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As for the show itself, it tells the story of the city of Osaka - from its babyhood when it wasn't even called “Osaka” yet but “Naniwa”;

In fact, it might be one of the friendliest and most welcoming places in the already friendliest and most welcoming country.

James Clavell's choice to gloss over the winner is remarkable because it results in "history being written not by but about the victor"

While fiction is to be taken with a grain of salt wherever it mentions facts - such as names, dates and places - it's completely in a class of its own when it comes to capturing the spirit of the times described.

Japanese history defies definition because the winner and the loser might end up being one and the same person!

Swords were about to become the first and most obvious victim of that legislation. Whether intentionally or not, the new government attempted to throw the baby out with the bathwater

Samurai's perception of the sword, eventually adopted by the whole nation, is best summed up in one short phrase: “the sword is a sacred treasure where a god dwells”!

Japan wouldn't be Japan if it didn't choose to combine the best of both worlds

The point of the project was to create a large number of sculptures depicting Buddha's followers - a time-consuming but hardly challenging task for a fine artist.