This week we continue our footnote on the history of dogs in Japan. How did public perceptions of dogs change during the Meiji period? How did the adoption of modern notions of dog ownership and pet keeping help remake Japan's cities? And what impact did all of this have on Japan's existing canine population? Show notes here.…

In the final footnote for our Revised Introduction, we turn our attention to a little discussed subject that is a part of daily life for many: the history of our life with dogs! How did humans live with dogs in premodern Japan, and how did that start to change when the country was opened during the Meiji years? Show notes here.…

This week's footnote is a continuation of last week's discussion of the gozan, or five mountain system for the ranking of Zen temples. What did the system look like at its height under Ashikaga rule, and how did its relationship to the Ashikaga begin to transform the practice of Zen within the temples themselves? Show notes here.…

This week on the Footnotes to the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: many describe Zen as the religion of the samurai. In reality, it was not--but samurai influence was crucial to making Zen a part of Japan's cultural framework. That history is bound up in a system called the "Five Mountains"; so how did that system come to be? Show notes he…

This week, we're continuing last week's footnote on the postwar ultraright. How did the fall of the Soviet Union affect the anti-communist focus of the extreme right? How has its rhetoric been shaped by an odd relationship with the left? And how does modern extreme rightism manifest in the ideas of men like Kobayashi Yoshinori and groups like Nippo…

This week's footnote: the first of two parts on the postwar extreme right. This week, we're mostly focusing on the extreme right in the first few decades of the Cold War, and in particular on the story of Akao Bin and his Aikokuto. How did a convicted socialist end up as one of Japan's foremost violent anticommunists--and how did his ideas shape a …

This week, we're continuing last week's footnote on daily life in Meiji Japan. Topics covered this week include life as a conscript in the army, changes to Japanese cuisine during the Meiji years, and entertainment from kabuki to early movies. Show notes here.

This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History Footnotes: what was it like to live in the Meiji Era? Join us on a journey through a day in 1900, as we discuss breakfast foods, education, and factory jobs in the "new Japan." Show notes here.

For our second footnote to the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: a simple question that definitely won't result in an overpacked episode. Was Imperial Japan a fascist state? How can we even define fascism in a productive way that lets us engage in historical comparison? How quickly can I summarize four different definitions of what fascism …

This week, we have our first Footnote to the Revised Introduction to Japanese history, expanding on questions we didn't get to touch on during the main series. This week, our question is: what do we know about the origins and practice of early Japanese religion, and how does it relate to what we call Shinto today? Show notes here.…

On the final episode of the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: the LDP completely fails to meet the challenge of the bubble collapse, and the Lost Decades see Japan's economy stagnate and its political and social system under severe pressure. Where to from here? Only time will tell. Show notes here.…

In the penultimate episode of the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: the 1980s sees the rise of Japan's asset bubble and the peak of the high-rollin' postwar. But the new prosperity is built on faulty ground that is already beginning to creak... Show notes here.

This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: how did Ikeda Hayato and the LDP build a system that would redefine postwar Japan? And how did the political opposition utterly fail to rise to the challenge of matching them? Show notes here.