This week's episode is brought to you by Audible.

Audible has over 425,000 titles to choose from, all compatible with iPhone, Android,

Kindle, or your MP3 player of choice.

For listeners of the show, Audible is offering a free 30-day trial membership, complete with

credit for a free audiobook of your choice.

You can cancel any time and keep the free book or keep going with one of Audible's subscription offers. Go to audibletrial.com

slash Japan to claim your offer. This week I'm going to recommend if this is a man by Primo Levy,

also known as survival in Auschwitz.

When I teach the history of the Holocaust, this is one of the texts I prefer to use, both

because I think it captures in a very powerful and troubling way the mechanisms used to

dehumanize Jews during the Holocaust, and also because it captures the spirit of resistance of hanging on to individual dignity.

If you've never read it before, I can't recommend it enough, especially with International Holocaust Remembrance Day coming up on the 27th of January.

So, go to audible trial.com slash Japan to claim your copy.

Hello and welcome to the history of Japan podcast, episode 374, The First Frontier, Part 4.

I think it is fair to say that by the dawn of the 20th century, Hokkaido was practically

unrecognizable compared to what the island had been just a few decades

earlier. The opening of the island to Japanese colonization, combined with the efforts of the

Hokkaido agency to promote the economic development of the island, created a radical

transformation. Most obviously this was visible in the population. As early as 1889, Hakodate became the

16th largest city in Japan with over 52,000 residents, beating out places like Shizuoka, Kumamoto, and

even Osaka. By 1920, both Hakodate and Sapporo were among the top 20 cities in the country by size,

Sapporo with 108,562 residents, Hakodate with 149,89,89. And, by the way, 20 years after that,

...