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Episode 606 – The Final Frontier, Part 2

December 5, 2025 Isaac Meyer Leave a comment

This week: after the Russo-Japanese War, Japan inherited a rather unusual arrangement in Manchuria, which would become the basis of…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts

Episode 605 – The Final Frontier, Part 1

November 28, 2025 Isaac Meyer Leave a comment

This week, we’re turning our attention to possibly the most unique of Japan’s colonial ventures during the imperial era: Manchuria.…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: colonialism, History, Japan, Meiji, Politics

Episode 604 – The Bureaucrats, Part 3

November 21, 2025 Isaac Meyer

For a long time, the bureaucracy–in all its elitist, meritocratic glory–has taken a great deal of the credit for Japan’s…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: economics, History, Japan, Politics, Postwar

Episode 603 – The Bureaucrats, Part 2

November 14, 2025 Isaac Meyer

This week: the Meiji Bureaucracy, in all its glory. How did the system actually work? What sorts of people did…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: History, Japan, Meiji, Politics

Episode 602 – The Bureaucrats, Part 1

November 7, 2025 Isaac Meyer

In America, when we think of bureaucracy, it doesn’t conjure the best associations. In Japan, meanwhile, the bureaucracy has a…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: feudalism, Heian, History, Japan, Politics

Episode 601 – On Grad School (w/Charlotte Lai)

October 31, 2025 Isaac Meyer

One of the questions I get asked a lot is about grad school: what’s it like, who’s it for, what…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: academics, History, Japan

Episode 600 – The Six-Hundredth Episode

October 24, 2025 Isaac Meyer

Here we are again, my friends! It’s been two years since our last Q and A, and now it’s time…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: History, Japan

Episode 599 – Ain’t It Grand?

October 17, 2025 Isaac Meyer 2 Comments

This week, we’re talking about one of the oddest moments of the final years of feudalism: a spontaneous outbreak of…

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

Episode 598 – Koume’s World, Part 5

October 10, 2025 Isaac Meyer

This week, we’re finishing our time with Kawai Koume by looking at how life in Wakayama had changed by the…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts

Episode 597 – Koume’s World, Part 4

October 3, 2025 Isaac Meyer

This week, the Kawai family has finally made good in the world of feudal Wakayama–just in time for that world…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Bakumatsu, Edo, feudalism, History, Japan, Samurai, Tokugawa

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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.

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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

  • Episode 606 – The Final Frontier, Part 2
  • Episode 605 – The Final Frontier, Part 1
  • Episode 604 – The Bureaucrats, Part 3
  • Episode 603 – The Bureaucrats, Part 2
  • Episode 602 – The Bureaucrats, Part 1
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