History & Persons

Yuri Chekalin04.01.2023

Emilio Kosterlitzky was one of the most colorful characters to ever serve as a special agent. A cultured, Russian-born man of the world, he spent four decades in the Russian and Mexican militaries, rising to the rank of brigadier general in Mexico. To avoid the dangerous tribulations of the ongoing Mexican Revolution, he settled down […]

Viktor Alksnis11.12.2022

In those tragic years, I happened to be in the thick of things, to visit the offices of Gorbachev and Yeltsin, to try to convince them to abandon the course towards the collapse of the great Power. To speak from the rostrum of the union parliament, warning of an impending catastrophe. Trying to wake up […]

Ilya Ratkovsky28.10.2022

Yuri Chekalin: What attracts you to work as a historian? Ilya Ratkovsky: In the profession of a historian, there are several incentives that help me work and develop. First of all, it is an opportunity to understand the history of your country in the most key moments. The history of the revolution, the Civil War […]

Yuri Chekalin26.08.2022

Chapter 1 “In the cold, in the cold From familiar places Others call us cities … “ V. Vysotsky In 1854 under the muzzles of the guns, the American Commodore Matthew Perry forced the Japanese to sign the Treaty of Peace and Friendship with the United States and “open” to the world. This event, like […]

Yuri Chekalin08.08.2022

For a long time I wanted to talk about little-studied events like conspiracies in the army, terrorism and the like, so I decided to publish several essays on the history of Japan in the 1920s and 30s. Of course, this will affect politics, economics, sociology, and even culture. I thought for a long time where […]

Yuri Chekalin23.06.2022

The romantic love story of a Russian prisoner of war and a Japanese nurse served as the plot for the musical Oath on a Coin (Chikai no Koin) by the Japanese Botchan Theater (坊っちゃん劇場, Botchan Theater) from Ehime Prefecture (愛媛県, Ehime-ken). For almost 30 years, every second Saturday of the month, about a hundred students […]

Yuri Chekalin15.12.2021

In Shinto, the term jinja is used for a shrine, or more literally the dwelling place of Kami. Many people probably have a mental picture of a building whenever they think of a Shinto shrine. It is said that we now have 80,000 such buildings in Japan, of which 6,000 have resident kannushi (Shinto masters).Out […]

Mikhail Yemelyanov18.06.2020

It’s Time to Move Stones. What Makes the Chinese Game of Go So Popular Among Russian Politicians and Businessmen. The Chinese game of Go that is widely played by the Asian elites is now becoming popular among Russian officials and businessmen. Not only does it help establish a connection between East and West, but it […]

Igor Koroteev26.05.2020

Today, in the era of synergetics, the theory of complex systems, controlled chaos, the second advent of the Go game, born more than 4000 years ago, took place. The Pentagon began studying Go from the time of World War II. Japanese and Korean corporations today create strategic management departments, in which the masters of this […]

Tsurutani Hisashi20.05.2020

One of the most significant events in the history of the American West was the discovery of gold in the state of California in 1848. In the ensuing excitement people came to California, delirious with gold fever, not only from the East Coast of the United States but from all parts of the world. Gold […]

The Russian Cossack Turned Special Agent

The Day of the Death of the USSR

Ilya Ratkovsky About How to be a Hystorian

Japanese in America: A Brief Overview

The First Wave of Russian Emigration to Japan

Love Oath on Gold Coin

No need for a “building”

Game of Go: Russian Strategic Philosophy

“Go” Game — a Complex World of Simple Details

The Chinese and the Development of the West

Markus Wolf and the Intelligence War of the Cold War

The Man Who Survived Both Atomic Bombings: Tsutomu Yamaguchi

America’s Water Systems Have a Cybersecurity Problem

The Law of Tomorrow