History of Japan

This week on the podcast, something a little different: My first time traveling purely as a tourist in Japan, with a very special guest star. Photos and a map of spots we discussed at this link Support the show on Patreon

In lieu of a traditional episode, enjoy this one from the archives of my other podcast Criminal Records! 

This week: the rise and demise of radio in Japan, covering everything from the birth of NHK to the origin of sports broadcasting. Tune in and have a listen! Sources, show notes, and transcript at this link Support the show on Patreon

This week: The history of the record player in Japan, from the first prototypes to the dawn of the Japanese pop star. Sources, show notes, and transcription at this link Support the show on Patreon

In the first of a multi-part series on the history of communications technology in Japan, we've got a double-header: the landline telephone and telegraph. How did two technologies we now think of as ancient help remake a country opening itself up to the industrial world? Sources, show notes, and transcript at this link Support the show on Patreon

This week: Tokugawa Ienari is often considered the worst shogun of the Tokugawa era. Where does his reputation come from, and is it entirely deserved? Sources, show notes, and transcript at this link Support the show on Patreon

This week: Osaka enters the modern era. How did the nation's kitchen become the "capital of smoke," and how did the city's government attempt to remake it for the modern era? Show notes and episode transcript at this link Support the show to get access to ad-free episodes and bonus content on Patreon

Apologies for the delayed release! I had some computer issues on my end, but they are now resolved. This week is all about Osaka during the late Edo years, as the system of the Tokugawa shoguns began to fall further and further out of equilibrium. How did the "nation's kitchen" weather attempts to alter the system of rice-based taxation that was the backbone of Tokugawa Japan? And why was it the s...

I'm very excited to announce my work with Paradox Interactive on a new piece of content for the excellent Europa Universalis IV! Join me as I talk with Alvaro Sanz, one of the fine folks at Paradox, about the project and about video games, history, and all the fun intersections thereof.

This week: it's the height of the Edo period, and you sail into Osaka's harbor. What sorts of things might you see? Show notes here .

This week: how the rise of a powerful religious institution helped draw the attention of one of Japan's greatest warlords to Osaka, and how the city emerged from the ashes of his collapse to become once again a center of commerce in Japan.  Note: due to a numbering error on my end, I recorded this episode as 487. It is actually 488. This has been corrected for episode posts, but I don't have the t...

This week: the start of our multi-part series on the history of Osaka! Supposedly the site where Japan's first emperor began his conquests, the city has a long history stretching back well before it even got its current name. This week is all about the first 1000-ish years of Osaka's history, and how it became one of the country's most important port cities.  Show notes here . 

This week: how did Japan's most popular god develop a following around the country, and why is that god--Inari--associated with everything from farming to fire prevention? How come you see Inari worship in Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines alike? And what does all of this have to do with foxes, anyway? Show notes here . 

This week: the Pal dissent becomes the Pal myth. How did an obscure document from the Tokyo Trials end up front and center in nationalist discourse in Japan today? Show notes here .

This week, we're starting a look into how an Indian lawyer and judge from a relatively obscure background became a focal point of right-wing Japanese nationalism. Who was Radhabinod Pal, how did he end up a judge in the Tokyo Trials, and what led him to claim that there were no grounds to convict Japan's leaders of any crime after World War II? Note: this episode does contain indirect discussion o...

Oe Kenzaburo is about as different a writer as you can think of from Kawabata Yasunari, and yet he's Japan's second ever Nobel laureate in literature. What sort of concerns defined his work, and what can we learn from looking at him in conjunction with Kawabata? Show notes here .

Apologies for the delay, folks. Something went wrong in the Libsyn backend. Here's our episode on Kawabata Yasunari!

We're wrapping up our look at the Hatoyama political dynasty with some time on Hatoyama Iichiro (arguably Japan's most reluctant politican) and his two sons Kunio and Yukio. Plus some thoughts on the legacy of the Hatoyama family and on dynastic electoral politics more generally. Show notes here .

This week: Hatoyama Ichiro's revenge tour culminates in finally reaching the top spot as PM and in the formation of the LDP. What does the torturous road it took to get there tell us about the man, and about the politics of his time? Show notes here .

Hatoyama Kazuo was a reluctant politician; you can't say the same of his son Hatoyama Ichiro, groomed from childhood to take up the family business (and to rise to the height of cabinet minister, something his father never did). This week is all about Ichiro's prewar career, which culminated in a shot at the top job--that was snapped away at the last moment. Show notes here .

This week, we're starting a longform look at Japan's most prominent political dynasty: the Hatoyama family, which has been a presence in Japan's electoral politics from the jump. Today is all about the career of family progenitor Hatoyama Kazuo, who went from son of a minor samurai to speaker of the House of Representatives, and in the offing created one of the nation's great political dynasties....

This week, we're covering the art of rakugo--storytelling with a twist! How did rakugo emerge from the history of Buddhism, and what has enabled its enduring popularity where contemporary entertainments like kabuki have fallen by the wayside? Show notes here . 

How did one man's determination to get paid end up producing one of the best records we have of a pivotal moment in Japanese history? Show notes here . 

This week: Japan's empire in Micronesia comes apart under the face of both the miscalculations of military leadership and the contradictions that had haunted it from the jump. Show notes here . 

So far, we've talked about how Micronesia came under Japanese rule, but what was Japan's rule over the region like?  Show notes here .