THE SCANDALOUS WOMAN Uno Chiyo

What'sHerName

Dr. Katie Nelson and Olivia Meikle

Society & Culture, Documentary, History

4.8 • 538 Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2026

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Uno Chiyo rose to fame in 20th century Japan as a writer, designer, domestic goddess, and fashion icon - mostly by marketing herself as just a scandalous woman. But this "Bad Girl of Good Housekeeping" was so much more than just a writer of sexy stories. Guest Rebecca Copeland helps us uncover the secrets of this enigmatic, fascinating woman. Music featured in this episode provided by Hirano Aiko, JackJack9, Zac Zinger, Doug Maxwell, the Mini Vandals, Bounce Bay Records, and Kumi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This season of What's Her Name is sponsored by the Women's History Initiative at the Utah Historical Society.
0:05.3	Utah Women's History is so much more than you think.
0:08.4	History.utot.gov slash women.
0:11.2	This episode is also brought to you by our Patreon supporters.
0:14.9	Eric and Carolyn Schumway, Kim Hockinson, Bree Ames Smith, Robin Brown, Cornelia Weiss, Heather Juston, Janelleys Cannon,
0:22.8	Jamie Lang, Valerie Jacobson, Maria Carlos Sanchez, Jill Harrigan, Heather McKinnon, Michaela Fru,
0:29.8	Amanda Gilmore, Sarah Macado, and Monique Harris Pixado.
0:34.1	You can help support the podcast for as little as a dollar a month and help us make more episodes.
0:44.3	Hi, Katie. Hi, Olivia. It is 1920.
0:49.4	We are in Sapporo, Japan.
0:53.0	Oh.
0:54.3	And a 23-year-old former waitress is carefully packaging up short stories that she has written about her experiences working in a cafe.
1:06.8	She is going to give them to a regular customer at the cafe, who also just happens to be the editor of a very popular magazine, in the hopes that he might consider publishing some of them.
1:22.5	She's never written anything before, but he agrees to read them.
1:27.8	They're a little bit spicy and a little bit scandalous.
1:33.1	Oh.
1:33.8	Kind of a peek inside the life of a not quite proper working woman.
1:41.9	Oh.
1:43.0	An unusual voice that he thinks might appeal
1:46.2	to some of his more
1:48.3	sheltered
1:50.3	slash privileged slash
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dr. Katie Nelson and Olivia Meikle, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Dr. Katie Nelson and Olivia Meikle and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.