Episode 326 - The Lockheed Scandal, Part 1

History of Japan

Isaac Meyer

Japan, History, Japanese

4.8 • 744 Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2020

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, we take a look at one of postwar Japan's most famous political scandals, and how the efforts of one company to revive its fortunes ended up roping in everyone from shadowy underworld figures to the Prime Minister of Japan himself.

Show notes here.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This week's episode is brought to you by Audible.
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0:13.1	For listeners of the show, Audible is offering a free 30-day trial membership, complete with credit for a free audiobook of your choice.
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0:28.0	Japan to claim your offer. This week I'm going to recommend The Grace of Kings by Ken Leo.
0:35.6	I love East Asian history and one of the things I love about it
0:40.4	are all of the great little historical stories passed down in ancient chronicles that are just
0:45.6	fantastically entertaining. One of my favorites is the story of the founding of the Han Dynasty
0:52.2	by the scoundrel turned emperor,
0:55.0	L'Il Baum. This book is that story updated to an interesting, I guess you might call
1:01.5	it, steampunk-ish world, taking the story of the fall of the Chin Dynasty and the rise
1:07.0	of the Han, putting it somewhere new, but keeping the feel the same.
1:12.1	I love this book, I think you'll love it too, and the only sad part about it is it's one of
1:17.4	very few novels that Ken Leo has ever written.
1:20.8	So, until he writes more, go to audibletrial.com slash Japan to claim your copy.
1:50.0	Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, episode 236, the Lockheed scandal.
2:02.5	Since we've been talking scandals lately, I figured why not pair some episodes on one of the more obscure scandals of modern Japan, the Teijan scandal, with one of the most famous ones ever to take place, so this week we're going to start a conversation about the transnational mess
2:07.7	that was the Lockheed scandal. Our story begins, of course, with Lockheed Corporation, today
2:14.8	known as Lockheed Martin, after it merged with another company in 1995.
2:20.6	Lockheed has a long history. The company started off doing automobiles before moving into aviation in the mid-1920s.
2:29.2	It was a rough ride. The Great Depression nearly bankrupted the company that owned Lockheed, but thanks to the
	...

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