Madam Butterfly and the Forging of Japanese Identity
Puccini’s opera revealed misunderstandings and stereotypes on both sides of the East-West divide.
Puccini’s opera revealed misunderstandings and stereotypes on both sides of the East-West divide.
The story of China and Japan, and the periodic efforts to find a modus vivendi.
This episode takes us back to 1853 and the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry’s fleet of ships into Edo Bay.
After a disastrous Second World War, Japan abolished its armed forces and embraced pacifism. With renewed tensions in East Asia, can it last?
When it comes to rapid world-changing events, the Meiji Restoration has few equals.
A teenager shipwrecked on a Pacific atoll helped transform relations between Japan and the United States.
A map of the Japanese city from the Edo period was one of the earliest produced for general use.
Japan’s vast Asian empire became home to more than a million female settlers, who told their stories in an effort to keep in contact.
Angered by his native country’s rush towards western-style modernisation, the acclaimed Japanese author committed a shocking act of protest.
The visit of Natsume Sōseki to London at the turn of the 20th century suggested ways of successfully combining western industrialism with ‘Japanese Spirit’.