First was Osprey Warrior #151: Samurai Women 1184 – 1877; fairly interesting, it gives a fair picture of what life was like for the non-male members of a samurai family.
Then, Osprey Men-At-Arms #387: The Italian Army of World War I. It's a useful reminder that as a nation, Italy had only existed about fifty years, and hadn't aggressively built a modern infrastructure to support an army of the size of the other combatants in the Great War. Moderately interesting...