JAPANESE LANGUAGE
Japanese Writing: The 80-Year Battle for “Genbun Itchi”
How did written Japanese come into accord with the spoken language? A short history of the movement to bring Japanese writing to…
meiji era
Page 6
JAPANESE LANGUAGE
CULTURE
Japan Isn’t a Painting in a Museum
Why Westerners who treat Japanese culture as a finished, unchanging product need to learn more about Japanese history - and about life…
FOOD
Japanese Kitchen Knives: Like Katanas for Your Kitchen
Why are Japanese kitchen knives so popular? Learn the history behind the blades - and how to buy one that's right for…
CULTURE
Ancestral Ainu Remains Returned by Tokyo University
A long fight by Japan's indigenous Ainu results in a hard-won victory - but much more remains to be done.
JAPANESE LANGUAGE
Japanese Writing: The Kanji Debate of the Meiji Period
The story of how modern Japanese came to assume its current written form - and how kanji nearly got left on the…
FEATURED
Black Dragon Society: Japan’s Secret Imperialist Clique
How the Black Dragon Society of right-wing nationalists and pan-Asianists pushed Japan ever further rightward prior to World War II.
HISTORY
Hosono Masabumi: The Shunned Survivor of the Titanic
How Japan's lone passenger on the Titanic survived - and the ridicule and judgment he faced upon his return.
HISTORY
When Japan Ruled the Waves: The Forgotten Colonies of Micronesia
How Japan defeated the German Empire in World War I and ruled over Micronesia for three decades - before it all came…