This week, we explore the “Christian conspiracies” of Edo Period Japan. Working backwards from the Osaka Incident of 1827, when…
Japan’s “Christian Century” is the source of many fascinating aspects of Japanese history, from modern firearms to tenpura. But there’s…
This week, something a bit different: the start of a history of conspiracy theories in Japan. This first episode is…
This week: we take a look at the genre of the yakuza movie, or ninkyo eiga, which started off as…
This week: we take a look at postwar samurai film/jidaigeki in order to understand better the trajectory of the most…
This week, we’re starting a history of the most famous genre in the history of Japanese film: the jidaigeki, and…
This week: we wrap up the miniseries with the end of Akebono’s career, as the first gaijin yokozuna takes his…
This week: Akebono becomes a yokozuna, and finds himself burdened with new expectations on and off the dohyo. Plus, a…
This week: in the span of just a few years, Akebono goes from a rookie in sumo to one of…
This week: Chad Rowan, who will be the first non-Japanese yokozuna in history, is the subject for the rest of…