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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

36:25

Episode 563 - You Gotta Fight for Your Right to...

History of Japan ·

2025/01/31

This week, we cover the second and third of Edo's three great riots in 1787 and 1866. How did samurai and commoners talk about these acts of mass violence? How was all this a manifestation of a sense of "street justice" among the masses? And what's with the handsome young guy everyone keeps swearing was secretly behind the whole thing? Show notes here.

en

39:11

Episode 562 - You Gotta Fight for Your Right to...

History of Japan ·

2025/01/24

This week: the first of three episodes on urban rioting in Tokugawa period Japan. This week, we're covering the first two urban riots in the history of the shogun's capital city. What drove the people of Edo to riot, and how did the shogunate respond to those challenges to its authority? Show notes here.

en

36:47

Episode 561 - The Otaku, Part 3

History of Japan ·

2025/01/17

In the final episode of this series: how did "otaku culture" spread overseas when it was so stigmatized at home, and what can all this tell us about Japan in the post-bubble era? Show notes here.

en

35:50

Episode 560 - The Otaku, Part 2

History of Japan ·

2025/01/10

For our first episode of 2025: "otaku culture" as a phenomenon began to emerge, in part, as a reaction against the crass commercialism of postwar Japan. Yet now, it is entirely a part of the fabric of that commercialism. How did that happen? We'll explore it by looking at two fascinating phenomena: the dojin market known as Comiket and the transformation of Tokyo's neighborhood of Akihabara. Show notes here.

en

36:30

Episode 559 - The Otaku, Part 1

History of Japan ·

2024/12/27

Our last episode of 2024 is also the first episode in a series on one of Japan's most distinctive cultural phenomenons: otaku culture. This week: is the idea of being an "otaku" older than we think? Show notes here.

en

35:08

Episode 558 - The Hack

History of Japan ·

2024/12/20

This week, the story of an Edo period writer whose primary claim to fame was producing decent ripoffs of people far more famous and talented than him. What does a career like that tell us about the book market in premodern Japan--and more importantly about what we as people tend to look for in the things we read? Show notes here.

en

38:14

Episode 557 - The Gods March Overseas, Part 3

History of Japan ·

2024/12/13

This week: Taiwan was the first overseas territory annexed by Japan with a large existing population. So how did the government's policies on religion--and especially Shinto--help shape the nature of Japanese colonial rule there? And how did those policies evolve as Taiwan's own place in the empire changed? Show notes here.

en

35:58

Episode 556 - The Gods March Overseas, Part 2

History of Japan ·

2024/12/06

This week: how does the history of Shinto intersect with the colonization of Hokkaido? What role does Shinto's transition from religion to "cultural institution" play in the process that has made that island indisputably a part of Japan itself? Show notes here.

en

39:16

Episode 555 - The Gods March Overseas, Part 1

History of Japan ·

2024/11/22

What even is religion, when you get down to it? Why do we treat religion the way that we do? And when our modern notions of religion came up against an empire whose very legitimacy was based on a religious myth, how did those tensions play out? Show notes here.

en

40:33

Episode 554 - Laying on Hands, Part 2

History of Japan ·

2024/11/15

This week is a continuation of our exploration of the history of reiki. How did Takata Hawayo, a poor woman from Hawaii's Nikkei community, become the foundational figure of one of the most popular New Age practices in the world? And in the end, what sense can we make of the history of a practice founded on pseudoscientific medical claims? Show notes here.

en

36:30

Episode 553 - Laying on Hands, Part 1

History of Japan ·

2024/11/08

This week: the origins of one of the most popular pseudo-medical traditions out there. Where does reiki, the notion that one can manipulate energy in the human body using their hands to heal people, come from? And why does studying the history of practices like this matter? Show notes here.

en

35:18

Episode 552 - The Road Less Traveled

History of Japan ·

2024/11/01

This week: what can we learn about the past if we look not at elite literature, but at the lowbrow faire of the masses? We'll explore this question using one of the most popular works of its day: Tokaidochu Hizakurige. Show notes here.

en

36:28

Episode 551 - Dog Days, Part 3

History of Japan ·

2024/10/25

This week, we conclude our look at canine history in Japan with the nation's most famous dog: Hachiko. You might know the story, but you probably don't know how tied up it is in the establishment of Japan's first dog breeding programs, or in the militarist rhetoric of the war years. Show notes here.

en

34:12

Episode 550 - Dog Days, Part 2

History of Japan ·

2024/10/18

This week we continue our footnote on the history of dogs in Japan. How did public perceptions of dogs change during the Meiji period? How did the adoption of modern notions of dog ownership and pet keeping help remake Japan's cities? And what impact did all of this have on Japan's existing canine population? Show notes here.

en

35:26

Episode 549 - Dog Days, Part 1

History of Japan ·

2024/10/11

In the final footnote for our Revised Introduction, we turn our attention to a little discussed subject that is a part of daily life for many: the history of our life with dogs! How did humans live with dogs in premodern Japan, and how did that start to change when the country was opened during the Meiji years? Show notes here.

en

34:06

Episode 548 - The Five Mountains, Part 2

History of Japan ·

2024/10/04

This week's footnote is a continuation of last week's discussion of the gozan, or five mountain system for the ranking of Zen temples. What did the system look like at its height under Ashikaga rule, and how did its relationship to the Ashikaga begin to transform the practice of Zen within the temples themselves? Show notes here.

en

34:00

Episode 547 - The Five Mountains, Part 1

History of Japan ·

2024/09/27

This week on the Footnotes to the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: many describe Zen as the religion of the samurai. In reality, it was not--but samurai influence was crucial to making Zen a part of Japan's cultural framework. That history is bound up in a system called the "Five Mountains"; so how did that system come to be? Show notes here.

en

35:22

Episode 546 - The Extreme Right in Postwar Japan, Part 2

History of Japan ·

2024/09/20

This week, we're continuing last week's footnote on the postwar ultraright. How did the fall of the Soviet Union affect the anti-communist focus of the extreme right? How has its rhetoric been shaped by an odd relationship with the left? And how does modern extreme rightism manifest in the ideas of men like Kobayashi Yoshinori and groups like Nippon Kaigi? Show notes here.

en

34:30

Episode 545 - The Extreme Right in Postwar Japan, Part 1

History of Japan ·

2024/09/13

This week's footnote: the first of two parts on the postwar extreme right. This week, we're mostly focusing on the extreme right in the first few decades of the Cold War, and in particular on the story of Akao Bin and his Aikokuto. How did a convicted socialist end up as one of Japan's foremost violent anticommunists--and how did his ideas shape a new reality for the postwar right? Show notes here.

en

37:03

Episode 544 - A Day in the Life of Meiji Japan, Part 2

History of Japan ·

2024/09/06

This week, we're continuing last week's footnote on daily life in Meiji Japan. Topics covered this week include life as a conscript in the army, changes to Japanese cuisine during the Meiji years, and entertainment from kabuki to early movies. Show notes here.

en

272 results

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