History of Japan

Isaac Meyer
  • 4.7 (665)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

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.

  1. 6D AGO

    Episode 608 - The Final Frontier, Part 4

    As Japan enters the 1920s, national policy becomes increasingly liberalized--but Manchuria remains a holdout of extremists who, if anything, begin to take a more aggressive position on the "China Problem." How did that happen--and how did that aggressive position, seemingly overnight, become normalized back in Japan proper? Show notes here.

    38 min

  2. DEC 12

    Episode 607 - The Final Frontier, Part 3

    This week: Japan's military and civilian leaders find themselves at a crossroads in Manchuria in the 1910s, as views begin to split around what the point of Japan's presence there even is. As Russia and China collapse into civil war, the new liberal post-WWI order will see the beginnings of a very different vision of what Japan's purpose on the Asian mainland even is.  Show notes here.

    39 min

  3. DEC 5

    Episode 606 - The Final Frontier, Part 2

    This week: after the Russo-Japanese War, Japan inherited a rather unusual arrangement in Manchuria, which would become the basis of its empire in the region. But how, exactly, would that new empire function? And why, precisely, did it come attached to a corporation, of all things? Show notes here.

    36 min

  4. NOV 28

    Episode 605 - The Final Frontier, Part 1

    This week, we're turning our attention to possibly the most unique of Japan's colonial ventures during the imperial era: Manchuria. Most know about Manchuria because of its role in the turbulent politics of the 1930s, but Japanese involvement in the region goes back quite a bit further. But first, what even is Manchuria in the first place? Show notes here.

    34 min

  5. NOV 22

    Episode 604 - The Bureaucrats, Part 3

    For a long time, the bureaucracy--in all its elitist, meritocratic glory--has taken a great deal of the credit for Japan's postwar economic miracle. But how much of that credit does it actually deserve? Plus, some ruminations on the post-1990s fate of the bureaucracy and its general history. Show notes here.

    36 min

  6. NOV 14

    Episode 603 - The Bureaucrats, Part 2

    This week: the Meiji Bureaucracy, in all its glory. How did the system actually work? What sorts of people did it attract? And what happened when the United States tried to reform the system after 1945? Show notes here.

    41 min

  7. NOV 7

    Episode 602 - The Bureaucrats, Part 1

    In America, when we think of bureaucracy, it doesn't conjure the best associations. In Japan, meanwhile, the bureaucracy has a long history as one of the central organs of the state. So, how did that happen, and why has the bureaucracy--rather uniquely among Japanese institutions--survived as long as it has? Show notes here.

    36 min

  8. OCT 31

    Episode 601 - On Grad School (w/Charlotte Lai!)

    One of the questions I get asked a lot is about grad school: what's it like, who's it for, what applications are like, and so on. But I've been out of academia for almost 10 years, so it's hard to say what things are like today. Fortunately, a listener and friend was willing to hop on and share her far more recent experiences! Thanks again to Charlotte for sharing her story. Show notes here.

    59 min
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Hosts & Guests

4.7
out of 5
665 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Isaac Meyer
  • Years Active
    2013 - 2025
  • Episodes
    618
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    History of Japan

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