Did WWII really start in 1931 in Asia?

Yes, it pretty much did - ten years before Pearl Harbor. Today, we investigate how and why the Japanese Empire attacked itself – and how that led to war with China and beyond! We are joined by expert historian, Quin Cho (Archival Researcher for https://www.pacificatrocities.org/). Quin has literally written the book on this: The Kwantung Army and the Japanese Occupation of Manchuria, available from September 2025.

This is the second of three episodes in Dad & Me's series on modern Japan. Check out the photos from our research trip on https://www.dadandmelovehistory.com/

After the end theme music, you’ll find these questions:

1. When did World War II begin for the USA?

2. When did World War II begin in Europe?

3. In Asia-Pacific, war began between Japan and which country?

4. How did Japan fake an attack on the Japanese-owned railway in Manchurian, in north-east China in 1931?

5. Which country faked an attack against Poland in 1939?

6. Why do you think these countries choose to fake an attack by the other side?

Here’s our website, where you'll find photos, info about each episode and links to our social media: dadandmelovehistory.com - here, you can also listen to episodes.

We also strongly recommend the family-friendly History Detective podcast, as advertised in our pod. Check out historydetectivepodcast.com!

For mature history lovers: read industry reviews of Dad’s World War II novels, A Chance Kill and The Slightest Chance, at paulletters.com. Available as e-books, as well as in paperback. Dad’s first wartime novel, A Chance Kill, is a love-story/thriller based on real events in Poland, Paris, London and Prague. The Slightest Chance follows the remarkable true story of the only escape from Japanese imprisonment by a Western woman during World War II.

Please rate and review us wherever you get podcasts. And share our podcast on social media and recommend it to friends – that's how we'll keep going. We will bring you episodes throughout the year, so stay subscribed on your podcast app!

Podcast cover art by Molly Austin

All instrumental music is from https://filmmusic.io and composed by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Sound effects are used under RemArc Licence. Copyright 2025 © BBC

Re-released for July 4!

The one where we play lots of music and explain what it means. The production company behind Hamilton the Musical gave us the full rights to use and publish their music in our pod – so you’ll hear some big numbers in this episode. You’ll also learn a lot about history from a hip-hop musical that treats its audience as the intelligent beings that our listeners are!

There are some big plot spoilers in here – but no worse than if you simply listen to the musical’s soundtrack. On Disney+, Hamilton the musical is rated PG-13, but we spare you the worst of the language here. You will hear ‘d**n’ and ‘h*ll’ amid the lyrics of the songs we include from the Hamilton musical. (Lin-Manual Miranda, the creator of Hamilton, also composed the music for Moana; the two sound rather different.)

Here are some questions to see how much you understood from today's show:

1. What was James' favourite line from the musical?

2. In the song "Guns and Ships" which country was the superpower and who were they fighting against?

3. What do you think George Washington meant when his character sang "History has its eyes on me"?

4. Do you think different people can believe different versions of the same period of history?

5. Where did they make the new US capital and what is it called?

6. The Hamilton Project found that the musical has what percentage of historical accuracy?

Please rate and review us wherever you get podcasts. Look on our webpage for images that accompany each episode.

And join us on: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

Have fun!

Dad & Me

Podcast cover art by Molly Austin

Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2016. Copyright © Warner Music.

Japan isolated itself from other countries for centuries. In the land of the samurai, tradition and honour were central. Guns were seen as dishonourable – until they weren’t. We see how Japan only changes its capital city via anagram (this could be next: Yo-ok-t?). So we investigate the remarkable Meiji modernisation period of a century or so ago, which launched Japan as a superpower – and prepared Japan to be a world-leader in technology, as the country still is today.

Check out the photos from our trip on https://www.dadandmelovehistory.com/

After the end theme music you’ll find these questions:

1. What was a ‘shogun’?

2. What was Kyoto?

3. What anagram of KYOTO did the Japanese capital move to?

4. Which country was Commodore Perry from and what did he force Japan to do in the 1850s and 1860s?

5. Japan modernised its education system, economy, transport, communications and what else?

6. By the early 1900s, Japan’s modernisation made its power rise. What countries did Japan invade before 1941?

Here’s our website, where you'll find photos, info about each episode and links to our social media: dadandmelovehistory.com - here, you can also listen to episodes.

We also strongly recommend the family-friendly History Detective podcast, as advertised in our pod. Check out historydetectivepodcast.com!

For mature history lovers: read industry reviews of Dad’s World War II novels, A Chance Kill and The Slightest Chance, at paulletters.com. Available as e-books, as well as in paperback. Dad’s first wartime novel, A Chance Kill, is a love-story/thriller based on real events in Poland, Paris, London and Prague. The Slightest Chance follows the remarkable true story of the only escape from Japanese imprisonment by a Western woman during World War II.

Please rate and review us wherever you get podcasts. And share our podcast on social media and recommend it to friends – that's how we'll keep going. We will bring you episodes throughout the year, so stay subscribed on your podcast app!

Podcast cover art by Molly Austin

All instrumental music is from https://filmmusic.io and composed by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Sound effects are used under RemArc Licence. Copyright 2025 © BBC