Birth
It’s my birthday today. So I was curious to see who else shared my birthday. I conducted an internet search and found a lot of saints and a whole lot of other people I’d never heard of. I guess because my search was in English, the search results were mostly American or [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘history’
April 30, 2009
Supernovas and Other Birthdays
December 10, 2008
Kamakura in Autumn
I went to Kamakura last Wednesday and it was pretty much the peak of the autumn colors. I can’t get used to how late autumn is in Tokyo. It’s mid December now and the reds, oranges and yellows are just now past the peak.
A History of Austerity
Kamakura was the capital of Japan during [...]
April 2, 2008
The Edo-Tokyo Museum
Entrance to the Edo-Tokyo Museum
The Edo-Tokyo Museum near Ryogoku Station in Tokyo, is a massive concrete hangar-like structure with a broad outdoor plaza designed for hundreds of school kids and senior citizen tour groups. The main exhibit is divided into two zones. One features the history of Edo, what Tokyo was called before [...]
March 7, 2008
An Art Deco Masterpiece
Before the Japanese emperor regained control of Japan in the mid-19th century, the Shogun exerted control over the warlords through a variety of means. The most important way was to require his lords and their families to live in Tokyo. This allowed the Shogun to keep an eye on them, keep their families [...]
February 12, 2008
National Treasure no. 1
It survived centuries of invasion, occupation, and civil war. It burned down in a few hours last night. Korea’s National Treasure no. 1, Namdaemun, or the Great South Gate, was the oldest surviving wooden structure in Seoul. It was built in 1398, by the first King of the Yi Dynasty. Although [...]
