This week: Sakamoto Ryoma commits fully to the loyalist cause, but ends up on a turbulent journey that will take…
This week, we return to the turbulent age of the Bakumatsu–the collapse of the Tokugawa state–with a biography of one…
It’s time to take to the sea in style. Why did a gentleman abandon a life of luxury to become a pirate? And how did one of the most incompetent ship captains in history end up sailing with Blackbeard himself?
This week: just what sort of scandal sent Nakanoin Nakako to the far end of Japan, and how did fate…
This week on the podcast, we’re exploring the life of a woman whose story would normally be confined to the…
The interrogation records of three criminals tell part of the story of a secret religious movement that tried to topple…
This week on the podcast, we’re talking the tale of the iconoclastic monk Ikkyu Sojun. His fame is predicated on…
How can a man who was terrible as a ruler also be one of the most important tastemakers in Japanese…
In a follow-up to our episode about one very slick criminal, we’re taking listeners through a tour of Denver’s seedy…
Today, we’re looking at a rather unusual scandal from early 20th century Japan, and what it shows us about the…