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July 16, 2024
 

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THE LIVING PAST

JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Nov 14, 2015
Surviving a sudden transition to democracy
What is the worst thing that has ever happened to humankind?
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Oct 17, 2015
True Edo spirit can be found while soaking in a public bath
"Public baths are the shortest route there is to moral and spiritual enlightenment. Careful reflection shows this."
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Sep 19, 2015
Government's affinity to the universe, religion
Supposing we think of the universe this way: there is Heaven and there is Earth; nothing else — no other worlds, no gods. "Heaven" is roughly analogous to what we moderns call "Nature." Heaven's laws, however, unlike Nature's, are moral, not physical.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 15, 2015
The fraught debate over science and divinity
Truth is a sordid business. It brings nations down to earth, cuts people down to size. Why honor it, therefore? Why esteem it above myth, which does the opposite, raising nations to the gods and turning ordinary, unremarkable people into subjects of divine rulers?
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jul 18, 2015
Propagating Russian Orthodox faith in Japan
As astonishing as its vigor is the fact that Russia's eastward expansion, beginning in the 16th century, went all but unnoticed, by Japan no less than by Europe.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jun 20, 2015
Jomon life 'remained pretty much unchanged'
Jomon Japan is fantastic. It ought to be preserved in stone. It was preserved in stone. For 10,000 years, this New Stone Age culture flourished. It is one of the longest-running single traditions in the world. A man, woman or child dying in, say, 10,000 B.C. and coming back to life circa 400 B.C. would...
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
May 16, 2015
Weighing the human cost of industrialization
In the year the West knows as 604 A.D., one of Japan's most revered statesmen, Shotoku Taishi, issued a "constitution," the first of whose 17 articles states, "Harmony is to be valued."
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Apr 18, 2015
Mastering the art of partaking in a tea ceremony
"Cold, withered, shrunken."
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Mar 14, 2015
Nation stiffens defenses to counter invasion
Doom was closing in. It was greeted with anxiety but without surprise. Its coming had been foreseen. Two centuries earlier — in the seventh year of the Eisho Era, 1052 by the Western calendar — humanity had entered the degenerate age of Mappo, the Latter Days of the Law. So taught the Buddhist...
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Feb 14, 2015
Doomsday fever spurs a religious revolution
Sometimes the world seems eternal; sometimes the end looms black and near. We moderns know the apocalyptic mood well, having survived Dec. 21, 2012, in spite of an ancient Mayan "prediction" of doom on that date, but, facing as we do numerous other portents of extinction — climate change, environmental...
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jan 17, 2015
Seeking independence through civilization
For the first time in 600 years Japan was threatened by foreign aggression. One among many differences between the 19th century American threat and the 13th-century Mongol invasions is this: 13th-century Japan was fiercely militarist, 19th-century Japan was impotently militarist.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Dec 20, 2014
Christian missionaries find Japan a tough nut to crack
My local supermarket plays Christmas music. Yours probably does too. My neighbors have Christmas trees. So do yours, no doubt. At this time of year, in the major cities if not nationwide, you might almost think you were in a Christian country.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Nov 15, 2014
Laughter the best medicine for humanity
What a comical species we are. The proof? Laughter. We laugh. At what? Why?
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Oct 18, 2014
Getting to the heart of Murasaki's 'Tale of Genji'
"If any society in the world can be described as unique," wrote historian Ivan Morris, "it is that of Heian Kyo in the time of Murasaki Shikibu."
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Sep 20, 2014
Can simplicity survive contact with complexity?
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 16, 2014
The awakening of a nation permanently at peace
There's something to be said for national isolation. Peace, for example. The very few foreigners allowed into Japan during its 250-odd years of almost total seclusion, from the early 17th century to the mid-19th, were awed by the spectacle of a nation permanently at peace.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jul 19, 2014
'Leaving the world' to gain freedom
A challenge: Scan Japanese history in search of freedom fighters. You won't find many. Not freedom but submission was the proud Japanese ideal.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jun 28, 2014
When a physical wasteland bred a moral wasteland
He lived by fire and he died by fire. He was vile — coldblooded, amoral, ruthless. He was the man his time called for, and the man his time called forth — a vile time, by most standards. Its name is Sengoku Jidai, a period of prolonged civil war. Oda Nobunaga (1534-82) is its most representative...
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Feb 15, 2014
Once upon a time, China anointed a 'King of Japan'
In 1401, barely a century after the Mongols' aborted invasions of Japan, and 600-odd years before Japan and China fell out over the Senkaku islets, a Chinese emperor conferred upon a Japanese shogun the title "King of Japan."
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jan 18, 2014
In Jomon and Heian, the times weren't a-changin'
"Man the change-maker." That is one definition of Homo sapiens. Other creatures are changed — by Nature, by evolution — over vast expanses of time measured in hundreds of thousands or millions of years. Humankind consciously generates change. We innovate, build, invent, destroy, build again....
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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