History

Cataclysm: The 1888 Eruption of Fukushima’s Mount Bandai

In 1888, "the Mount Fuji of the North" erupted so fiercely that it remade the local landscape. The incredible story of how Meiji Japan suffered - and recovered - from the worst volcanic disaster in modern Japanese history.

Blood Oaths and Seppuku: The “Beautiful Death” of Author Mishima Yukio

What drove one of Japan's most acclaimed authors to raise a personal militia, and take a high-ranking general hostage in an attempted nationalist coup d'état?

Man of Masks: The Strange Life of Author Mishima Yukio

A youth who found excitement only in books, Mishima Yukio became a brilliant author who challenged his country's sexual mores - until the day his life became stranger than fiction.

Karafuto: How Japan Gained – and Lost – a Prefecture

The story of how, for a brief period of time, the island of Karafuto controlled by Russia became an official part of Japan.

Sakhalin Island: Japan’s Final Frontier

How Japan's discovery of a large northern island devastated the island's native population - and how Japan lost control when Russia muscled in.

The Fall of Ezo, Japan’s “Samurai Democracy”

How Japan's samurai resistance fell to the pressure of history - and how its leader went from hatred traitor to respected leader.

The Last Samurai: Enomoto Takeaki and the Warrior Democracy of Ezo

The story of the samurai who fought the rise of modern Japan to the end - and who, when all else failed, founded his own nation-state.

The Student Deployment: When Japan Threw Its Youth Away

When Japan found itself in desperate straits in 1943, it used the one untapped resource it had left: its college youth. A former soldier tells how he survived - and the permanent damage it etched into his soul.

The Colonization of Hokkaido: How a “Foreign” Frontier Became Japan

How a mysterious frontier island peopled by "barbarians" became one of the four main islands of Japan - and how the original inhabitants suffered as a result.

History

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