Two blogs of interest

Spike Japan has a new post titled Amakusa: Islands of dread. It details the sad history of Amakusa Island which is situated west of Kyushu. Spike Japan reveals the aspect of Japan's depopulation in much detail including Amakusa's rapid decline.

The second is from Ichijoji and is called The Death of Saigo. This post talks about the famous "last samurai" Saigo Takamori and the myths and legends surrounding Saigo's supposed seppuku during his famous rebellion.

Shogun-ki: Samurai and Death in Battle - A Translation

Shogun-ki: Samurai and Death in Battle - A Translation: "As another translation, I've (Kitsuno from Shogun-ki) picked out a section of a book called '日本の歴史・合戦のおもしろ話' (Japanese History - Interesting Tales of Battle). This translation deals with Samurai and death in battle. Everyone likes to think that Samurai were in love with the idea of death in battle and that they had no fear of death. Japanese historian Owada Tetsuo gives a much more reasonable explanation, which I hope everyone finds enlightening. This is the first of two sections I'll be translating. Due to the vague nature of Japanese, I've added some slight exposition here and there to clarify, but otherwise it is a direct translation."