Recent Posts
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September 11, 2001: When Living Memory Becomes History
September 11, 2001, began as a normal day for Americans. The nation looked considerably different than it does today. The Internet had entered millions of American homes, but it had not yet become the constant presence in everyday life that it is now. Cellphones were increasingly common, but they were…
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Kanji Ishiwara: The Forgotten Officer Who Planted the Seeds of World War II
Most histories mark September 1, 1939, as the beginning of World War II, but the path to global conflict was laid years earlier in Manchuria. This article explores how Imperial Japanese Army officer Kanji Ishiwara orchestrated the 1931 Mukden Incident, undermined the international order, and demonstrated that aggressive expansion could…
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The Nara Period (710-794): State Formation, Buddhism, and the Structural Limits of Early Imperial Governance in Japan
Introduction The Nara period (710-794) represents the first sustained attempt by the Japanese court to construct a centralized imperial state grounded in codified law, bureaucratic administration, and cosmological legitimacy. Anchored in the establishment of a permanent capital at Heijo Kyo, the period is often associated with the maturation of the ritsuryo…
