History
Samurai, the Edo period, national isolation, the Meiji Restoration and postwar Japan.
110 entriesTap a title to open the full entry: three lengths of English explanation, the questions people actually ask, ready-made phrases and audio.
Essential（8）
- ArtsEssential ukiyo-e浮世絵woodblock prints
- HistoryEssential gengo元号the Japanese era name
- HistoryEssential samurai侍the warrior class of old Japan
- HistoryEssential Japanese castle城a castle of the warlord era
- PlacesEssential Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park広島と平和記念公園the park in the middle of Hiroshima built where the city was destroyed
- PlacesEssential Kokyo皇居と二重橋where the Emperor lives, on the site of Edo Castle
- PlacesEssential Tokyo Tower東京タワーthe red and white broadcasting tower built in 1958
- PlacesEssential Himeji Castle姫路城the white castle in Hyogo, the best-preserved original keep in Japan
Standard（53）
- ArtsStandard Oku no Hosomichi奥の細道Basho's travel account of the deep north
- ArtsStandard emaki絵巻the painted handscroll you unroll section by section
- ArtsStandard choju giga鳥獣戯画the twelfth-century animal scrolls often called Japan's first manga
- ClothingStandard kamon家紋family crests
- CraftsStandard nihonto日本刀the Japanese sword
- Annual EventsStandard kenkoku kinen no hi建国記念の日National Foundation Day, February 11th
- Annual EventsStandard kenpo kinenbi憲法記念日Constitution Memorial Day, May 3rd
- Annual EventsStandard Showa Day and Greenery Day昭和の日とみどりの日the two late-April holidays that swapped names and dates
- Annual EventsStandard tenno tanjobi天皇誕生日the Emperor's Birthday, a holiday whose date changes with the reign
- Food & DrinkStandard nanban-gashi南蛮菓子the sweets the Portuguese brought in the 1500s
- Food & DrinkStandard yoshoku洋食Western-style dishes invented in Japan
- HistoryStandard the 1964 Tokyo Olympics1964年の東京オリンピックthe games that announced Japan's recovery
- HistoryStandard sorobanそろばんthe Japanese abacus
- HistoryStandard the bubble economyバブル経済the asset price bubble of the late 1980s
- HistoryStandard the Onin War応仁の乱the eleven-year conflict that opened Japan's age of civil war
- HistoryStandard kaido and shukuba街道と宿場the Edo highways and their post towns
- HistoryStandard the Battle of Sekigahara関ヶ原の戦いthe 1600 battle that decided who would rule Japan for 265 years
- HistoryStandard the Great Kanto Earthquake関東大震災the 1923 earthquake and fires that destroyed Tokyo and Yokohama
- HistoryStandard kentoshi遣唐使the missions Japan sent to Tang dynasty China
- HistoryStandard the Edo period江戸時代Japan's 260 years of self-imposed peace and isolation
- HistoryStandard the high growth era高度経済成長Japan's postwar economic boom
- HistoryStandard national treasures and important cultural properties国宝と重要文化財how Japan designates what it protects
- HistoryStandard kurofune黒船the American warships that forced Japan to open its ports in 1853
- HistoryStandard terakoya寺子屋the neighborhood schools of the Edo period
- HistoryStandard the lost decades失われた30年the long stagnation after the bubble
- HistoryStandard shudan shushoku集団就職the mass migration of young workers to the cities after the war
- HistoryStandard jokamachi城下町a town laid out around a castle
- HistoryStandard Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu信長・秀吉・家康the three who unified Japan
- HistoryStandard the Sengoku period戦国時代Japan's age of civil war
- HistoryStandard tenno天皇the Emperor of Japan
- HistoryStandard the Constitution of Japan日本国憲法the postwar constitution
- HistoryStandard ninja忍者the covert agents of feudal Japan
- HistoryStandard haihan-chiken廃藩置県the abolition of the feudal domains
- HistoryStandard fukoku kyohei富国強兵the Meiji-era slogan "rich country, strong army"
- HistoryStandard the tale of the heike平家物語the war tale about the fall of a clan, recited to the lute
- HistoryStandard manyoshu万葉集Japan's oldest surviving poetry collection
- Home & LivingStandard irori囲炉裏the open hearth sunk into the floor
- Home & LivingStandard machiya町家the narrow deep townhouse of an old merchant quarter
- Home & LivingStandard nagaya長屋the Edo row house where most townspeople lived
- Modern JapanStandard yakuzaヤクザorganized crime in Japan, and why the offices have nameplates
- Seasons & NatureStandard shinrin no kuni森林の国how much of Japan is forest
- PlacesStandard Odaibaお台場the waterfront district built on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay
- PlacesStandard Ginza銀座the expensive shopping district named after a silver mint
- PlacesStandard Takayama高山the mountain town in Gifu with preserved merchant streets and festival floats
- PlacesStandard Shurijo首里城と沖縄the palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom in Okinawa
- PlacesStandard Ueno Park上野公園the Tokyo park holding the national museums, the zoo and the cherry trees
- PlacesStandard Nagasaki and Dejima長崎と出島the port that was Japan's only window to Europe, and the second atomic bombing
- PlacesStandard Tokyo Station東京駅の駅舎the red brick station building of 1914, restored in 2012
- PlacesStandard Nijojo二条城the Kyoto castle where the shogun gave power back to the Emperor
- Pop CultureStandard kamishibai紙芝居the paper theater a storyteller carried on a bicycle
- Pop CultureStandard jidaigeki時代劇the period drama set before the Meiji era
- ShintoStandard Nihon shinwa日本神話the myths in Japan's oldest books
- Work CultureStandard women in management女性管理職how few women hold senior posts
Advanced（49）
- ArtsAdvanced shinden-zukuri寝殿造the palace style of the Heian aristocracy
- ArtsAdvanced biwa琵琶the lute that carried Japan's war tales
- ArtsAdvanced Hojoki and Tsurezuregusa方丈記と徒然草the two other great Japanese essay collections
- ArtsAdvanced Makura no Soshi枕草子The Pillow Book
- Martial ArtsAdvanced dojo-yaburi道場破りthe movie trope of a stranger challenging a rival dojo to a duel
- ClothingAdvanced junihitoe十二単the layered court robes of the Heian period
- ConceptsAdvanced jukyo儒教Confucian ideas as they took root in Japan
- CraftsAdvanced katana kaji刀鍛冶the swordsmiths who still forge Japanese blades by hand
- CraftsAdvanced the mingei movement民芸運動the 1926 movement that found beauty in everyday objects made by unnamed craftspeople
- FolkloreAdvanced onmyodo陰陽道the court's system of divination and calendar making
- FolkloreAdvanced ushimitsu doki丑三つ時the dead of night, around two in the morning, when spirits were said to appear
- HistoryAdvanced kimigayo君が代the national anthem, and why it is argued about
- HistoryAdvanced Article 9憲法9条the war-renouncing article of the constitution
- HistoryAdvanced The Tale of Genji源氏物語an eleventh-century court novel
- HistoryAdvanced kofun古墳ancient burial mounds
- HistoryAdvanced Hiroshima and Nagasaki広島と長崎the atomic bombings and how they are remembered
- HistoryAdvanced kokugaku国学the Edo-period study of Japan's own classics
- HistoryAdvanced sakoku鎖国the closed country policy
- HistoryAdvanced sankin kotai参勤交代the alternate attendance system
- HistoryAdvanced jinrikisha人力車the two-wheeled passenger cart Japan invented and exported
- HistoryAdvanced women's status since 1945戦後の女性の地位の変化what changed and what did not
- HistoryAdvanced the Occupation戦後の占領Japan under Allied administration
- HistoryAdvanced hidden christians潜伏キリシタンthe Christians who kept the faith through 250 years of prohibition
- HistoryAdvanced the Pacific War太平洋戦争Japan in the Second World War
- HistoryAdvanced Taisho democracy大正デモクラシーthe liberal current of the 1910s and 1920s
- HistoryAdvanced teppo denrai鉄砲伝来the arrival of the matchlock gun in 1543 and how fast Japan copied it
- HistoryAdvanced Jomon and Yayoi縄文と弥生Japan's two prehistoric periods
- HistoryAdvanced hanko domain school藩校the schools each domain ran for its samurai
- HistoryAdvanced the rise of the samurai武士の登場how warriors took over government
- HistoryAdvanced bushido武士道the way of the warrior
- HistoryAdvanced cultural property system文化財の制度how Japan designates national treasures and protects its heritage
- HistoryAdvanced bunmei kaika文明開化the rush to westernize
- HistoryAdvanced the Heian period平安時代the age of the court aristocracy
- HistoryAdvanced the Meiji Restoration明治維新the transformation that rebuilt Japan in decades
- HistoryAdvanced rangaku蘭学Dutch learning during the closed country period
- HistoryAdvanced wasan和算the mathematics developed in Edo-period Japan
- Home & LivingAdvanced danchi団地postwar public housing estates
- Modern JapanAdvanced the Ainuアイヌthe indigenous people of northern Japan, recognized in law only in 2019
- Modern JapanAdvanced US bases in Okinawa沖縄の米軍基地why most US military facilities in Japan are on one small island
- Modern JapanAdvanced nuclear power in Japan原発と再稼働what happened to Japan's reactors after 2011, and where policy stands now
- Modern JapanAdvanced imperial succession皇位継承who can become emperor, and the shortage of people who qualify
- Modern JapanAdvanced capital punishment死刑why Japan still has capital punishment, and how it is carried out
- Modern JapanAdvanced buraku discrimination部落差別discrimination against people linked to certain communities, based on ancestry alone
- Modern JapanAdvanced Yasukuni Shrine靖国神社the Tokyo shrine for Japan's war dead, and why prime ministers' visits are disputed
- PlacesAdvanced gunkanjima軍艦島the abandoned coal island off Nagasaki
- PlacesAdvanced mozu furuichi kofun百舌鳥・古市古墳群the giant keyhole tombs you cannot go inside
- ShintoAdvanced kokka shinto国家神道the state administration of shrines from 1868 to 1945
- ShintoAdvanced hachimangu八幡宮shrines of the warrior deity
- Work CultureAdvanced shushin koyo終身雇用lifetime employment