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
  • I Only Love Robots
  • Support Our Shows
  • About Us
    • Press
    • Social Media & Contact Information

Tag: History

Episode 485 – Outfoxed!

May 26, 2023 Isaac Meyer Leave a comment

This week: how did Japan’s most popular god develop a following around the country, and why is that god–Inari–associated with…

Continue Reading →

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

Episode 484 – Passion and Prejudice, Part 2

May 19, 2023 Isaac Meyer Leave a comment

This week: the Pal dissent becomes the Pal myth. How did an obscure document from the Tokyo Trials end up…

Continue Reading →

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

Episode 483 – Passion and Prejudice, Part 1

May 12, 2023 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week, we’re starting a look into how an Indian lawyer and judge from a relatively obscure background became a…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: History, International Military Tribunal for the Far East, Japan, Tokyo Trials, WW2

Episode 482 – Japan, the Beautiful, the Ambiguous, Part 1

April 28, 2023 Isaac Meyer 4 Comments

This week, we’re taking a look at the first of two Nobel laureates in literature from Japan: Kawabata Yasunari. Kawabata…

Continue Reading →

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

Episode 481 – The Dynasty, Part 4

April 14, 2023 Isaac Meyer

We’re wrapping up our look at the Hatoyama political dynasty with some time on Hatoyama Iichiro (arguably Japan’s most reluctant…

Continue Reading →

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

Episode 480 – The Dynasty, Part 3

April 7, 2023 Isaac Meyer

This week: Hatoyama Ichiro’s revenge tour culminates in finally reaching the top spot as PM and in the formation of…

Continue Reading →

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

Episode 479 – The Dynasty, Part 2

March 31, 2023 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

Hatoyama Kazuo was a reluctant politician; you can’t say the same of his son Hatoyama Ichiro, groomed from childhood to…

Continue Reading →

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

Episode 478 – The Dynasty, Part 1

March 24, 2023 Isaac Meyer

This week, we’re starting a longform look at Japan’s most prominent political dynasty: the Hatoyama family, which has been a…

Continue Reading →

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

Episode 477 – What a Twist!

March 17, 2023 Isaac Meyer 2 Comments

This week, we’re covering the art of rakugo–storytelling with a twist! How did rakugo emerge from the history of Buddhism,…

Continue Reading →

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

Episode 476 – To Have My Deeds Known

March 10, 2023 Isaac Meyer

How did one man’s determination to get paid end up producing one of the best records we have of a…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: History, Japan, Kamakura, mongols, Samurai

Post navigation

Page 1 of 28
1 2 … 28 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:

Become a Patron!

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 485 – Outfoxed!
  • Episode 484 – Passion and Prejudice, Part 2
  • Section 230
  • Episode 483 – Passion and Prejudice, Part 1
  • Bo Xilai, Gu Kailai, and Wang Lijun
Copyright © 2023 Facing Backward Podcasts — Primer WordPress theme by GoDaddy