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Meiji era

The Samurai Who Would Not Yield: Aizu-Wakamatsu and the Boshin War History
9 min read

The Samurai Who Would Not Yield: Aizu-Wakamatsu and the Boshin War

In October 1868, nineteen teenage samurai climbed a hill above Aizu-Wakamatsu and chose death, believing their castle had fallen. It hadn't.

Ueno: The Last Stand of the Shōgitai, Japan's First Public Park, and the Akihabara Next Door History
24 min read In-depth

Ueno: The Last Stand of the Shōgitai, Japan's First Public Park, and the Akihabara Next Door

A complete guide to Ueno — the hill where the Tokugawa shogunate made its last stand in 1868, where Japan opened its first public park in 1873, and where the country's oldest national museum, oldest zoo, and postwar black market all still survive within walking distance.