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PODCAST

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.

history

All Episodes

37:38

Episode 487 - The Nation's Kitchen, Part 2

History of Japan ·

2023/06/09

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 time to go re-record the opening of each episode. Show notes here.

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38:23

Episode 486 - The Nation's Kitchen, Part 1

History of Japan ·

2023/06/02

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.

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38:06

Episode 485 - Outfoxed!

History of Japan ·

2023/05/26

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.

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39:38

Episode 484 - Passion and Prejudice, Part 2

History of Japan ·

2023/05/19

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.

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41:20

Episode 483 - Passion and Prejudice, Part 1

History of Japan ·

2023/05/12

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 of war crimes. Listener discretion is advised. Show notes here.

en

36:49

Episode 483 - Japan, the Beautiful, the Ambiguous,...

History of Japan ·

2023/05/05

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.

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38:17

Episode 482 - Japan, the Beautiful, the Ambiguous,...

History of Japan ·

2023/05/01

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

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37:56

Episode 481 - The Dynasty, Part 4

History of Japan ·

2023/04/14

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.

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38:22

Episode 480 - The Dynasty, Part 3

History of Japan ·

2023/04/07

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.

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38:44

Episode 479 - The Dynasty, Part 2

History of Japan ·

2023/03/31

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.

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40:04

Episode 478 - The Dynasty, Part 1

History of Japan ·

2023/03/24

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. Show notes here.

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36:40

Episode 477 - What a Twist!

History of Japan ·

2023/03/17

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.

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35:46

Episode 476 - To Have My Deeds Known

History of Japan ·

2023/03/10

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.

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35:27

Episode 475 - Southward, Ho! Part 4

History of Japan ·

2023/03/03

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.

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37:48

Episode 474 - Southward, Ho! Part 3

History of Japan ·

2023/02/24

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.

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35:53

Episode 473 - Southward, Ho! Part 2

History of Japan ·

2023/02/17

When World War I began, many among the Japanese leadership were hesistant to take advantage of the opportunity to move into Micronesia. What changed their minds, and how were they able to square a colonial government with the idealistic language of the postwar League of Nations? Show notes here.

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36:19

Episode 472 - Southward, Ho! Part 1

History of Japan ·

2023/02/10

Japan would seize control of German Micronesia in the fall of 1914, but Japanese interest in the region goes back centuries further. This week: how did Japan get from disinterest in the nebulously defined 'Southern Seas' to active military operations to take control of them? Show notes here.

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36:46

Episode 471 - The Osaka Incident

History of Japan ·

2023/02/03

This week: the bizarre story of an attempted coup in Korea that, along the way, touches on everything from Japanese liberalism to the birth of overseas empire. Show notes here.

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39:22

Episode 470 - The Vaccinators, Part 2

History of Japan ·

2023/01/27

If the first translation of a text on smallpox vaccination in Japan was finished in 1820, how did it take another 29 years for the first mass vaccination campaigns to begin? The answers involve everything from a German doctor accused of being a spy to networks of physicians trying to navigate obscure bureaucracy. And they might remind you more of the last few years than you'd think. Show notes here.

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36:34

Episode 469 - The Vaccinators, Part 1

History of Japan ·

2023/01/20

This week: the elimination of smallpox is probably one of the greatest medical accomplishments in human history. The vaccine that made it possible, however, was invented during a time of isolation for Japan. So how did the vaccine make it to Japanese shores, and what does that story tell us about public health, the sharing of information, and the nature of society in late feudal Japan? Show notes here.

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273 results

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