This article, originally published in Number 1 Shimbun, takes readers to the sites of three WWII-era military bases on the Japanese island of Kyushu, and examines the activities on those bases, especially in the last months of the war. (Archived article from Number 1 Shimbun)
Not long ago I was commissioned to work on a major project to promote the island of Kyushu as a destination. I was asked to write fairly long pieces on each of several themes, largely to provide background information to spark interest. Those pieces, listed below, are now an information resource called the Kyushu Online … Continue reading Kyushu Online Media Center: Stories
This article introduces the dramatically-located Udo Shrine, on the south coast of Miyazaki, together with the story of the shrine's origins and another related Japanese folktale. (Archived article – Originally published by Japan Today.)
This article is about Aoshima, a Miyazaki beach town with a legendary island just offshore. The island is home to a romantic shrine and is surrounded by distinctive rock formations. (Archived article – Originally published by Japan Today.)
February 11 is celebrated in Japan as "National Foundation Day", commemorating the date on which Japan's first emperor, Jimmu, ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 660BC. Except…it never happened. Or, at least, there is no evidence that it did. Japan's earliest written records were written by the Chinese around the first century AD and the … Continue reading Hyuga, where Japan’s imperial dynasty was launched
Many of Japan's origin legends are set in Kyushu and can be explored at Shinto shrines and other sites across the island commemorating the events of the legend. They are often tales of interactions among a pantheon of gods that are every bit as intriguing as the Roman or Greek mythology doubtless more familiar to … Continue reading Amano Iwato: hideaway cave of a goddess
Sitting on a plateau above the Hitotsuse River valley in central Miyazaki Prefecture is a 58 hectare site covered in tumuli, the kofun burial mounds of the period from the second century to the seventh century AD, a period in Japanese history known as the "Kofun Period" because of this practice. There are at least … Continue reading Saitobaru: A Walk in Miyazaki’s “Valley of the Kings”
Jigsaw Japan 