Free Republic

The reviews for Disney-owned FX’s new hit miniseries “Shōgun” have been absolutely glowing. That is, apart from one notable exception. The series, based on a 1975 novel by James Clavell, follows the story of an English explorer in the 1500s who finds himself smack-dab in the middle of an intense political conflict unfolding in the Japanese empire. Though many seem to be enjoying the show, one critic — writer William Spivey — felt it was failing for one major reason: There is no black representation. The article, which originated as a blog on Medium, has received some seriously harsh criticism,...

X FX recently released a new version of the wildly popular 1980s TV miniseries Shōgun. Shōgun is based on a famous novel by James Clavell and is set in Japan in the 1600’s. The network shares, “FX’s Shōgun, based on James Clavell’s bestselling novel, is set in Japan in the year 1600, at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. “Lord Yoshii Toranaga” (Hiroyuki Sanada) is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him, when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village.” However, at least one writer is...

On this date in 1865, the Japanese samurai Okada Izo was dispatched by crucifixion. He was one of* the “Four Hitokiri“ — manslayers — whose legendary blades coruscated in the Bakumatsu era that marked Japan’s pivot from an isolationist feudal state, one where samurai were big men on prefectures, to a burgeoning modern power ruled by industry and mass conscription. The irony was that dinosaurs like the Hitokiri helped bring the asteroid down on their own heads. During the chaotic Bakumatsu period, triggered by Japan’s becoming involuntarily opened to the outside world, the emperor — long a figurehead marginalized by...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVqkUNJYS_E This is the history of persecution during Japan's medieval period during and following the Sengokujedai(Age of the country at war)period and during the Tokagowa shogunate. Also features segments on the Shinabara Christian rebellion, St Francis Xavier and The shoguns of Japan. In additon, an epic recreation of the Shimabara rebellion using Shogun 2 Total war, the battle of the last stand of persecuted Christian Samurai. WARNING! CONTAINS VIOLENT BATTLE SCENES AND SCENES OF CHRISTIANS BEING ASSASSINATED AND TORTURED TO DEATH! VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED! SIGN IN ON YT TO VIEW VIDEO!

CAMP ZAMA, Japan, Nov. 3 - Charles Robert Jenkins, the Army sergeant who left his soldiers and walked into North Korea in 1965 to avoid combat duty in Vietnam, received a light sentence Wednesday after pleading guilty in a court-martial here to desertion and aiding the enemy. After hearing bleak testimony about his harsh life in North Korea, an Army judge seemed to accept a defense lawyer's argument that Sergeant Jenkins, 64, had "already suffered 40 years of confinement." The judge, Col. Denise Vowell, then demoted him to private, stripped him of four decades of back pay and benefits, and...

Did Plato's Republic find a spiritual home in Japan? By MICHAEL HOFFMANSpecial to The Japan Times Four hundred and two years ago this week, a battle was fought near the village of Sekigahara, 40 km northwest of Nagoya. Though short -- it was over soon after lunchtime -- the battle was decisive, ushering in . . . Plato's Republic? What would the ancient Greek philosopher have thought of a comparison between his ideal imaginary Republic under all-wise philosopher-kings, and the Tokugawa bakufu, the military government of Edo Japan (1603-1867) whose dour dictators ruled by decree and terror a society they...