Against Japanism
This podcast seeks to challenge the commonly held assumptions about Japan as harmonious, homogeneous, and traditional by recasting its history as a history of conflict and change, as the history of class struggles, from anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, and intersectional perspectives.
Episodes
27 episodes
Vietnamese Migrant Workers and the Legacy of "Technical Internship" Program w/ Le Phuong Anh
Maya and Kota sit down with Le Phuong Anh to talk about the struggle of Vietnamese migrant workers and international students in Japan. Anh is a PhD student at the graduate school of Asia Pacific Studies at Waseda University, whose rese...
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1:27:40
Multipolarity or Anti-Imperialism? w/ Politics in Command
Kota sits down with J from Politics in Command to discuss "multipolarity," a discourse which sees the existence of multiple superpowers as a positive development from the unipolar world ...
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1:33:10
Danchi, Social Reproduction, and the Politics of Urban Development w/ Marxist Disco
Felix a.k.a. Marxist Disco joins the show to discuss the wave of urban redevelopment happening in Japan right now.There are
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1:57:37
The Takarazuka Revue and Capitalist Urban Development w/ The BeruBara Tag Boom
Alex from the BeruBara Tag Boom joins the show to discuss the history and politics of an all-women musical theater based in Western Japan known as t...
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1:32:14
The History of Japanese Fascism: Part 1 w/ The Minyan
Kota sits down with Talia and Prez from the Minyan to answer the question: Was pre-WWII Japan fascist? This is the first installment of a multi-part series on the origins, political economy, ...
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1:26:46
The People vs. G7 w/ Migrante Japan
Roger Raymundo, a member of Migrante Japan and co-host of Radyo Migrante re-joins the show to discuss the imperialist agenda of the up...
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1:12:43
Caste Oppression and the Buraku Liberation Movement w/ Buraku Stories
Niki from Buraku Stories joins the show to discuss the history of the struggle of a discriminated outcaste people in Japan known as Burakumin. The term “Burakumin” originated in the earl...
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1:13:13
Nikkei Organizing w/ Miya Sommers, J Town Action & Solidarity, and Nikkei Uprising
Kota joins an online forum “Nikkei Organizing: A Community Discussion on Organizing Strategy and Developing Revolutionary Movements” held via Zoom on November 13, 2022.The event was hosted and moderated by
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1:32:34
Anti-Obituary: Abe Shinzo w/ Deprogramming Imperialism
Alisa and Hye Sung from Deprogramming Imperialism join the show to discuss Abe's legacy and his ties to the Unification Church, and review everything that's transpired since his assassination by Y...
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1:36:10
The Agrarian Question and Class Contradictions in Okinawa w/ Wendy Matsumura
Wendy Matsumura, a historian and the author of The Limits of Okinawa: Japanese Capitalism, Living Labour, and Theorizations of Community joins the show to discuss the histo...
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2:51:51
The Anti-Vietnam War Movement and the Red Army Faction w/ Alex Finn Macartney
Alex Finn Marcartney joins Kota to talk about the history of the anti-Vietnam War movement in Japan and the legacy of the Red Army Faction or the Sekigun-ha, the mother organization of the Japane...
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1:38:44
Mlitant Labour Unionism and State Repression in Kansai w/ David McNeil
David McNeil joins Kota to discuss militant labour unionism and state repression in the Kansai region of southwestern Japan. We specifically discuss the ...
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1:09:01
The History of Revolutionary Feminism and Women's Liberation Movement in Japan w/ Setsu Shigematsu
Setsu Shigematsu joins Kota to discuss the history of revolutionary feminism and women's liberation movement in Japan.We first discuss the history of feminists in pre-WWII Japan such as Kanno Sugako & Kaneko Fumiko who critiqued the ...
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1:55:18
Revolution Goes East: The Impact of the Russian Revolution in Japan w/ Tatiana Linkhoeva
Tatiana Linkhoeva joins the show to discuss her book Revolution Goes East: Imperial Japan and Soviet Communism. Some members of the...
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1:48:12
On Intermediary Exploitation w/ Ken Kawashima [Patreon Preview]
In this preview of a patron-exclusive episode, Ken Kawashima discusses intermediary exploitati...
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8:59
The History of Filipino Migration to Japan w/ Migrante Japan
Kota is joined by Roger Raymundo of Migrante Japan, a regional chapter of Migrante International, a global alliance of grassroots migrant organizations of overseas Filipinos and their families.
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1:54:06
The Proletarian Gamble: Uno Kōzō's Theory of Crisis & Korean Workers in Interwar Japan w/ Ken Kawashima
Kota is joined by Ken Kawashima, author of The Proletarian Gamble: Korean Workers in Interwar Japan and translator of
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2:26:13
Ghost in the Machine: The Emperor System & Anti-Revolutionary Thought Policing in Interwar Japan w/ Max Ward
Kota sits down with Max Ward to discuss his book about the Japanese state’s effort to suppress revolutionary movements and ideologically convert their participants through the Peace Preserv...
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2:15:37
Solidarity with the Palestinian Resistance w/ May Shigenobu
Kota sits down with a Palestinian-Japanese journalist Shigenobu May to talk about Palestine. May is the daughter of Shigenobu Fusako, a former member of
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2:29:11
Women in the Japanese New Left w/ Chelsea Szendi Schieder
Kota is joined by Chelsea Szendi Schieder to discuss her latest book Coed Revolution: The Female Student in the Japanese New Left.Women in the Japanese New Left played a vital rol...
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1:47:17
The History of Marxism in Japan w/ Gavin Walker - Part 2
Against Japanism presents Part 2 of an interview with Dr. Gavin Walker about the history of Marxism in Japan, focusing on the postwar period starting in the late 1940s. First, we discuss the reason behind the Japanese Communist Par...
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55:23
The History of Marxism in Japan w/ Gavin Walker - Part 1
In this two part series, Kota sits down with Gavin Walker to discuss the history of Marxism in Japan. Instead of simply narrating the facts of this history chronologically, we focus on particular theoretical and political questions that a...
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1:11:49
A Fundraising Appeal from Pato-chan
This mini-episode features a message from Pat (also known as Pato-chan), a trans woman from the Philippines and a former migrant detainee living in Japan, who is raising funds to support herself during her "provisional release" (Karihoume...
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19:56
Translating the Japanese Ideology: The Anti-Fascist Philosophy of Tosaka Jun w/ Robert Stolz - Part 2
In the second part of an interview with Robert Stolz, we continue our conversation about the affinity between fascism and liberalism, as well as the difference between idealist and materialist philosophies theorized by Tosaka Jun in his book Th...
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47:55
Translating the Japanese Ideology: The Anti-Fascist Philosophy of Tosaka Jun w/ Robert Stolz - Part 1
In this two part series, Kota is joined by Robert Stolz to discuss the anti-fascist philosophy of Tosaka Jun, a Marxist philosopher and cultural critic active during the 1930s. Tosaka is often associated with the Kyoto School, a gr...
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1:01:44