Podcast
History of Japan
Hosted by Isaac Meyer · EN
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.
40episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Bonus episode - The Chishima Incident
1w ago01:03:55Tap to summarizeWe'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.
Transcribe →Episode 629 - Flowering Fortunes, Part 4
2w ago00:36:32Tap to summarizeFate 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.
Transcribe →Episode 628 - Flowering Fortunes, Part 3
3w ago00:34:29Tap to summarizeFujiwara 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.
Transcribe →Episode 627 - Flowering Fortunes, Part 2
May 1500:35:07Tap to summarizeThis 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.
Transcribe →Episode 626 - Flowering Fortunes, Part 1
May 800:33:36Tap to summarizeWe'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.
Transcribe →Episode 625 - An Ocean Between Us, Part 3
May 100:36:00Tap to summarizeThis 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.
Transcribe →Episode 625 - An Ocean Between Us, Part 2
Apr 2400:35:03Tap to summarizeThis 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.
Transcribe →Episode 624 - An Ocean Between Us, Part 1
Apr 1700:34:55Tap to summarizeThis 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.
Transcribe →Episode 623 - The Great Peace, Part 2
Apr 1000:35:16Tap to summarizeThis week: how does the Taiheiki depict its most famous characters? How does it describe the downfall of the Hojo? And from that, what can we say about the charge that it's purely derivative from a more famous text? Show notes here.
Transcribe →Episode 622 - The Great Peace, Part 1
Apr 300:36:41Tap to summarizeThe Taiheiki is arguably one of the most dismissed works of literature in Japanese history, doomed to always exist solely in comparison to the far more highly regarded Heike Monogatari. But even so, there's a lot to draw the interest of the interested historian. So, what can we learn about medieval Japan from its most famously "eh" work of literature? Show notes here.
Transcribe →