History of Japan

This week: Taiwan was the first overseas territory annexed by Japan with a large existing population. So how did the government's policies on religion--and especially Shinto--help shape the nature of Japanese colonial rule there? And how did those policies evolve as Taiwan's own place in the empire changed? Show notes here. 

This week: how does the history of Shinto intersect with the colonization of Hokkaido? What role does Shinto's transition from religion to "cultural institution" play in the process that has made that island indisputably a part of Japan itself? Show notes here. 

What even is religion, when you get down to it? Why do we treat religion the way that we do? And when our modern notions of religion came up against an empire whose very legitimacy was based on a religious myth, how did those tensions play out? Show notes here. 

This week is a continuation of our exploration of the history of reiki. How did Takata Hawayo, a poor woman from Hawaii's Nikkei community, become the foundational figure of one of the most popular New Age practices in the world? And in the end, what sense can we make of the history of a practice founded on pseudoscientific medical claims? Show notes here.