Kottō

Being Japanese curios, with sundry cobwebs, by Lafcadio Hearn.

カテゴリー:Japan

Memorable gaijin

Here are a few names from the annals of Japan’s interaction with the outside world: William Adams, Ranald MacDonald, and Yasuke.

カテゴリー:Japan

The “Japanization” of Colonial Hokkaidō

An interesting essay from Japan Focus on how Hokkaido became, in the late 19th century, part of modern Japan:

Though Hokkaidō may seem a natural part of Japan, manacled to Tokyo as it is by law, by language, by economics, and by the 54 kilometer undersea Seikan Tunnel, Hokkaidō was not always Japan. Hokkaidō was not always Hokkaidō. Hokkaidō was modern Japan’s first foreign conquest; its first colony in a deliberate imperial trajectory begun in 1869, concluded in 1945 and eventually encompassing vast tracts of East and Southeast Asia.

カテゴリー:Japan