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Hideki Tojo in a courtroom testifying at the Tokyo Trial, guarded by American soldiers.

The Hypocrisies of International Justice

A recent history revisits the Tokyo trial.
by Colin Jones via The Nation on September 18, 2024
J. Robert Oppenheimer lecturing in front of chalkboard.

Oppenheimer’s Second Coming

Japanese were interested when Oppenheimer visited Japan as an honored guest in 1960. Will they be also interested in the Nolan film released today in Japan?
by Gregory Kulacki via Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on March 28, 2024
Japanese prime minister and minister of war Hideki Tojo on trial in 1947.

Japan’s Incomplete Reckoning With World War II Crimes

Gary Bass’s new book asks why the tribunal in Tokyo after World War II was so ineffective.
by Aryeh Neier via The New Republic on December 7, 2023
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, flanked by the U.S. and Chinese flags.

Back to the ’80s?

Trump, Xi Jinping, and the tariffs.
by Andrew Liu via n+1 on January 30, 2025
Emoji present on Sharp PA-8500 (1988).

Emoji History: The Missing Years

Tracing the origins of Japanese emoji symbolism and drawing technology.
by Matt Sephton via Gingerbeardman on June 4, 2024
Hazel Ying Lee (right) and fellow pilot Virginia Wong (left).

This Chinese American Aviatrix Overcame Racism to Fly for the U.S. During World War II

A second-generation immigrant, Hazel Ying Lee was the first Chinese American woman to receive her pilot's license.
by Susan Tate Ankeny via Smithsonian on April 23, 2024
Nihomachi Hotel in Seattle's Japantown.

Seattle’s Japantown Was Once Part of a Bustling Red Light District — Until Residents Were Pushed Out

The erased histories of the communities that built Seattle.
by Nina Wallace via Densho: Japanese American Incarceration and Japanese Internment on March 18, 2024
Rubble in the aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima

Big Six v. Little Boy: The Unnecessary Bomb

A new book's insistence that the bomb was necessary to bring about Japan’s surrender is largely contradicted by its own evidence.
by Andrew Cockburn via London Review of Books on November 15, 2023
Nagaski after the atomic bomb.

Did We Really Need to Drop the Bomb?

American leaders called the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki our 'least abhorrent choice,' but there were alternatives to the nuclear attacks.
by Paul Ham via American Heritage on August 6, 2023
Painting of Noritoshi Kanai and Harry Wolff Jr. and various sushi preparations, by Yuko Shimizu.

How Two Friends Sparked L.A.’s Sushi Obsession — and Changed the Way America Eats

An unlikely pair of Southern California businessmen paved the way for the sushi revolution in Los Angeles, upending American dining — and their own lives.
by Daniel Miller via Los Angeles Times on May 3, 2023
The front page of a 1908 San Francisco Chronicle reports the shooting of diplomat Durham White Stevens.

‘I Decided To Kill Him And Kill Myself’: When Imperialist Politics Lead To A Murder In SF

In 1908, Korean nationalists assassinated a pro-Japanese American diplomat in front of the Ferry Building.
by Gary Kamiya via San Francisco Examiner on February 22, 2023
A Japanese bomb-carrying paper balloon in North America in 1945.

When Japanese Balloons Threatened American Skies During World War II

Japan sent nearly 10,000 bomb-bearing balloons toward the U.S. during World War II. One killed six people.
by Kathryn Tolbert via Retropolis on February 3, 2023
An aerial view of a firebombed area in Tokyo in 1945.

When Tokyo Burned

“Paper City” explores the forgotten firebombing of Japan’s capital.
by Spencer Cohen via Foreign Policy on May 29, 2022
An American soldier guards a Japanese internment camp at Manzanar, Calif., on May 23, 1943.
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Is it Possible to Condemn One Empire Without Upholding Another?

The danger of making wars into moral crusades.
by Moon-Ho Jung via Made By History on May 22, 2022
Photo of a tank and soldiers with guns raised in forest.

A New History of World War II

A new book argues that the conflict was a battle for empire.
by Daniel Immerwahr via The Atlantic on April 4, 2022
Radioactive plume from atomic bomb over Nagasaki

Hiding the Radiation of the Atomic Bombs

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the U.S. came with censorship and obfuscation about the effects of the radiation on those who were exposed.
by Matthew Wills, Janet Farrell Brodie via JSTOR Daily on February 24, 2022
Left: Headshot of Shoichi Yokoi in uniform Right: Yokoi sobbing in his wheelchair when he returns to Japan in 1972

The Japanese WWII Soldier Who Refused to Surrender for 27 Years

Unable to bear the shame of being captured as a prisoner of war, Shoichi Yokoi hid in the jungles of Guam until January 1972.
by Meilan Solly via Smithsonian on January 21, 2022
A view of “Battleship Row” during or immediately after the Japanese raid on Dec. 7, 1941. The capsized USS Oklahoma (BB 37) is in the center, alongside the USS Maryland (BB 46).
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What We Forget When We ‘Remember Pearl Harbor’

Seeing the war from the perspective of citizens of U.S. colonies sheds new light on the impact of World War II.
by Eri Kitada via Made By History on December 7, 2021
Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito, September, 1945
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The Japanese Surrender in 1945 is Still Poorly Understood

Did the United States have no other option but to drop atomic bombs on Japan in order to get them to surrender?
by Jeremy Kuzmarov, Roger Peace via HNN on September 26, 2021
An American propaganda leaflet dropped ahead of Curtis LeMay’s firebomb campaign over Japan.

Narrative Napalm

Malcolm Gladwell’s apologia for American butchery.
by Noah Kulwin via The Baffler on May 17, 2021
Family photo of a Japanese immigrant family.

The World's Only Samurai Colony Was Once in California

The families arrived from Japan with fanfare, most disappeared without a trace.
by Katie Dowd via SFGATE on January 26, 2021

Counting the Dead at Hiroshima and Nagasaki

How many people really died because of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings? It’s complicated. There are at least two credible answers.
by Alex Wellerstein via Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on August 4, 2020

The Surprising History of the Fortune Cookie

Searching for the roots of an American classic.
by Soleil Ho, Blue Delliquanti via The Nib on January 4, 2019
Aerial view of ships in Pearl Harbor.

Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor

What the immediate aftermath of the bombing looked like from the cockpit of a Japanese plane.
via Voices & Visions on December 7, 2018

Black Radicalism’s Complex Relationship with Japanese Empire

Black intellectuals in the U.S.—from W. E. B. Du Bois to Marcus Garvey—had strong and divergent opinions on Japanese Empire.
by Mohammed Elnaiem via JSTOR Daily on July 18, 2018

A Tale of Two Hiroshimas

Two of the earliest films to depict the bombing of Hiroshima show how politics shapes national mourning.
by Kazu Watanabe via Current (The Criterion Collection) on May 3, 2018
A Japanese woodblock illustration of America, with a group of Americans observing hot air balloons in flight.

Commodore Perry's Expedition to Japan

A primary source set and teaching guide created by educators.
by Adena Barnette via Digital Public Library of America on February 22, 2018
The American flag and the South Korean flag.

Eighty Years of Martial Law

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of martial law is of little import compared to the American occupation of the country.
by Jason Morgan via The American Conservative on December 24, 2024
1940s era tattoo shop

How Do You Preserve Tattoo History When Skin And Memory Fail?

Ed Hardy's historic tattoo parlor is closing. A lot more than that stands to be lost.
by Casey Taylor via Defector on December 6, 2024
A painting of a desolated, ruined street.
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Defeating Death Only with Death

On civilians’ opinion of killing civilians by air during World War II.
by Cormac Ó Gráda via HNN on September 10, 2024
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