Barakan Discovers

Peter Barakan is a broadcaster and a 45-year resident of Japan. In this series, he discovers how Japan is changing, starting with a look at the country's capital: Tokyo. From tucke...

Almost immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, people in the Tohoku region started talking about encounters with ghosts. The region's culture and history may acc...

In 2020, Tokyo expected to welcome people from all over the world for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Instead, the onset of COVID-19 took it down an unexpected path. Although act...

The Ainu are the indigenous people of northern Japan. They were once subjected to cultural assimilation policies, and many of their traditions were lost. But now, young Ainu are sp...

Japan's Jomon period was a time of peace that persisted for over 10,000 years. As the world moves towards implementing the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, the sustai...

Okinawa Prefecture is a group of subtropical islands in the south of Japan. It previously thrived as a separate country called the Ryukyu Kingdom, which maintained its independence...

When pirates operated in Japan's Seto Inland Sea around 500 years ago, the largest group, the Murakami Kaizoku, certainly did not fit the conventional image of pirates. They actual...

Tanaka Isson, an artist known as Japan's "Gauguin," moved to the subtropical island of Amami Oshima at the age of 50 after years of struggle. He then spent highly productive years...

In the 19th century, writer Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo) helped introduce Japan to the wider world. Peter Barakan visits Izumo to learn about the natural and unseen realms that...

Pioneering ecologist Minakata Kumagusu explored the forests of Kumano. Join Peter Barakan as he follows Minakata's path and discovers a universe in nature.

Admired by John F. Kennedy, Uesugi Yozan transformed the fortunes of the struggling Yonezawa Domain. Peter Barakan visits Yonezawa, once called "an Asiatic Arcadia," to explore Yoz...

In 1843, after surviving a shipwreck, 16-year-old John Manjiro found himself in the US. He later played a key role in opening Japan's doors to the world. Peter Barakan visits Manji...

Yoshida Shoin was an educator whose students played key roles in Japan's modernization. He died at 29, but his ideals still live on 160 years later. Peter Barakan visits Shoin's ho...