Japan’s Elites, Update
Last summer, I responded to a request for scholarly opinion on the “leaders” of Japan from 1840-1920. Ms. Kim has now completed compiling responses ...
Category: Japan
Berry on Early Modern Information
I admit that I’m a great admirer of Berry, but this is going to be fun. My own thoughts about Early modern Japan as an intellectual renaissance are going ...
It’s not an institution if it doesn’t have rules….
Via World Press Review, an interesting account of undercurrents of opposition to changing the Imperial Household Law to allow female emperors or emperors descen...
Another Nail in the Ninja Coffin
In response to a query on the H-Japan list, samurai historian par excellance Karl Friday wrote: There are basically no publications in English on ninja worth re...
Revision and Revisionism
Deep in the middle of a roundtable about constitutional revision and neo-nationalism in Japan, comes a bit of discussion of historical revision and popular beli...
Murakami Rocks!
I didn’t even know it was out, but Murakami Haruki’s latest novel, in English translation, is on the New York Times’ Top Ten Books of 2005 Lis...
Semantics and History: Did Japan “Invade” Korea?
Well, the obvious answer to that question is yes, but that’s not the invasion we’re talking about. Over on the Korea side, there’s a lively di...
“The Apprentice”
I recently learned [29 October 2005 show, round 3] that I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, recently indicted for his role in, at the very least, the coverup ...
My Tradition’s Bigger Than Your Tradition
In an argument about Japanese-American draft-resistor internees during WWII, Eric Muller wrote in my book I argue that vocal and visible protest of government o...
Boundaries within Asia
Interesting article on the problem understanding Central Asia: the first problem is that nobody agrees on what or where it is. Apparently, East Asianists —...