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Tag: History

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

Episode 468 – To Eat Their Own

January 13, 2023 Isaac Meyer

This week, we’re looking at the implosion of the Japanese New Left with a focus on the factional conflicts of…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: 1960s, 1970s, History, Japan, Postwar, Zengakuren

Episode 467 – The Cause of Peace

January 6, 2023 Isaac Meyer

This week, we’re looking at a very different kind of 60s protest movement: an attempt to build a cross-sectarian, non-ideological…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: 1960s, History, Japan, Postwar, vietnam

Episode 465 – Rebels Without a Cause, Part 1

December 16, 2022 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week, we’re beginning a month on radical activism in the 1960s with a look at the student uprisings of…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: 1960s, 1968, History, Japan, Postwar, students

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 463 – The Afterlives of a Samurai

December 2, 2022 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week is all about a biography of a fascinating figure of the Meiji Restoration: Oguri Tadamasa. But it’s also…

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

Episode 462 – The Empty Throne, Part 5

November 18, 2022 Isaac Meyer

This week, we wrap up our imperial biographies with a look at the Meiji Emperor’s relationship to three important aspects…

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

Episode 461 – The Empty Throne, Part 4

November 11, 2022 Isaac Meyer

This week: the life of the Meiji Emperor in the turbulent 1870s and 1880s. We’ll cover everything from the birth…

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

Episode 460 – The Empty Throne, Part 3

November 4, 2022 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week: the boy emperor Meiji takes responsibility for Japan’s future. But what did that mean in practice? What does…

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

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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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Recent Posts

  • Episode 470 – The Vaccinators, Part 2
  • Women and the Law in the Late Roman Republic
  • Episode 469 – The Vaccinators, Part 1
  • Episode 468 – To Eat Their Own
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