From imperial legacy to postwar reconstruction, Japan’s history reflects cycles of upheaval, reinvention, and cultural continuity. This collection focuses on civic memory, political transformation, and the tension between tradition and modernity. Selected posts reveal Japan’s role in regional conflict, its postwar recovery, and the shaping of national identity within the Asia Pacific context.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi was bombed twice and survived twice. In Hiroshima, he was burned and blinded. In Nagasaki, he was disbelieved — until the second bomb fell.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi Survived Both Atomic Bombs — And No One Believed Him Read More
On February 19th, 2002, President George W. Bush addressed the Japanese Diet and quietly rewrote history. His reference to “a century and a half” of peaceful U.S.– Japan relations erased World War II from the timeline. This post threads that moment into a broader sweep of Bushisms — those surreal fragments of presidential speech that live on in public memory.
Don’t Mention the War: Bushisms from Tokyo to Texas Read More
