Japan

Yuri Chekalin12.09.2025

A peculiar form of society was created in Japan after World War II. The birth of such a secular, materialistic, and atheistic society perhaps cannot be found in any other age and place in history. It is said that most Japanese, when asked for their religious status in filling out an application form for a […]

Yuri Chekalin25.06.2025

In 2006, the book Makeinu no toboe “Howl of an Abandoned Dog” became a bestseller in Japan. The author, Junko Sakai, called single women over 30 “abandoned dogs” (負け犬, makeinu). But if you think this is an insult, then no — she herself belonged to this category and, on the contrary, finally found a “normal” […]

Klim Zhukov20.06.2025

The 1st rank cruiser was ordered from the William Crump and Sons shipyard in the USA. 129 meters, excellent armored deck, 12 guns 152 mm. Kane system, speed 23.2 knots. By the way, the speed made it absolutely inaccessible for any Japanese cruisers at sea — you can’t catch up (and you can’t run away […]

Yuri Chekalin26.05.2025

In the soft, dappled light of a spring afternoon, the Tanaka family home buzzed with the vivid laughter of children playing in the backyard. Beneath the great cherry tree, its delicate blossoms dancing in the breeze, Akiko Tanaka admired the nuanced hues of pink and white that adorned her neighborhood. She loved this time of […]

Yuri Chekalin22.05.2025

Children dashed around in gleeful abandon, their tiny hands reaching for the showers of petals, rolling down the sidewalk or weaving through the legs of adults caught in nostalgic reveries. On this particular Saturday in late March, the sun cast a golden hue over Nikko Lane, illuminating the rows of houses adorned with vibrant azalea […]

Yuri Chekalin07.05.2025

The “Immortal Regiment” event and a concert in honor of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War were held on May 5th at the Russian Embassy in Japan. Descendants of the victors with portraits of their relatives and friends, participants in the Great Patriotic War and home front workers, honored the memory […]

Yuri Chekalin15.04.2025

Despite the decision of the Japanese government to release additional volumes of rice from strategic reserves — after April 21 of this year, the third batch of 100 thousand tons will be put into circulation — retail prices for it remain high. At the same time, grain prices on the world market are falling, as […]

Yuri Chekalin11.04.2025

The art of tying up — hojojutsu — is one of the oldest in the arsenal of Japanese martial arts. Hojojutsu masters, who still exist today, can quickly and effectively tie up an opponent so that not only will he not be able to free himself, but every unnecessary movement will cause him pain, or […]

Alexander Palladin03.04.2025

Less than 120 years ago, on September 5, 1905, the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed in New Hampshire, ending the year-and-a-half-long Russo-Japanese War. According to various estimates, up to 80,000 Japanese and up to 52,000 Russian servicemen died in it, including my great-grandfather Afanasy Reshetnikov. For his role in Portsmouth negotiations U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt […]

Alexander Palladin20.03.2025

In June 1905, The Chronicle of the War with Japan weekly, published in Russia’s capital, ran this: “It can be said without any doubt that espionage has never been practiced in previous wars on such a large scale as it is being used now by our enemy in the Far East. The Japanese have flooded […]

Japanese Atheists and Faithless Japanese

Are You a Slouching Dog or a Losing Dog?

The Real Story of Cruiser “Varyag”

Threads of Community

The Silence Before the Storm

The Immortal Regiment in Tokyo

Bread Instead of Rice

The Art of Tying Up

Russo-Japanese War: Stalin’s Revanche

Espionage Craft Practiced by Japan in Its War with Russia

The Michael Jackson Biopic is Missing its Most Controversial Story

Madama Butterfly and the Japan of the Western Imagination

The Spanish Civil War at 90: the Republic’s Response

Terminator Is about 80 Years Old