History of Japan

Mar 21 2025 580 ep. 32 mins 33.1k

History of Japan Podcast artwork

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.

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Episode 570 - The Revolutionary, Part 5

Mar 21 2025 32 mins

This week: Miyazaki Manabu's dramatic departure from the Communist Party, as his faith in the revolution wanes. What does a wannabe college revolutionary with no prospects turn to when the revolution fails to materialize? Show notes here.

Episode 569 - The Revolutionary, Part 4

Mar 14 2025 38 mins

This week: Miyazaki Manabu goes from the Sodai struggle at Waseda to an active participant in the violent clashes of the late 1960s student movement, as a part of the "action corps" of the Communist Party. We'll take an up close and personal look to see: what was it like to be a radical student in the 1960s? Show notes here.

Episode 568 - The Revolutionary, Part 3

Mar 13 2025 35 mins

This week on the podcast: Miyazaki Manabu faces his first battle as a college activist with the administration of his own school at Waseda University. It...does not go well.

Episode 567 - The Revolutionary, Part 2

Feb 28 2025 35 mins

This week: Miyazaki Manabu completes his transformation from son of a yakuza boss to a committed member of the Communist party. After all, it turns out those two groups have a surprising amount in common... Show notes here.

Episode 566 - The Revolutionary, Part 1

Feb 21 2025 33 mins

This week: the start of a multi-part "modernized biography" intended to help us explore postwar Japan through the lens of a single, fascinating life. This episode is mostly focused on introducing our subject--Miyazaki Manabu--and his unique and fascinating circumstances as the scion of a small yakuza family. Show notes here.

Episode 565 - Riot Girls

Feb 14 2025 38 mins

This week: what do we know about women and the wrong end of the law during the Tokugawa Period? Given the male-dominated nature of the feudal social order and the historical written record, what can we figure out? And what are the limits of that knowledge? Show notes here.

Episode 564 - You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party, Part 3

Feb 07 2025 37 mins

This week: outside of big urban riots, how did violence figure into the daily life of the Edo period? To answer this question, we'll take a look at one particularly well-documented example: youth gangs in the area surrounding Sensoji in the shogun's capital of Edo. Show notes here.

Episode 563 - You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party, Part 2

Jan 31 2025 36 mins

This week, we cover the second and third of Edo's three great riots in 1787 and 1866. How did samurai and commoners talk about these acts of mass violence? How was all this a manifestation of a sense of "street justice" among the masses? And what's with the handsome young guy everyone keeps swearing was secretly behind the whole thing? Show notes here.

Episode 562 - You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party, Part 1

Jan 24 2025 39 mins

This week: the first of three episodes on urban rioting in Tokugawa period Japan. This week, we're covering the first two urban riots in the history of the shogun's capital city. What drove the people of Edo to riot, and how did the shogunate respond to those challenges to its authority? Show notes here.

Episode 561 - The Otaku, Part 3

Jan 17 2025 36 mins

In the final episode of this series: how did "otaku culture" spread overseas when it was so stigmatized at home, and what can all this tell us about Japan in the post-bubble era? Show notes here.