This week, we recap and review Mobile Suit Gundam episode 18 (17 in the US), "Zeon's Secret Mine," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: the science behind Zeon's new anti-Gundam tech - the Adzam Leader, forced labor of POWs, Japan's post-war economy, ninja outfits, and cognac.

- A discussion of inductive coupling, one of the technologies that our resident science-guest Iraj speculates could be responsible for the Adzam Leader's effect on the Gundam.

- Page from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum about the forced labor of Soviet POWs in Germany, and George Washington University "Memory and Reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific" research and policy program's page on Japan's use of POW forced-labor.

- NPR article about the Mitsubishi Corporation's apology for using POWs for forced-labor.

- Wikipedia article about Japan's "economic miracle." For more detailed information about the Japanese economy at that time, and the changes to standard of living that went along with it, this book is great:

Hane, Mikiso. Eastern Phoenix: Japan since 1945. Westview Press, 1998.

- General information on ninja, and on the Tokugawa-era secret-polics, the Oniwaban, who largely replaced ninja.

- A sketch of a 'traditional' ninja outfit, but Japanese painter Hokusai.

- All about the kabuki art-form, and specific information on kabuki stage-hands (called kuroko).

- A detailed history of cognac, explanation of how cognac is made, and guide to understanding cognac labeling.

- A paper presented to the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium using cognac as a case study to analyze factors influencing luxury exports, and a working paper by Instituto Politécnico de Leiria on European luxury brands strategies in Japan.

- A 1988 article on cognac's increasingly global presence, and 1992 LA Times article on cognac consumption in Japan (the cognac market in Japan would crash shortly afterward).

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The intro music is WASP by Misha Dioxin, and the outro is Long Way Home by Spinning Ratio, both licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license. Both have been edited for length.

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