Showing posts with the label Japan

Dejima: The Island That Was Once Japan’s Only Connection To The Outside World

Dec 7, 2023

For over two centuries, spanning from the 16th to the 19th centuries, Japan adopted a strict policy that prohibited foreigners, particularly...

The 72 Seasons of Japan

Jul 11, 2023

We are all familiar with the four seasons of the year—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—based on the changes in weather, ecology, and the n...

5 Historical Figures Who Were Assassinated in The Lavatory

Apr 24, 2023

When a person is on the toilet, moving bowels, they are in a particularly vulnerable position. They are exposing parts of their body that ar...

Masabumi Hosono: The Disgraced Titanic Survivor

Apr 7, 2023

In 1997, on the eve of the release of James Cameroon’s blockbuster movie Titanic , a curious story from Japan came to light. It was about Ma...

Matsugaoka Tōkei-ji, The Divorce Temple

Feb 6, 2023

For over six hundred years, the Matsugaoka Tōkei-ji, in the city of Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, had served as a refugee for wome...

Ryōunkaku: Japan’s First Skyscraper

Nov 4, 2022

For more than thirty years, the Ryōunkaku—Japan's first Western-style skyscraper—was a popular sight in the urban landscape of modern To...

Shizo Kanakuri: The Man Who Took 54 Years To Finish a Marathon

Oct 5, 2022

Shizo Kanakuri was not a slow runner. In fact, he reportedly set the world record by completing a 40-km marathon run in 2 hours, 32 minutes,...

Kugelpanzer: The Mysterious Nazi Ball Tank

Apr 25, 2022

When the Soviet Union invaded Manchuria in 1945 after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the Red Army recovered a strange vehicle from the pos...

Why Japan Made Human Sacrifices Before Building Bridges

Nov 1, 2021

Until the 16th century in Japan, major constructions like castles and bridges began with human sacrifices, with victims buried alive within ...

The World’s Oldest Operating Company is 1,400 Years Old

Aug 2, 2021

Kongō Gumi Co., Ltd., a Japanese company that was then acquired by Takamatsu Construction Group, for which it continued to operate as a subs...

Japan’s Acrobatic Noodle Delivery Cyclists

Jul 19, 2021

These photographs taken in the middle of the 20th century on the streets of Tokyo show how food delivery looked like before the onslaught of...

The Ni'ihau Incident

May 28, 2021

Ni'ihau is the smallest of the inhabited islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, privately owned since the 19th century and which would hav...

The Richest Ancient Shipwreck

May 26, 2021

In 1975, a fishing boat working in the southwestern sea of Korean peninsula, near the Shinan Islands, caught six pieces of Chinese ceramic w...

Sunomata Castle: The Castle That Was Built on a Single Night

Dec 2, 2020

Sunomata Castle stands at the confluence of the Sai and Nagara rivers, in the city of Ōgaki in Gifu Prefecture. It’s a typical Japanese cast...

Bōsai Musen: Japan’s 5 PM Chime

Jun 16, 2020

The loudspeaker of Japan’s national disaster warning system in Owkudani Hakone, Japan. Photo: WAN CHEUK NANG/Shutterstock.com For those ...

Ama: The Freediving Fisherwomen of Japan

Apr 23, 2020

In ancient times, the only way to gather food and other resources, such as sponge and pearl, from the sea bed was to hold one’s breath and d...

Where is Ground Zero in Nagasaki?

Feb 24, 2020

On the morning of August 9, 1945, six B29 bombers took off from Mariana Islands, located more than 2,100 kilometers north of Tokyo. One of t...

Slovak Radio Building: The Inverted Pyramid

Jan 11, 2020

Some call it ugly. Others defend it for its architectural features. Whichever faction you side with, you can’t deny that it is an exceptiona...

Kongo Gumi: The 1,400-Year-Old Company

Nov 9, 2019

Less than two months ago, the renowned British travel agency Thomas Cook laid off more than 21,000 employees the world over and liquidated i...

Monet's Pond: The Pond Where Art Comes to Life

Aug 21, 2019

In the woods just outside Seki City, in Japan’s Gifu Prefecture, is a small Shinto shrine that stands at the foot of a sloping hill overlook...