In episode two of our series exploring the great historical cities of Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas, travel writer Paul Bloomfield is joined by Dr Christopher Harding as they delve into the fascinating, yet often turbulent, story of Tokyo. Together, they’ll visit key sites where major events unfolded – from exploring its medieval origins, and its gro ... Show More
Nov 2021
Hiromu Nagahara, "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie: Japan's Pop Era and Its Discontents" (Harvard UP, 2017)
Tokyo Boogie-Woogie: Japan's Pop Era and its Discontents (Harvard University Press, 2017) by Hiromu Nagahara is the first English-language history of the origins and impact of the Japanese pop music industry. The book connects the rise of mass entertainment, epitomized by ryūkōka ... Show More
1h 20m
Dec 2022
277: Japan: Samurai and Shoguns
In today's episode, Tom and Dominic discuss the history of Japan through six characters, with leading cultural historian of Japan, Chris Harding, as they cover feuding lords and buddhist monks, both world wars, Japanese medieval poetry, Manga culture, and much, much more.
Join T ... Show More
1h 2m
Aug 2021
Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim, "ReOrienting Histories of Medicine: Encounters Along the Silk Roads" (Bloomsbury, 2021)
There's been a lot of resurgent interest in the Silk Routes lately, particularly looking at the cultural, political, and economic connections between "East" and "West" that challenge long held narratives of a world that only became interconnected in the last half millennium. Even ... Show More
56m 43s
Apr 2023
History of Everything: The Age of War in Japan
The Sengoku Period, also known as the Warring States Period, was a turbulent and violent period of Japanese history when rival warlords or daimyo fought bitterly for control of Japan. The period falls within the Muromachi period (Muromachi Jidai, 1333-1573 CE) of Japanese medieva ... Show More
1h 19m
Jul 2021
Revisit: Tokyo Idols and Urban Life
Tokyo used to be presented as the ultimate hyper-modern city. But after years of economic recession the Tokyo of today has another side. A site of alienation and loneliness, anxiety about conformity and identity, it is a place where self-professed 'geeks' (or 'otaku'), mostly sin ... Show More
44m 20s
Feb 2021
G. Girard and T. Lockley, "African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan" (Hanover Square Press, 2021)
The remarkable life of history's first foreign-born samurai and his astonishing journey from Northern Africa to the heights of Japanese society. When Yasuke arrived in Japan in the late 1500s, he had already traveled much of the known world. Kidnapped as a child, and trained into ... Show More
50m 43s
Jan 2024
Japan's Tokugawa Shogunate
<p>The Warring States period brought Japan to its knees. It was a time of turbulence and treachery, with rival warlords fighting bitterly for control of the land. But by the dawn of the 17th century, one of Japan's 'Great Unifiers' had emerged victorious - Tokugawa Ieyasu, the fi ... Show More
29m 30s