Skip to content
Facing Backward Podcasts
By Isaac Meyer and Demetria Spinrad
  • Home
  • The History of Japan Podcast
    • Listen to the show
    • See all show notes
    • Maps
    • Glossary
  • Criminal Records Podcast
  • Watching Backward
  • Support Our Shows
  • About Us
    • Press and Projects
    • Social Media & Contact Information

Tag: Christianity

Episode 586 – The All-Seeing Eye, Part 3

July 11, 2025 Isaac Meyer Leave a comment

This week, we explore the “Christian conspiracies” of Edo Period Japan. Working backwards from the Osaka Incident of 1827, when…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Christianity, conspiracy, History, Japan, Politics, religion, Tokugawa

Episode 585 – The All-Seeing Eye, Part 2

July 4, 2025 Isaac Meyer Leave a comment

Japan’s “Christian Century” is the source of many fascinating aspects of Japanese history, from modern firearms to tenpura. But there’s…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Christianity, conspiracy, History, Japan, Politics, Tokugawa

Episode 427 – The Ones Who Walked Away

February 25, 2022 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week, we’re taking some material from the cutting room floor of last series to talk about the stories of…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Christianity, History, Japan, Nagasaki, Samurai, Sengoku

Episode 426 – The City on the Edge of Forever, Part 5

February 18, 2022 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

Our final episode of this miniseries will detail the early decades of the Christian persecutions in Nagasaki. Once the religion…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Christianity, History, Japan, Nagasaki, Tokugawa

Episode 425 – The City on the Edge of Forever, Part 4

February 11, 2022 Isaac Meyer

This week, Hideyoshi’s death seems to suggest an end to the persecution of Nagasaki’s Christians. However, the city quickly finds…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Christianity, History, Japan, Nagasaki, Tokugawa

Episode 424 – The City on the Edge of Forever, Part 3

February 4, 2022 Isaac Meyer

This week: Hideyoshi’s ‘friendship’ proves less useful than hoped, resulting in a 1587 ban on Christianity and Nagasaki losing its…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Christianity, History, Japan, Nagasaki, Sengoku

Episode 423 – The City on the Edge of Forever, Part 2

January 28, 2022 Isaac Meyer

This week, Christian Nagasaki survives its early trials and tribulations to become a Jesuit fortress-town, and a centerpiece of some…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Christianity, History, Japan, Kyushu, Nagasaki, Sengoku

Episode 415 – Whispers in the Dark

November 19, 2021 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week: the story of two men whose fascinating life trajectories led them into an interrogation room in Japan’s Edo…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Christianity, Confucianism, Edo, History, Japan

Episode 389 – The Very Lost Tribes

May 7, 2021 Isaac Meyer 6 Comments

This week we’re going deep into the bizarre theories of Japanese Israelism: the conspiracy theory that modern Japanese people are…

Continue Reading →

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

Episode 353 – The Rising Sun Will Come to Us from Heaven, Part 5

August 28, 2020 Isaac Meyer 4 Comments

This week, we wrap up our history of Christianity in Japan with a look at the Occupation and Postwar Eras…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Christianity, History, Japan, Occupation, Postwar, religion

Post navigation

Page 1 of 2
1 2 Next →

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.

Search This Site

Recent Posts

  • Episode 586 – The All-Seeing Eye, Part 3
  • Episode 585 – The All-Seeing Eye, Part 2
  • Episode 584 -The All-Seeing Eye, Part 1
  • Episode 583 – The Men of Chivalry, Part 3
  • Episode 582 – The Men of Chivalry, Part 2
Copyright © 2025 Facing Backward Podcasts — Primer WordPress theme by GoDaddy