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Author: Isaac Meyer

Episode 569 – The Revolutionary, Part 4

March 14, 2025 Isaac Meyer

This week: Miyazaki Manabu goes from the Sodai struggle at Waseda to an active participant in the violent clashes of…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: 1960s, Communism, History, Japan, Postwar, students

Episode 568 – The Revolutionary, Part 3

March 7, 2025 Isaac Meyer

Miyazaki Manabu heads to college this week to experience the life of the late 1960s student communist organizer. What does…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: 1960s, Communism, History, Japan, Marxism

Episode 567 – The Revolutionary, Part 2

February 28, 2025 Isaac Meyer

This week: Miyazaki Manabu completes his transformation from son of a yakuza boss to a committed member of the Communist…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Communism, History, Japan, Postwar, Socialism

Episode 566 – The Revolutionary, Part 1

February 21, 2025 Isaac Meyer

This week: the start of a multi-part “modernized biography” intended to help us explore postwar Japan through the lens of…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts

Episode 565 – Riot Girls

February 12, 2025 Isaac Meyer

This week: what do we know about women and the wrong end of the law during the Tokugawa Period? Given…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Edo, History, Japan, Tokugawa, Women

Episode 564 – You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party, Part 3

February 7, 2025 Isaac Meyer

This week: outside of big urban riots, how did violence figure into the daily life of the Edo period? To…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Edo, History, Japan, religion, Society, Tokugawa

Episode 563 – You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party, Part 2

January 31, 2025 Isaac Meyer

This week, we cover the second and third of Edo’s three great riots in 1787 and 1866. How did samurai…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Edo, History, Japan, Society, Tokugawa

Episode 562 – You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party, Part 1

January 24, 2025 Isaac Meyer

This week: the first of three episodes on urban rioting in Tokugawa period Japan. This week, we’re covering the first…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: crime, Edo, History, Japan, punishment, Tokugawa

Episode 561 – The Otaku, Part 3

January 17, 2025 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

In the final episode of this series: how did “otaku culture” spread overseas when it was so stigmatized at home,…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: bubble, economy, History, Japan, Postwar, Society

Episode 560 – The Otaku, Part 2

January 10, 2025 Isaac Meyer

For our first episode of 2025: “otaku culture” as a phenomenon began to emerge, in part, as a reaction against…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts

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About Me

My name is Isaac Meyer, and I’m a  former PhD student at the University of Washington, specializing in modern Japan (with sub-specializations in modern China, modern Europe, and international relations). Today, I work as a teacher at an independent school in the Seattle area.

I also have a tendency to go off on random historical tangents. One day, I decided to combine these two traits in podcast form, and thus was born the History of Japan Podcast!

In 2018, I decided start the Criminal Records Podcast with my wife, Demetria Spinrad. This podcast gives me the chance to talk about world history–and the weird, wonderful world of historical crime and punishment.

Support the Show

Support the Facing Backward network on Patreon to get access to our bonus features, including our bonus episodes about historical fiction.

The History of Japan Patreon is still live, and subscribers will be able to get the weekly newsletter there as well.

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Recent Posts

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