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Tag: Samurai

Episode 410 – A Man of His Times

October 15, 2021 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week: Isaac spends 30 minutes unpacking the 400+ page ramblings of a cranky retiree who died about 200 years…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Edo, History, Japan, Samurai, Tokugawa

Episode 405 – The Road Not Taken

September 10, 2021 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week, we’re talking about one of the last attempts to save the Tokugawa shogunate: the Tenpo Reforms of the…

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

Episode 393 – The Lords of the Sea, Part 4

June 4, 2021 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week, we’re wrapping up our month on piracy by looking at how the image of “Japanese pirates” became so…

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

Episode 392 – The Lords of the Sea, Part 3

May 28, 2021 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week, we’re talking about how Hideyoshi finally tamed Japan’s pirates, and why that makes them so hard to understand…

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

Episode 391 – The Lords of the Sea, Part 2

May 21, 2021 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week, we’re focusing on the height of piracy during the civil wars in Japan, and in particular the powerful…

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

Episode 382 – Flipping the Script

March 19, 2021 Isaac Meyer

This week, we’re going to stay in the Sengoku but take a step away from all this samurai action to…

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

Episode 381 – The Three Daughters of Azai, Part 2

March 12, 2021 Isaac Meyer 1 Comment

This week, we cover the rest of the lives of Sugen’in, Joko’in, and Yodo-dono (and some other really fascinating incidental…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: History, Japan, Samurai, Sengoku, Tokugawa, Women

Episode 380 – The Three Daughters of Azai, Part 1

March 5, 2021 Isaac Meyer

This week, we’re revisiting some well-trod ground (the final decades of the 1500s and the careers of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi)…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: hideyoshi, History, Japan, oda, Samurai, Sengoku, Women

Episode 379 – So Close, and Yet So Far

February 26, 2021 Isaac Meyer 3 Comments

This week, we’re starting off a month of Sengoku-themed content with a look at one of the remoter areas of…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: chosokabe, History, Japan, Samurai, Sengoku, Sengoku period

Episode 323 – Musui’s Story

January 31, 2020 Isaac Meyer 2 Comments

This week, we’re discussing the autobiography of a troublemaking, low-ranking samurai whose life didn’t reshape Japan, but whose tale can…

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Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Edo, History, Japan, musui, Samurai

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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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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.

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Recent Posts

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