Rust, Ruins & Revolution

​Rust, Ruins & Revolution
Kyushu's Meiji Period Role in Producing Modern Japan

​Most visitors to Japan never leave the Tokyo–Kyoto–Osaka triangle, so they never see the places where modern Japan was actually built. In just over four decades during the Meiji Period (1868–1912), a closed feudal society reinvented itself as an industrial power, and much of it happened in Kyushu.

​Join Vicki L. Beyer, a travel writer and law professor who has explored all 47 of Japan's prefectures with a special eye for where history and place intersect. Vicki will take us on a journey across the island of Kyushu on a route that threads together various aspects of Japan's incredible modernization, including energy production, transportation, manufacturing, and education. She will introduce the coal mines, shipyards, steelworks, and grand port towns of the Meiji era, from the haunting ruins of "Battleship Island" to the garden estate where one visionary lord lit the fuse of Japan's transformation.

​Date & Time:
Thursday, July 30, 2026 · 5:00–6:00 PM PDT (San Diego)
Friday, July 31, 2026 · 9:00–10:00 AM JST (Japan)

Venue: Zoom

​About the speaker:

​A native of Omaha, Nebraska, admitted to practice law in the State of Washington, Vicki Beyer is a retired lawyer/law professor living in Queensland, Australia. Prior to retiring to the Gold Coast, Vicki had lived for 35 years in Japan. Vicki began travel writing in 2008 with the publication of her book, ‘Ten Temples on Two Wheels: Exploring Kamakura by Bicycle or on Foot.’ Since then she has been writing a monthly travel column for Japan Today and has a blog: Jigsaw-japan.com.