Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Deer Cry Hall | 20180423 | 20200727 (R3) | Christopher Harding begins his exploration of some of the darker sides of Japan's recent history by reflecting on popular doubts and misgivings about mainstream modern life through the story of a building: Deer Cry Hall. The rise and fall of this single, iconic piece of late 19th-century architecture represented Japanese concerns about foreignness and fakery in the new world their modernising leaders were creating. Producer: Sheila Cook Japan's uneasy embrace of modernity, exemplified by a controversial 19th-century building. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |
| 02 | Happy Families | 20180424 | 20200728 (R3) | Delving further into the darker sides of Japan's recent history, Christopher Harding explores two starkly contrasting models of family' in turn-of-the-century Japan. One was a neo-Victorian idyll, epitomised by the emperor serving as the benevolent head of a national family; the other was symbolised by a woman who joined a group of anarchists plotting to assassinate the emperor and by feminists who opposed 'the heavy investment of powerful people in this familial ideal. Producer: Sheila Cook Chris Harding explores contrasting models of 'family' in turn-of-the-century Japan. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |
| 03 | Rebranding The Buddha | 20180425 | 20200729 (R3) | Christopher Harding examines how Buddhism was reimagined in early 20th-century Japan in the service of militarism and nationalism. At risk of terminal decline and blamed for an economic and imaginative stranglehold on the population, its standing was transformed by the former Buddhist priest turned philosopher, Inoue Enryo, who turned 'philosophical somersaults to find a basis in Buddhism for war'. Producer: Sheila Cook How Buddhism was reimagined in the service of Japanese militarism. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |
| 04 | The Art Of The Heist | 20180426 | 20200730 (R3) | Christopher Harding tells the story of a famous crime, the robbery of hundreds of millions of yen in 1968 - which also serves as a metaphor for the theft of postwar promises of liberty and openness in 1960s Japan. The country's 'radical moment' was purloined in the interests of rapid economic growth and embrace of an American alliance. Producer: Sheila Cook How a famous crime is also a metaphor for 1960s Japan. Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |
| 05 | Japan Refusal | 20180427 | 20200731 (R3) | Christopher Harding asks if mental illness in Japan may actually be a sign of a rejection of a narrowly conceived modernity? From the neurasthenia of the great novelist Natsume Soseki to the 'hikikomori' or acute social withdrawal of the 1990s, he questions whether these conditions may actually be a rational response to a tightly governed society: 'their deep disorientation may be the result of living in a rapidly changing society and possessing an almost pathological degree of clear-sightedness.' This is the final episode in a series of essays in which he explores the doubts and misgivings which have beset the rapid modernisation of mainstream life in Japan. Producer: Sheila Cook Does mental illness in Japan indicate a rejection of a narrow modernity? Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond. |