Episode 329 - In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun, Part 1
This week, we start off our first ever twinned biography with a look at the early career of one of Japan's pioneering feminists: Hiratsuka Raicho.
Episodes
History of Japan
This podcast, assembled by a former PhD student in History at the University of Washington, covers the entire span of Japanese history. Each week we'll tackle a new topic, ranging from prehistoric Japan to the modern day.
Episodes
Episode 328 - What a Strange Thing!
This week, we're talking about my absolute favorite poet in the history of forever: Kobayashi Issa. I promise he's great, and I don't just love him for the poop jokes. Show notes here .
Episode 327 - The Lockheed Scandal, Part 2
This week: what happens once the scandal goes public, and what does all this say about postwar Japan more generally? Show notes here .
Episode 326 - The Lockheed Scandal, Part 1
This week, we take a look at one of postwar Japan's most famous political scandals, and how the efforts of one company to revive its fortunes ended up roping in everyone from shadowy underworld figures to the Prime Minister of Japan himself. Show notes here .
Episode 325 - The Teijin Scandal, Part 2
This week, tensions within Japanese society explode as a simple stock purchase turns into a knock-down, drag out fight over corruption in the Japanese state. Show notes here .
Episode 324 - The Teijin Scandal, Part 1
This week, we tackle a political scandal from 1930s Japan to dig deeper into the question: just why did Japan's system of parliamentary government and liberal democracy, which seemed to be flourishing in the 1920s, fall apart so quickly in the 1930s? Show notes here .
Episode 323 - Musui's Story
This week, we're discussing the autobiography of a troublemaking, low-ranking samurai whose life didn't reshape Japan, but whose tale can tell us a lot about how our image of the samurai class matched up with reality. Show notes here .
Episode 322 - The Heist
This week, we cover one of Japan's great unsolved crimes: the 300 million yen robbery. How did one man steal so much cash? Why couldn't the police find him? And why are we still talking about it today? Show notes here .
Episode 321 - The Regent
This week, take a deep dive with me into the life of one of the regents of the Heian Era, Fujiwara no Tadahira, as we try and figure out just what it looked like to try and rule over Heian Japan on a day to day level. Show notes here .
Episode 320 - Minamata, Part 2
As the 1950s become the 1960s, the truth of Chisso's failure to address its problems comes out thanks to a new round of poisoning on the other side of Japan. The people of Minamata seek justice for themselves. Show notes here .
Episode 319 - Minamata, Part 1
This week, we're beginning a deep dive into the history of one of the most famous cases of environmental poisoning in Japanese history: Minamata disease. How did a chemical factory end up poisoning the people of a small town in rural Japan for years before anyone found out? And why, once it became clear that they were being poisoned, did it take so long for anything to come of it? Show notes here .
Episode 318 - Lone Wolf and Cub
This week, we're talking about one of the greatest cheesy samurai film franchises of all time. Just how did a series of films about one man and his baby mowing down legions of opponents become a pop culture legend? The story of how Lone Wolf and Cub became one of the greatest samurai film franchises ever is our final episode of 2019. Show notes here .
Episode 317 - Separate Ways
This week, we explore the career of the first woman to make a big splash in modern Japanese literature: Higuchi Ichiyo. We'll talk about her story, her writing, her legacy, and her tragically short career -- and I'll spend a lot of time talking about how much I hate Mori Ogai! Show notes here .
Episode 316 - The Entrepreneur
This week, it's time to talk backroom deals and business trickery, because we're chronicling the rise of Mitsubishi and the rags to riches story of its founder Iwasaki Yataro. Show notes here .
Episode 315 - The World Cast Aside
This week, we trace the evolution of Noh theater over the course of the careers of its famous founders: the father-son acting duo Kan'ami and Zeami. Show notes: http://isaacmeyer.net/2019/11/ episode-315-the-world-cast-aside /
Episode 314 - Responsibility, Accountability, and the Imperial Throne
Since Japan just got itself a new emperor, this is a good time to go back and look at an incident from the enthronement of the last emperor -- and at a time where one local politician's comment at a council meeting ignited a national firestorm which ended with him being shot. Show notes here: http://isaacmeyer.net/2019/11/ episode-314-resp…-imperial-throne /...
Episode 313 - The Doctor is In
This week, we're going to zoom in on the kind of life that doesn't usually make the big picture history of Japan. It's time to look at the story of a single medical student during the final years of the Tokugawa era and explore everything from his education to his drinking habit, and to ask ourselves just what we can learn from such a focused examination of the past. Show notes here .
Episode 312 - Freedom and People's Rights, Part 3
This week, we look at the violent incidents that eventually undermined the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, and the legacies of the movement for Japan today.
Episode 311 - Freedom and People's Rights, Part 2
How do you talk about a movement without clear leaders? By breaking down its different levels. Plus, a look at how things came to a head between the Freedom and People's Rights Movement and the government.
Episode 310 - Freedom and People's Rights, Part 1
This week, we're starting a look at the Jiyu Minken Undo -- the Freedom and People's Rights Movement -- by talking a bit about its ideological origins as well as some of the movement's early leaders.
Episode 309 - Flying High
This week: the battle against the construction of a new international airport in Chiba prefecture. Who fought against the airport, why, and how did it all go so very wrong?
Episode 308 - The Prisoners of Nanbu, Part 3
This week, the crew of the Breskens is freed at last. Plus some final thoughts on Tokugawa diplomacy.
Episode 307 - The Prisoners of Nanbu, Part 2
The Breskens crew arrive in Edo, with the question of how they are to be treated looming over them. At the same time, another group of very different Europeans arrive there as well. This week, we'll talk about the interwoven fates of both groups, and what they tell us about the concerns of the shogunate and Tokugawa Iemitsu.
Episode 306 - The Prisoners of Nanbu, Part 1
This week, we're taking a look at the foreign policy of Edo Japan by starting a deep dive into a complex case study: the tale of the 10 prisoners of Nanbu domain!
Episode 305 - The American Interlude, Part 2
This week, we'll cover the end of USCAR and the legacies of 27 years of foreign rule over Okinawa Prefecture.
Episode 304 - The American Outpost, Part 1
This week, we start off some coverage of the period of American rule over the Ryukyus, and the entwined histories of USCAR - the US Civil Administration for the Ryukyu Islands -- and the GRI, the Government of the Ryukyu Islands. How did this arrangement work? What were the issues between them? And why did so many Okinawans come to despise American rule?
Episode 303 - The History of the Geisha
Finally, a long overdue look at one of the most romanticized and exocitized parts of traditional Japanese culture. What are geisha? Where do they come from? Aren't they basically fancy prostitutes? And haven't I learned everything I need to know about them from reading Memoirs of a Geisha?
Episode 302 - Stand Up For Your Rights, Part 2
This week, we take a look at the peasant uprisings in Aizu domain in 1868 to continue our exploration of the question: where were all the peasants in the Meiji Restoration?
Bonus Episode - Sakakibara Seito/"Boy A"
What's this? Another cross-posted Criminal Records episode? That's right! Check it out, and if you like it go to criminalrecordspodcast.com for more.
Episode 301 - Stand Up For Your Rights, Part 1
While the Meiji Restoration was going on, where was everybody else? We'll start trying to answer that question today with a look at an uprising in 1866 in the region of Shindatsu.