The 4 Best History of Japan Podcast Episodes
1) Episode 206 - Across the Sea, Part 2
This week, we take a closer look at early communities of Nikkeijin -- people of Japanese descent -- in the United States and Hawaii.
2) Episode 454 - That All my Dreams Might Not Prove Empty
This week: in 1940, a manuscript lost for over 600 years is recovered from the archives of the Imperial family. Within it lies the story of a fascinating woman, and her journey from imperial concubine...Show More
3) Episode 2 - A Kingdom Called Wa
In this second episode, we discuss the earliest periods of Japanese history (the Jomon, Yayoi and Tumulus/Kofun periods), covering the years from prehistory to 538 AD. It's a long haul to cover!
4) Episode 3 - The First Capitol
Today we will be discussing the Asuka and Nara periods, and the formation of a centralized, Chinese-style government based in a permanent capitol city. There's intrigue, backstabbing, and stories abo...Show More
5) Episode 609 - The Final Frontier, Part 5
In the last episode of 2025: a bomb "mysteriously" goes off just outside Mukden during the evening of September 18, 1931. Less than six months later, Manchuria becomes an "independent country." Japan'...Show More
6) Episode 608 - The Final Frontier, Part 4
As Japan enters the 1920s, national policy becomes increasingly liberalized--but Manchuria remains a holdout of extremists who, if anything, begin to take a more aggressive position on the "China Prob...Show More
7) Episode 607 - The Final Frontier, Part 3
This week: Japan's military and civilian leaders find themselves at a crossroads in Manchuria in the 1910s, as views begin to split around what the point of Japan's presence there even is. As Russia a...Show More
8) Episode 606 - The Final Frontier, Part 2
This week: after the Russo-Japanese War, Japan inherited a rather unusual arrangement in Manchuria, which would become the basis of its empire in the region. But how, exactly, would that new empire fu...Show More
9) Episode 605 - The Final Frontier, Part 1
This week, we're turning our attention to possibly the most unique of Japan's colonial ventures during the imperial era: Manchuria. Most know about Manchuria because of its role in the turbulent polit...Show More
10) Episode 604 - The Bureaucrats, Part 3
For a long time, the bureaucracy--in all its elitist, meritocratic glory--has taken a great deal of the credit for Japan's postwar economic miracle. But how much of that credit does it actually deserv...Show More