Journey to Japan: A photojournalist’s diary from the ruins of Tōhoku 13 years later
3.11 EXPLORING FUKUSHIMA: This feature is part of an original Milwaukee Independent editorial series that documented the 13th anniversary of the "Great East Japan Earthquake," tsunami, and nuclear accident, including the conditions of both the people and places that...
Timeline of Tragedy: A look back at the long struggle since Fukushima’s 2011 triple disaster
3.11 EXPLORING FUKUSHIMA: This feature is part of an original Milwaukee Independent editorial series that documented the 13th anniversary of the "Great East Japan Earthquake," tsunami, and nuclear accident, including the conditions of both the people and places that...
New Year’s Aftershock: Memories of Fukushima fuels concern for recovery in Noto Peninsula
3.11 EXPLORING FUKUSHIMA: This feature is part of an original Milwaukee Independent editorial series that documented the 13th anniversary of the "Great East Japan Earthquake," tsunami, and nuclear accident, including the conditions of both the people and places that...
Governor Evers to highlight Wisconsin’s economic partnerships with Japan at White House dinner
Governor Tony Evers, together with First Lady Kathy Evers, will attend the distinguished White House State Dinner in Washington DC on April 10, in honor of Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and Mrs. Kishida Yuko of Japan. This is the first official visit by a Japanese...
Blue Eye Samurai: What the Netflix anime series gets right and wrong about Japan’s Edo-period
By Ruth Starr, Lecturer in History of Japanese art and architecture, Trinity College Dublin Netflix’s Blue Eye Samurai is an anime series set during the opening decades of Japan’s Edo period (1603–1867), also known as the Tokugawa period. Among other subjects, the...
Nishimura Mako: A unique journey of identity for the only woman invited to join the notorious yakuza
By Martina Baradel, Marie Curie postdoctoral researcher, University of Oxford Nishimura Mako is a petite woman in her late fifties, with flowing hair and a delicate face. But you soon notice that she is no traditional Japanese lady, she is tattooed up to her neck and...
Machizukuri: How decorating Japanese manhole covers created a marketplace for nostalgia
By Martyn Smith, Lecturer in Japanese Studies, University of Sheffield Visitors to Japan are usually primed to look up at the vast skyscrapers, the ornate temple gates, the traditional timber-framed guesthouses. Those who look down at their feet, though, might have...
Airstrike on aid workers: World Central Kitchen provides food to save lives but pays a price in blood
“This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘oops’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place. This was over an area of 1.5, 1.8 kilometers, involving a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, on the roof, a very colorful logo that we are...
Long-private video of Hank Aaron’s 715th home run shared by Atlanta Braves fan after 50 years
Charlie Russo had an unbelievable view of Hank Aaron’s record-breaking 715th home run. Fifty years later, he is ready to share it with the world. The 81-year-old Russo released his long-private video of the moment Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s record on April 8,...
Great Replacement Theory: How a conspiracy evolved from a series of false ideas to spread hate
By Rodney Coates, Professor of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Miami University The “great replacement theory,” whose origins date back to the late 19th century, argues that Jews and some Western elites are conspiring to replace white Americans and Europeans with...
Luke Waldo: A Journey through India and its lessons of social connectedness for Milwaukee
“Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.” – Mahatma Gandhi “India is the world’s oldest continuous civilization.” I heard this thought-provoking statement a number of times when I traveled to India...
Semiconductor supply chain rattled by disruption after strongest earthquake in 25 years hits Taiwan
The strongest earthquake in a quarter-century rocked Taiwan during the morning rush hour on April 3, killing nine people, stranding dozens of workers at quarries and sending some residents scrambling out the windows of damaged buildings. The quake, which also injured...