The past 3 days are a time to reflect on the tough questions we must each answer for ourselves regarding the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on Aug 9. These were separate events & decisions, and these key questions can be asked for each of the bombings: Truman and Churchill did not mince words when they warned 11 days before the Hiroshima bombing:

The epic 'Churning of the Ocean Milk' myth dates back at least to the Vishnu Parana c. 1000BC and long before that in oral tradition. It details a momentous tug-of-war between the gods (devas) and demons (asuras), with a twist: both sides were working together on a common goal. The goal was to bring forth amrita, the elixir of immortality, with a vow to share it. The demons, who were in control of the world at the time, helped the gods tear off Mt. Mandara, one of the 5 peaks of Mt. Meru where the gods dwelled, to use as a churning stick. 2/11

The maneki-neko 'beckoning cat' is quintessentially Japanese, but like everything else it had Chinese antecedents in the auspicious 'fortune cats' of Chinese folk tales. In Kanazawa (which means marsh of gold) the cats sport an elegant gold leaf patina. Note the waving hand varies, and it matters:

SAMPURU, from the English word 'sample', is Japanese food replica art. It's distinctly Japanese, artistically interesting, & whimsically fun. It's also quite practical- to inform and entice customers. I've had 2 pieces of sushi on my desk for 25 years- and they're still fresh. Sampuru dates at least from the Edo Period and replicas were originally made from wax. Modern sampuru are mostly made of plastic and natural resins. Guess which food items below are real and which are sampuru fakes? 2/4

If you’re a Lab-lover, you might want to worship at the altar of this idol. To do so you’d have to go to Chinatown in Incheon, South Korea. The area dates back to the China-Korea Treaty of 1882. That’s when Chinese traders settled in the port area of this city by the Yellow Sea. The area is no longer residential, but...

Jagalchi Market in Busan, South Korea, is my favorite fish market in the world. Or I should say: SEAFOOD market, because every marine creature imaginable (and then some) can be found there. Featured prominently is this favorite Korean snack, called meongge:
Is it animal, mineral, vegetable, or alien organism? Well, despite the misnomer 'sea pineapple', it's very much a member of Kingdom Animalia. Also known as 'sea squirt', it's an ascidian tunicate and is a relative of the most ancient pre-vertebrates. Who knew.

Osaka Castle is magnificently beautiful and impressive in every way - from its architecture to its setting to its storied past.





It is profoundly steeped in history, and the museum in the Castle and the adjacent larger museum tell the spectacular stories well. Here is a good summary of the larger-than-life, truth-is-stranger-than fiction story of the 1614-15 Siege of Osaka Castle:
warfarehistorynetwork.com/siege-of-osaka…

In Shinto tradition, a SHIMENAWA is a rope, typically made of rice straw, that defines a sacred space or object. It means there are kami - Shinto spirits - in the vicinity. Here's one around a tree on the grounds of Osaka's beautiful Sumiyoshi Taisha.

This shimenawa shown below - at the entry of the grand shrine Izumo Taisha west of Matsue - is said to be the world's largest.

On this day in 1945: The 'Typhoon of Steel' - the invasion and ensuing Battle of Okinawa - began.
82 days of unspeakable carnage resulted in >30,000 Allied and >90,000 Japanese casualties.

The kamikazes were deployed in full and fierce force - wreaking profound physical and psychological havoc.

The Kanmon Strait between Honshu and Kyushu was the site of the decisive Battle of Dano-no-ura in 1185. This ended the Genpei War in favor of the Minamoto clan over the Taira Clan, ushering in the Kamakura Shogunate and the 683-year period of feudal Japan. 1/4





The battle for supremacy between the Minamoto and Taira clans is the subject of the epic Heike Monogatari, or Tale of the Heike, a classic of Japanese medieval literature which exalts martial heroism and weaves in threads of both samurai and Buddhist thought. 2/4

A brief break from my posts on Iberia & Morocco to share a truly superb article on the Buddhist concept of 'Anatta' ('no self') by the impressive Chris Niebauer on @BigThink. It's a brilliant exposition on the concept...
bigthink.com/the-well/easte… .. skillfully written and with an evidence-based foundation. It highlights this key component of Buddhist thought as one example of the emerging nexus between neurobiology and the teachings of Buddhism.

Valencia (from the Roman Valentia = Valor) is a city and region with its own rich history, proud traditions and culture. A walk through the capacious Old City brings the history alive with architectural gems, museums, shops and cafes.

Not to be missed: The huge Mercado Central and the 15th century Gothic masterpiece Silk Trading House (La Lonja de la Seda). The latter was built during Valencia's golden age when the Kingdom of Valencia was at its economic & cultural peak, the flagship of the Crown of Aragon.

Historically speaking, Hawaii's most important signature crop was sugar (not pineapple, as is commonly thought). Sugar catalyzed the economic & political transition that ultimately led to the overthrow of the monarchy in 1893 by the 'plantocracy' of American sugar barons. The bittersweet story of sugar as a moral, economic, and (we now know) biologic toxin is something I discuss in depth in my Caribbean lecture series as well as my Hawaii lecture series.

Sightings of whale sharks in Hawaiian waters have been increasing over recent years. While they're most often seen between Kauai & Ni'ihau or between Lanai & Molokai, one of these gentle giants was recently seen off the Kona coast. These nomadic creatures are the biggest fish in the sea, yet elegantly graceful (and harmless). Each one has a unique pattern of spots, like a fingerprint. Hawaii is not generally considered one of their favorite migratory hangouts.
lonelyplanet.com/articles/best-…

This shot entering magnificent Opunohu Bay in Moorea is one of my favorites in my South Pacific photo archive. But Moorea, in all its beauty, always reminds me of the beginning of the end of the once-noble Captain Cook. 1/9 Cook died on Feb 14, 1779, on the beach at Kealakekua Bay on the big island of Hawaii, which is not-so-coincidentally where we spent the day yesterday. The circumstances are oft re-told, embellished and analyzed. Young Mark Twain put it bluntly when he visited the spot in 1866:

Sloths are as fascinating as they are adorable. We learned quite a bit about about these unusual creatures from the staff at the Sloth Sanctuary near Cahuita, a scenic 30-minute ride south from the cruise port of Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.

These relatively primitive mammals are related to anteaters & armadillos. There are 2 families of sloths, three-FINGERED sloths and two-FINGERED sloths (contrary to what I had thought, ALL sloths have 3 TOES, on their back feet). All extant sloths are arboreal, i.e., tree sloths.

Belize is renowned for its diving, and its huge barrier reef is the world's 2nd largest. It also has a very interesting political & cultural history. British 'Baymen' mahogany loggers challenged Spanish hegemony and eventually succeeding in wresting the territory from Spain. It would become the crown colony of British Honduras in 1862 and an independent sovereign nation in 1981. And now for some more interesting Caribbean vexillology: The flag of Belize has more colors than any other national flag - 19.

On this day: February 1, in 1778, Captain Cook arrived on Ni'ihau at the western end of Hawaii's windward island group. He bore gifts of goats and pigs, and the Hawaiians as usual gifted him lavishly with fowl, sweet potatoes, taro, and bananas . He soon left to explore the northern reaches of the Pacific. He would return from the frigid Arctic in November after failing to find a hoped-for passage to the Atlantic, understandably deciding to winter in the lovely 'Sandwich Islands'.

On this day, October 21, in the year 1600, the largest and most important battle in Japan's feudal history was fought when the Eastern Forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu met the Western forces of Ishida Mitsunari at Sekigahara, a small town on the vital Nakasendo road. The Battle of Sekigahara was the decisive turning point in a centuries-long process of unification and was the definitive battle contributing to the end of the Sengoku (Warring States) Period which lasted roughly from 1467-1615.

How can you find the equator on any unmarked map such as this physical map of the world in mercator projection with no place, border, or latitude markings ? 1/5 Easy: Just draw a line through the top of Lake Victoria and/or the top of New Guinea's Bird's Head Peninsula and/or just below Singapore at the tip of the Malay Peninsula, and you have it. 2/5

We're sailing through some fascinating geography as we round the eastern end of New Guinea en route back to Australia through the Solomon Sea & Coral Sea. I learned something interesting (for a geography nerd) today: there are TWO Dampier Straits around New Guinea. See the 2 light blue lines on the map below. One Dampier Strait is off of the Bird's Head Peninsula in Indonesia's Western Papua. The other is off Papua New Guinea's New Britain island and connects the Bismarck Sea & Solomon Sea.