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This week I'm going to recommend Underground by Murakami Haruki.

This is Morikami Haruki's attempt to understand Omshin Rikyo's

1995 gas attack against the Tokyo subway system. To try and understand the group's motives,

Murakami talks to the people who lived through the catastrophe in his attempt to understand

how anyone Japanese could do something like this.

Murakami is, of course, one of Japan's best-known authors, and this is an absolutely fascinating read.

I cannot recommend it enough.

Go to audibletrial.com slash Japan to claim your copy.

Music slash Japan to claim your copy. Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast.

Episode 336, Let the Games Begin, Part 1.

This week, we're going to continue our streak of somewhat topical episodes by focusing on the history of an event that has been in the news a lot in Japan lately.

I refer, of course, to the Olympic Games.

Now, the Olympics do have a long history, and since this is a Japan-focused podcast,

I don't want to spend too much time on the backstory, but this is me we're talking about,

so we're going to spend some time on the backstory.

First, yes, the Olympics as a concept are originally Greek.

...