Meiji Japan's Photographers: Capturing a Nation in Transition

Meiji Japan's Christian Samurai: The Hidden Believers

In 1873, Japan's centuries-old ban on Christianity was quietly lifted, but the story of how Christianity survived—and even thrived—in Meiji Japan begins long before. This episode dives into the clandestine world of the Kakure Kirishitan, or 'hidden Christians,' who preserved their faith in secret for over 250 years after the Shimabara Rebellion (1637–1638). We follow their discovery by French missionaries in the 1860s, the brutal Urakami Yondan Kuzuke (the 'Fourth Persecution of Urakami') where thousands were tortured and exiled, and the unlikely alliance between samurai-turned-statesmen like Ōkubo Toshimichi and Christian leaders who helped shape Japan's modern religious landscape. We also explore how figures like Niijima Jō (Joseph Hardy Neesima), a samurai who secretly sailed to America, founded Dōshisha University and became a bridge between East and West. This is a story of faith, persecution, and the unexpected role Christianity played in Japan's rush to modernization. #KakureKirishitan #HiddenChristians #MeijiRestoration #ShimabaraRebellion #Urakami #NiijimaJo #DoshishaUniversity #ChristianityInJapan #OyamaIwao #ŌkuboToshimichi #FrenchMissionaries #YondanKuzuke #Nagasaki #Persecution #FukokuKyōhei #BunmeiKaika #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

Meiji Japan's Banking Revolution: The Birth of the Yen

In the early Meiji years, Japan had no unified currency — just a chaotic mess of clan notes, gold ryō, and Chinese coins. This episode follows the creation of a national banking system, from the 1871 New Currency Act that established the yen to the founding of the Bank of Japan in 1882. We meet Finance Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu, who pushed for modern banks modeled on the US National Banking System, and Matsukata Masayoshi, the fiscal conservative who crushed inflation by selling government bonds and raising taxes. The story takes us from the Osaka Mint — where imported British machinery stamped Japan's first silver yen — to the Matsukata Deflation that savaged farmers but stabilized the economy. We also explore how national banks issued their own notes, why the public distrusted paper money, and how the Bank of Japan finally centralized control. This is the financial bedrock that funded Japan's industrial revolution. #MeijiRestoration #BankOfJapan #ŌkumaShigenobu #MatsukataMasayoshi #OsakaMint #Yen #NewCurrencyAct #MatsukataDeflation #NationalBanks #FukokuKyōhei #BunmeiKaika #JapaneseHistory #EastAsianHistory #EconomicHistory #SilverYen #Inflation #FexingoHistory #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

Meiji Japan's Newspaper Revolution: Press, Power, and Public Opinion

Japan's Meiji Restoration wasn't just about railroads and silk mills — it was also a media revolution. In this episode, we explore how newspapers like the Yokohama Mainichi Shimbun and Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun transformed Japanese society. Lucas and Luna discuss the rise of the nishikie shimbun (illustrated news), the government's strict press laws, and the pivotal role of journalists like Fukuchi Gen'ichirō and Kishida Ginkō. From the 1875 Press Ordinance to the 1887 Peace Preservation Law, we trace the delicate dance between censorship and a hungry reading public. How did literacy campaigns and the abolition of samurai stipends create a mass audience? And why did Meiji-era newsboys become symbols of modernity? Packed with names, dates, and little-known details, this episode uncovers how Japan's fourth estate helped forge a national identity. #MeijiRestoration #JapaneseHistory #Newspapers #FukuchiGenichiro #KishidaGinko #YokohamaMainichiShimbun #PressOrdinance #BunmeiKaika #FukokuKyōhei #MeijiPress #NishikieShimbun #Censorship #MeijiJournalism #TokyoNichiNichi #EastAsia #History #FexingoHistory #ModernJapan Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Meiji Restoration's Woodblock Artists: Printing a Modern Japan

Lucas and Luna explore how ukiyo-e woodblock artists chronicled Japan's rapid modernization during the Meiji era. From the first prints of steam trains and telegraph wires to the war prints of the Sino-Japanese War, artists like Utagawa Kuniteru II, Kobayashi Kiyochika, and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi captured a nation in dizzying transformation. Lucas discusses the technical evolution of woodblock printing, the shift from ukiyo-e to 'kōsenga' or 'rainbow printing' with synthetic aniline dyes from the West, and the ironic censorship policies that banned 'traditional' themes while allowing depictions of new technology. The episode also touches on the rivalry between woodblock and photography, and how these prints became both propaganda and popular entertainment in a newly unified Japan. Contains specific discussion of the 1877 Kōsenga boom, the 1894-95 Sino-Japanese War triptychs, and the eventual decline of woodblock as lithography and photography took over. A fresh angle on Meiji visual culture beyond the fine arts nihonga/yōga divide covered in prior episodes. #MeijiRestoration #Ukiyoe #WoodblockPrinting #KobayashiKiyochika #TsukiokaYoshitoshi #UtagawaKuniteruII #Kōsenga #SinoJapaneseWar #BunmeiKaika #FukokuKyōhei #MeijiEra #JapaneseArt #ColorPrint #AnilineDye #PropagandaArt #PrintCulture #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

The Meiji Restoration's Forgotten Women: The Female Laborers of Tomioka Silk Mill

While much of Meiji Japan's modernization is credited to men like Ito Hirobumi and Yamagata Aritomo, the nation's industrial revolution was powered by tens of thousands of young women. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the lives of the jokō—female factory workers at the Tomioka Silk Mill and beyond. They discuss the harsh conditions, the government's recruitment of samurai daughters as 'model workers,' and the 1888 Factory Ordinance that finally regulated child labor. Learn about Wada Ei, the first student at Tomioka; the jōkō aishi (pitiful history of factory girls) that exposed exploitation; and how these women became symbols of both national progress and social struggle. This is the human story behind Japan's silk boom. #MeijiJapan #TomiokaSilkMill #Jokō #WadaEi #SilkIndustry #FactoryGirls #FukokuKyōhei #BunmeiKaika #IndustrialRevolution #WomenInHistory #LaborHistory #JapanHistory #GenderStudies #MeijiEra #EastAsianHistory #History #FexingoHistory #Podcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]