News On Japan

The Most Badass Female Shogun, Hojo Masako

Nov 19 (Linfamy) - What would you do if you changed from a nobody into one of the most powerful people in the country, overnight? Hojo Masako 北条政子 was the wife of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of Japan’s first shogunate.

Yoritomo was a political genius, and his wife was no slouch in that department either, which made for epic domestic arguments After Yoritomo’s death, Hojo Masako became a nun, but instead of leaving political life, she decided to keep her clan in power and nurture the government that her husband created. They called her the Nun Shogun. Masako was born in 1157 to Hojo Tokimasa 北条時政.

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has announced plans to draw up guidelines for the introduction of a so-called dual pricing system that differentiates between foreign visitors and local residents.

Kyoto City significantly raised its lodging tax from March 1st, increasing the maximum charge per person per night from 1,000 yen to as much as 10,000 yen, in a move aimed at tackling overtourism and funding the preservation of cultural assets, even as questions remain about its impact on visitors and the local economy.

A former emergency responder and foreign tourists worked together to rescue a woman in her 80s who was trapped inside an overturned light vehicle in Hakuba Village, Nagano Prefecture.

Tokyo Metro and Toshiba have launched Japan’s first demonstration test allowing passengers to pass through ticket gates without touching them by using their smartphones’ Bluetooth function.

The admission fee for the World Heritage-listed Himeji Castle in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, was revised on March 1st for the first time in 11 years, introducing a dual pricing system that significantly raises costs for visitors from outside the city.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Education NEWS

During the first half of the twentieth century, the expansion of the Japanese Empire across Asia turned war into a landscape of systematic violence against civilian populations. (TRNGL)

With company information sessions for university students set to graduate next spring opening in March, Japan’s job-hunting season has entered full swing, once again unfolding under what is widely seen as a candidate-driven seller’s market.

Murai Masayoshi, known professionally as Muramasa and described as a Reiwa-era ukiyo-e artist, has drawn attention for his distinctive “ukiyo-e-style portraits” that depict contemporary figures in the manner of Japan’s Edo period.

In the Keihoku district on the northern edge of Kyoto City, a free school operating out of a former elementary school has become a sanctuary for children who struggle to attend regular classes, offering not only a second chance at learning but also a place of emotional safety for both students and their parents.

A proposed ordinance in Otsu, western Japan, that would effectively lower salaries for public kindergarten teachers by aligning them with the lower pay scale of nursery staff has drawn strong backlash, with a citizens’ group submitting more than 8,000 signatures to the Otsu City Council chair on February 26th calling for a review of the plan.

The financial burden of Japan’s competitive junior high school entrance exams is coming under renewed scrutiny, with a popular manga series offering a lens through which to examine whether the process delivers value for families willing to spend heavily in pursuit of academic success.

In recent years, awareness of reproductive health has expanded significantly across Japan.

In this professional critique, I demonstrate how subtle changes in shadow, color temperature, and value contrast can transform flat shapes into convincing three-dimensional form. (Watercolor by Shibasaki)