We have discussed the similarities of how the afterlife and ghosts are viewed in the Western World in our previous post. There are also similarities that run through how these subjects are addressed in Eastern cultures, however, there are a few twists that mark them out as different. As in the West, the ghosts of […]
Category: Japan
Yonaguni Monument- Japan’s Atlantis or Myth
Yonaguni Jima is an island that lies near the southern tip of Japan’s Ryukyu archipelago, about 75 miles off the eastern coast of Taiwan. It is a popular place to dive as it is home to a large population of hammerhead sharks during the winter. During a dive in 1987, Dive Tour operator Kihachiro Aratake […]
Yu Gwan Sun- Korea’s Joan of Arc
In 1904, Korea allied with Japan during the first Russo-Japanese war and lent its territory for Japan’s military operations. This was only a stepping stone to the Japanese occupation of Korea. They came and never left. This was the government’s plan to make Japan a world power. Tough luck for anyone in Korea that wasn’t […]
João Rodrigues- The Interpreter
ER, Japan, Portugal, Rest of the World, Southern Europe
Japan was a land of mystery for westerners for many years. Marco Polo had written about it, but never been there. It was one of the destinations of Christopher Columbus as he sailed West in 1492. However, it was still very much an unknown in the 16th century, when Portuguese merchants and missionaries arrived on […]
Kamikaze and the Aborted Mongol Invasions of Japan
In Simon Schama’s History of Britain, he makes the comment that the weather bats for England. Apparently the weather has that same deal with Japan. The word “kamikaze” brings visions of suicide pilots from World War II, but the word actually means “divine wind”. In this case, the kamikaze defended the Japanese islands from invasion […]