History of Japan
Isaac Meyer
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 14, 2016 • 26min
Episode 149 - The Birth of the Samurai, Part 4
This week: patricide, rebellions, and royal incest. Oh, also the increasing destabilization of the Heian government as ever more power falls into the hands of Taira no Kiyomori.
May 7, 2016 • 30min
Episode 148 - The Birth of the Samurai, Part 3
This week: the Taira family continue their rise to prominence, the Minamoto get stuck spinning their wheels for a few decades, and warrior violence makes its way to Kyoto. All that, plus the hottest court gossip of the 1120s, this week.
May 1, 2016 • 26min
Episode 147 - The Birth of the Samurai, Part 2
This week, Minamoto no Yoshiie establishes the power of the
Seiwa Minamoto family, upsetting a careful balance of power. Also,
he drops the hottest rhymes of
Apr 23, 2016 • 27min
Episode 146 - The Birth of the Samurai, Part 1
This week, we'll be starting a short series about the advent of the samurai class. First, what came before the samurai, and why did Japan's emperors decide to devolve more and more power to provincial warriors?
Apr 16, 2016 • 33min
Episode 145 - An Offer You Can't Refuse, Part 2
What does organized crime look like in modern Japan, and why does anybody put up with it? Also, how many rocket launchers can you buy with 50 pounds of amphetamines?
All that and more, this week.
Apr 9, 2016 • 31min
Episode 144 - An Offer You Can't Refuse, Part 1
Someday, and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this episode as a gift on my podcast's release day.
Pull off your shirt to reveal your gang tattoos, it's time for the yakuza!
Apr 2, 2016 • 33min
Episode 143 - Nanjing, Part 2
This week, we talk about how views of Nanjing have shifted since WWII, and where the modern right-wing revisionists came from. Why are we still talking about a massacre from 80 years ago?
Mar 26, 2016 • 34min
Episode 142 - Nanjing, Part 1
This week, we look at the events of the Nanjing Massacre. Just what happened in China's capital city in December, 1937?
Mar 19, 2016 • 33min
Episode 141 - Fukushima
Today we're going to talk about Japan's relationship with nuclear power and the catastrophic events of March, 2011. Why did Japan become so reliant on nuclear energy? Why did all the safeguards in place fail so badly in 2011? And where on earth do we go from here?
Mar 12, 2016 • 30min
Episode 140 - The Stars Our Destination
This week, we'll talk about the birth of the Japanese space program. From its origins as the brainchild of a former weapons designer and a borderline pyromaniac, the programs now incorporated into JAXA (the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) have accomplished some of the most amazing technical feats of the 20th and 21st century. How did they do it, and why? And what's changing now with the rise of China?
