This week: what can we learn about the past if we look not at elite literature, but at the lowbrow…
This week: the age of feudalism comes crashing down, as in the span of just two years the Tokugawa shogunate…
This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: the sudden assassination of the tairo Ii Naosuke sparks the rapid…
This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: the beginning of the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. Commodore Perry’s…
This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: crises about during the late Edo period. A crisis of samurai…
This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: “closed country” isn’t quite the full story. How did Japan maintain…
This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: what was life in the Edo period like? We cover everything…
This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: how did the Tokugawa bakufu operate? What did the political structure…
This week: it’s the height of the Edo period, and you sail into Osaka’s harbor. What sorts of things might…
We’re covering the art of rakugo–storytelling with a twist! How did rakugo emerge from the history of Buddhism, and what has enabled its enduring popularity where contemporary entertainments like kabuki have fallen by the wayside?