History of Japan

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 .

This week: whaling during the modern era in Japan, and the circumstances that have led to Japan being one of the only first world countries that still hunts whales. Show notes here. Also: allergies are still a bit rough; excuse any scratchiness, please!

This week, we're taking on whaling in Tokugawa Japan. What is 'traditional' whaling in Japan? How and why did people take to the seas to hunt whales? And how is all of this wrapped up in the modern debate around whaling in Japan? Side note: wet weather in Seattle is giving me mad allergies, so apologies if I sound extra sniffly or anything. Show notes here .

This week: where does our stock image of the sohei come from, and why does it tell us more about Japan after the age of warrior-monks than anything else? Show notes here .

This week: what does the historical record have to say about the veracity of the image of the warrior-monk, or sohei, that is so pervasive in pop cultural understandings of medieval Japan? Show notes here .

There's no regular History of Japan episode this week. Instead, here's a wonderful episode of my other podcast, Criminal Records , about three things of deep concern to any self-respecting podcast audience: organized crime, the drug trade, and rocket launchers! See you all next week.

This week, we're wrapping up our look at Sakamoto Ryoma's life and legacy to see how he was transformed from loyalist ronin to posthumous legend. Plus, some quick thoughts on his legacy and enduring popularity. Programming note: no new episode next week! Show notes here .

This week: Sakamoto Ryoma commits fully to the loyalist cause, but ends up on a turbulent journey that will take him from Kyoto to Edo--and transform him into a very different man. Show notes here .  

This week, we return to the turbulent age of the Bakumatsu--the collapse of the Tokugawa state--with a biography of one of the era's most intriguing figures, Sakamoto Ryoma. Who was Ryoma, where did he come from, and how did he get swept into the complex politics of the time? Show notes here .

This week: just what sort of scandal sent Nakanoin Nakako to the far end of Japan, and how did fate intervene to set her on a new course once again? And what can we learn from trying to trace a life like this through a tangle of sources which touch on it largely indirectly?   Show notes here .

This week on the podcast, we're exploring the life of a woman whose story would normally be confined to the sidelines: an imperial concubine in the early 1600s by the name of Nakanoin Nakako? Who was this young woman and how did she become a part of the emperor's household? Show notes here . 

This week on the podcast, we're talking the tale of the iconoclastic monk Ikkyu Sojun. His fame is predicated on an odd combination of Zen austerity and the embrace of the wine shop and the brothel, rather than the temple, as the place to seek enlightenment. Show notes here

How can a man who was terrible as a ruler also be one of the most important tastemakers in Japanese history? Today we're unpacking the biography of Ashikaga Yoshimasa, more or less universally reviled as the worst man ever to lead Japan and yet one of the most important figures in developing much of what we think of as classical Japanese art and aesthetics. Show notes here .

Today, we're looking at a rather unusual scandal from early 20th century Japan, and what it shows us about the power of the democratic impulse in Japan even before the country could be called a democracy. Plus, political maneuvering and corruption galore! What's not to love? Show notes here .

This week, we're taking some material from the cutting room floor of last series to talk about the stories of two Japanese Christians, both of whom became ordained priests--and both of whom apostatized. What led these men to the faith? Why did they leave it? And what do their lives tell us about the course of Japan's Christian century? Show notes here .