Famous in Japan

By Solara Patel-Elliott, Intern Spring 2026 The Yuki Onna (Yuki-onna (ゆき女), depicted by artist Sawaki Suushi in Hyakkai-Zukan (百怪図巻) (1773) Of the more than one thousand types of yōkai (妖怪) present in Japanese folklore, there is one transcendent being whose tale is particularly fitting in the cold winter months. Yuki Onna (雪女) is one of the most well-known yōkai, depicted in legends across various regions of Japan and common in Japanese media, literature, and film. Japanese y

By Danielle Cochran, Volunteer Masako Shirasu in 1952 Of the many people who have had an enormous impact on Japanese arts and culture, author and fine art collector Masako Shirasu stands out as a distinguished figure. Born Masako Kabayama in Tokyo in 1910, she hailed from a prosperous family: her grandfathers were admirals in the Imperial Japanese Navy and her father was a lawyer. As her family was well-off, she started taking lessons in Noh theatre at the age of 4. It is oft

By Danielle Cochran, Volunteer Nintendo's first headquarters in Kyoto, Japan in 1889 As the creator of major franchises like Donkey Kong, Mario, Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon, to name a few, one may think Nintendo is a company founded in the 1980s, when it was actually started by Fusajiro Yamauchi in the 1880s. The eldest son of Sosuke Fukui, Yamauchi was born in November 1859 in Kyoto, Japan, but was adopted at the age of 5 by Yushichi Yamauchi. In Japan, these types of adopt

By Danielle Cochran, Volunteer Manjiro Nakahama, image from "The Presentation of a Samurai Sword" at Millicent Library (1918) A fateful shipwreck is what drastically changed Manjiro Nakahama’s trajectory in life: from a young boy fishing to support his family, to having a pivotal role in the opening of Japan to the rest of the world. In 1827, Nakahama, also referred to as John Manjiro and John Mung, was born to his father Etsusuke, a fisherman, and his mother Shio. However, h

By Danielle Cochran, Volunteer Junko Tabei in 1985 at Communism Peak (now known as Ismoil Somoni Peak) in Tajikistan, Jaan Künnap ,  CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons A trailblazer in the mountaineering world, Junko Tabei accomplished the incredible feat of being the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest and the first woman to complete the Seven Summits, scaling the tallest peaks in the world’s seven continents. Uncomfortable with the fame she received for summi