In country that followed a time-keeping system with variable hours, the fixed-hour clock of the Europeans had only symbolic value.

Japanese workers, many of them women, worked up to 17 hours a day in the early 20th century. Yet experts still wondered why they “wasted” time.

Warriors rarely give up their power, but the samurai of Japan dwindled away rapidly after the Meiji Restoration and the modernization of the country.

Helen Keller and Mark Twain's unusual friendship.