The cover of "Go" by Kazuki Kaneshiro

Race and American Pop Culture in Zainichi Stories

A close reading of the 1996 novel GO suggests zainichi identity is in dialogue with multiple national cultures, including American.
Tokyo, Japan

Pan-Asianism Redux, or Why We Think Japan Is Special

Observers have long hailed Japan’s aptitude for cultural synthesis. Is this characterization warranted, or does it reflect a collective fantasy about exceptionalism?
Mary Oyama

Dear Deirdre: The Japanese American Agony Aunt

Using the nom de plume Deirdre, California-born writer Mary “Mollie” Oyama Mittwer offered advice on changing gender roles and cross-ethnic relationships.
From the picture album "Hakone 7 yu zue" by Hiroshige, 1852

Reinventing Vacation in Japan

In the late nineteenth century, Japan adopted Western-style vacation, but not everyone was on board with the new leisure practices.
Government official meeting Hide Hyodo Shimizu's class at New Denver Internment Camp school, New Denver, British Columbia

Disinheritance: The Internment of Japanese Canadians

Glenn McPherson, the bureaucrat largely responsible for selling off the property of interned Japanese Canadians during World War II, was also a secret agent.
No. 27 - Kakegawa: Akibayama Fork, from the series The Tôkaidô Road - The Fifty-three Stations, also known as the Reisho Tôkaidô, between 1847 and 1852

How a Rice Economy Toppled the Shogun

The co-existence of economies—one based on rice, the other on money—pushed the Tokugawa government toward financial misery and failure.
A Geisha with an open fan

Geishas for Enlightened Motherhood

In the Meiji period, geisha embraced the nation’s modernizing project, helping to improve education for women and promoting a western-style domestic ideal.
Radiation Effects Research Foundation Hiroshima

Biobanking the Victims of Nuclear War

Nearly 2 million biological samples from people affected by radiation from World War II nuclear bombings are stored in facilities in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The exterior of the concept design home "Reversible Destiny Lofts MITAKA: In Memory of Helen Keller" is seen on October 27, 2005 in Tokyo, Japan.

Arakawa and Gins: An Eternal Architecture

With the Reversible Destiny Foundation, architect-philosophers Arakawa and Gins created disquieting designs meant to defeat mortality.
Jizō, c. 1202

A Bodhisattva for Japanese Women

Originally known in China as Dizāng, the “savior of the damned,” Jizō has evolved into a protector of children and comforter of women in Japan.