Japan isolated itself from other countries for centuries. In the land of the samurai, tradition and honour were central. Guns were seen as dishonourable – until they weren’t. We see how Japan only changes its capital city via anagram (this could be next: Yo-ok-t?). So we investigate the remarkable Meiji modernisation period of a century or so ago, which launched Japan as a superpower – and prepared Japan to be a world-leader in technology, as the country still is today.
Check out the photos from our trip on https://www.dadandmelovehistory.com/
After the end theme music you’ll find these questions:
1. What was a ‘shogun’?
2. What was Kyoto?
3. What anagram of KYOTO did the Japanese capital move to?
4. Which country was Commodore Perry from and what did he force Japan to do in the 1850s and 1860s?
5. Japan modernised its education system, economy, transport, communications and what else?
6. By the early 1900s, Japan’s modernisation made its power rise. What countries did Japan invade before 1941?
Here’s our website, where you'll find photos, info about each episode and links to our social media: dadandmelovehistory.com - here, you can also listen to episodes.
We also strongly recommend the family-friendly History Detective podcast, as advertised in our pod. Check out historydetectivepodcast.com!
For mature history lovers: read industry reviews of Dad’s World War II novels, A Chance Kill and The Slightest Chance, at paulletters.com. Available as e-books, as well as in paperback. Dad’s first wartime novel, A Chance Kill, is a love-story/thriller based on real events in Poland, Paris, London and Prague. The Slightest Chance follows the remarkable true story of the only escape from Japanese imprisonment by a Western woman during World War II.
Please rate and review us wherever you get podcasts. And share our podcast on social media and recommend it to friends – that's how we'll keep going. We will bring you episodes throughout the year, so stay subscribed on your podcast app!
Podcast cover art by Molly Austin
All instrumental music is from https://filmmusic.io and composed by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Sound effects are used under RemArc Licence. Copyright 2025 © BBC
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