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Category: History of Japan Podcast

Episode 478 – The Dynasty, Part 1

March 24, 2023 Isaac Meyer Leave a comment

This week, we’re starting a longform look at Japan’s most prominent political dynasty: the Hatoyama family, which has been a…

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

Episode 477 – What a Twist!

March 17, 2023 Isaac Meyer 2 Comments

This week, we’re covering the art of rakugo–storytelling with a twist! How did rakugo emerge from the history of Buddhism,…

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

Episode 476 – To Have My Deeds Known

March 10, 2023 Isaac Meyer

How did one man’s determination to get paid end up producing one of the best records we have of a…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: History, Japan, Kamakura, mongols, Samurai

Episode 475 – Southward, Ho! Part 4

March 3, 2023 Isaac Meyer

This week: Japan’s empire in Micronesia comes apart under the face of both the miscalculations of military leadership and the…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: colonialism, History, Japan, Micronesia, WWII

Episode 474 – Southward, Ho! Part 3

February 24, 2023 Isaac Meyer

So far, we’ve talked about how Micronesia came under Japanese rule, but what was Japan’s rule over the region like?…

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

Episode 473 – Southward, Ho! Part 2

February 17, 2023 Isaac Meyer

When World War I began, many among the Japanese leadership were hesistant to take advantage of the opportunity to move…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: colonialism, History, Japan, Micronesia, WWI

Episode 472 – Southward, Ho! Part 1

February 10, 2023 Isaac Meyer

Japan would seize control of German Micronesia in the fall of 1914, but Japanese interest in the region goes back…

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

Episode 471 – The Osaka Incident

February 3, 2023 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week: the bizarre story of an attempted coup in Korea that, along the way, touches on everything from Japanese…

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

Episode 470 – The Vaccinators, Part 2

January 27, 2023 Isaac Meyer 2 Comments

If the first translation of a text on smallpox vaccination in Japan was finished in 1820, how did it take…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Edo, History, Japan, medicine, Nagasaki, smallpox, Tokugawa

Episode 469 – The Vaccinators, Part 1

January 20, 2023 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week: the elimination of smallpox is probably one of the greatest medical accomplishments in human history. The vaccine that…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Edo, History, Japan, medicine, Nagasaki

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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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  • Our Flag Means Death
  • Episode 478 – The Dynasty, Part 1
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  • Episode 477 – What a Twist!
  • Episode 476 – To Have My Deeds Known
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