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Sep 18, 2020

This week: how do historians learn about the lives of everyday people? Let's take a look at how it's done by thinking about a group of people often overlooked in histories of the Edo period even though they made up half the population: women.

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Sep 11, 2020

This week, we're talking about one of Japan's most famous collections of supernatural tales, the fantastic Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain) from 1776.

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Sep 4, 2020

This week, we're talking about popular literature, with a specific focus on one of Japan's most famous pieces of detective fiction -- the Hanshichi Torimonocho.

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Aug 28, 2020

This week, we wrap up our history of Christianity in Japan with a look at the Occupation and Postwar Eras -- and with some final thoughts on what it means to be a part of a faith viewed as "outside" the mainstream of the nation. 

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Aug 21, 2020

This week, we'll cover the striving of Japanese Christians to be accepted as genuine patriots by the government during the pre-war era. This striving will lead to closer and closer ties between the state and religion; it will also invite danger once we get into the war years. 

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