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Tag: Bakumatsu

Episode 464 – The Wolves of Mibu

December 9, 2022 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week: a long-requested dive into the ronin police force known as the Shinsengumi. Who were the members of this…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Bakumatsu, History, Japan, Meiji, Postwar, Samurai

Episode 459 – The Empty Throne, Part 2

October 28, 2022 Isaac Meyer

This week: Emperor Komei attempts to protect tradition in a nation beset by crisis. However, his efforts will be brought…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Bakumatsu, Edo, History, Japan, Komei, Kyoto, Meiji, Tokugawa

Episode 451 – Those Swept Away

August 26, 2022 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week, the biography of one of the most unusual figures of Bakumatsu Japan: the peasant Matsuo Taseko, whose career…

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

Episode 435 – The Wrong Kind of Hero, Part 3

April 22, 2022 Isaac Meyer 3 Comments

This week, we’re wrapping up our look at Sakamoto Ryoma’s life and legacy to see how he was transformed from…

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

Episode 434 – The Wrong Kind of Hero, Part 2

April 15, 2022 Isaac Meyer

This week: Sakamoto Ryoma commits fully to the loyalist cause, but ends up on a turbulent journey that will take…

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

Episode 133 – The Fall of the Samurai, Part 16

January 23, 2016 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week: the “short-lived” part of “the short-lived Ezo Republic” comes to fruition, and what is now Meiji Japan begins…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Uncategorized Filed under: Bakumatsu, Meiji, Tokugawa

Episode 132 – The Fall of the Samurai, Part 15

January 16, 2016 Isaac Meyer 5 Comments

This week, we’ll cover the military campaigns of 1868. Edo will (surprisingly anticlimactically) fall, the north will rebel, and Matsudaira…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Uncategorized Filed under: Bakumatsu, Boshin War, Japan, Tokugawa

Episode 131 – The Fall of the Samurai, Part 14

January 9, 2016 Isaac Meyer 2 Comments

  In early 1868, the armies of the loyalists and the Tokugawa bakufu will clash outside Kyoto. We’ll discuss the…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Uncategorized Filed under: Bakumatsu, Boshin War, Tokugawa

Episode 126 – The Fall of the Samurai, Part 9

November 28, 2015 Isaac Meyer

  This week, we’ll move into the tumultuous events of 1863. Challenges foreign and domestic are going to upset the…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Uncategorized Filed under: Bakumatsu, Shinsengumi, Tokugawa

Episode 125 – The Fall of the Samurai, Part 8

November 21, 2015 Isaac Meyer

  This week, we’ll move into the messy early/mid 1860s and look at the doomed attempt to bridge the gap…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Uncategorized Filed under: Bakumatsu, 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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