In this episode, Dr. Laura Nenzi retells the story of the Edo-Meiji transition through a micro-history of Kurosawa Tokiko, a rural schoolteacher and soothsayer who was arrested by the Tokugawa Bakufu for her political activities prior to 1868.  We discuss Tokiko’s attempts to preserve her identity amidst change, the micro-history methodology and how it changes our view of the Restoration, and conflict and resistance in the Meiji Period, before comparing notes on teaching, and living in, Tokyo. (Transcript here).

The Meiji at 150 Podcast