Japan

A 1942 Memorial Day service at Manzanar, a Japanese American incarceration camp in California

How a 1924 Immigration Act Laid the Groundwork for Japanese American Incarceration

A Smithsonian curator and a historian discuss the links between the Johnson-Reed Act and Executive Order 9066, which rounded up 120,000 Japanese Americans in camps across the Western U.S.

An A.I.-generated image of a kitten on display in "Cute," the new exhibition at London's Somerset House

Why We're So Obsessed With Cute

A London exhibition explores how cute became such a powerful—and sometimes dangerous—cultural force

The latest winner of a Japanese literary prize said she used ChatGPT to write parts of her novel.

ChatGPT Helped Write This Award-Winning Japanese Novel

After receiving the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, Rie Kudan spoke about why she used A.I. to write a portion of her work

Japan's X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) launched from Earth on September 7. SLIM took a fuel efficient route to the moon, touching down on the surface over four months later.

Japan Lands Spacecraft on the Moon

After a successful soft landing, the craft's solar cells weren't charging and it was running out of power

Each of the four Beatles painted a corner of Images of a Woman (1966).

Stuck in a Tokyo Hotel, the Beatles Divided a Canvas Into Quarters and Started Painting

"Images of a Woman," signed by all four members of the band, could fetch as much as $600,000 at auction

Charles Robert Jenkins, pictured here in 2004, hoped to surrender to North Korea, then seek aslyum at the Soviet Embassy and eventually make his way back to the United States via a prisoner swap.

The American Soldier Whose Fear of Fighting in Vietnam Led Him to Defect to North Korea. He Stayed There for 40 Years

During his time in the repressive country, Charles Robert Jenkins married a Japanese abductee, taught English at a school and appeared in propaganda films

Damaged houses, one collapsed completely, along a street in Wajima, Japan, on January 2, 2024—one day after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck the region.

Could A.I. Help Seismologists Predict Major Earthquakes?

The 7.5 magnitude quake in Japan highlights the need for earthquake prediction, a science shedding its "unserious" reputation and inching toward reality

Participants on a bus tour at the 2014 community pilgrimage to Tule Lake

Why the Language We Use to Describe Japanese American Incarceration During World War II Matters

A descendant of concentration camp survivors argues that using the right vocabulary can help clarify the stakes when confronting wartime trauma

Almost like an arrow, the somewhat triangular shape of the architectural framework points this pedestrian in the right direction.

Appreciate Awesome Architecture With These 15 Photos

No passport is needed for this virtual tour of beautiful buildings around the world

A still from Hayao Miyazaki’s new film, The Boy and the Heron

Is 'The Boy and the Heron' Really Hayao Miyazaki’s Last Film?

Following many failed attempts to retire, the legendary animator has released a new semi-autobiographical feature

Persimmons will hang at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum for a brief three weeks.

'Zen Mona Lisa' Travels to the United States for the Very First Time

Titled "Six Persimmons," the famous 13th-century work hasn't left Japan for hundreds of years

Researchers plan to launch the wooden artifical satellite in summer 2024. 

Could Wooden Satellites Reduce Space Junk? The First Is Set to Launch Next Year

NASA and Japan plan to test a biodegradable satellite made of wood, which burns up more easily than metal on reentry

Green tea's enduring popularity is reflected in the "teacup without handle" emoji (left). The "hot beverage" emoji (right) takes its cue from another tea tradition: black tea.

What Emoji Tell Us About the History of Tea

From ancient China to 20th-century America, the aromatic beverage has undergone a dramatic evolution

Smoke rises after a World War II-era aerial bomb was detonated at a construction site in Singapore on September 26, 2023.

Singapore Safely Detonates a World War II-Era Bomb Unearthed at a Construction Site

Historians say Japanese forces may have dropped it during a critical battle in 1942

Pikachu takes van Gogh's place in this recreation of Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat (1887)

Pokémon Takes Over the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam

The franchise and the 19th-century Dutch master both took inspiration from Japanese art

The Buddha statue stolen from the Barakat Gallery on September 18

Thief Steals $1.5 Million Buddha Statue From Los Angeles Gallery

Gallery officials say they are stumped as to why the 250-pound artwork was targeted

The USS Yorktown was one of seven large vessels that sank during the Battle of Midway.

See Underwater Wreckage From the Battle of Midway in Stunning Detail

Never-before-seen photos and videos shed new light on the pivotal World War II conflict

An artist's rendering of the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission. The satellite will measure X-rays to deepen science's understanding of the universe. 

Japan Launches X-Ray Satellite and Lunar Lander to Space

The satellite will study large bodies in the cosmos, while the lander will attempt to land at a precise location on the moon's surface

Morris “Moe” Berg in 1933. Dubbed the “brainiest man in baseball” due to his knack for languages and quick wit, the catcher joined the OSS in 1943.

The Baseball Player-Turned-Spy Who Went Undercover to Assassinate the Nazis' Top Nuclear Scientist

During World War II, the OSS sent Moe Berg to Europe, where he gathered intel on Germany's efforts to build an atomic bomb

Shells of turtles and tortoises can accumulate uranium isotopes.

Turtle Shells Keep a Record of Humans' Nuclear History

Scientists can measure uranium isotopes in tortoise and turtle shells to understand the environmental impact of past nuclear events, a new study reports

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