Japanese history, minus the snooze button
The stories behind the temples, castles and festivals you will see in Japan, told with cartoon-style illustrations and a few bad jokes.
Start from the beginning →Pick an era
Jump to the period you are about to travel through.
Jōmon
Pots, pits and a very long time without rice.
Yayoi
Rice arrives. Neighbours start arguing about it.
Kofun
Giant keyhole-shaped tombs and the first Yamato court.
Asuka & Nara
Buddhism, laws, a Great Buddha and a brand-new capital.
Heian
Poems, perfume and the Fujiwara family running the show.
Kamakura
The first samurai government, Zen, and a typhoon that saved the day.
Muromachi
Golden pavilions, tea ceremony and Kyoto on fire.
Sengoku & Azuchi-Momoyama
Warlords, guns, castles and three men who united Japan.
Edo
Peace, sumo, kabuki and 250 years of the Tokugawa.
Meiji
Samurai out, trains in. A country rebuilds itself at speed.
Taishō & early Shōwa
Jazz-age cities, militarism and the war.
Postwar to Reiwa
Bullet trains, anime and a rebuilt nation.
Great for trip planning
Castles, shrines, old roads and geisha districts you can visit.
Castles 101: How to Read a Japanese Castle (and Where to Find the Real Ones)
Stone walls, moats, secret gates and a tour of Japan's twelve surviving original keeps.
Nikkō: The Shrine Built for a Shogun-Turned-God
How Tokugawa Ieyasu became a deity, and why his shrine is covered in gold, carvings and one very sleepy cat.
Edo Highways: The Tōkaidō, the Nakasendō and the Original Road Trip
Post towns, checkpoints and pilgrimages: how Edo-period Japan travelled, and where you can still walk the same roads.
Geisha: Myths, Facts and How to Be a Good Visitor
What geisha really are, how they differ from courtesans, and how to enjoy Gion and Kanazawa respectfully.