Mar 31, 2023

Hatoyama Kazuo was a reluctant politician; you can't say the same of his son Hatoyama Ichiro, groomed from childhood to take up the family business (and to rise to the height of cabinet minister, something his father never did). This week is all about Ichiro's prewar career, which culminated in a shot at the top...

Mar 24, 2023

This week, we're starting a longform look at Japan's most prominent political dynasty: the Hatoyama family, which has been a presence in Japan's electoral politics from the jump. Today is all about the career of family progenitor Hatoyama Kazuo, who went from son of a minor samurai to speaker of the House of...

Mar 17, 2023

This week, we're covering the art of rakugo--storytelling with a twist! How did rakugo emerge from the history of Buddhism, and what has enabled its enduring popularity where contemporary entertainments like kabuki have fallen by the wayside?

Show notes

Mar 10, 2023

How did one man's determination to get paid end up producing one of the best records we have of a pivotal moment in Japanese history?

Show notes here. 

Mar 3, 2023

This week: Japan's empire in Micronesia comes apart under the face of both the miscalculations of military leadership and the contradictions that had haunted it from the jump.

Show notes here.