In Our Time

Japan's Sakoku Period


Listen Later

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Japan's Sakoku period, two centuries when the country deliberately isolated itself from the Western world. Sakoku began with a series of edicts in the 1630s which restricted the rights of Japanese to leave their country and expelled most of the Europeans living there. For the next two hundred years, Dutch traders were the only Westerners free to live in Japan. It was not until 1858 and the gunboat diplomacy of the American Commodore Matthew Perry that Japan's international isolation finally ended. Although historians used to think of Japan as completely isolated from external influence during this period, recent scholarship suggests that Japanese society was far less isolated from European ideas during this period than previously thought.
With:
Richard Bowring
Emeritus Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Cambridge
Andrew Cobbing
Associate Professor of History at the University of Nottingham
Rebekah Clements
Research Fellow of Queens' College and Research Associate at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

In Our TimeBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

4,990 ratings


More shows like In Our Time

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,641 Listeners

History Extra podcast by Immediate Media

History Extra podcast

3,179 Listeners

Thinking Allowed by BBC Radio 4

Thinking Allowed

307 Listeners

Great Lives by BBC Radio 4

Great Lives

476 Listeners

Business Daily by BBC World Service

Business Daily

527 Listeners

World Business Report by BBC World Service

World Business Report

285 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,044 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,874 Listeners

In Our Time: Culture by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Culture

598 Listeners

In Our Time: Science by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Science

725 Listeners

In Our Time: Religion by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Religion

286 Listeners

In Our Time: Philosophy by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Philosophy

853 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

240 Listeners

Dan Snow's History Hit by History Hit

Dan Snow's History Hit

4,653 Listeners

Newscast by BBC News

Newscast

613 Listeners

Evil Genius with Russell Kane by BBC Sounds

Evil Genius with Russell Kane

365 Listeners

Elis James and John Robins by BBC Radio 5 Live

Elis James and John Robins

321 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

2,967 Listeners

The Ancients by History Hit

The Ancients

3,088 Listeners

The Rest Is History by Goalhanger

The Rest Is History

13,180 Listeners

Gone Medieval by History Hit

Gone Medieval

1,767 Listeners

Not Just the Tudors by History Hit

Not Just the Tudors

1,965 Listeners

Sport's Strangest Crimes by BBC Radio 5 Live

Sport's Strangest Crimes

79 Listeners

Uncanny by BBC Radio 4

Uncanny

601 Listeners

Dua Lipa: At Your Service by BBC Sounds

Dua Lipa: At Your Service

1,002 Listeners

Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley by BBC Radio 4

Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley

536 Listeners

Empire by Goalhanger

Empire

2,143 Listeners

Believe in Magic by BBC Sounds

Believe in Magic

609 Listeners

The Global Story by BBC World Service

The Global Story

122 Listeners

Miss Me? by BBC Sounds

Miss Me?

274 Listeners

The History Podcast by BBC Radio 4

The History Podcast

26 Listeners

Rory Stewart: The Long History of... by BBC Radio 4

Rory Stewart: The Long History of...

77 Listeners

Havana Helmet Club by BBC Sounds

Havana Helmet Club

4 Listeners