Category: History
Banzai Cheer Explained
For most Americans, World War II footage acts as their introduction to the banzai cheer. The cheer remains closely associated with militarism and the atrocities of the war. Footage of kamikaze pilots shouting banzai and pumping their arms in unison has a similar chilling effect on people as the Nazi salute. Not to mention the…
A Look at Japanese Feminism and Japanese Misogyny
Women are the emissaries of hell; they cut off forever the seed of buddhahood. On the outside they have the faces of bodhisattvas, but on the inside they have the hearts of demons. –Buddhist Sutra A woman’s talk does not go beyond one village. A smart woman ruins the castle. –Japanese Proverbs Japanese medieval literature…
What Naruto Gets Wrong: The Real Shinobi
For many anime fans, Naruto introduced the world of the shinobi, or the more familiar word ninja. Sadly, Naruto plays fast and loose with the history of the shinobi. It gets some things right, but it gets far more wrong. This isn’t to beat up on the series. It’s fiction, and fiction makes reality its…