The Rise of Japan
When it comes to rapid world-changing events, the Meiji Restoration has few equals.
Japan
The First Japanese Man in America
A teenager shipwrecked on a Pacific atoll helped transform relations between Japan and the United States.
The Map: Kyoto, c.1626
A map of the Japanese city from the Edo period was one of the earliest produced for general use.
Everyday Life in Japan's Colonies
Japan’s vast Asian empire became home to more than a million female settlers, who told their stories in an effort to keep in contact.
Portrait of the Author as a Historian: Yukio Mishima
Angered by his native country’s rush towards western-style modernisation, the acclaimed Japanese author committed a shocking act of protest.
Japan’s Charles Dickens
The visit of Natsume Sōseki to London at the turn of the 20th century suggested ways of successfully combining western industrialism with ‘Japanese Spirit’.
The Sinking of Japan
An island nation with few resources, Japan was in a precarious enough position when it declared war on the United States in December 1941. That its powerful navy failed to learn the lessons of previous conflicts made matters even worse.
The Map: From the East, From the West, 1942
A Japanese map produced during the Second World War encouraged children to follow the Empire's military effort, explains Kate Wiles.
Young Guns: Terrorism in Japan
Tim Stanley describes the Asama-Sansō Incident of 1972 and reveals the cyclical nature of political violence and the means of its defeat.
Sakoku, or the Closed Country: 1640-1854
C.R. Boxer offers a study of Japanese isolationism between the mid-seventeenth and the mid-nineteenth century.