Sep 23, 2022

This week, the tale of Ogimachi Machiko--the aristocrat whose literary descriptions of her life in a samurai family became one of the most popular works of women's literature during Japan's Edo period. 

Show notes here. 

Sep 16, 2022

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 to Buddhist nun--a journey that covers everything from high politics to the lives of common folk. 

Show notes

Sep 9, 2022

This week: how has the JMSDF gone from an afterthought to a central part of Japan's security planning?

Show notes here. 

Sep 2, 2022

This week: the start of a two part series on the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces. Today: how did Japan's current navy grow out of its old one, and what does that say about the force's relationship with Japan's prewar past?

Show notes

Aug 26, 2022

This week, the biography of one of the most unusual figures of Bakumatsu Japan: the peasant Matsuo Taseko, whose career as a member of the imperial loyalist movement defied conventions of gender and defies neat categorization today.

Show notes