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Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst 

Isaac Meyer

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.

History of Japan

This week, something a bit different: the start of a history of conspiracy theories in Japan. This first episode is mostly framing: what is conspiracism as a mindset, and how is it different from actual conspiracies? 
 
Show notes here.

Episode 584 - The All-Seeing Eye, Part 1

Japan's "Christian Century" is the source of many fascinating aspects of Japanese history, from modern firearms to tenpura. But there's one more way that the century from 1543-1639 shaped Japan--as the source of its first conspiracist moment!
 
Show notes here.

Episode 585 - The All-Seeing Eye, Part 2

This week, we explore the "Christian conspiracies" of Edo Period Japan. Working backwards from the Osaka Incident of 1827, when a group of supposed Christian spirit mediums were uncovered as a part of a fraud investigation, we'll look at how Christianity was transformed from an actual religion into an evil spiritual threat to the foundations of Japan itself.
 
Show notes here.

Episode 586 - The All-Seeing Eye, Part 3

This week, conspiracism takes a new twist in Japan, from paranoid worries about Christianity to paranoid beliefs in "Western encirclement". How did this new form of conspiracism help drive Japan's descent into fascism, empire, and eventually the self-destructive decisions of the Second World War?
 
Show notes here.

Episode 587 - The All-Seeing Eye, Part 4

This week, we're covering the postwar "Red Scare" in Japan, which has roots going back to the early 20th century but which was boosted during the postwar era by right-wing politicians and even members of the American occupation government. That conspiracy would, in turn, help shape both prewar and postwar politics on a profound level.
 
Show notes here.

Episode 588 - The All-Seeing Eye, Part 5

This week: Taiwan was the first overseas territory annexed by Japan with a large existing population. So how did the government's policies on religion--and especially Shinto--help shape the nature of Japanese colonial rule there? And how did those policies evolve as Taiwan's own place in the empire changed?
 
Show notes here.

Episode 557 - The Gods March Overseas, Part 3

This week, the story of an Edo period writer whose primary claim to fame was producing decent ripoffs of people far more famous and talented than him. What does a career like that tell us about the book market in premodern Japan--and more importantly about what we as people tend to look for in the things we read?
 
Show notes here.

Episode 558 - The Hack

Our last episode of 2024 is also the first episode in a series on one of Japan's most distinctive cultural phenomenons: otaku culture. This week: is the idea of being an "otaku" older than we think? 
 
Show notes here.

Episode 559 - The Otaku, Part 1

For our first episode of 2025: "otaku culture" as a phenomenon began to emerge, in part, as a reaction against the crass commercialism of postwar Japan. Yet now, it is entirely a part of the fabric of that commercialism. How did that happen? We'll explore it by looking at two fascinating phenomena: the dojin market known as Comiket and the transformation of Tokyo's neighborhood of Akihabara.
 
Show notes here.

Episode 560 - The Otaku, Part 2

In the final episode of this series: how did "otaku culture" spread overseas when it was so stigmatized at home, and what can all this tell us about Japan in the post-bubble era?
 
Show notes here.

Episode 561 - The Otaku, Part 3

The Occupation begins! This week, we'll set the stage with a focus on the relationship between Supreme Commander Douglass MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito.

Episode 184 - Lifting the Lost, Part 2

Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst

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