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July 16, 2024
 

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THE LIVING PAST

Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Mar 16, 2019
Culture bred in the midst of famine and war
'We may even be tempted to conclude that no man in the history of Japan had a greater influence on the formation of Japanese taste,' wrote Japanologist Donald Keene. But still, he continues, 'Yoshimasa may have been the worst shogun ever to rule Japan.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Feb 16, 2019
There are many sides to a great warrior
Almost nothing is known of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's early years with warlord Oda Nobunaga, but by 1570 we see him commanding a detachment, 3,000 strong, in battle against a Nobunaga rival. The peasant boy has come a long way.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jan 19, 2019
Toyotomi Hideyoshi: The brutality of victory
In 1590, having already subdued Kyushu and northeast Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi successfully took Osaka Castle after a three-month siege. But with opposition defeated, what happened next?
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Dec 15, 2018
The war that spawned the way of the warrior
Spectacular battle scenes, honorable deaths and tragic pathos, 'The Tale of Heike' is like Japan's very own 'Iliad.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Nov 17, 2018
'The Tale of the Heike' delivers a path for salvation
Some wars spawn myths. Some spawn epics. Some spawn both; others, neither. The 13th-century Mongol invasions of Japan spawned a myth — the "divine wind" that repulsed the invading fleet — but no epic. The 12th-century Genpei War spawned an epic — the "Heike Monogatari" ("The Tale of...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Oct 20, 2018
Life lessons from the master of noh Zeami
Stately, stylized noh arose from primitive, rollicking ancestors — sarugaku (monkey music) and dengaku (rural music). Two qualities in particular define it: yu016bgen (mystery) and monomane (imitation).
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Sep 15, 2018
The long struggle to become international
Eighth-century Japan was an infant civilization. Its prehistory had been long. Awakened at last, Japan drank eagerly from the source: China, then at its creative peak.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 18, 2018
Heian literature: Is all fair in love and no war?
There's nothing quite like Japan's Heian Period (794-1185). Almost four centuries of peace and a governing aristocracy of culture set it apart.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Jul 14, 2018
Japan was slow to drive its pigs to the market
Ancient Japan appears to us as a land of warriors, priests, aristocrats, artists, poets, lovers, peasants — but one group is missing.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jun 16, 2018
Japan's gods: More benevolent than fearsome
The most violent episode in Japanese mythology is the rampage through the Sun Goddess' rice fields by her unruly brother Susano'o, the Storm God.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
May 19, 2018
Watanabe Kazan: Too open-minded for Edo
Imagine living in a 'closed country.' Japan was such for over two centuries, from the anti-Christian hysteria of the 1630s to the incursion in the 1850s of the American 'Black Ships.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Apr 14, 2018
Ando Shoeki: He who dared anger the gods
A mind like Shoeki Ando — bold, mischievous, unconventional, borderline crackpot, one might almost say — is worth probing, if only for those qualities, let alone for his ideas, which leave the mainstream so far behind that the word 'evil' has been attached to him.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Mar 17, 2018
Till death do us unite: Japan's dark tales of love
Has ever a civilized people lived in greater intimacy with death than the Japanese?
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Feb 17, 2018
Heroism and the changing state of morality
Every age breeds its own morality. One era's good is another's evil. Today's virtue is tomorrow's vice, today's wisdom tomorrow's stupidity, today's sanity tomorrow's madness.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jan 20, 2018
On the adulteration of Japan's oldest religion
Primitive Shinto is one of the loveliest religions in the world. It's beautiful in its simplicity — defenseless too, as it proved, against the nativists and nationalists who warped it into 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century xenophobia.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Dec 16, 2017
Japan's historical resistance to Christianity
Jesus and Japan go back a long way, longer than you'd think if you don't happen to know of a peculiar legend that has the Son of God sojourning — twice: once before, once after the crucifixion — in a remote mountain village in northern Aomori Prefecture.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Nov 18, 2017
Japan's shifting attitudes toward prostitution
Sex is a necessity and a pleasure; it's also a problem. It exalts some, degrades others. It generates offspring. It's dynamite. Taboos concerning it are as old as humanity. Laws regulating it predate civilization. Nowhere is the human libido absolutely unfettered. Incest is nowhere tolerated, marriage...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Oct 14, 2017
Japan's 'way of the sword' baffles foreign observers
All cultures present aspects that cannot but baffle the foreign observer. For example: nothing in the native tradition equips a Japanese to grasp the concept of the blood of the crucified son of the one God washing believers clean of sin.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Sep 16, 2017
The prosaic state of ancient Confucianism
"Confucianism," says historian Hiroshi Watanabe, "is perhaps the most powerful political ideology yet conceived by the human race."
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 19, 2017
Wabi lies at the heart of Japanese history
You could spend your entire life in modern Japan without ever hearing the term wabi, though no overview of Japanese history or art is complete without it. It's a beautiful word, hard to define like most beautiful words. Poverty is the heart of it, which sounds dispiriting, but there's the Zen phrase...
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
Amid same-sex marriage ban, LGBTQ couples opt for 'photo weddings'
A lesbian couple, consisting of a 35-year-old woman (left) and 40-year-old woman, cover their faces with bouquets as they pose for wedding photos in Yokohama on Nov. 1.
China and Russia conduct joint Pacific military patrol
The Russian corvette Gromkiy enters the Chinese port of Zhanjiang as part of a joint China-Russia naval exercise on Saturday.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.
How to tweak your diet when temperatures spike
Most people think of hydration as a strictly liquid-based concept, but eating foods with high water content is an essential part of making it through a Japanese summer unscathed.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals
Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals

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