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 624 - An Ocean Between Us, Part 1
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...Show More
6) Episode 623 - The Great Peace, Part 2
This 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 mo...Show More
7) Episode 622 - The Great Peace, Part 1
The 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, t...Show More
8) Episode 621 - The Manga Revolution, Part 3
This week: the manga industry during World War II. Plus some thoughts on the development of shojo manga, and finally a look at Tezuka Osamu and the ways in which his work helped create the manga marke...Show More
9) Episode 620 - The Manga Revolution, Part 2
Histories of manga tend to skip from the colorful woodblocks of the Edo period directly to the post-WWII industry we'd recognize today. But what do we lose when we do that? And what do we gain when we...Show More
10) Episode 619 - The Manga Revolution, Part 1
This week: manga is today one of the most ubiquitous forms of entertainment in Japan. But the idea of comics as we might understand them has a much longer history. So how did we get from there to here...Show More