History of Japan

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Episode 585 - The All-Seeing Eye, Part 2 Jul 04, 2025

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Japan's "Christian Century" is the source of many fascinating aspects of Japanese history, from modern firearms to tenpura. But there's one more way that the century from 1543-1639 shaped Japan--as the source of its first conspiracist moment!

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Episode 584 - The All-Seeing Eye, Part 1 Jun 27, 2025

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This week, something a bit different: the start of a history of conspiracy theories in Japan. This first episode is mostly framing: what is conspiracism as a mindset, and how is it different from actual conspiracies?

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Episode 583 - The Men of Chivalry, Part 3 Jun 20, 2025

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This week: we take a look at the genre of the yakuza movie, or ninkyo eiga, which started off as a branch of the samurai film genre before becoming very much its own thing--and, for a decade or so in the 1960s and 1970s, dominating the Japanese box office.

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Episode 582 - The Men of Chivalry, Part 2 Jun 13, 2025

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This week: we take a look at postwar samurai film/jidaigeki in order to understand better the trajectory of the most influential genre in the history of Japanese film. Why did jidaigeki, a staple of pre-1945 film, storm back with a vengeance to the big screen after the end of World War II? What makes post-1945 samurai films distinctive or unique? And what about their relationship to another archetype of international film: the American Western?

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Episode 581 - The Men of Chivalry, Part 1 Jun 06, 2025

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This week, we're starting a history of the most famous genre in the history of Japanese film: the jidaigeki, and its related genre of the ninkyo eiga. This week: what do we know about early jidaigeki, and how do they fit into the wider history of early Japanese film?

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Episode 580 - The Kings of the Ring, Part 7 May 30, 2025

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This week: we wrap up the miniseries with the end of Akebono's career, as the first gaijin yokozuna takes his post-dohyo trajectory in a very different direction from the other yokozuna before him (or at least, from most of the other yokozuna before him). Plus some final thoughts on sumo today.

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Episode 579 - The Kings of the Ring, Part 6 May 23, 2025

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This week: Akebono becomes a yokozuna, and finds himself burdened with new expectations on and off the dohyo. Plus, a brief foray into pay and compensation for rikishi, and a final section on one of the most infamous moments of the 64th yokozuna's career.

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Episode 578 - The Kings of the Ring, Part 5 May 16, 2025

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This week: in the span of just a few years, Akebono goes from a rookie in sumo to one of its most prominent names, and alongside Konishiki one of the Americans dominating in the top division. But unlike Konishiki, he has the potential to go one step further. So, how does a guy from Waimanalo become the first non-Japanese citizen ever to claim the title of yokozuna?

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Episode 577 - The Kings of the Ring, Part 4 May 09, 2025

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This week: Chad Rowan, who will be the first non-Japanese yokozuna in history, is the subject for the rest of our episodes. How did he come to sumo? What was his early career like? And how did he come to be known by the name Akebono-the rising sun?

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Episode 576 - The Kings of the Ring, Part 3 May 02, 2025

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This week: after Taiho, the floodgates open as more non-Japanese rikishi begin to enter the sport. One of them, Takamiyama, has a good but not great career. But two of the rikishi he recruits to train under him after retirement--Konishiki Yasokichi and Akebono Taro--will change sumo forever.

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