Tanais (Ancient Greek: Τάναϊς Tánaïs, Russian: Танаис) is the ancient name for the River Don in Russia. Strabo regarded it as the boundary between Europe and Asia.

In antiquity, Tanais was also the name of a city in the Don river delta (Maeotian marshes) that reaches into the northeasternmost part of theSea of Azov, which the Greeks called Lake Maeotis. The site of ancient Tanais is about 30 km west of modern Rostov on Don in the south of Russia. The central city site lies on a plateau with a difference up to 20m in elevation in the south. It is bordered by a natural valley to the east, and an artificial ditch to the west.

Last year, I took a class in Japanese popular culture. I didn't want to write about anime or manga. In the first lecture, we saw a clip from an early Japanese movie. I had to look twice - was that geisha a man? After talking with my lecturer, he explained that virtually all early Japanese movie actors were men. He implied that these onnagata ("shaped women") disappeared from movies as the equipment and quality of film became more sophisticated.

I decided to write my exam about the onnagata. It's about 10 pages, but I think it makes for an interesting read. Note that I don't actually have a background in feminism or history, which means that my analysis might be simplistic.