Status Updates From The Story of Civilization I...

The “Battle of the Sea of Japan” was a turning point in modern history.

While I was reading this here, I was also reading about this same war in the novel, The Lady of the Decoration! 😁 As a reader, that is really fun!

There is no more amazing or portentous phenomenon in modern history than the way in which sleeping Japan, roughly awakened by the cannon of the West, leaped to the lesson, bettered the instruction, accepted science, industry and war, defeated all her competitors either in battle or in trade, and became, within two generations, the most aggressive nation in the contemporary world.

به عقيده مونتنى اينكه به بهانه دين و پرهيزگاری كسى را تا به حد مرگ عذاب و شكنجه كنند - همچنانكه در زمان او مرسوم بود -بسيار وحشيانه تر از آن است كه او را بعد از مرگ بپزند و به مصرف خوراک برسانند.

About one of Japan's greatest Confucian philosophers: "Togai’s pupils pointed out that he had written two hundred and forty-two books without saying an unkind word of any other philosopher. When he died, they placed this enviable epitaph upon his tomb: He did not talk about the faults of others... He cared for nothing but books. His life was uneventful."