a humane message about Japanese remembrance of past injustices, and about its close, peaceful engagement with the rest of Asia in the present.
George Takei hopes his manga on internment reaches U.S. youths
Having experienced WW II internment camps as a child, George Takei hopes that his graphic memoir will resonate with and inspire younger generations to oppose the discrimination facing immigrants today.
'Paper Houses': Loving one half of the country, detesting the other
Author William Plomer came to Japan during the 1920s following the publication of "Turbott Wolfe." Hugely inspired by the country, in his later life he persuaded Benjamin Britten to watch a noh performance, inspiring him to write the opera "Curlew River," and publisher Jonathan ...
'The Barren Zone': A POW's trauma doesn't end at home
Toyoko Yamasaki's "The Barren Zone" is a chilling portrayal of the harsh realities of being a POW and the social difficulties faced by survivors upon returning to Japan.
Japan's war crimes, colonialism and apologies
Both Japan and South Korea must aim for objectivity and impartiality in their grasp of their history.
Japan Times 1919: Women go on strike for first time in Japan
Over 100 female workers employed at a silk reeling factory in Maebashi struck, demanding a 50 percent increase in wages.
Bill Bradley details Chiune Sugihara's heroism in award-winning radio documentary
Bill Bradley, captain of the U.S. gold medal-winning basketball team at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, was recently involved in another winning (and historically important) project with ties to Japan. And it has nothing to do with basketball. The weekly satellite radio program "American Voices with Senator ...
Bank of England picks gay World War II code-breaker Alan Turing for new £50 bank note
Mathematician Alan Turing, whose cracking of a Nazi code helped the Allies to win World War II but who committed suicide after being convicted for homosexuality, will appear on the Bank of England's new £50 banknote, the central bank said Monday. "As the father ...
Defining the Heisei Era: Just how peaceful were the past 30 years?
Asked what characteristics best summed up the Heisei Era (1989-2019), 79 percent of Japanese people thought it would be best remembered as being “peaceful and without war.”
Database of Japanese buried in Australia during WWII completed
A comprehensive, bilingual database of Japanese nationals who died in Australia during World War II and were buried in a war cemetery in the country's east has been completed, researchers announced Thursday. The Cowra Japanese War Cemetery Database project will be open to the public ...
