Traditional Japanese Fish Art Could Be a Boon for Conservation
Since the mid-19th century, Japanese fishers have been leveraging this unusual technique to create dazzling images known as gyotaku. Like a pre-photography proxy for fish Instagram, th…
The archive
Articles from www.smithsonianmag.com
Browse articles from www.smithsonianmag.com in the Akihabara archive.
A Great Wave of Hokusai
Katsushika Hokusai was in his 70s by the time he created his best-known image, the majestic The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Often known simply as The Great Wave, the popular print not only emb…
Hidden Japanese Settlement Found in Forests of British Columbia
In 2004, archaeology professor Robert Muckle was alerted to a site within the forests of British Columbia’s North Shore mountains, where a few old cans and a sawblade had been discovered. Muckle…
The Sprawling Legacy of Isao Takahata, Co-Founder of Studio Ghibli
Isao Takahata, a master of Japanese animation who co-founded the beloved animation house Studio Ghibli with fellow titan Hayao Miyazaki, died following a battle with lung cancer at the Teikyo Un…
A Giant Squid Visits a Japanese Harbor
Giant squid, the huge tentacled creatures that live in the dark ocean depths, were probably the inspiration for the legend the kraken and have remaind largely elusive for most of human history. The f…
How Baseball Has Strengthened the Relationship Between the United States and Japan
The role of baseball in Japanese-U.S. diplomacy has a long and rich history. After American educator Horace Wilson and railway engineer Hiroshi Hiraoka introduced the sport to the Japanese peopl…
Google Japan Now Has Street View From a Dog’s Perspective
According to the Google Japan Blog (as translated by Google), by attaching a small camera to a harness on the back of three Akita dogs, Asuka, Ako and Puko, Google employees mapped out Odate City wit…