A History of Japan
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A History of Japan
A history of the people of Japan, from the prehistoric Jomon period to the modern era. WARNING: This podcast occasionally touches on subjects of human sexuality, suicide, violence, and torture.
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258 episodi
The League of Blood
Japan's conflict with China flares up once again with the Shanghai Incident. Meanwhile, on the domestic front, ultra-nationalist terrorists engage in...
The Making of Manchukuo
Three years after the assassination of Zhang Zuolin and attempted framing of the KMT, a group of higher-ranking officers within the Kwantung Army stag...
The Frame-Up
In 1928, a group of officers in the Kwantung Army attempted to frame the KMT for their own assassination of Zhang Zuolin. The failed attempts to enfor...
The Great Crash
Two years prior to the much larger Great Depression, Japan experienced its own financial crisis thanks to the Great Kanto Earthquake, government bonds...
Reaction and Repression
The elevation of Emperor Showa was accompanied by a wave of reactionary backlash against Taisho Democracy.
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Interview with Quin Cho, author of "The Rise of the Kwantung Army"
Quin Cho's latest book "The Rise of the Kwantung Army" is coming out on September 18. In this special interview episode, we discuss his upcoming book...
Interview with Kaila Yu, author of "Fetishized"
Kaila Yu's memoir "Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty" is coming out on August 19. In this special interview episode, we...
The Warlord Era - BONUS EPISODE
China's difficulties continued throughout the Taisho Period as Yuan Shikai died in the midst of a civil war between China's north and south. The Warlo...
Taisho Feminism - BONUS EPISODE
The question of equal rights for women was extremely divisive in Japan during the Taisho Period. A determined group of feminists would try to punch th...
Radical Politics - BONUS EPISODE
The Taisho Period witnessed the coming-of-age for many political parties and movements. This episode focuses on the fringe left during the Taisho Peri...
The Pax Taishō
Japan saw its fair share of progress during the Taisho Period but it also saw an increase in the raw cruelty which its armed forces were willing to us...
Taishō Democracy
Toward the end of the Taisho Period, the Imperial Diet finally passed a law which established universal suffrage for men 25 and older regardless of ta...
Obligations, Disasters, and Atrocities
Japan signed a treaty with their fellow Entente Powers which slowed construction on the ever-increasing navies of many nations. In 1923, a terrible ea...
A League of Their Own
Japan emerges as a major player among world powers as their ambassadors helped finalize the postwar treaties and create a new international body meant...
A Whole New World
The new international status quo that emerged after the first World War was very different than what came before, and Japan was poised to become a maj...
The World Goes to War, Part 2
The eastern front of the first world war was much busier than its western counterpart and the stakes for one nation were much higher. When the war fin...
The World Goes to War, Part 1
The assassination of an Austrian Archduke sparks a chain reaction which would ignite a global conflict on a scale never seen before.
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The Republic of China
In early 1912, the Qing Dynasty officially transferred its right to rule to the Republic of China, who named Yuan Shikai as their president in exchang...
The Fall of the Qing Dynasty
The first decade of the 1900s witnessed a final attempt by the Qing Dynasty to reform its outmoded systems of governance and forge a new Chinese natio...
Crisis and Opportunity
The Taisho Period began with a political crisis that threatened to upend the stability established by the Meiji Period as the people of Japan took to...
The Resident Foreigner and the Foreign Resident - BONUS EPISODE
This episode follows the lives and adventures of Basil Hall Chamberlain and Lafcadio Hearn, two of the most famous foreign residents who lived in Japa...
Nourishing the Nation - BONUS EPISODE
The Meiji Period witnessed a radical expansion of the Japanese palate as the people began consuming foreign foods like beer and the government encoura...
An Age of Letters - BONUS EPISODE
Writers of the Meiji Period included some of the most influential Japanese authors of all time, many of whom are still regularly included in reading c...
The Pax Meiji
The Meiji period saw sweeping transformation in nearly every aspect of Japanese society. The political status quo which it established, however, paved...
The Question of Korea
After the Russo-Japanese War, the Meiji government moved quickly to solidify their control of Korea, gradually chipping away at the sovereignty of its...
The Long Road of Peace
Both Russia and Japan were desperate to end the Russo-Japanese War by the summer of 1905. However, the conditions of that peace would not bring an end...
The Russo-Japanese War, Part 2
After securing the southern portion of Liaodong Province, the Imperial Japanese Army proceeded to besiege Port Arthur while simultaneously fighting Ru...
The Russo-Japanese War, Part 1
In February of 1904, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on Port Arthur and initiate the Russo-Japanese War.
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A Tsar is Born
We examine the development Russian Empire of the 1800s and see what factors set them on a collision course with Japan in 1904.
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The Boxer Rebellion
When a militant anti-imperial movement spreads China, an allied army of eight nations moved quickly to suppress the rebels, leading to a reactionary s...
Losing Korea
Although Japan had seemingly won influence over Korea as a war prize from the Chinese, Joseon itself was still an independent state. Because of the ac...
The First Sino-Japanese War
Mounting tensions over the future of Korea turned violent after the end of the Donghak Rebellion, resulting in a war between Japan and China.
Su...
The Battlefield of Ideas
With its new constitutional structure in place, the Japanese government began to take on a more permanent political shape. However, war with China ove...
The Qing Dynasty’s Self-Strengthening
In light of its repeated defeats and humiliations at the hands of imperial powers, the Qing Dynasty attempted to modernize its military, economy, and...
The Hermit Kingdom
By the mid-1800s, the Joseon Kingdom had become an isolated polity which was famously hostile to unwelcome visitors. Nevertheless, imperial powers vie...
The Meiji Constitution
As pressure mounted from grass roots organizations like the Freedom Party, the Meiji government decided to finally draft a constitution. The process w...
Clans, Corporations, and Capital
The early years of the Meiji period saw an explosion of economic growth as Edo Period merchant houses transformed into conglomerates called Zaibatsu.<...
Counter-Revolution
The Meiji Revolution very rapidly changed nearly every aspect of public life in Japan. Such rapid progress led, inevitably, to counter-revolutions amo...
The Meiji Reformation
The Buddhist temples throughout Japan had worked hand-in-hand with the Shogunate to help prevent the spread of Christianity in Japan. Now that the Sho...
The New Frontier
As the Meiji leaders continued to consolidate power and enact radical reforms, they also sought to expand Japan's sovereignty over the northern island...