Dive into the archives.
- The Zimmermann Telegram Feasability Study
Most Americans know that it was the Zimmermann Telegram, sent by Germany to Mexico at the height of World War I, that brought US into the war in Europe. Frustrated with blatant US support of Britain, Germany solicited Mexico to invade the southern United States and offered aid and assistance. However, the telegram [...]
- Army Wife in Tokyo, 1946
Fascinating story. The luxuries enjoyed by Americans in post-war Japan spread to the rest of the “expat” world and was addressed and criticized in the book The Ugly American.
- Ditto
From Roy at MF:
This is already a week old, but did anyone notice that the very same day US Congressman Mike Honda (D, California) issued yet another call for Japan to issue a more concrete apology to former comfort women, New Jersey became the first Northern state in the United States to issue a formal [...]
- Kawagoe
As the warlord Ieyasu Tokugawa was establishing his hold over Japan and took control of Edo (today’s Tokyo) in 1590, he sent one his top lietenants to secure the domain of Kawagoe, which had vast holdings over the local countryside and was a vital defensive position to secure Edo from enemy attack. The town [...]
- The Mouse that Roared
The Asahi Shinbun has a fascinating narrative piecing together what hapened last year when the US military requested to use the civilian Aomori Airport in the prefecture of Aomori in northern Japan. Using documents recording phone conversations between the prefectural government, the central government and the U.S. military, they provide a blow-by-blow account of [...]
- Tokyo Earthquake Diary, 1923
Thanks to Joe for sending this link, the diary of an American on his trip to Japan during the summer of 1923. The diary is fascinating standing alone, but even more interesting considering the entry for September 1, when the Great Kanto Earthquake struck Tokyo and killed approximately 136,000.
At Imperial Hotel Tokyo. Was talking [...]
- 1973 and 2001
On October 17, 1973, members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries chose to embargo the United States, Western Europe and Japan for their support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Both the United States and Japan responded by looking into alternative energy sources and improving energy efficiency. However, while Americans quickly forgot the [...]
- Foreign oil and defence policy in Japan
Duck of Minerva team-member Bill Petti of asked me about my thesis recently. I directed him to an initial stab I made in a post on Japanese dependency on foreign oil. I have since gone through the proposal stages and pared down the topic to something doable. It is widely recognized that Japanese foreign/defence policy [...]
- Protecting SE Asian SLOCs
Indonesia’s Minister of Defense has called for maritime security assistance from Japan, China and Korea. This is big news for two audiences: the World and Japan.
First, the Malacca Strait is an extremely important sea line of communication (SLOC, some semi-related background here) handling 40 percent of the world’s maritime trade. It is also one of [...]
- On Demographics, Part 1: “China will turn grey before it escapes poverty”
“Demographics is Destiny” is a common phrase used by historians and geostrategic thinkers. It isn’t entirely true. But demographics does play a major role in the rise and fall of civilizations and world power.
The Telegraph has an article on Japan’s shrinking population. Most of it is old news:
Japan is slowly shrinking. Last [...]
