Japan

Japanese boats approaching a 'black ship' of US Commodore Matthew C Perry. His arrival in Japan in 1853 forcibly introduced the modern west to the semi-self-isolated island nation (Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

From Meiji to modernity: how Japan reinvented itself through the 20th century

Migrants at a detention centre in Texas, March 2019

The complex history of concentration camps

Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival (far right) marches to the Japanese camp to surrender Singapore. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun Premium via Getty Images)

Second World War

VJ Day: turning the tide in the east

Scientists Frederic Joliot-Curie and his wife, Irene, at work in their Paris laboratory in December 1932. The couple were among a wide-ranging group of scientists whose work paved the way for the atomic bomb. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Second World War

Hiroshima: the race to the atomic bomb

With the Olympics underway in Tokyo, Chris Harding looks back at 1964 – the last time Japan hosted the competition. (Image by Getty Images)

How the 1964 Tokyo Olympics redefined Japan

Medal winners on a podium

Q&A Who won the first Olympic medal? And what was the prize before that?

Tokyo Olympics 1964: Yoshinori Sakai prepares to light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony. Born on the day that the first atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, he was a symbol of Japan’s postwar reconstruction and peace

Tokyo Olympics 1964: the Games that defined Japan

Professor Michael Wert responds to listener questions and online search queries about the samurai of feudal Japan. (Image by Getty Images)

Samurai: everything you wanted to know

US marines advance up Iwo Jima's beaches

Second World War

The battle for Iwo Jima: why did it happen and why was it so hard fought?

An engraving depicting London's Piccadilly Circus heaving with crowds on their way to The Great Exhibition of 1851. A banner reading 'God save the Queen and Prince Albert' has been strung across the street. Within the Crystal Palace some 100,000 objects were displayed – taking up ten miles of space – the work of 15,000 contributors. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

From the Great Exhibition to the Festival of Britain: the decline and fall of the British empire

Chris Harding gives a lecture on Japan’s attempts to carve out a place for itself in a world dominated by western power and culture

Japan and the west

Mixed signals: A shortwave radio listening post in California, set up to report and translate broadcasts from Asia. (Photo by AP/Shutterstock)

Second World War

Caught off guard: why didn’t America see Pearl Harbor coming?

Chris Harding answers questions on the history of Japan

The history of Japan: everything you wanted to know

A group of American soldiers captured by the Japanese during the Battle of Java, 1942 (Photo by Getty Images)

Second World War

Prisoners of the Japanese

WW2 surrender signed, 2 September 1945

Second World War

How and when did the Second World War end?