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This week, I'm going to recommend My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki.

I've already mentioned my love of one of Ozeki's other works,

A Tale for the Time Being, on this podcast, and My Year of Meets is equally good, if substantially

weirder, and given how weird a tale for the time being already is, that's really saying something.

If you're looking for a quality piece of writing about humor, cross-cultural communication,

and of course delicious meat, look no further.

Go to audible trial.com slash Japan to claim your copy. Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, episode 375, The First Frontier, Part 5.

We've talked about World War II now, oh, once or twice on this podcast, it's come up, you might say, so I don't think I need to rehash completely the extent to which the war both devastated Japan and laid the groundwork for a pretty incredible attempt on the part of the United States to fundamentally remake the country. The damage done to Japan by the war was truly incredible.

Millions dead, about 60% of the nation's urban area burned to the ground by the American bombs,

and its economy, even its food supply in shambles.

Hokkaido, however, was actually spared the worst of the war because of the way the American

bombing plans were designed. The urban areas bombed by the United States were hit in theory

because they contained industry related to the war effort, though of course in practical

terms there was neither the technology nor frankly the interest to ensure that bombs were only

...