What significance does the tenno or “emperor” have for Japan and the Japanese people? There is no easy answer to that question. Suffice it to...
Part 1: Traveling the San’in: Orochi and the Mythical Origins of the Sword Part 2: Japanese Swords: ‘Tatara,’ the Traditional Iron and Steel Culture...
The date of the Emperor’s abdication, and therefore the beginning of a new era, was finally approved by the Imperial Household Council on December 1....