Hello, and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, episode 25, The Shadow Shogun.

I'm safely ensconced in my new place, set up, and ready to record.

Sorry for missing an episode last week.

I do my best to avoid it when possible, but sometimes these things can't be helped.

The good news is, it should be unlikely that I'll miss another deadline,

until at least December or so when finals run around.

Anyway, on with the show.

This week, we're going to talk about a man who helped shape the political order of modern Japan.

Some of its successes and many of its failures can be traced back in whole or in part to his effect on the Japanese political machine.

Depending on who you ask, he was either a champion of the people or a corrupt kleptocrat who abused his power without a second thought.

Regardless of how you feel about him, he was, without a doubt, one of the most important politicians in Japanese history.

I refer, of course, to the infamous Tanaka Kakuay.

Tanaka Kakuay was born in 1918 in the village of Futada in Niigata Prefecture,

the only son of his parents who had six daughters.

Niigata is located along the western coast of the main Japanese island of Hanshu.

I'll put up a map on the website so you can see where exactly it is.

This accident of geography and birth would eventually become one of the defining features of Tanaka's career.

Western Japan, the part that is that faces Siberia rather than the Pacific Ocean,

tends to be regarded as somewhat bumpkin-ish out of the way.

The area received almost no attention from the Meiji government,

aside from ensuring regular collection of taxes and the smooth operation of conscription.

It was generally ignored in favor of the far richer eastern Pacific

...