The history of ancient Japan is contentious. Conflicting reports of rulers, statuses, and chieftainships in the Japanese archipelago among Chinese, Korean, and Japanese sources reveal fundamental disagreements. Chinese and Korean sources mention a great shamaness/queen named Himiko, ruler of a place called ‘Yamatai’ in the early-3rd century. Japanese records, by…

Japanese history and culture is endlessly rich and full of vivid depictions of great historical figures and events. One can think of everything from anime, manga, emojis, and even photography (since it first arrived in Japan in the mid-19th century) to images of the Buddha — Japan is a land…

If one were to study the history of museums in Japan — relating to the art and culture of that nation — one would see the emergence of national museums in the latter decades of the nineteenth century during the Meiji Period (1868–1912). Understanding of, and appreciation for, Japanese folk…

On 8 December 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his now famous speech to Congress calling for a formal declaration of war against Japan. The same day, both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of the war — unanimous in the Senate, the vote was 388–1 in favor in…

The great revolution in the history of art emerged out of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries as the illusory divide between high art and craft traditions was shattered by several generations of individuals who sought to unify the arts. This process, one can argue, began with John Ruskin and William…

The modern minimalist movement has many illustrious forebearers from across the globe. Living small and living intentionally conjures up images of Henry David Thoreau’s simple living experiment, which he documented in his famous Walden. Inspirational though it has been, Thoreau was doing this as an experiment for a limited period…