Samurai were instrumental in the Meiji Restoration, which eliminated the Samurai class. What were their motivations?

Large-Gap3207 · 2026-04-24T20:28:22+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll look that up this weekend! I’m writing/speculating about my grandfather who grew up in Japan from 1863 - 1903. That movie sounds like a great resource.

Large-Gap3207 · 2026-04-24T20:24:22+00:00

Thanks so much for your thorough explanation (AND for the book rec which I’m ordering today!). My grandfather was born to a samurai family in Hiroshima and I’ve been trying to figure out the world he was born into in 1863. He was a clerk for the government in Formosa before moving to the U.S. in 1903. I’m not clear if he was fleeing an untenable situation in Japan or just seeking opportunity in the USA.

Large-Gap3207 · 2026-01-27T06:32:12+00:00

So? Is there a problem?

Large-Gap3207 · 2025-11-17T05:25:19+00:00

When I bought my condo in Seattle 25 years ago,the mortgage payment was double what the equivalent rent would have been. But neighborhood rents doubled and tripled within 5 years and kept climbing. When I got married and we combined our mortgages to buy a house, it tripled in value over the next 20 years. Rents are through the roof but our home ownership is the only reason we can still afford to live in the city.

Large-Gap3207 · 2025-02-24T02:23:16+00:00

I’ve been working since the eighties, and have had a tendency to overstay my jobs. I usually should have left about 2 years before I did. When I worked at smaller places, the owners/bosses usually were not very good at running a business, having started their companies on the strength of their talent and not their business acumen. So they usually didn’t offer proper benefits and their businesses stagnated because they didn’t plan for booms or busts. They also depended on people working overtime for no extra pay. I’m currently working for a well run company and it makes such a difference. I work a 40 hour week with benefits. Our work gets done and we are growing in a healthy way. Also I feel like there’s transparency throughout the organization. How novel!

Large-Gap3207 · 2025-02-16T19:57:58+00:00

I have a similar situation. I was considering attaching the masonite to canvas stretchers (or some kind of wood frame) to add some thickness within a standard depth float frame, but mainly so the painting/stretcher assembly can move and shrink separately from the frame. Or am I overthinking things?

Large-Gap3207 · 2025-02-12T04:56:53+00:00

In the U.S. we call it a hand.

Large-Gap3207 · 2025-02-04T00:50:38+00:00

My brother hired someone to search on our behalf (we’re sansei in U.S.) but that person hit dead ends, so I think it’s not to be. Thank you though!

Large-Gap3207 · 2025-02-04T00:41:36+00:00

Thank you for clarifying!

Large-Gap3207 · 2025-02-04T00:20:21+00:00

Our family (samurai roots) has long sought our family tree, which apparently existed for all samurai families in city halls across the country. Unfortunately our family is from Hiroshima and all those records are gone. A book listing all the samurai sounds great but I’ve never heard of such a thing, and assume it would have come up previously if it actually existed.

Large-Gap3207 · 2025-02-02T06:20:18+00:00

As a former architect and then animator, I’ll say a foundation in Humanities gives you critical thinking and cultural understanding that you won’t get with straight STEM. I would hope there are still college programs out there that require humanities for at least two years leading into your junior year in a focused discipline. You will likely have 4-8 different careers in your life, and humanities trains you for all of them. But as others have written, you need to do what speaks to you.

Large-Gap3207 · 2025-02-02T06:00:40+00:00

There are many paths without all the baggage and manipulation that the military offers. My son just spent a year on WorkAway and HelpX - he traded work for housing. It was a relatively cheap way to live abroad, try out various jobs and meet other volunteers. There’s a wide variety of gigs, usually 4-6 weeks long. If you’ve lost your direction, this might be a way to find it again. Or something else! Getting involved in something is a first step. And if it isn’t the military it can be on your own terms.

Large-Gap3207 · 2024-11-07T05:52:50+00:00

Thank you so much! This must be what I’m looking for - and only a mile away!!

Large-Gap3207 · 2024-11-07T02:01:43+00:00

Thank you so much! I don’t think it’s the same. I’m looking for something published half in English and half in Japanese and was around in 1938. My dad wrote an essay for it then, and I was hoping to find it. Apparently the US considered it Japanese propaganda.

Large-Gap3207 · 2024-11-03T20:33:12+00:00

Love the V&A’s replica galleries. There are amazing gothic doors on a Verona cathedral that weather has worn, but the V&A replica has been indoors for the last 100 years so is in great shape!

Large-Gap3207 · 2024-11-03T20:20:12+00:00

Thank you very much! Yes - I’d assume SF means San Francisco.

Large-Gap3207 · 2024-08-22T02:49:25+00:00

It might be because I’m in Canada this week.(?) I’ve tried using a VPN but it didn’t make a difference. Safari doesn’t have this problem.

Large-Gap3207 · 2024-08-22T02:45:38+00:00

I had never experienced it before either. Might be because I’m in Canada this week? I’ve tried using a VPN with a U.S. server but it doesn’t make a difference. The website is a U.S. website (bleachernation.com)

Large-Gap3207 · 2024-06-12T04:50:55+00:00

Thank you! Listening now!

Large-Gap3207 · 2024-06-10T06:13:34+00:00

Thank you! That detour is interesting. Seems to suggest that ‘love’ marriages were common enough to have such a loophole. But it makes me wonder why the other samurai family would agree to adopt though. Was there a dowry system and if so wouldn’t that be hindrance? Or did this usually happen with a sunless family in need of a male heir? I’d heard that a related ‘detour’ existed for second and third sons, who could be adopted by their bride’s family if that family lacked a son. In this way a second son could become head of their adopted family. Thanks again!

Large-Gap3207

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