The top performers of the era performed live on this popular TV show — The Best Ten was the most popular Japanese music show of the Shōwa era. It was broadcast live from 9 PM on Thursdays from 1978 to 1989. The program counted down the ten most popular Japanese tunes on its original hit chart every week. …

The travails of the lovable vagabond have captivated Japan for generations — What is your favorite Japanese movie? Do you know “Tora-san”? Kuruma Torajirō, nicknamed “Tora-san,” is the protagonist of Otoko wa Tsurai Yo (It’s Tough Being a Man), a Japanese movie series starring Atsumi Kiyoshi. This movies were directed by Yamada Yōji, who also wrote all the screenplays. There are 50…

During the Shōwa era, the most popular programs were animated folk tales, quiz shows, and comedies — In my last article, I wrote about Japanese Shōwa-era golden oldies songs. In this post, I write about the TV programs Shōwa-generation children enjoyed, particularly during prime time on Saturday night. Animated Japanese Folk Tales Manga Nippon Mukashi Bahanshi (Animated Japanese Folk Tales) aired from 7 PM on Saturday night from 1975 to 1994…

The Shōwa pop songs evoke nostalgia of “the good old days” — Do you know the Shōwa period of Japan? When you hear the word, what do you imagine? The Shōwa period is the more than 60-year span from 1926 to 1989. …

Unyielding historic battle between Stalin and Hitler — The Battle of Stalingrad from August 1942 through February 1943 was one of the most decisive battles on the Eastern Front in World War II — a brutal military campaign between Soviet forces and those of Nazi Germany and the Axis powers. The battle is infamous as one of the…

Five main reasons — I happened to see a follower/followee of mine tweeting that she had made her publication debut on Medium in early October 2021. This was my first opportunity to get to know the platform. I decided to create a Medium account on the spot. I had not known the platform until…

Looking back on the biggest aerial resupply mission ever launched — After World War II ended, the Allies partitioned the defeated Germany into a Soviet-occupied zone, an American-occupied zone, a British-occupied zone, and a French-occupied zone.

Historical controversy still continues — The Allied bombing of Dresden of February 13–15, 1945 On February 13, 1945, 245 four-engined Lancaster bombers from the №5 Group of the Royal Air Force (RAF) took off from England. Their target was the historic city of Dresden, located in eastern Germany — at the time populated by 630,000, with an estimated 100,000 refugees. The city’s air defenses…

Looking back on the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, a landmark event in Jewish history — The founding father of Israel The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 is one of the landmark events in Jewish history, marking the foundation of the first independent Jewish state in 2,000 years. …