A new exhibition has brought a culture even more ancient than Japan’s to Fukuoka. The Brooklyn Museum’s “Unraveling the Secrets of Ancient Egypt” is going on now at the Fukuoka Art Museum. The exhibit explores the land of…
Defend the Home Islands: Building a Japanese Home Guard Platoon in Bolt Action
“If the enemy chooses to attack the mainland a combined force of 100 million Tokko, special attack soldiers, will obliterate them. They will, with absolute certainty, defend this imperial land.” National Resistance Manual, as published in the Chubu Nihon newspaper…
Last Samurai Standing in Meiji-mura
In 1878, Japan was becoming a modern nation freeing itself of its feudal past. But what should be done with the men who fought and died to make that modern nation a reality, the samurai? In Last Samurai Standing, hundreds…
Waltz on the Western Edge: New exhibition opens at Sasebo’s Shimanose Art Museum
Sasebo’s Shimanose Art Center opened its latest exhibition, “Waltz on the Western Edge,” on Oct. 31, 2025. As a coastal city, the ocean has always been vital to Sasebo’s livelihood and its place on Kyushu’s western edge has put it…
Stories Told in Stone: History and Remembrance at Sasebo’s Navy Cemetery
I like to visit Sasebo’s former naval cemetery at Highasi Park from time to time, looking at ship memorials and enjoying the changing seasons there. It’s Japan’s largest naval cemetery and since the first burials in 1892, it’s kept alive…
Kyushu’s Underwater Kamikazes: Hiji Oga Kaiten Memorial Park and Ruins
The suicidal kamikazes were the Japanese empire’s last ditch effort to slow advancing Allied forces. Viewed as tragic heroes today, most of them sortied out from Kyushu and many of the former kamikaze bases have sprouted memorial hall museums and…
Okinawa Quest
Okinawa abounds with legends and myths, surprises where least expected and rare animals that can’t be seen anywhere else. The island is dense with sacred places and scattered tombs that can be found by wandering off an unmarked side trail…
Monday Museum Blues: Ebina Romancecar Museum
I hate Mondays. Not because it’s the beginning of the work week or a fat cat told me to, but because almost all the museums are closed. So with nowhere to go indoors and rain making the outdoors unpleasant, it…
Experiencing Japanese History Through Travel: Sasebo Chinjufu Kaiheidan (Sasebo & Nimitz Park)
Today we look at the shared past of Nimitz Park and Sasebo Park as the Sasebo Chinjufu’s Kaiheidan. All history postcards are in my personal collection and all uncredited photography is by me. Photos/Videos of individuals taken with permission. Sakai…
Experiencing Japanese History Through Travel: Kawatana Shinyo Memorial
I’m starting to make videos about points of interest in Japan to encourage others to travel and learn about the country. The Shinyo memorial has been a topic I’ve written about before, in The Japanese Home Front V: Kawatana, Home…