The Forgotten Sook Ching Massacre of World War II

The Sook Ching Massacre was a deadly Japanese military operation during World War II aimed at purging “anti-Japanese elements” from Chinese Singapore. From February to March 1942, Chinese men between 18 and 50 were ordered to mass screening centers across the region.  Those even remotely suspected of being “anti-Japanese” were trucked away at gunpoint toContinue reading “The Forgotten Sook Ching Massacre of World War II”

The Tragic Sinking of China’s SS Kiangya

On the night of December 4th,1948, the passenger steamship SS Kiangya exploded and sank just north of Shanghai, China.  It was the world’s worst non-military maritime disaster at the time. The steamship blew up at the mouth of the Yangtze River, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Shanghai and rapidly sank. The suspected cause – a mineContinue reading “The Tragic Sinking of China’s SS Kiangya”

Podcast: Japan’s Minamata Disease was a Man-made Tragedy

Minamata Disease is a sobering reminder of the dangers of unregulated industries in modern times, a purely human-created disease. It was first seen in 1956 in the children living in Minamata City on the coast of Japan’s southern island of Kyūshū. Medically, it’s a severe neurological syndrome with symptoms including loss of muscle control, lossContinue reading “Podcast: Japan’s Minamata Disease was a Man-made Tragedy”

Podcast: Razor Tojo – Japan’s Adolf Hitler

  Contrary to popular myth, Japan’s version of Adolf Hitler was not the Emperor Hirohito, but rather its infamous Minister of War, Hideki Razor Tojo. But who was this ruthless and powerful man so few outside Japan know of?  He rose to power in the 1930’s, began World War II in the Pacific, and wasContinue reading “Podcast: Razor Tojo – Japan’s Adolf Hitler”