History of Japan

This week, we wrap up our imperial biographies with a look at the Meiji Emperor's relationship to three important aspects of his reign: the constitution, the wars fought in his name, and his heir. Plus, we talk Meiji's death, and his legacy. Note: no episode next week for American Thanksgiving; show notes here . 

This week: the life of the Meiji Emperor in the turbulent 1870s and 1880s. We'll cover everything from the birth of his first surviving child to his drinking habits to his role in various political crises to the complicated process of shaping what a "modern" emperor's role even was. Show notes here .

This week: the boy emperor Meiji takes responsibility for Japan's future. But what did that mean in practice? What does an emperor, especially a boy emperor, actually do? Show notes here .

This week: Emperor Komei attempts to protect tradition in a nation beset by crisis. However, his efforts will be brought short by his untimely death, and the reigns of power passed to his untested boy successor: Meiji. Show notes here .

This week: the beginning of a multipart biography of two of the best documented figures we know very little about: Emperor Komei, and his son and heir Meiji, whose name would end up defining one of the most important eras in Japanese history. Show notes here . 

This week: political infighting about purple robes and what it can tell us about Buddhism, political power, and the relationship of religion and the state. Plus, a brief biography of Takuan, a man who is famous for far more than the pickled radishes named after him! Show notes here . 

Hello all: due to my very first COVID-19 infection, there won't be a new episode this week. We'll be back as normal next week.

This week: the story of Tsuneno, a commoner whose social status was very different from that of Lady Nijo and Ogimachi Machiko, but whose struggle to define herself and decide her own destiny feels very familiar. Show notes here .  

This week, the tale of Ogimachi Machiko--the aristocrat whose literary descriptions of her life in a samurai family became one of the most popular works of women's literature during Japan's Edo period.  Show notes here . 

This week: in 1940, a manuscript lost for over 600 years is recovered from the archives of the Imperial family. Within it lies the story of a fascinating woman, and her journey from imperial concubine to Buddhist nun--a journey that covers everything from high politics to the lives of common folk.  Show notes here . 

This week: how has the JMSDF gone from an afterthought to a central part of Japan's security planning? Show notes here . 

This week: the start of a two part series on the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces. Today: how did Japan's current navy grow out of its old one, and what does that say about the force's relationship with Japan's prewar past? Show notes here . 

This week, the biography of one of the most unusual figures of Bakumatsu Japan: the peasant Matsuo Taseko, whose career as a member of the imperial loyalist movement defied conventions of gender and defies neat categorization today. Show notes here . 

This week, we're covering the rise of the Hirata school of kokugaku, or national studies, during the Edo Period. How did an intellectual movement devoted to linguistics become a powerful political, social, and arguably religious force by the end of samurai rule--and why did that movement fall from power after just a few short years of influence? Show notes here .

Enjoy this bonus episode from my other show, Criminal Records, as the podcast takes a week off!

This week: the career and legacy of the most influential Japanese poet you've probably never heard of, Fujiwara no Teika. Teika's views on poetry and literature have shaped how we read those genres down to the present day, so how did he develop such authority in the field? Show notes here .

This week, a current events episode on the leadup and immediate aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Note: this episode is intended to be a continuation of Episode 364 (our last episode on Abe).  Show notes here .

This week, we're taking a look at the legacy of one of Japan's most influential poets: Ki no Tsurayuki. His poems may not quite be the popular phenomenon they once were, but his views about how poetry works have always been influential, and shaped how we think about poetry down to this day. Show notes here . 

This week, we're unpacking a rather odd classic of Japanese literature: the Ise Monogatari, a collection of short tales that are probably about a famously seductive aristocrat, but which were in large part not written by him--and which have oddly political meanings given their often lascivious nature. What are the tales about? And what can we glean from reading them today? Show notes here .

This week: we tend to think of tea in terms of the tea ceremony and fancy culture, but what about lowbrows like me who like to drink our tea bottled from a vending machine? This week we'll be looking at tea as a commodity, and how it became a staple of Japan's consumer culture. Show notes here .

This week: how did a spate of right wing violence in the early years of the 1960s help to fundamentally reshape public discourse around the emperor (and thus around politics and history more generally) up to the present day? And what does all of this have to do with one of the most bizarre short stories that has ever been published? Show notes here .

This week: why did the Japanese Socialist Party and the left more generally utterly fail to capitalize on the momentum of the largest protest in Japanese history? We'll cover everything from party infighting to....well, spoilers, it's mostly party infighting. Show notes here .

This week, we're kicking off a short series on the transformations of 1960s Japan with a look at the unassuming politician who helped shape Japan's postwar structure: Ikeda Hayato. Who was Ikeda, and how did he get into politics? And how did a man who was once accused of being a callous monster become a beloved everyman of the people? Show notes here .

This week, we're taking a look at the life of one of Japan's most famous artists: Miyazaki Hayao. How did he become as famous as he is, and how do his films reflect the politics of the age he grew up in? Show notes here .

The Jokyu Rebellion is one of the more minor conflicts in Japanese history; yet it also represents a tipping of the political balance of Japan that, eventually, will profoundly reshape the country. This week, we explore one of the chronicles of that conflict to see what we can learn about it, and about medieval Japan more broadly. Show notes here .