North Pacific
I live on the west coast of Canada and have long been fascinated by other countries around the northern Pacific ocean. I started preparing these lectures before doing one cruise to Japan and China, but I discovered I needed to know even more. So the research continues.
China, the Middle Kingdom
China’s geography explains much of its history and identity: a vast country roughly comparable in size to the United States and Canada, it holds about 1.4 billion people, with nearly 94% living east of the “Hu Line” that separates the fertile, river-fed plains from the mountainous, high plateau west . The Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau dominate the west, while great rivers—the Yellow, Yangtze, and Pearl—flow from highlands to densely populated lowlands, bringing both fertility and catastrophic floods such as the devastating 1931 disaster. The climate varies dramatically from frigid Manchurian winters to subtropical Hainan, shaped by Pacific trade winds that make the east humid and the west dry . A traditional north–south divide along the Huai River separates wheat-growing, noodle-eating northern regions from rice-growing southern ones. Ethnically, about 91% identify as Han, concentrated mainly east of the Hu Line, alongside numerous minority groups. Linguistically diverse spoken dialects share a common written script that dates back over 3,000 years to oracle bone inscriptions, and while Mandarin (based on the Beijing dialect) became the national language in the 20th century, regional languages like Cantonese and Shanghainese remain vibrant. Even the name “China” reflects foreign adaptation of the name of the Qin dynasty, while Chinese people refer to their country as Zhōngguó—“Middle Kingdom”—a term with deep historical roots.
China, the Formative Years
China’s origins begin in the Neolithic era (10,000–2,000 BCE), when diverse cultures in the north cultivated millet and in the south domesticated rice. Legendary accounts of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors describe culture heroes like the Yellow Emperor and Yu the Great, who is credited with flood control and the founding of the Xia dynasty, traditionally regarded as China’s first dynasty. The Bronze Age Shang dynasty developed early writing, and were followed by the Zhou, whose long rule included the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, an age of iron weapons, intense rivalry, and profound intellectual ferment. During this “Hundred Schools of Thought,” Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism offered competing visions of morality, governance, and human nature, while thinkers like Sun Tzu shaped military philosophy. Qin Shi Huang ultimately unified China in 221 BCE through Legalist reforms and centralized power, paving the way for the Han dynasty.
The Silk Road to the West
Incomplete
Japan, Dangerous Islands
Japan is an archipelago of many inhabited islands shaped by complex tectonic forces where four plates meet, creating deep ocean trenches, frequent earthquakes, active volcanoes like Mount Fuji, and devastating tsunamis such as the 2011 Tōhoku disaster. Its mountainous terrain and limited flat land encouraged terraced rice farming, and reliance on rich fishing grounds fueled by the collision of the warm Kuroshio and cold Oyashio currents. The same geological instability fostered cultural adaptations: impermanent architecture, tsunami preparedness, and communal bathing traditions linked to volcanic hot springs (onsen). Despite being a “dangerous place” of constant natural risk, people settled the islands as early as 40,000 years ago, crossing powerful currents and building a resilient society shaped by both refinement and the forces of nature.
Creating Japan
Japan’s early history traces a remarkable arc from Paleolithic settlers who crossed dangerous currents over 40,000 years ago, through the hunter-gatherer Jōmon culture and the rice-farming Yayoi migrations from Korea, to the rise of the Yamato state and an imperial line that claimed descent from the sun goddess Amaterasu. Chinese writing, Buddhism, and Confucian administration reshaped court life during the Nara and Heian periods, producing literary masterpieces like The Tale of Genji while Kyoto flourished as a refined cultural capital. Power gradually shifted from emperors and court nobles to warrior elites: samurai developed ideals of loyalty and bushidō, shoguns ruled through military governments (bakufu), and Japan endured Mongol invasions and centuries of civil war during the Sengoku “Warring States” era. Artistic and spiritual traditions—Zen Buddhism, Noh drama, the tea ceremony, and wabi-sabi aesthetics such as kintsugi blended impermanence with discipline, even as the Three Unifiers (Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu) consolidated political power in the late 16th century
Japan Resists the West
From the arrival of the Portuguese in 1543 during the Sengoku “Warring States” era to Commodore Perry’s “Black Ships” in 1853, Japan’s relationship with the West reshaped its politics, warfare, society, and culture. European traders introduced firearms, which were quickly copied as the tanegashima, and used by Oda Nobunaga, who embraced Western technology to unify Japan. After the rise of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the establishment of the shogunate in 1603, Japan imposed strict controls: Christianity was suppressed, foreign nationals were largely banned, and trade was confined mainly to the Dutch enclave at Nagasaki. Despite isolation, limited exchange fostered Rangaku (“Dutch Learning”), allowing Japan to absorb Western science, medicine, and technology while maintaining rigid social hierarchies and internal stability during the Edo period. This controlled engagement ended abruptly in the mid-19th century when American pressure forced Japan to reopen, setting the stage for profound and rapid transformation
Russia, Siberia and Alaska
Russia reached Alaska through a mix of greed, ambition, science, and empire, driven primarily by the lucrative fur trade—especially sea otter pelts, which were so valuable in China that they could fetch thousands of dollars apiece. Beginning in 1581 with Yermak’s conquest of the Khanate of Sibir, Russian expansion pushed eastward across the vast taiga and river systems of Siberia—Volga, Ob, Yenisey, Lena—reaching the Pacific by 1639 and Okhotsk by 1715. Under Peter the Great’s encouragement to map and explore, Vitus Bering’s expeditions in 1728 and 1741 confirmed that Asia and North America were separate continents, opening the way to Alaska and the Aleutians. The fur rush led to harsh exploitation of the Aleuts and violent clashes with the Tlingit, including revolts and massacres, while Russian Orthodox missionaries also established a lasting religious presence. Competition with Spain, Britain, and American traders intensified, but by the mid-19th century Alaska had few settlers, declining wildlife, and was costly and militarily indefensible, especially after the Crimean War. In 1867 Russia sold the territory to the United States for $7.2 million—derided at the time as “Seward’s Folly”—leaving behind churches and cultural traces but little enduring Russian population.
The Fight for Manchuria
Incomplete