Japan
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’.
An island nation with few resources, Japan was in a precarious enough position when it declared war on the United States in December 1941. That its powerful navy failed to learn the lessons of previous conflicts made matters even worse.
A Japanese map produced during the Second World War encouraged children to follow the Empire's military effort, explains Kate Wiles.