History of Japan

Epizode

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  Episode 641 - The Hunters, Part 1 11.09.2026 31min

  Not many have heard of the Matagi, the hunters who live in northern Honshu. What do we know of their origins and history, and how do they fit into our knowledge of premodern Japan? Show notes here. 
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  Episode 640 - The Great Escape, Part 2 04.09.2026 33min

  This week: the Cowra breakout seemed, to those who lived through it, like it came out of nowhere. But nothing does, so what factors led to it? How did the breakout itself play out? And what are its legacies, both in terms of Australia-Japan relations and the wider question of Japanese "fanaticism" in WWII? Show notes here.
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  Episode 639 - The Great Escape, Part 1 28.08.2026 33min

  In a wide-ranging episode intended just to be the introduction to the largest mass prisoner breakout of WWII, we first have to tackle...the history of Japan-Australia relations all the way up to 1940 and the role Australia played in Japanese militarist thought.  Show notes here. 
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  Episode 638 - The Catastrophe, Part 6 21.08.2026 33min

  At long last, the fight over how to reconstruct Tokyo is done. But what did rebuilding the imperial capital actually look like? Show notes here. 
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  Episode 637 - The Catastrophe, Part 5 14.08.2026 37min

  After Tokyo was burned to the ground, the battle over how to rebuild it began almost immediately. The man leading the charge--one of Japan's foremost bureaucrats--would become so frustrated with the experience that it would crush him completely. In the process, the fight would reveal some deep divisions over the importance of the capital and the nature of the postwar state itself. Show notes here. 
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  Episolde 636 - The Catastrophe, Part 4 07.08.2026 36min

  Why did so many greet the destruction of Tokyo not with consternation, but seeming joy? The answer has to do with one of the most complex phenomenon in the history of modern urbanism, and with the history of Edo's transformation into Tokyo and all the modern vices that came with it. Show notes here. 
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  Episode 635 - The Catastrophe, Part 3 31.07.2026 37min

  This week: the Great Kanto Earthquake was also the backdrop for one of the most famous murders of 1920s Japan, one that set the stage for a seismic shift within the nation's political sphere. This week: who was Ito Noe, and how did her murder in a time of national emergency reflect a shift in Japan's political discourse? Show notes here.
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  Episode 634 - The Catastrophe, Part 2 17.07.2026 36min

  This week: in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake, thousands of Koreans living in Tokyo were massacred by angry mobs as well as policemen and soldiers. What animated the survivors to engage in such horrific violence, and how does it reflect both the wider history of the Japan-Korea relationship and the mindset many of us carry into our darkest moments? Note: no new episode next week, as I'm traveling in Japan.  Show notes here.
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  Episode 633 - The Catastrophe, Part 1 10.07.2026 37min

  The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 was one of the most devastating catastrophes in modern Japanese history, but in English scholarship it's often overshadowed by the destruction of the Second World War. This week we'll kick off a multipart series on the quake and its legacy with a simple question: what do we know about the immediate aftermath? Show notes here.  
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  Episode 632 - The Pretender, Part 2 03.07.2026 36min

  This week: the question of whether Hirohito would remain emperor of Japan or be replaced with "Emperor Kumazawa" was, in fact, decided before the Southern Court claimant had ever gone public. So why was the idea of removing Hirohito never taken seriously, and what did Kumazawa do once it became clear he was never going to sit on the Crysanthemum Throne? And how, strangely, does this all tie back to a Geocities era webpage about alternative medicine? Show notes here.
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  Episode 631 - The Pretender, Part 1 26.06.2026 34min

  In January, 1946, a man came to the headquarters of the American occupation government of Japan and claimed to be Japan's true emperor. Who was he, why did he do this, and how does his story connect to an obscure figure from a civil war that happened more than 500 years earlier? Show notes here. 
• 
  Episode 631 - An Interview with Evelyn Iritani 19.06.2026 44min

  First thing's first: I made a numbering error a few weeks back, and so to get us back on the correct count we're just going to skip episode 630! This week, I'm very lucky to be joined by journalist and writer (and Pulitzer Prize winner) Evelyn Iritani to talk about her new book Safe Passage (and a bit about her old book An Ocean Between Us). Check the book out here for a look into an underexplored moment in the history of US-Japan relations.  Show notes here.
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  Bonus episode - The Chishima Incident 05.06.2026 1h 3min

  We're coming up on the end of the school year here in the US and will have to briefly interrupt our normal programming. To tide you over, here's a bonus episode from my old podcast Criminal Records. We'll be back on June 12!   Show notes here.  
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  Episode 629 - Flowering Fortunes, Part 4 29.05.2026 36min

  Fate twists once again in Fujiwara no Michinaga's favor as an unfortunate accident of birth sees him solidify his grip on power. This week: the final steps of Michinaga's rise, his legacy, and that of Eiga Monogatari.  Show notes here. 
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  Episode 628 - Flowering Fortunes, Part 3 22.05.2026 34min

  Fujiwara no Michinaga is on top of the world, but there's one final hurdle to overcome. His deceased brother's daughter is still the leader of the emperor's harem, and his closest confidant in the world. Without a grandson to make crown prince, he'll be finished. What is to be done? And how will his strategy accidentally promote a rivalry between two of the most famous women in all of Japanese history? Show notes here. 
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  Episode 627 - Flowering Fortunes, Part 2 15.05.2026 35min

  This week: Fujiwara no Kaneie is a name we've encountered once before on the podcast. But now we get to see him in his element as a wheeler and dealer who lays out a perfect blueprint for assuming political power from an older sibling. And we'll get to see Kaneie's sons fight a very similar battle--leading to the rise of the man who would take the Fujiwara to the zenith of their power, Fujiwara no Michinaga.  Show notes here. 
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  Episode 626 - Flowering Fortunes, Part 1 08.05.2026 33min

  We're starting a new series taking a look at an oft neglected classic of Heian literature: The Eiga Monogatari, or Tale of Flowering Fortunes, which tells the history of the great Fujiwara family at the height of its power. This week: what do we know about Eiga Monogatari and how it fits into the wider literary history of classical Japan? Show notes here. 
• 
  Episode 625 - An Ocean Between Us, Part 3 01.05.2026 36min

  This week: in 1988, a Japanese company bought a paper mill in Port Angeles, WA, in a story that basically nobody except one reporter from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer bothered to pay much attention to. But in fact, that story tells us a lot about US-Japan relations. Show notes here.  
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  Episode 625 - An Ocean Between Us, Part 2 24.04.2026 35min

  This week: rumors swirled around Port Angeles for decades after WWII that a Japanese man, Osasa Masaru, who had lived there from 1930-39 was in fact a Japanese spy who'd been sent to Port Angeles to report on the movements of the American Pacific Fleet. The reality is at once far more interesting and far more mundane. Show notes here. 
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  Episode 624 - An Ocean Between Us, Part 1 17.04.2026 34min

  This week: what role does a sleepy town in Washington's Olympic Peninsula play in Japan's history? Well, more than you'd think. We'll look at three different connections between Japan and Port Angeles over the next few weeks, starting with the story of some castaways who found themselves adrift nearby almost 200 years ago. Show notes here.