Samurai Warrior riding a horse. A Japanese painting on silk, in a traditional Japanese style

Japan

Okinawa: the battle and the bomb. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The US assault on Okinawa

The WW2 battle of Okinawa: the bloodiest assault of the Pacific War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration of Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). (Photo by Alamy)

Coronavirus: what might we learn from pandemics in the past?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration of Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). (Photo by Alamy)

Coronavirus: a historical perspective. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

German prisoners of war

What would you have done? 6 terrible choices people had to make during the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Lauren Bruner and Iyozo Fujita

Pearl Harbor: 5 frontline stories from people who were there. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A young American woman gazes at a human skull, sent to her by a boyfriend during WW2

Opinion: Midway’s treatment of the Japanese enemy highlights the power and limits of empathy

A British officer stands alongside two of his Japanese counterparts in 1914 in Tsingtao (now Qingdao). Japanese troops played a key role in the capture of that strategic German concession in north-east China. (Photo by Getty Images)

First World War: beyond the western front

'Yorktown' sustains a hit during the battle of Midway. The US aircraft carrier sank three days later but, by then, the Japanese had accepted that their attempt to land a war-winning blow had failed. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

How miraculous was the battle of Midway?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Men play kemari ball game

Q&AWho played the sport of kemari?

The battle for Okinawa: one Marine’s story. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Beyond Normandy: the global war. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Historian and geographer Jared Diamond

Books interview with Jared Diamond: “With countries, as with people, crises attract attention”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Japanese troops celebrate the capture of a British artillery position, Hong Kong, December 1941 (Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

The lion and the rising sun: Britain and Japan's 400-year relationship. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

In 1877, a major rebellion in Kyushu concentrated the opposition of conservative elements to the westernization of Japan. (Photo by Asian Art/Getty Images)

The story of modern Japan. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration depicting the Heiji Insurrection of c1159 - one of the first samurai battles. (Photo by Alamy)

A brief history of samurai warfare

With its huge bell and five-storey pagoda, Sensoji Temple is one of Tokyo's most popular –and venerable – landmarks. (Photo by Mike Hewitt - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

My favourite place: Tokyo, Japan

The Last Kamikazes. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto and a mountain in the background

ExploreKyoto: Japan’s city of gardens and geishas. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

John Buckley and James Holland next to a fighter plane at the Imperial Museum, London

Second World War

The War in the West: James Holland in conversation

Silence: the history behind Martin Scorsese’s new film

Matthew Perry Entertaining Japanese Commissioners on Ship

What happened when US Commodore Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

British soldiers arrive to take part in the battle of France, 1940. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Books interview with Daniel Todman: "Everything that happened in 1940 isn't somehow down to Winston Churchill". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Q&AWhy did the Germans never convince the Japanese to start a serious invasion of the Soviet Union during the Second World War?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Timeline: the countdown to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Second World War

Kamikaze pilots and Captain John Smith. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Kamikaze pilot scores a direct hit on a US aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean, c1942. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

The reluctant kamikaze of the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

“Being in a prison camp was better than going to a British boarding school”: child hostage of Japanese in WW2 reflects on his experience. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Residents of Chongqing on the streets of their bombed-ravaged city in the autumn of 1940. China's temporary wartime capital was subjected to 218 Japanese air raids between May 1938 and August 1941, costing nearly 12,000 lives. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

China’s forgotten Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

German soldiers with a horse-drawn cart during the retreat from Ukraine in 1943. The idea of Teutonic efficiency was a triumph of Nazi spin, says James Holland. (Keystone/Getty Images)

The great misconceptions of the Second World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.