This series is about the Japanese home front in and around Sasebo, Japan, during World War II. It is not a condemnation or critique of actions taken by either side during the war but rather a look at the civilian…
David’s Top Five Tanks at the Bovington Tank Museum
Inspired by the recent Tank Museum Top 5 Tanks videos from the Mighty Jingles and Lindybeige, I’ve decided to pick my own favorite five tanks from that museum. The Tank Museum in Bovington, England, possess one the largest collections…
Genpei – Rise of the Shoguns
The court is in turmoil. The child Emperor has died, leaving no heirs. The two most powerful noble families each have their favorite successor. The head of one family serves has served as chancellor for the last twenty years after…
Consecrated in the Blood of Two Peoples: Mariveles, Corregidor and the Capas National Shrine (Part II)
Our next destination was supposed to be Corregidor, but we got side tracked in Mariveles on the way down. We were heading south to see about renting a banca, the traditional Filipino outrigger boat, which could take us out to…
Nagoya Castle: History Lost and Regained
This week, in between Mr. Krigbaum’s articles on WWII in The Philippines, I will go back to talking about castles here in Japan. Nagoya Castle is a grand reconstructed castle a couple of hours south of Tokyo by shinkansen with…
Farewells from Chiran
What drives men to willingly drive an aircraft into a ship and what goes through the mind of a person scheduled for death and seemingly embraces the opportunity? There are stories from pilots of many nations flying damaged aircraft and…
Himeji – Japan’s Premier Castle
If you have ever spent any time reading about Japan, or even just looked at a tourism guide about the country, you have likely seen the beautiful bright white Japanese castle that often adorns Japan’s promotional literature. That…
Hikone Castle – One of Japan’s Finest Castles
If you’ve ever traveled around Japan you know that they love their castles. Almost every old castle town has either rebuilt their castles, preserved the grounds as a park, or, in rare cases, preserved their castle through the centuries. …
A Short Military Tour of London
Sometimes I just want to see really big guns. And Winston Churchill. And castles. And enemy artillery melted down into monuments to the victor’s everlasting glory. Then I want to drink tea. Luckily, London can oblige in all these areas…
Kawasaki’s Premier Folk Museum – Nihon Minkaen
A couple months ago I wrote about the number of folk museums in Japan and old buildings that the Japanese have preserved from their history. The best of these folk museums that I have found so far is a…