In the final episode of this series: how did "otaku culture" spread overseas when it was so stigmatized at home,... more

For our first episode of 2025: "otaku culture" as a phenomenon began to emerge, in part, as a reaction against... more

Our last episode of 2024 is also the first episode in a series on one of Japan's most distinctive cultural... more

This week, the story of an Edo period writer whose primary claim to fame was producing decent ripoffs of people... more

This week: Taiwan was the first overseas territory annexed by Japan with a large existing population. So how did the... more

This week: how does the history of Shinto intersect with the colonization of Hokkaido? What role does Shinto's transition from... more

What even is religion, when you get down to it? Why do we treat religion the way that we do?... more

This week is a continuation of our exploration of the history of reiki. How did Takata Hawayo, a poor woman... more

This week: the origins of one of the most popular pseudo-medical traditions out there. Where does reiki, the notion that... more

This week: what can we learn about the past if we look not at elite literature, but at the lowbrow... more