Paul D. Barclay discusses his book on Kondō Katsusaburō, a Japanese adventurer who married into an indigenous Taiwanese family. They explore the Musha Rebellion, cultural clashes, colonialism, imperialism, and indigenous resistance during the Japanese colonial era in Taiwan. The podcast delves into Kondō's unreliable but intimate journals, the brutal suppression of the rebellion by the Japanese military, and the complexities of Japanese colonization in Taiwan. The chapter descriptions cover topics such as lower-class experiences in the Japanese Empire, samurai culture, and the connection between Kondō and Japanese military ideology.
