In 1904-05, two expanding imperial powers clashed furiously on land and at sea.

Japan sought to exert itself as a global player, in order to enhance its own prestige and prove that it belonged among the colonial powers. Russia likewise needed to enhance its image with the other European powers - and the czar needed a victory to quell domestic opposition.

With Qing China on its last legs, these two of its neighbors fought over Manchuria, the rich northern section of China (and the Qing imperial family's home region).

To complicate matters further, in 1902 Japan had signed a treaty of amity with Great Britain, the most powerful nation on Earth at the time. Russia had agreements with France and Germany.

In the event, the British limited their contribution to closing the Suez Canal to Russia's Baltic fleet, which had to sail all the way around Africa before it could meet the Japanese navy off Korea. (The Russian ships would have done better to stay home - the vast majority of them ended up on the sea bed.) Britain's support for Japan also dissuaded France and Germany from weighing into the fray.

Japan emerged victorious from the Russo-Japanese War, to the shock and dismay of western racists. Far from being welcomed into the "Imperial Powers Club," Japan was cast as part of the "Yellow Peril," as a rash of anti-Asian paranoia spread across Europe and North America, which touched off an echo of fury in Japan itself.

In the end, the Russo-Japanese War was the first of the twentieth century to involve, directly or indirectly, many of the major players on the world stage. It was a sort of preview of the devastation to come over the next four decades: a World War Zero, if you will.

Pretty confrontational moves from a Nobel Peace Prize laureate!

The Dalai Lama, exiled leader of Tibet, is visiting a monastery in Arunachal Pradesh, a disputed border region between India and China. Arunachal is directly across the contested border from Tibet itself.

This visit comes about three months after His Holiness traveled to Taiwan, another of Beijing's tender points, to express his condolences to typhoon victims there.

Throughout his career, the Dalai Lama has advocated dialogue with the Chinese. Recently, however, he seems to have grown weary of playing nice while Beijing accuses him of inciting riots.

The next few years should prove to be yet another interesting chapter in the long history of relations between Tibet and China.

Photo by Mark Nolan / Getty Images.

On November 7, 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Russia, and ousted Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky.

The last tsar, Nicholas II, was forced to abdicate in February of the same year; he and his family were later murdered. In place of the monarchy, a coalition of moderate socialists and liberal reformers formed a provisional government led by Kerensky.

This change was not radical enough for the Bolsheviks, however. They took control in what is usually called the "October Revolution," because November 7 in the Gregorian Calendar is October 25 in Russia's traditional Julian Calendar.

The October Revolution and founding of the USSR inspired communist activists across Asia, and struck fear into the hearts of rulers like the Taisho Emperor of Japan.

During the 1600s to 1800s, Spanish and then later Mexican silver dollars were the currency of choice for foreign trade in Japan and China, and entered into circulation in those countries for domestic trade as well.

What were these "pieces of eight" doing so far from their mint sites? Mexican silver dollars were valued for their purity and consistency; thus, they became the standard for trade in East Asia.

By the late nineteenth century, China was minting its own silver and gold coinage, and Japan began to issue paper currency instead.

See samples of Mexican silver dollars used in Chinese trade, and read an 1878 New York Times article about currency problems in the Far East.

Photo by woody1778a on Flickr.com.

On October 31, 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Nehru Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards.

The attack likely was retaliation for Gandhi's order for the Indian Army to attack the Sikh's holiest site, the Harmandir or "Golden Temple," in September of 1981. At the time, Gandhi was trying to suppress a separatist movement in the Punjab region.

In the attack on the Golden Temple, as many as 3,000 people were killed.

Indira Gandhi was the first, and so far only, female prime minister in Indian history. She was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister.

Contrary to popular belief, her husband, Feroze Gandhi, was not related to the Mahatma Gandhi. She did know the Mahatma from childhood, however.

Photo from the U.S. Department of Defense via Wikipedia.

Science popularizer and author "Dino Don" Lessem has a new exhibit running, but this one isn't about dinosaurs.

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science is hosting his exhibition on Genghis Khan, which runs from October 16, 2009 to February 7, 2010. Many of the items in the exhibit have never been displayed outside of Mongolia.

In addition to wonderful artifacts such as weapons, armor, jewelry and saddles, the exhibit features live performances by Mongolian musicians.

The exhibit includes not only items from Genghis Khan's time, but also those from the reigns of his sons and grandsons. For example, Russia's Hermitage Museum lent objects from the Golden Horde which ruled Russia, plus parts of Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Learn more about Genghis Khan, and read my interview with exhibit producer Don Lessem.

Photo by Sam Ose / Olai Skjaervoy on Flickr.com.

In Afghanistan, it is known as buzkashi and is the national sport. Turkic regions of Central Asia call it kok boru. Legend says that Genghis Khan's hordes played it to refine their horsemanship skills. At its roots, it is linked with another game that we consider quite posh today - polo.

So what is kok boru or buzkashi? It's a fast-paced game wherein two mounted teams battle for the headless body of a sheep, calf or goat. The object of the game is to deposit the animal within a goal ring marked on the ground.

Play can get pretty rough - the riders aren't supposed to lash one another with their riding whips, but it has been known to happen! Broken arms and legs are common, as well.

For more images, see the BBC photo gallery of kok boru players in Kyrgyzstan.

Photo by Paula Bronstein / Getty Images.

When the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949, foreign diplomats were left with a dilemma. Both Mao's communist government on the mainland and Chiang Kai-shek's government on Taiwan (formerly Formosa) claimed to be the legitimate representative of the Chinese people.

Naturally, Cold War geopolitics also played a role - western governments were reluctant to recognize that the world's most populous country was communist, and had the clout in the UN to block recognition. In the event, it took literally decades before the international community accepted this reality.

It wasn't until October 25, 1971, that the United Nations General Assembly voted to admit mainland China as a member. It also expelled Taiwan, which today functions much like any other nation, but is officially recognized by only 23 other states (mostly in Latin America and Oceana).

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art currently has an amazing exhibit of Japanese samurai armor, swords, and other gear. The Art of the Samurai show runs through January 10, 2010.

The exhibit includes beautifully inlaid saddles, swords, daggers, and wall-hangings showing some of the suits of armor actually being worn by their owners. Some of the pieces on display are from as far back as the twelfth century; others were once owned by famous leaders such as Oda Nobunaga and Hideyoshi Toyotomi.

Explore photos of some of the incredible samurai gear and other artwork here.

Photo by Marshall Astor / Flickr.com.

After the Japanese annexed the Korean Peninsula in 1910, and took control of Sakhalin Island as well, many young people from southern Korea were lured to Sakhalin by the promise of good-paying jobs in the fishing and mining industries. During the 1930s and early 1940s, thousands of Koreans moved to the island, which had been disputed territory between Japan and the Soviet Union.

When Japan lost World War II in 1945, the Soviets grabbed Sakhalin and sent ethnic Japanese on the island back home. In the turmoil of the last days of war, rumors started that the Koreans were spying for the USSR, prompting a massacre of some 20,000 Sakhalin Koreans by the Japanese. After the Japanese surrender, the tens of thousands of Koreans on Sakhalin assumed that they would get to return to Korea, too. However, the Soviets barred them from leaving. The Korean War was soon to erupt, and Sakhalin's Koreans were from the south - so early Cold War politics kept them from being repatriated.

In 1974, the Soviet leadership decided that it would like to get rid of the most vocal Korean Sakhaliners, so it allowed them to apply for relocation to Japan. However, an embarrassingly large number applied to leave, so the Soviets did an about-face and cut off exits. They even forcibly deported some of the noisiest dissidents to North Korea, where they disappeared into Kim Il Sung's gulags.

In 1985, as the glasnost and perestroika began in the Soviet Union, Japan once more offered to help repatriate the Sakhalin Koreans. By this time, though, few of them had any interest in trying to return to Korea. Today, some 45,000 people of Korean descent live on the Russian island of Sakhalin.