Podcasts about Araki

This week, Bella is joined by special guests Melia and Henry Chendo to celebrate Pride with a look at Gregg Araki's Teen Apocalypse Trilogy:Totally F***ed Up (1993)The Doom Generation (1995)Nowhere (1997)A trailblazer of New Queer Cinema, Araki captured the chaos of queer youth in the '90s like no one else. These films are loud, sexy, surreal, and devastating — soaked in color, contradiction, and emotion.In this episode, we talk about his portrayal of the queer experience through his signature thematic and aesthetic style — how he balances camp comedy with emotional darkness, and how sex, love, drugs, violence, and warped reality all collide in his stories.There's a constant tension in these films between disconnection and desire, between the feeling of being completely lost and the desperate need to be seen. Araki doesn't offer clean resolutions or easy answers — his stories unravel in fragments, in bursts of color and chaos. Still, somewhere in the wreckage, he makes room for vulnerability, longing, and the aching need to be understood.Happy Pride!

Amidst the profound social change and political turmoil of post-war Japan, a bold generation of avant-garde artists and photographers emerged in the 1960s, forever transforming the global art landscape. Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers' director Amélie Ravalec attended the Dutch premiere at De Balie in Amsterdam to talk about the film with our cinema curator Stefan Malešević. Watch the film screening of Japanese Avant-Garde Pioneers until June 23, exclusively at De Balie.The 1960s era in Japan was a time of profound social change, political unrest and student protests. The turbulent times of the postwar era inspired an artistic explosion in Japan, with the emergence of a revolutionary scene of avant-garde artists who pioneered many disciplines: experimental and erotic photography, “Angura” theatre and underground street performances, apocalyptic Butoh dance, surreal illustrations and seminal graphic design.A new aesthetic of photography was born: “Are, Bure, Boke” (rough, dark and out of focus), pioneered by Moriyama Daidō and the Provoke magazine photographers. Araki beautified bondage and Hosoe Eikoh sublimated the male body. Ishiuchi Miyako captured her experience of American military bases. Kawada Kikuji's era-defining photobook The Map captured the poignancy of Hiroshima's trauma.Master of underground theatre Terayama Shūji produced countless magical, surreal and vividly colourful films, plays and photobooks, Yokoo Tadanori and Awazu Kiyoshi revolutionised graphic design with their incandescent theatre posters, Tanaami Keiichi, Japan's answer to Andy Warhol, developed his unique kaleidoscopic vision of Pop-Art, and Butoh founders Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo impacted modern dance forever with their dance of darkness and light.Watch the official trailer here.Get your tickets for the film screening at De Balie here.Intro music: Andrii Poradovskyi---Want to know more about Forum on European Culture? Here you can find more information.Zie het privacybeleid op https://art19.com/privacy en de privacyverklaring van Californië op https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  Last time we spoke about China's preparations for War. In December 1936, the tension in China reached a boiling point as Nationalist General Chiang Kai-shek was captured by his own commanders, Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng. Disillusioned by Chiang's focus on fighting communists instead of the encroaching Japanese forces, the generals sought a unified response to Japanese aggression. After being held in Xi'an, Chiang reluctantly agreed to collaborate with the Chinese Communist Party, marking a significant shift in strategy against Japan. Amidst the rising chaos, Chiang's government reviewed historical military strategies and prepared for a prolonged conflict. However, they faced challenges, including inadequate supplies and a lack of modern equipment compared to the Japanese. By 1937, China was ill-prepared for war, with Chiang later expressing regret about their military readiness. Despite these setbacks, the alliance formed with the communists laid a foundation for a united Chinese front against the brutalities of the Sino-Japanese War that would follow.   #153 Japan Prepares for War Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. So in the last episode we talked about how China was preparing itself for war, now its time for Japan. Since Japan's invasion of North China, Japanese field armies had promoted a series of autonomous zones in northern China. Officers from the Kwantung Army, skeptical of China's capacity to modernize, believed that the vast region would inevitably fragment into regional factions. This policy effectively maintained a weak and divided China, which served Japan's to defend Manchukuo. However many Japanese military leaders frequently pointed to the threat posed by the KMT's five-year plan, initiated in 1933 with assistance from German military advisors, aimed at modernizing and expanding the national army. To counter what they perceived as a Chinese threat, the field armies advocated for a preemptive war to dismantle Chiang Kai-shek's regime. Any attempt by Tokyo to alter the military's China policy faced vigorous opposition from the Kwantung Army, which, in February 1937, pushed for intensified covert actions to expel the KMT from northern China and supported a preemptive war to secure strategic areas for future operations against the Soviet Union. At a March meeting in Tokyo, staff officers from the China Garrison and Kwantung armies insisted that any concessions to China would be a grave mistake and would likely yield only temporary outcomes. In early spring 1937, Prince Konoe Fumimaro inherited a China policy fraught with competing views, however, there was consensus that China must not distract the empire from its preparations against the USSR. The end goal was clear, but the means to achieve it remained uncertain. The cabinet's approval of the "Fundamentals of National Policy" in August 1936 indicated a need for stability as the army and navy reconfigured Japan's war machine. The challenge lay in aligning long-term strategic goals with practical short-term interests in northern China without upsetting the existing balance of power. Expanding demands propelled the army's contingency planning, which had traditionally focused on safeguarding Japanese interests and the approximately 13,000 Japanese citizens residing in the region. Tokyo typically responded to serious incidents by deploying troops from homeland garrisons to address localized emergencies and then withdrawing them. However, by the mid-1930s, the growing Soviet threat to Manchukuo rendered this doctrine obsolete. Incidents in northern China gained strategic importance as they diverted resources from the Kwantung Army's preparations against the Soviet Union. Disruptions in northern China hindered access to essential raw materials necessary for army modernization and rearmament, while hostile Chinese forces threatened the Kwantung Army's strategic left flank in the event of war with the Soviets. With these considerations in mind, the army revised its operational war plans, assuming that northern China would serve as Japan's strategic rear area for operations against the USSR. In 1911 Japan's plan for general war mandated thirteen divisions to occupy southern Manchuria, capture Beijing, and subsequently occupy Zhejiang and Fujian. Limited contingency operations in northern China required two divisions to secure rail communications from Beijing to the coast. In the weeks following the 1931 Manchurian Incident, the General Staff in Tokyo drafted plans to counter a Sino-Soviet alliance, anticipating a 2 month campaign involving 15-16 divisions, with the majority engaged against the Soviet Red Army. 2 divisions were designated to secure northern China, while smaller units would monitor the Inner Mongolian front to protect Japan's western flank in Manchuria. After further refinement, the General Staff identified three contingencies for China in early 1932: maintaining the traditional mission of safeguarding Japanese interests and citizens with a standard two-division force; ensuring a secure line of communication between the Chinese capital and the sea with the China Garrison Army, which consisted of approximately 1,700 officers and men, reinforced by one division; and, in a worst-case scenario of all-out war, deploying three divisions to reinforce the Kwantung Army, along with 7 additional divisions and 3 cavalry brigades to suppress resistance in northern China and the Shandong Peninsula, while two additional divisions secured key areas in central China. Between 1932-1936, China received less attention as the General Staff focused on the Soviet military buildup in the Far East. Anxiety, stemming from the Soviet buildup in the Far East, was a pervasive concern reflected in the draft rearmament plan submitted to the throne on May 21, 1936, as part of the national budget formulation process. The army proposed countering the Soviet threat by enhancing Japanese strategic mobility in Manchukuo through the renovation and expansion of airfields, ports, roads, and rail infrastructure, and by constructing army air force arsenals, storage depots, and medical facilities. The positioning of Japanese divisions in eastern Manchuria suggested their wartime objectives, with the Kwantung Army relying on a mobile independent mixed brigade composed of armored car and mounted cavalry units stationed in Gongzhuling, central Manchuria, as its immediate response force for contingencies in northern China. Major units were not concentrated in western Manchuria, where they would be expected to deploy before any planned invasion of northern China. Nevertheless, General Staff planners remained vigilant regarding developments in China, where the resurgence of nationalism, Communist movements advancing north of the Yellow River in February 1936, and the spread of anti-Japanese sentiments across northern China raised the specter of limited military operations escalating into full-scale warfare. China's improving military capabilities would likely hinder Japanese forces from accomplishing their objectives. For example, around Shanghai, Chinese defenses were bolstered by extensive, in-depth, and permanent fortifications. In mid-September 1936, the General Staff in Tokyo issued orders to preempt significant outbreaks in northern China by repositioning a division in Manchukuo closer to the boundary. If hostilities broke out, the China Garrison Army, supported by Kwantung Army units, would launch punitive operations against Chinese forces as necessary. Higher headquarters expected local commanders to act swiftly and decisively, employing rapid maneuvers and shock tactics to address outbreaks with minimal force. Given that no alternative responses were considered, Japanese operational planning for northern China relied on an all-or-nothing approach to force deployment, even for minor incidents. Yet, the senior leadership of the army remained deeply divided over its China policy. Influenced by Ishiwara, the General Staff wanted to avoid military actions that could lead to a full-scale war with China, focusing instead on advancing the army's extensive rearmament and modernization program. In contrast, a majority of high-ranking officers in the Army Ministry and General Staff, particularly within the 2nd Operations Section and the Kwantung Army, favored forceful action against China, believing it necessary to quell rising anti-Japanese sentiments. Drawing from past experiences, these officers anticipated that the Chinese would quickly capitulate once hostilities commenced. This lack of a unified military strategy reflected broader disagreements among the army's leadership regarding operations in China. While operational planning called for the permanent occupation of large regions in northern and central China, the General Staff aimed to contain outbreaks to maintain focus on Soviet threats. There was a clear absence of long-term operational planning; instead, the army concentrated on initial battles while relegating planning for prolonged combat operations to contingent circumstances. In summary, the Japanese army preferred to avoid military force to address Chinese issues whenever feasible but was equally unwilling to concede to Chinese demands. Since 1914, Tosui Koryo or “Principles of Command” had served as the foundational doctrine for senior Japanese army commanders and staff officers engaged in combined arms warfare at the corps and army levels. The advent of new weapons, tactics, and organizational changes during World War I compelled all major military forces to reassess their existing military doctrines across strategic, operational, and tactical dimensions. In response, Japan modified the Principles of Command to blend its traditional post-Russo-Japanese War focus on the intangible factors in battle with the newest concepts of modern total war. A revision in 1918 recognized the significance of “recent great advances in materiel” for total warfare, yet it maintained that ultimate victory in battle relied on dedication, patriotism, and selfless service. In the 1920s, the General Staff's Operations Section, led by Major General Araki Sadao, who would become the leader of the Kodoha faction, had produced the most significant and impactful revision of the Principles. A staunch anti-communist and ideologue who valued the intangible elements of combat, Araki appointed Lieutenant Colonel Obata Toshishiro and Captain Suzuki Yorimichi as the principal authors of the manual's rewrite. Obata, a Soviet expert, was strongly influenced by German General Count Alfred von Schlieffen's classic theories of a “war of annihilation,” while Suzuki, the top graduate of the thirtieth Staff College class, shared Araki's focus on “spiritual” or intangible advantages in warfare. Both men were brilliant yet arrogant, working in secrecy to create a doctrine based on what Leonard Humphreys describes as “intense spiritual training” and bayonet-led assaults to counter the opponent's material superiority.  The latest version of the Principles of Command preserved the operational concept of rapid Japanese mobile offensive operations, aiming to induce a decisive battle or “kaisen” early in the campaign. It reaffirmed the sokusen sokketsu or “rapid victory' principle of rapid warfare. Attaining these goals relied exclusively on offensive action, with the army expecting commanders at all levels to press forward, defeat enemy units, and capture key territories. The troops were indoctrinated with a spirit of aggression and trained to anticipate certain victory. The emphasis on offensive action was so pronounced that Araki eliminated terms like surrender, retreat, and defense from the manual, believing they negatively affected troop morale. This aggressive mindset also infused the Sento Koryo or “Principles of Operations”, first published in 1929 as a handbook for combined arms warfare tailored for division and regimental commanders. The manual emphasized hand-to-hand combat as the culminating stage of battle, a principle regarded as unchanging in Japanese military doctrine since 1910. Senior commanders were expected to demonstrate initiative in skillfully maneuvering their units to encircle the enemy, setting the stage for climactic assaults with cold steel. Infantry was deemed the primary maneuver force, supported by artillery. To complement rapid infantry advances, the army developed light and mobile artillery. Operationally, encirclement and night attacks were vital components of victory, and even outnumbered units were expected to aggressively envelop enemy flanks. In assaults against fortified positions, units would advance under the cover of darkness, avoiding enemy artillery fire and positioning themselves for dawn attacks that combined firepower with shock action to overwhelm enemy defenses. In encounters with opposing forces, commanders would maneuver to flank the enemy, surround their units, and destroy them. If forced onto the defensive, commanders were expected to seize opportunities for decisive counterattacks to regain the initiative. These high-level operational doctrines were distilled into tactical guidelines in the January 1928 edition of the Infantry Manual or “Hohei Soten”, which saw a provisional revision in May 1937 . Both editions opened with identical introductions emphasizing the necessity for a rapid victory through the overpowering and destruction of enemy forces. Infantry was identified as the primary arm in combined arms warfare, and soldiers were taught to rely on cold steel as fundamental to their attacking spirit. The 1928 Infantry Manual underscored the commander's role in instilling a faith in certain victory or “hissho shinnen”, drawing from the glorious traditions of Japanese military history. The 1928 infantry tactics employed an extended skirmish line with four paces between soldiers. Individual initiative in combat was generally discouraged, except under exceptional circumstances, as success relied on concentrating firepower and manpower on narrow frontages to overwhelm defenders. An infantry company would create a skirmish line featuring two light machine gun squads and four rifle squads, preparing for a bayonet-driven breakthrough of enemy defenses. For the final assault, the infantry company would line up along a 150-yard front, likely facing casualties of up to 50% while breaching the enemy's main defensive line. Historical analysis reveals the shortcomings of these tactics. During World War I, armies constructed extensive, multi-layered defenses, trenches, pillboxes, and strong points, each independent yet all covered by artillery. If assaulting infantry suffered heavy losses breaching the first line, how could they successfully prosecute their assault against multiple defense lines? The 1937 revision elaborated on new tactics to overcome entrenched Soviet defenses, drafted in anticipation of arms and equipment that were either in development or production but not yet available for deployment. This became official doctrine in 1940, but as early as summer 1937, units from the China Garrison Army were field-testing these new tactics. The provisional manual adopted combat team tactics, forming an umbrella-like skirmish formation. This involved a light machine gun team at the forefront with two ammunition bearers flanking it to the rear. Behind the machine gun team were riflemen arranged in a column formation, maintaining six paces between each. The light machine gun provided cover fire as the formation closed in on the enemy for hand-to-hand combat. Increased firepower expanded the assault front to 200 yards. The combination of wider dispersion and night movement aimed to reduce losses from enemy artillery fire while the infantry advanced through successive lines of resistance. Commanders at the platoon level were responsible for leading the final assault into enemy lines, with increased tactical responsibility shifting from platoon to squad leaders, allowing for greater initiative from junior officers and non-commissioned officers. This emphasis on broader dispersal and fluidity on the battlefield required frontline infantry to exhibit aggressiveness and initiative. Contrary to popular belief, the Japanese military did not solely rely on the bayonet or an offensive spirit during engagements with Chinese forces. They effectively employed superior firepower and modern equipment within their combined arms framework, using heavy weapons and artillery to soften enemy positions before launching infantry attacks. Without such firepower, unsupported infantry attacks would have struggled to achieve their objectives. In January 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army consisted of approximately 247,000 officers and men, organized in a structure comprising seventeen standing infantry divisions, four tank regiments, and fifty-four air squadrons equipped with a total of 549 aircraft. The China Garrison Army and the Taiwan Garrison Army each included two infantry regiments, while a separate independent mixed brigade was stationed in Manchuria. Two divisions were permanently based in Korea, with four more assigned on a rotating basis to the Kwantung Army in Manchukuo. The remainder of the forces were stationed in the Japanese home islands. A substantial pool of reservists and partially trained replacements was available to mobilize, enabling the expansion of peacetime units to their wartime strength as needed. Conscription provided the primary source of enlisted manpower for the army, though a handful of young men volunteered for active duty. For conscription purposes, Japan was divided into divisional areas, which were further subdivided into regimental districts responsible for conscription, mobilization, individual activations, and veteran affairs within their jurisdictions. Typically, conscripts served with the regiment associated with their region or prefecture. However, the Imperial Guards regiments in Tokyo selected conscripts from across the nation, as did the Seventh Infantry Division, which recruited from the sparsely populated Hokkaido area and from regular army units stationed in Korea, China, and Taiwan. Draftees from Okinawa Prefecture usually served with Kyushu-based regiments. All males reaching the age of 20 underwent an army-administered pre-induction physical examination conducted between December 1 and January 30 of the following year. This evaluation classified potential conscripts into three categories: A “suitable for active duty”, B1, and B2, while others were deemed unfit for the demands of military life. In 1935, 29.7% of those examined received A classifications, while 41.2% were graded as B1 or B2. Among the 742,422 individuals eligible for conscription in 1937, approximately 170,000 were drafted, amounting to 22.9% of the cohort; this figure had remained relatively consistent since the post-Russo-Japanese War years. Within the conscripted group, 153,000 men were classified as A and an additional 17,000 as B. Conscripts served for two years of active duty, with variations based on their military specialty and any prior civilian military training. After their discharge, they were subject to a lengthy reserve obligation. In total, 470,635 individuals fell into the B category, being otherwise fit for service but excess to the army's active personnel needs. These men were assigned to the First Replacement Pool, where they underwent around 120 days of basic military training, primarily focused on small arms usage and fundamental tactics. Regular officers and NCOs led the training in their respective regimental districts. Following their initial training, the army called these replacements and reservists to active duty annually for several days of refresher training. Army leaders regarded discipline as the cornerstone of military effectiveness. Basic training emphasized the necessity of unquestioning obedience to orders at all levels. Subsequent training focused on fieldcraft, such as utilizing terrain strategically to surprise or encircle the enemy. However, training exercises often lacked diversity due to the limited maneuver areas available in Japan, leading to predictable solutions to field problems. The training regimen was rigorous, merging strict formal discipline and regulated corporal punishment with harsh informal sanctions and unregulated violence from leaders to instill unwavering compliance to orders. As an undergrad taking a course specifically on the Pacific War, it was this variable my professor argued contributed the most to the atrocities performed by the Japanese during WW2. He often described it as a giant pecking order of abuse. The most senior commanders abused, often physically their subordinates, who abused theirs, going through the ranks to the common grunts who had no one else but civilians and the enemy to peck at so to speak. Of course there were a large number of other variables at play, but to understand that you outta join my Patreon Account over at the www.patreon.com/pacificwarchannel , where I made a fan favorite episode on “why the Japanese army performed so many atrocities”. In there I basically hit a big 10 reason list, well in depth, I highly recommend it! As the concept of the “Imperial Army” and the cult of the emperor gained prominence, appeals to imperial symbols and authority bolstered this unquestioning obedience to superiors, who were seen as the conduits of the emperor's will. It was during this period that the term kogun or “imperial army” gained favor over kokugun or “national army”, reflecting a deliberate effort by military authorities to forge a direct connection between the military and the imperial throne. The 1937 Japanese infantry division was structured as a square formation, with a peacetime strength established at approximately 12,000 officers and men organized into two brigades, each comprising about 4,000 personnel, formed from two infantry regiments, about 2,000 men each. The division included a field artillery regiment, an engineer regiment, and a transport battalion as organic units. Each infantry regiment was composed of three battalions, approximately 600 men each, which contained three rifle companies, 160 men each and a weapons platoon. A rifle company consisted of three rifle platoons and one light machine gun platoon. Regiments also included infantry assault gun platoons, and battalions contained a heavy machine gun company. Upon mobilization, a fourth infantry company augmented each battalion, along with reserve fillers, nearly 5,000 personnel assigned as transport and service troops, raising the authorized wartime strength of an infantry division to over 25,000 officers and men.  Reforms implemented in 1922 reduced personnel numbers in favor of new and improved weapons and equipment. Among these advancements, the 75 mm Type 90 field artillery piece, which boasted increased range and accuracy, was integrated into the forces in 1930, along with the 105 mm Type 10 howitzer and 75 mm pack mountain artillery which could be disassembled for transport using pack animals. These became standard artillery components for divisions. The emphasis on light, mobile, and smaller-caliber field artillery enabled swift deployment during fast-moving engagements. By minimizing the size of the baggage train, infantry and artillery units could quickly set up off the march formation and maneuver around enemy flanks. Army leaders further streamlined road march formations by eliminating the fourth artillery battery from each regiment, thus sacrificing some firepower for enhanced speed and mobility. Heavier artillery pieces were still used in set-piece battles where mobility was less critical. In a typical 1936 division, the field artillery regiment, equipped with Type 90 field artillery or lighter Type 94 mountain artillery, had thirty-six guns. Training focused on quality rather than quantity, reflecting the conservative doctrine of “one-round-one-hit”. Live-fire training was infrequent due to the scarcity of artillery firing ranges in Japan. Ammunition stockpiles were inadequate for anticipated operational needs; government arsenals produced over 111,000 artillery shells in 1936, which was fewer than one-tenth of the quantities specified in wartime consumption tables. Similar industrial shortcomings also hampered advancements in motorization and armor. Motorization proved costly and relied on foreign supply, presenting challenges given the inferior road networks in Manchuria, northern China, and the Soviet Far East. Military estimates suggested a need for 250,000 trucks to fully motorize the army, a goal beyond the capabilities of the nascent Japanese automotive industry, which produced fewer than 1,000 cars annually until 1933. Japanese tanks, described as “handcrafted, beautifully polished, and hoarded” by Alvin Coox, suffered from shortages similar to heavy artillery and ammunition. The army prioritized light weighing ten tons or less and medium tanks sixteen tons or less due to the necessity of deploying armor overseas, size and weight were crucial for loading and unloading from transport ships. Smaller tanks were also more suitable for the terrains of northern China and Manchuria, as they could traverse unbridged rivers using pontoons or ferries. The Japanese industrial base, however, struggled to mass-produce tanks; by 1939, factories were producing an average of only twenty-eight tanks of all models per month. Consequently, in 1937, foot soldiers remained as reliant on animal transport for mobility as their ancestors had been during the Russo-Japanese War. Despite enjoying technological and material superiority over disorganized Chinese forces, these deficiencies in heavy artillery, armor, and vehicles would prove catastrophic against more formidable opponents. Another significant factor constraining Japanese industry's capacity to produce tanks, trucks, and artillery was the 1936 decision to expand the army's air wing and homeland air defense network. This policy diverted resources, capital, and technology away from the army's ground forces. The nascent Japanese Army Air Force or “JAAF” aimed to support ground operations through reconnaissance, bombing enemy bases, and achieving air superiority. However, direct support for ground operations was limited, and Japanese military planners did not anticipate that aerial bombardment could supplement or replace artillery bombardments. The expanded air arm's strategic mission centered on executing preemptive air strikes against Soviet air bases in the Far East to thwart potential air attacks on Japan. By the mid-1930s, the army had approximately 650 aircraft, roughly 450 of which were operational. The JAAF emphasized rigorous training that prioritized quality over quantity, producing only about 750 pilots annually up until December 1941. Basic flight skills were developed through this training, while specialized tactical instruction was deferred to newly established pilot units. According to logistics doctrine, Japanese maneuver units typically operated within a 120 to 180-mile radius of a railhead to facilitate resupply and reinforcement. A field train transport unit was responsible for moving supplies daily from the railhead to a division control point for distribution. The division established a field depot to manage the transfer of supplies from field transport to company and lower-echelon units. At the depot, transport troops would hand over supplies to a combat train that ferried ammunition, rations, and equipment directly to frontline units. Horse-drawn wagons and pack animals were the primary means of transportation. Each wartime division included a transport battalion, which varied in size from approximately 2,200 to 3,700 personnel, depending on the type of division supported. The division typically carried enough supplies for one day. Upon mobilization, the logistical framework was reinforced with the addition of an ordnance unit, a field hospital, a sanitation unit, and additional field and combat trains. The size of the transport regiment grew from around 1,500 officers and men with over 300 horses to nearly 3,500 troops and more than 2,600 animals. In the battalion, one company generally transported small-arms ammunition while two companies handled artillery shells and two others carried rations; this arrangement was flexible based on operational needs. Pack horses and dray horses were assigned to each company to carry or tow infantry assault artillery, mortars, artillery ammunition, and rations. Infantry soldiers carried minimal rations, approximately two and a half pounds, primarily rice, along with tinned condiments and salt. Consequently, the field train included a field kitchen stocked with fresh vegetables, rice or bread, soy sauce, and pickles. Each evening, a forward echelon train distributed supplies received from the field transport unit to the combat unit's bivouac area. When combat seemed imminent, a section of the transport battalion would move forward to deliver essential combat supplies, ordnance, equipment, medical supplies, directly to frontline units. These units would also handle resupply, medical evacuation, and repair of ordnance and equipment once fighting commenced.  On the evening of September 18, 1936, the fifth anniversary of the Manchurian Incident, Chinese troops from the Twenty-Ninth Army clashed with Japanese soldiers from the Seventh Company's rear-guard medical unit at Fengtai. When a Japanese officer arrived on horseback, a Chinese soldier struck his horse, prompting the Chinese troops to retreat to their barracks. Major Ichiki Kiyonao, the battalion commander, ordered an emergency assembly, surrounded the Chinese encampment, and demanded that Chinese authorities surrender the aggressors immediately. To defuse the situation, Major General Kawabe Masakazu, the brigade commander and Ichiki's superior, instructed Regimental Commander Mutaguchi to resolve the incident swiftly. Mutaguchi negotiated an agreement that required the Chinese to apologize, punish those responsible, withdraw from the vicinity of the Japanese barracks, and maintain a distance of two miles. Although Mutaguchi and Ichiki wanted to disarm the Chinese forces, they ultimately complied with Kawabe's wishes and allowed the Chinese to retain their weapons “in the spirit of Bushido.” Later, the Chinese claimed the Japanese had refrained from disarming them due to their fear of the strength and influence of the 29th Army. This insult infuriated Mutaguchi, who vowed not to make any further concessions and promised to eliminate the anti-Japanese provocateurs decisively if another incident occurred. He warned his officers against allowing an “overly tolerant attitude toward the Chinese” to undermine the prestige of the imperial army and emphasized the need for swift, decisive action to prevent such incidents in the future. Tensions were further exacerbated by large-scale Japanese field exercises conducted from late October to early November. These maneuvers, the largest ever executed by Japanese forces in China, mobilized about 6,700 active-duty and reserve troops for a series of complex battle drills, night maneuvers, and tactical field problems. During these exercises, Japanese troops were quartered in Chinese homes. Although local residents were compensated for any damage caused, the exercises nonetheless heightened tensions between the two sides. The fallout from the Suiyuan Fiasco in December 1936, coupled with a tumultuous summer and fall, led to rising anti-Japanese sentiment and prompted Tokyo to caution the Kawabe brigade against actions that might escalate the already precarious situation. In March 1937, during the annual personnel assignments, Ishiwara was promoted to major general and appointed chief of the 1st Department Operations of the General Staff. However, Army Vice Minister Umezu, a hardliner regarding China and a rival of Ishiwara, successfully maneuvered the Hayashi cabinet into approving the command choices for army and navy ministers, overriding Ishiwara's proposals. General Sugiyama Hajime, another hawk on China, replaced the terminally ill General Nakamura Kotaro as army minister shortly after Nakamura's appointment and remained in that position until June 1938. Lieutenant General Imai Kiyoshi, army vice chief of staff and an Ishiwara supporter, was also battling a terminal illness that rendered him largely ineffective during his short five-month tenure from March to August 1937. Imai was expected to play a crucial role in high command because the army chief of staff, Prince Kan'in, had been appointed in 1931 as a figurehead due to internal factions preventing agreement on a candidate. Ishiwara further complicated his conciliatory approach by selecting Colonel Muto Akira, a known hardliner who believed force was the only means to resolve the Japan-China conflict, for the vital position of chief of Operations Section within the General Staff. From Kwantung Army headquarters, Commanding General Ueda Kenkichi and his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Tojo Hideki, advocated for a preemptive war against China to serve the Kwantung Army's interests. In contrast, the China Garrison Army, under Lieutenant General Tashiro and his chief of staff, adopted a more moderate stance, aligning with central headquarters' policy of restraint. The China Garrison Army estimated the 29th Army to consist of 15,000–16,000 troops, with its main strength centered around Peking and an additional 10,000 troops in the surrounding area. Starting in spring 1937, Japanese units began observing tactical indicators suggesting that the Chinese were preparing for war. These indicators included increased guard presence at Peking's gates in June, bolstering units near the Marco Polo Bridge to over two battalions, preparing new fighting positions, digging trenches and constructing concrete pillboxes near the Marco Polo Bridge, infiltrating agents into Japanese maneuver areas for intelligence on night tactical exercises, and heightened strictness among Chinese railroad guards evident since late June. Nevertheless, the Japanese commanders did not view China as a formidable opponent. They believed that Chinese armies would quickly disintegrate due to what they perceived as a lack of fighting spirit and ineffective leadership. By 1937, Japan's national policy was shifting away from the persistent and aggressive efforts of field armies to undermine Chinese political authority in northern China toward a more conciliatory stance. This shift resulted in increased tensions between field armies and the General Staff in Tokyo, leading to substantial fractures among senior officers regarding the “solution” to their so-called China problem. Those tensions broke the camels back that year.  I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Japanese grossly underestimated their enemy and their own logistical capabilities. There was to say “too many cooks in the kitchen” of the Japanese military and competing visions ultimately were leading Japan and China into an official full blown war. Japan assumed they could bully China until it was so fragmented it would be a simple matter of grabbing the pieces it liked, that was not to be the case at all.   

Last time we spoke about Operation Chahar. In the turbulent year of 1935, tensions surged in North China as the Kwantung Army defied Tokyo's orders, encroaching deeper into Chahar province. This period was marked by widespread anti-Japanese sentiments, fueled by local revolts and the assassination of pro-Japanese figures, which infuriated Japanese authorities. On May 20, the Kwantung Army launched an offensive against a bandit group led by Sun Yungqin, seeking to exert control over the demilitarized regions established by earlier agreements. Their swift victory forced the resignation of local officials opposing Japanese interests. As chaos escalated, the Chinese government, under pressure to appease Japan, dismantled anti-Japanese factions and dismissed key leaders. The climax in this saga came with the signing of the He-Umezu Agreement, stripping China of authority in Hubei and Chahar, signaling Japan's increasing dominance and setting the stage for further exploitation of the region.   #150 The February 26 Incident Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. While this podcast is supposed to be given through the Chinese perspective, I apologize but yet again I need to jump over to the Japanese side. You see, a very pivotal moment during the Showa era would occur in the year of 1936. I think it's crucial to understand it, and the underlying issues of it, to better understand what we will be stuck in for the unforeseeable future, the Second Sino-Japanese War. I've briefly mentioned the two factions within the Japanese military at this time, but now I'd really like to jump into them, and a major incident that made them collide. In the aftermath of WW1, 2 prominent factions emerged during this tumultuous period: the Kodoha, or Imperial Way Faction, and the Toseiha, or Control Faction. Each faction represented distinct visions for Japan's future, deeply influencing the nation's course leading up to World War II. The Kodoha rose to prominence in the 1920s, driven by a fervent belief in Japan's divine destiny and its right to expand its imperial reach across Asia. This faction was characterized by its adherence to traditional Japanese values, rooted in the samurai ethos. They viewed the Emperor as the embodiment of Japan's spirit and sought to return to the moral foundations they believed had been eroded by “Western influence”. The Kodoha was often critical of the West, perceiving the encroachment of Western thought and culture as a threat to Japan's unique identity. Their ideology emphasized a robust military force, advocating for aggressive campaigns in regions like Manchuria and China to assert Japan's dominance. Contrasting sharply with the Kodoha, the Toseiha began to emerge as a more dominant political force in the late 1930s. The Toseiha embraced a pragmatic approach, advocating for a disciplined military that could engage effectively with the complexities of modern warfare. They recognized the importance of retaining some traditional values while also integrating Western military techniques. Rather than rejecting Western influence entirely, the Toseiha believed in adapting to global shifts to ensure Japan's strength and security. The Toseiha's moderation extended to their governance strategies, as they prioritized political stability and control over radical ideology. They saw this approach as crucial for creating a robust state capable of managing Japan's expansionist ambitions without provoking the backlash that Kodoha tactics elicited. Their more calculated approach to military expansion included securing partnerships and pursuing diplomatic solutions alongside military action, thereby presenting a less confrontational image to the world. Now after Manchuria was seized and Manchukuo was ushered in, many in the Japanese military saw a crisis emerge, that required a “showa restoration' to solve. Both factions aimed to create military dictatorships under the emperor. The Kodoha saw the USSR as the number one threat to Japan and advocated an invasion of them, aka the Hokushin-ron doctrine, but the Toseiha faction prioritized a national defense state built on the idea they must build Japans industrial capabilities to face multiple enemies in the future. What really separated the two, was the Kodoha sought to use a violent coup d'etat to make ends meet, whereas the Toseiha were unwilling to go so far. The Kodoha faction was made up mostly of junior and youthful officers, typically country boys as we would call them. These were young men whose families were not the blue bloods, farmer types. They viewed the dramatic changes of Japan in light of their own family experiences, many were impoverished by the dramatic changes. A very specific thing these Kodoha boys hated were the Zaibatsu. The Zaibatsu were large Japanese business conglomerates, primarily active from the Meiji period until WW2. They combined various industries, including banking, manufacturing, and trading. Prominent examples included Mitsubishi and Sumitomo. The reason they hated the Zaibatsu was because they believed they were influenced by western thought and that they super succeeded the authority of the emperor. More or less you can think of it as “we hate the fat cats who are really running things”.   Now the Toseiha faction were willing to work with the Zaibatsu to make Japan stronger. Basically they believed them to just be a necessary evil, you had to play ball to get things rolling. Random note, Hirohito's brother Prince Chichibu sympathized with the Kodoha faction and repeatedly counseled his brother that he should implement direct imperial rule even if it meant suspending the constitution, aka a show restoration. Hirohito believed his brother who was active in the IJA at the time was being radicalized. Now I cant go through the entire history of it, but this time period is known as the “government by assassination” period for Japan. Military leaders in the IJA, IJN and from within the Kodoha and Toseiha factions kept assassinating politicians and senior officers to push envelopes forward. Stating all of that, I now want to talk about the February 26th incident and I will add I am using a specific source, simply because it's my favorite. That is Herbert P Bix's Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. In late 1934, several officers from the Imperial Way faction at the Army Cadet School were arrested for plotting a coup. Although there were no immediate repercussions, the following year, two of the same Kodoha officers, named Isobe Asaichi and Muranaka Takaji were arrested again for distributing a document accusing Toseiha faction officers, like Major General Nagata Tetsuzan, of previously drafting coup plans against the government. This time, the army's upper echelons responded firmly, condemning Isobe and Muranaka's accusations as acts of disloyalty, resulting in both officers losing their commissions. Meanwhile, other Imperial Way officers sought retaliation against Nagata, who was rumored to be planning a major purge to eliminate factionalism within the army. Tatsukichi Minobe was a Japanese statesman and scholar of constitutional law and in the 1930s he began a movement bringing up the very real issue with the Meiji constitution in relation to the role of the emperor. In August 1935, amid a populist movement denouncing Minobe's interpretation of the constitution, Lt colonel Aizawa Saburo from Kodoha faction entered Nagata's office and fatally attacked him with his katana. This marked a significant escalation in the military struggle over state reform and the push for increased military funding, which was intertwined with the movement against Minobe. Meanwhile anti- Prime Minister Okada factions within the army, continuing to use slogans like “kokutai clarification” and “denounce the organ theory,” intensified their attacks on the emperor's advisers and hereditary peers. Senior generals from the Kodoha faction arranged a public court-martial for Aizawa, held by the 1st Division, a group heavily populated by Kodoha officers based in Tokyo. When Aizawa's trial commenced on January 12, 1936, his defense team transformed it into an emotional condemnation of the Okada cabinet, the court entourage, and Minobe's constitutional theories. This strategy garnered support across the nation, even reaching unexpected places like the imperial palace, where Dowager Empress Teimei Kogo, a staunch rightist, expressed sympathy for Aizawa. However, before the trial could progress, a military mutiny disrupted proceedings in the capital. Shockwaves rippled through the army after Army Minister Hayashi dismissed Kodoha member General Mazaki from his position overseeing military education and ordered the transfer of the 1st Division to Manchuria, which ignited the largest army uprising in modern Japanese history. The uprising was orchestrated through a series of meetings held from February 18 to 22 by key individuals including Nishida, Yasuhide Kurihara, Teruzō Andō, Hisashi Kōno, Takaji Muranaka, and Asaichi Isobe. Their plan was relatively straightforward: the officers would assassinate the most prominent adversaries of the kokutai, seize control of the administrative center of the capital and the Imperial Palace, and present their demands, which included the dismissal of certain officials and the establishment of a new cabinet led by Mazaki. They did not establish long-term goals, believing that those should be determined by the Emperor. However, it is suspected that they were prepared to replace Hirohito with Prince Chichibu if necessary. The young Kodoha officers felt they had at least implicit support from several influential Imperial Japanese Army officers after making informal inquiries. This group included figures such as Araki, Minister of War Yoshiyuki Kawashima, Jinzaburō Mazaki, Tomoyuki Yamashita, Kanji Ishiwara, Shigeru Honjō, as well as their immediate superiors, Kōhei Kashii and Takeo Hori. Later, Kawashima's successor as Minister of War remarked that if all the officers who had endorsed the rebellion were forced to resign, there would not have been enough high-ranking officers left to replace them. To articulate their intentions and grievances, the young officers prepared a document titled "Manifesto of the Uprising" “Kekki Shuisho”, which they intended to present to the Emperor. Although the document was authored by Muranaka, it was written under the name of Shirō Nonaka, the highest-ranking officer involved in the plot. The document aligned with Kokutai Genri-ha ideals, criticizing the genrō, political leaders, military factions, zaibatsu, bureaucrats, and political parties for jeopardizing the kokutai with their selfishness and disregard for the Emperor, and emphasized the need for direct action: “Now, as we face immense foreign and domestic challenges, if we do not eliminate the disloyal and unjust who threaten the kokutai, if we do not remove the villains obstructing the Emperor's authority and hindering the Restoration, the Imperial vision for our nation will come to naught [...] Our duty is to purge the malevolent ministers and military factions surrounding the Emperor and eradicate their influence; we shall fulfill this mission.” Seven targets were selected for assassination for "threatening the kokutai". Keisuke Okada served as Prime Minister, where he notably advocated for the London Naval Treaty and supported the "organ theory" of the kokutai. His actions reflect a commitment to international agreements and specific ideological principles at the time. Saionji Kinmochi, a Genrō and former Prime Minister, also supported the London Naval Treaty. However, his influence extended further, as he played a role in prompting the Emperor to establish inappropriate cabinets, impacting political stability. Makino Nobuaki, the former Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal and Foreign Minister, was another key figure who supported the London Naval Treaty. He notably prevented Prince Fushimi from voicing protests to the Emperor during this period, and he established a court faction in collaboration with Saitō, further entrenching political alliances. In his capacity as Grand Chamberlain, Kantarō Suzuki supported the London Naval Treaty but faced criticism for "obstructing the Imperial virtue," suggesting tensions between political decisions and traditional values. Saitō Makoto, who served as Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal and former Prime Minister, was involved in advocating for the London Naval Treaty and played a significant role in Mazaki's dismissal. He, too, formed a court faction with Makino, indicating the intricacies of court politics. Takahashi Korekiyo, as Finance Minister and former Prime Minister, engaged in party politics with the aim of diminishing military influence. His approach was focused on maintaining the existing economic structure amid the shifting political landscape. Finally, Jōtarō Watanabe, who replaced Mazaki as Inspector General of Military Education, supported the "organ theory" of the kokutai yet faced criticism for refusing to resign, despite being considered unsuitable for his position. On the night of February 25, Tokyo experienced a heavy snowfall, which uplifted the rebel officers as it evoked memories of the 1860 Sakuradamon Incident. During this event, political activists known as shishi assassinated Ii Naosuke, the chief advisor to the Shōgun, in the name of the Emperor. The rebel forces, organized into six groups, began mobilizing their troops and departing from their barracks between 3:30 and 4:00 AM. At 5:00 AM, they launched simultaneous attacks on key targets, including Okada, Takahashi, Suzuki, Saito, the Ministry of War, and the headquarters of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. At around five o'clock on the morning of February 26, 1936, a rebellion erupted, fueled by the long-standing tensions surrounding the kokutai issues that had plagued 1935. Twenty-two junior officers led over 1,400 armed soldiers and non-commissioned officers from three regiments of the 1st Division and an infantry unit of the Imperial Guards in a mutiny in snow-covered Tokyo. The attack on Okada involved a contingent of 280 men from the 1st Infantry Regiment, commanded by 1st Lieutenant Yasuhide Kurihara. The troops encircled the Prime Minister's Residence and compelled its guards to open the gates. Upon entering the compound, they attempted to locate Prime Minister Okada but were met with gunfire from four policemen stationed there. All four policemen were killed, wounding six rebel soldiers in the process. However, the shots served as a warning for Okada, prompting his brother-in-law, Colonel Denzō Matsuo, to help him find refuge. Matsuo, who closely resembled Okada, was eventually discovered by the soldiers and killed. After comparing Matsuo's wounded face to a photograph of the prime minister, the attackers mistakenly believed they had accomplished their mission. Okada managed to escape the following day, but this information was kept confidential, and he did not play any further role in the events. After Matsuo's death, Kurihara's men took up guard positions around the compound, reinforced by sixty soldiers from the 3rd Imperial Guard. In another key operation, Captain Kiyosada Kōda led a group of 160 men to seize control of the Minister of War's residence, the Ministry of War, and the General Staff Office. Upon entering the Minister's residence at 6:30 AM, they demanded to see Minister Kawashima. Once admitted, they read their manifesto aloud and presented a document detailing several demands, including: A prompt resolution to the situation that would further "advance the cause of the Restoration." A call to prevent the use of force against the Righteous Army. The arrest of Kazushige Ugaki (Governor-General of Korea), Jirō Minami (commander of the Kwantung Army), Kuniaki Koiso (commander of the Korean Army), and Yoshitsugu Tatekawa for their roles in undermining military command. The immediate dismissal of Lieutenant Colonel Akira Mutō, Colonel Hiroshi Nemoto, and Major Tadashi Katakura from the Imperial Japanese Army for promoting "factionalism." The appointment of Araki as the new commander of the Kwantung Army. Ugaki, who served as Minister of War during two separate terms, had overseen significant reductions and modernization efforts within the army. He had also failed to support the March Incident plotters, who had hoped to install him as Prime Minister. Minami, Mutō, Nemoto, and Katakura were all influential members of the Tōsei-ha faction; Katakura had been partly responsible for reporting on the Military Academy Incident. Later that morning, Isobe encountered Katakura outside the Ministry of War and shot him non-fatally in the head. During this tumultuous period, several officers sympathetic to the rebels, including General Mazaki, General Tomoyuki Yamashita, and General Ryū Saitō, joined the uprising. Saitō praised the young officers' spirit and encouraged Kawashima to accept their demands. Shortly before 9:00 am, Kawashima indicated he needed to speak with the Emperor and left for the Imperial Palace. Meanwhile, Captain Hisashi Kōno led a team of seven, comprised mostly of civilians, to attack Makino Nobuaki, who was staying at Kōfūsō, part of the ryokan Itōya in Yugawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, with his family. Arriving at 5:45 am, they stationed two men outside while entering the inn with weapons drawn. Inside, policemen opened fire, leading to a lengthy exchange of gunfire. A policeman managed to alert Makino and his party of the danger, guiding them to a rear exit. Although the assassins fired at the escaping group, Makino successfully evaded capture. Kōno sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, and one policeman, Yoshitaka Minagawa, was killed. As Kōno was evacuated from the scene, the assailants set fire to the building. Hearing a gunshot, Kōno assumed that Makino had shot himself inside. After his recovery at a nearby military hospital, Kōno and his team were arrested by military police. Around 10:00 am, Kurihara and Nakahashi loaded a fleet of three trucks with sixty men and drove from the Prime Minister's Residence to the offices of the Asahi Shimbun, a significant liberal newspaper. They stormed the building, ordering the evacuation of employees and declaring their actions as "divine retribution for being an un-Japanese newspaper." The rebels then overturned and scattered the newspaper's type trays, containing 4,000 different characters, temporarily halting its publication. Following this attack, the men distributed copies of the uprising's manifesto to nearby newspapers before returning to the Prime Minister's Residence. On another front, 1st Lieutenant Motoaki Nakahashi of the 3rd Imperial Guard gathered 135 men and, under the pretext of paying respects at Yasukuni Shrine, marched to Takahashi Korekiyo's residence. There, he divided his forces, sending one group to attack while the other remained to guard the entrance. After breaking into the compound, Nakahashi and Lieutenant Kanji Nakajima found Takahashi in bed, where Nakahashi shot him while Nakajima delivered a fatal sword strike. Takahashi died without waking. Once his target was eliminated, Nakahashi regrouped with the soldiers and proceeded to the Imperial Palace, aiming to secure it. Entering through the western Hanzō Gate at 6:00 am, Nakahashi informed Major Kentarō Honma, the palace guard commander, that he had been dispatched to reinforce the gates due to earlier attacks. Honma, already aware of the uprisings, accepted Nakahashi's arrival. He was assigned to help secure the Sakashita Gate, the primary entrance to the Emperor's residence. Nakahashi planned to signal nearby rebel troops at police headquarters once he controlled access to the Emperor. However, he struggled to contact his allies, and by 8:00 am, Honma learned of his involvement in the uprising and ordered him, at gunpoint, to vacate the palace grounds. Nakahashi complied and returned to join Kurihara at the Prime Minister's Residence, while his soldiers remained at the gate until relieved later that day, preventing their inclusion in the government's official count of rebel forces. Elsewhere, 1st Lieutenant Naoshi Sakai led a detachment of 120 men from the 3rd Infantry Regiment to Saitō Makoto's home in Yotsuya. After surrounding the policemen on guard, five soldiers entered the residence and found Saitō and his wife, Haruko, in their bedroom. They shot Saitō dead, prompting Haruko to plead for her life, saying, "Please kill me instead!" While they pulled her away, she was unwittingly wounded by stray gunfire. Following Saitō's assassination, two officers directed another group to target General Watanabe, while the remaining men moved to strategically position themselves northeast of the Ministry of War. In Kōjimachi, Captain Teruzō Andō commanded 200 men from the 3rd Infantry Regiment to assault Suzuki's residence across from the Imperial Palace. After disarming the police on duty, they located Suzuki in his bedroom and shot him twice. When Andō moved to deliver the coup de grâce with his sword, Suzuki's wife implored to be allowed to do it herself, believing her husband to be fatally wounded. Andō obliged and, apologizing for the act, explained it was for the nation's sake. After saluting Suzuki, the soldiers left to guard the Miyakezaka junction north of the Ministry of War. Following the assault on Saitō, a party of twenty men, led by 2nd Lieutenants Tarō Takahashi and Yutaka Yasuda, headed to Watanabe's residence in Ogikubo after 7:00 AM. Despite the two-hour delay since previous attacks, no measures had been taken to alert Watanabe. As they attempted to storm the front entrance, military police inside opened fire, wounding Yasuda and another soldier. The troops then gained entry through the rear, confronting Watanabe's wife outside their bedroom. After shoving her aside, they found Watanabe using a futon as cover. He opened fire, prompting one soldier to retaliate with a light machine gun. Takahashi then rushed in and fatally stabbed Watanabe, witnessed by his nine-year-old daughter, Kazuko, who hid nearby. The soldiers departed, taking their wounded to a hospital before positioning themselves in northern Nagatachō. In a significant move, Captain Shirō Nonaka led nearly a third of the rebel forces, comprising 500 men from the 3rd Infantry Regiment, to assault the Tokyo Metropolitan Police headquarters. Their objective was to secure communication equipment and prevent dispatch of the police's Emergency Service Unit. Meeting no resistance, they quickly occupied the building, possibly due to a strategic decision to leave the situation in the military's hands. After securing the police headquarters, 2nd Lieutenant Kinjirō Suzuki led a small group to attack Fumio Gotō's residence, the Home Minister's, but found that Gotō was not home, thus allowing him to escape. This attack appeared to result from Suzuki's independent decision, rather than a coordinated effort among the officers. Despite all of these actions, the Kodoha boys had failed to secure the Sakashita Gate to the palace, which allowed the palace to maintain communication with the outside world, and they neglected to address potential naval interventions. At the Yokosuka naval base, Rear Adm. Yonai Mitsumasa and his chief of staff, Inoue Shigeyoshi, positioned marines to defend the Navy Ministry and prepared warships in Tokyo Bay to suppress the rebellion. By the morning of February 28, after unsuccessful negotiations through sympathetic officers at army headquarters, the commander under martial law transmitted an imperial order to disperse. Most troops returned to their barracks, one officer committed suicide, and the remaining leaders surrendered, resulting in the uprising ending with minimal further violence. Nevertheless, martial law in Tokyo continued for nearly five months. The rebel officers had initially planned for General Kawashima, a staunch ally of the Kodoha, to relay their intentions to the emperor, who they assumed would issue a decree for a “Showa restoration.” Despite their radical objectives of overthrowing the political order, the mutineers, like other military and civilian extremists of the 1930s, sought to operate within the imperial framework and maintain the kokutai. They believed the emperor was under the control of his advisers and lacked a genuine will of his own. Once the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal and the Grand Chamberlain were removed, they expected the emperor to appoint General Mazaki as prime minister, a leader they believed would reinforce the military and effectively address the China issue. At the onset of the insurrection, they had a real chance of success. The Tokyo military police commander, General Kashii Kohei, sympathized with their cause, and the emperor's chief aide, General Honjo, was related to rebel officer Capain Yamaguchi Ichitaro. Support for the mutineers was present at military bases nationwide. Historian Hata Ikuhiko notes that the rebels contacted General Honjo by both phone and written message before attacking the Okada cabinet. As the first in the imperial entourage to learn of the mutiny, Honjo could have warned the intended targets but chose not to do so. By the time he arrived at court at 6:00 am. on the 26th, key advisors like Chief Secretary Kido, Imperial Household Minister Yuasa Kurahei, and Vice Grand Chamberlain Hirohata Tadakata were already aware of the potential danger. Suzuki was murdered, and the emperor was deeply affected, awakening to the news at 5:40 am from the chamberlain on night duty, Kanroji Osanaga. He learned that his old ministers had been attacked and a coup was underway. Upon receiving this information, Hirohito resolved to suppress the uprising. He was outraged by the killing of his ministers and feared that the rebels might use his brother, Prince Chichibu, to force him to abdicate. He donned his army uniform and summoned Honjo, ordering him to “end it immediately and turn this misfortune into a blessing.” Hirohito adopted a strategy proposed by Kido, who had acted swiftly earlier that morning, instructing Honjo to assess the Imperial Guard Division's potential actions if the mutineers advanced on the Palace. Kido aimed to prevent the establishment of a new provisional cabinet until the mutiny was fully quelled. At 9:30 am Army Minister Kawashima, who had previously met with one of the rebel officers, arrived at court. He urged the emperor to form a cabinet that would “clarify the kokutai, stabilize national life, and fulfill national defense.” Surprised by Kawashima's tone, Hirohito reprimanded him for not prioritizing the suppression of the mutiny. He also expressed his frustration to Chief of the Navy General Staff Prince Fushimi, dismissing him when he inquired about forming a new cabinet. Later that day, Kawashima met with the Supreme Military Council, consisting mainly of army officers sympathetic to the rebels. The council decided to attempt persuasion before relaying the emperor's orders a move contrary to Hirohito's directive. According to historian Otabe Yuji, an “instruction” was issued to the rebel officers at 10:50 am, acknowledging their motives and suggesting the emperor might show them leniency. This message was communicated to the ringleaders by martial law commander General Kashii. That evening, when members of the Okada cabinet came to submit their resignations, Hirohito insisted they remain in power until the mutiny was resolved. On February 27, the second day of the uprising, Hirohito announced “administrative martial law” based on Article 8 of the Imperial Constitution. This invoked his sovereign powers to address the crisis while freeing him from needing cabinet approval for his actions. Hirohito displayed remarkable energy throughout the subsequent days, sending chamberlains to summon Honjo for updates and threatening to lead the Imperial Guard Division himself when dissatisfied with the reports. Honjo, however, resisted the emperor's demands and exhibited sympathy for the rebels. During the uprising, Hirohito met with Prince Chichibu, who had recently returned from Hirosaki. Their discussions reportedly led Chichibu to distance himself from the rebels. However, rumors of his sympathy for them persisted, leading to concerns about potential conflicts within the imperial family. On the second day, Rear Admiral Yonai and his chief of staff demonstrated their loyalty to Hirohito. By February 29, the fourth day of the uprising, Hirohito had reasserted his authority, troops were returning to their barracks, and most rebel leaders were captured. Seventeen of these leaders were court-martialed and executed in July without legal representation. Shortly after, during the obon festival, Hirohito allegedly instructed a military aide to secure seventeen obon lanterns for the palace. This action, though secret, may have provided him some personal comfort amidst the turmoil. An investigation following the mutiny revealed that the rebels' sense of crisis was amplified by the recent general elections, which had shown an anti-military sentiment among voters. Despite their populist rhetoric, most ringleaders were not motivated by the agricultural depression; their goal was to support the kokutai by advocating for increased military rearmament. During this period, military spending steadily rose from 3.47% of GNP in 1931 to 5.63% in 1936. Intriguingly, the ringleaders and their senior commanders shared a desire for state control over production to mobilize resources fully for total war. While united in this goal, their ideas about how to achieve a “Showa restoration” varied greatly, with some leaders, like Isobe, calling for complete economic consolidation and a return to strong state power. The February mutiny reinforced Hirohito's belief in the constitutional framework that underpinned his military authority. He became increasingly cautious about decisions that could compromise his command and developed closer ties to the army's Control faction, justifying military spending increases. Yet, the memory of the mutiny left him feeling uncertain about the throne's stability. Now you know me, whenever I can bring up Hirohito's involvement in the war related times I gotta do. After WW2, in an apparent effort to downplay his role as supreme commander, Hirohito provided a deliberately distorted account of the February events. “I issued an order at that time for the rebel force to be suppressed. This brings to mind Machida Chuji, the finance minister. He was very worried about the rebellion's adverse effect on the money market and warned me that a panic could occur unless I took firm measures. Therefore I issued a strong command to have [the uprising] put down. As a rule, because a suppression order also involves martial law, military circles, who cannot issue such an order on their own, need the mutual consent of the government. However, at the time, Okada's whereabouts were unknown. As the attitude of the Army Ministry seemed too lenient, I issued a strict order. Following my bitter experiences with the Tanaka cabinet, I had decided always to wait for the opinions of my advisers before making any decision, and not to go against their counsel. Only twice, on this occasion and at the time of the ending of the war, did I positively implement my own ideas. Ishiwara Kanji of the Army General Staff Office also asked me, through military aide Chojiri [Kazumoto], to issue a suppression order. I don't know what sort of a person Ishiwara is, but on this occasion he was correct, even though he had been the instigator of the Manchurian Incident. Further, my chief military aide, Honjo, brought me the plan drafted by Yamashita Hobun, in which Yamashita asked me to please send an examiner because the three leaders of the rebel army were likely to commit suicide. However, I thought that sending an examiner would imply that they had acted according to their moral convictions and were deserving of respect. . . . So I rejected Honjo's proposal, and [instead] issued the order to suppress them. I received no report that generals in charge of military affairs had gone and urged the rebels to surrender.”  On February 26, when Hirohito ordered the immediate suppression of the rebels, his anger was directed not only at the insurgents who had assassinated his closest advisors but also at senior army officers who were indecisive in executing the crackdown. The following day, in addition to his role as Minister of Commerce and Industry, Machida took on the responsibilities of finance minister. Concerns over economic panic and confusion contributed to the emperor's sense of urgency, despite not being the primary motivation for his actions. Hirohito believed that every hour of delay tarnished Japan's international reputation. Since the Manchurian Incident, the emperor had frequently clashed with the military regarding encroachments on his authority, though never about fundamental policy issues. At times, he had managed to assert his political views during policy discussions, similar to his earlier influence under the Hamaguchi cabinet. The February 26 mutiny highlighted to Hirohito and Yuasa his privy seal from March 1936 to June 1940, and the first lord keeper of the privy seal to attend court regularly the necessity of fully exercising the emperor's supreme command whenever the situation demanded it. Even when faced with opposition from Honjo, Hirohito managed to gain support and assert his authority through a decisive approach. His resolution marked the end of a period during which alienated “young officers” attempted to leverage his influence as a reformist figure to challenge a power structure they could not manipulate effectively. However, Hirohito learned how to adeptly manage that establishment in most situations. The decision-making process within the government was characterized by secrecy, indirect communication, vague policy drafting, and information manipulation, creating a landscape of confusion, misunderstanding, and constant intrigue aimed at achieving consensus among elites. This was the modus operandi in Tokyo and a reflection of how the emperor operated. Once again, Hirohito reminded the tightly-knit elite that he was essential to the functioning of the system. On May 4, 1936, during his address at the opening ceremony of the Sixty-ninth Imperial Diet, while Tokyo remained under martial law, Hirohito closed the chapter on the February mutiny. Initially, he contemplated sending a strong message of censure to the military, but after considerable deliberation over three months, he ultimately chose to issue a brief, innocuous statement: “We regret the recent incident that occurred in Tokyo.” The response from his audience of Diet members and military officials was one of startled awe, with some privately expressing disappointment. Once again, at a critical juncture, Hirohito avoided an opportunity to publicly rein in the military through his constitutional role. Nonetheless, due to his behind-the-scenes actions, the drift in domestic policy that had characterized Japan since the Manchurian Incident came to an end. In the following fourteen months, the emperor and his advisors largely aligned with the army and navy's demands for increased military expansion and state-driven industrial development. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. So some very unruly young Japanese officers got the bright idea of forcing a showa restoration by killing all the culprits they believed held their emperor hostage. Little did they know, this event spelt the end of the Kodoha faction and rise of the Toseiha faction. Henceforth the military was even more in charge and would get even more insane.   

Click here to send us a message!This week we're joined by film scholar Syd Wrigley, who joins the podcast to discuss Gregg Araki's famed Teen Apocalypse Trilogy. Starting with Totally Fucked Up in 1993, he followed it with The Doom Generationin 1995 and finally Nowhere in 1997, the trilogy that would define a generation and stands at the center of the New Queer Cinema movement. Recently re-released via Criterion, these films are being discovered by a brand new generation, and Araki is only now finding auteur status. 

Today, we're traveling back to 1997 for a conversation with one of the most distinctive and rebellious filmmakers of the indie film scene—Greg Araki. By the time Nowhere hit theaters in ‘97, Araki had already made a name for himself with his bold, surreal, and unapologetically queer storytelling. As the final entry in his “Teen Apocalypse Trilogy,” Nowhere pushed boundaries with its wild mix of sex, drugs, existential dread, and alien abductions—all wrapped in the signature Araki aesthetic.

Super Bowl ads are often the pinnacle of advertising creativity and cultural relevance. But with Taco Bell's return after a three-year hiatus, how do you craft a campaign that doesn't just capture attention but also becomes a moment fans will never forget? Joining us today are two creatives reshaping the way we think about food, culture, and branding: Guto Araki, Founder and CEO of Biite, and Alex Jacobs, Co-Founder and COO. Together, they've been at the forefront of some of the industry's most groundbreaking campaigns, including Taco Bell's much-anticipated 2025 Super Bowl ad and Resy's upcoming brand campaign. Biite began as a platform for limited-edition collaborations with chefs and restaurants and has evolved into a powerhouse agency creating unforgettable campaigns for some of the biggest brands. About Biite Guto and Alex originally started Biite in 2021 as a food culture collaboration studio that connects emerging chefs and culinary creatives to drop super limited, one-of-a-kind food items and experiences. This expertise and deep understanding of what's happening in the food industry coupled with their background in advertising led to brands such as Taco Bell turning to Biite for food-focused campaign ideas. About Guto Araki Guto Araki, Founder and CEO Award-winning advertising creative behind Taco Moon, Taco Swap, Taco IRL, #IseeATaco, Test Kitchen, Emoji Engine, Quesalupa and others. Former Executive Creative Director of Taco Bell NA & Global. About Alex Jacobs Alex Jacobs, Co-founder and COO Alex is a seasoned marketer with 20 years of experience leading iconic brands including American Express, Taco Bell, The New York Times, Google and many more. RESOURCES Biite: https://biite.club/ Taco Bell 2025 Big Game Teaser | Photobomb feat. Doja Cat Resy - Right This Way Success of the Taco Bell campaign and other work can be found on Biite's Instagram. Don't miss Medallia Experience 2025, March 24-26 in Las Vegas: Registration is now available: https://cvent.me/AmO1k0 Use code MEDEXP25 for $200 off registration Register now for HumanX 2025. This AI-focused event which brings some of the most forward-thinking minds in technology together. Register now with the code "HX25p_tab" for $250 off the regular price. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.show Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

Super Bowl ads are often the pinnacle of advertising creativity and cultural relevance. But with Taco Bell's return after a three-year hiatus, how do you craft a campaign that doesn't just capture attention but also becomes a moment fans will never forget? Joining us today are two creatives reshaping the way we think about food, culture, and branding: Guto Araki, Founder and CEO of Biite, and Alex Jacobs, Co-Founder and COO. Together, they've been at the forefront of some of the industry's most groundbreaking campaigns, including Taco Bell's much-anticipated 2025 Super Bowl ad and Resy's upcoming brand campaign. Biite began as a platform for limited-edition collaborations with chefs and restaurants and has evolved into a powerhouse agency creating unforgettable campaigns for some of the biggest brands. About Biite Guto and Alex originally started Biite in 2021 as a food culture collaboration studio that connects emerging chefs and culinary creatives to drop super limited, one-of-a-kind food items and experiences. This expertise and deep understanding of what's happening in the food industry coupled with their background in advertising led to brands such as Taco Bell turning to Biite for food-focused campaign ideas. About Guto Araki Guto Araki, Founder and CEO Award-winning advertising creative behind Taco Moon, Taco Swap, Taco IRL, #IseeATaco, Test Kitchen, Emoji Engine, Quesalupa and others. Former Executive Creative Director of Taco Bell NA & Global. About Alex Jacobs Alex Jacobs, Co-founder and COO Alex is a seasoned marketer with 20 years of experience leading iconic brands including American Express, Taco Bell, The New York Times, Google and many more. RESOURCES Biite: https://biite.club/ Taco Bell 2025 Big Game Teaser | Photobomb feat. Doja Cat Resy - Right This Way Success of the Taco Bell campaign and other work can be found on Biite's Instagram. Don't miss Medallia Experience 2025, March 24-26 in Las Vegas: Registration is now available: https://cvent.me/AmO1k0 Use code MEDEXP25 for $200 off registration Register now for HumanX 2025. This AI-focused event which brings some of the most forward-thinking minds in technology together. Register now with the code "HX25p_tab" for $250 off the regular price. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.show Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

This past Tuesday, December 17th, celebrated the birthday of filmmaker and UCSB alum Gregg Araki. Back in March of this year, we were joined with Araki at the Pollock Theatre for a screening of his newly restored 90s classic, Nowhere, in addition to a Q&A. This event was co-sponsored by UCSB's film and media studies program, and our very own KCSB-FM. Araki is known for directing films such as Mysterious Skin, The Doom Generation, Smiley Face, his work on the show 13 Reasons Why, amongst other films. His film ‘Nowhere', along with the other films within his Teen Apocalypse Trilogy have recently been remastered and restored from the 35mm negative to 4k. It's complete with scenes that were deleted for the original release due to rating restrictions, and the original score. KCSB's Kelly Darroch spoke with Araki for a few minutes after the screening and Q&A!

At the center of the circle is Eiko Araki, a master of the Sanuki Kagari Temari, a Japanese traditional craft passed down for more than 1,000 years on the southwestern island of Shikoku. Each ball, or “temari,” is a work of art, with colorful geometric patterns carrying poetic names like “firefly flowers” and “layered stars.” A temari ball takes weeks or months to finish. Some cost hundreds of dollars (tens of thousands of yen), although others are much cheaper. These kaleidoscopic balls aren't for throwing or kicking around. They're destined to be heirlooms, carrying prayers for health and goodness. They might be treasured like a painting or piece of sculpture in a Western home. The concept behind temari is an elegant otherworldliness, an impractical beauty that is also very labor-intensive to create. “Out of nothing, something this beautiful is born, bringing joy,” says Araki. “I want it to be remembered there are beautiful things in this world that can only be made by hand.” The region where temari originated was good for growing cotton, warm with little rainfall, and the spherical creations continue to be made out of the humble material. These days, temari is getting some new recognition, among Japanese and foreigners as well. Caroline Kennedy took lessons in ball-making when she was United States Ambassador to Japan a decade ago. Araki has come up with some newer designs that feel both modern and historical. She is trying to make the balls more accessible to everyday life—for instance, as Christmas tree ornaments. A strap with a dangling miniature ball, though quite hard to make because of its size, is affordable at about 1,500 yen ($10) each. Today, only several dozen people, all women, can make the temari balls to traditional standards. “The most challenging aspect is nurturing successors. It typically takes over 10 years to train them, so you need people who are willing to continue the craft for a very long time,” Araki said. “When people start to feel joy along with the hardship that comes with making temari, they tend to keep going.” This article was provided by The Associated Press.

On today's show, we finish up our Araki series by looking at--or trying to look at--'White Bird in a Blizzard.' We also talk two new films: Zoe Kravitz's directorial debut, 'Blink Twice,' and a spooky golem tale, 'Oddity.' Oasis also comes up...       Keep in touch and read more at whydoesthewilhelmscream.com on instagram and threads @whydoesthewilhelmpod  Find out more about upcoming Fort Worth Film Club screenings and events at fortworthfilmclub.com and @fortworthfilm Support the next generation of film lovers at reelhousefoundation.org and on facebook reelhousefoundation Artwork by @_mosla_

Writer/director Gregg Araki joins moderator Bhaskar Sarkar (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of his film, Nowhere. Araki reflects on post-punk and do-it-yourself subcultures, as well as his memories taking film classes at UCSB as an influence on his work. He also discusses the cult following and home distribution of the film, the legacy of independent and new queer cinema on his career, and finding influence in new wave film movements and the city of Los Angeles. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 39781]

Writer/director Gregg Araki joins moderator Bhaskar Sarkar (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of his film, Nowhere. Araki reflects on post-punk and do-it-yourself subcultures, as well as his memories taking film classes at UCSB as an influence on his work. He also discusses the cult following and home distribution of the film, the legacy of independent and new queer cinema on his career, and finding influence in new wave film movements and the city of Los Angeles. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 39781]

Writer/director Gregg Araki joins moderator Bhaskar Sarkar (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of his film, Nowhere. Araki reflects on post-punk and do-it-yourself subcultures, as well as his memories taking film classes at UCSB as an influence on his work. He also discusses the cult following and home distribution of the film, the legacy of independent and new queer cinema on his career, and finding influence in new wave film movements and the city of Los Angeles. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 39781]

Writer/director Gregg Araki joins moderator Bhaskar Sarkar (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of his film, Nowhere. Araki reflects on post-punk and do-it-yourself subcultures, as well as his memories taking film classes at UCSB as an influence on his work. He also discusses the cult following and home distribution of the film, the legacy of independent and new queer cinema on his career, and finding influence in new wave film movements and the city of Los Angeles. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 39781]

This week we're taking a look at two films from Gregg Araki. One of the architects of the New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990's, Araki pivoted in the new century after finding critical success with Mysterious Skin. He followed up that award winner by pivoting to a stoner comedy that Max argues is worth revisiting every April 20. Say Hi!

On today's episode: more Araki! We look at the first of the Teen Apocalypse Trilogy with 'Totally F***ed Up.' And we dig into the Brat Pack with Andrew McCarthy's new doc 'Brats' and the movie that set flames to a generation of stars, 'St. Elmo's Fire' (terrible songs in this movie, terrible).        Keep in touch and read more at whydoesthewilhelmscream.com on instagram and threads @whydoesthewilhelmpod  Find out more about upcoming Fort Worth Film Club screenings and events at fortworthfilmclub.com and @fortworthfilm Support the next generation of film lovers at reelhousefoundation.org and on facebook reelhousefoundation Artwork by @_mosla_

Boy, Jason really dislikes 'Hit Man' (more people should). But we talk about some films that he does like, namely 'The Last Stop in Yuma County,' and the prequel (?) to Gregg Araki's Teen Apocalypse Trilogy, 'The Living End.' Come for the Glenn Howard discussion, stay for the talk about how important Araki is and how he doesn't get his due.     Keep in touch and read more at whydoesthewilhelmscream.com on instagram and threads @whydoesthewilhelmpod  Find out more about upcoming Fort Worth Film Club screenings and events at fortworthfilmclub.com and @fortworthfilm Support the next generation of film lovers at reelhousefoundation.org and on facebook reelhousefoundation Artwork by @_mosla_

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures : Stardust Crusaders est enfin au programme de l’émission ! Et si la série est évoquée régulièrement, deux émissions ont déjà traité des deux premières parties. La saga d’Araki est aussi d’autant... L'article Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures : Stardust Crusaders – La 5e de Couv’ – #5DC – Saison 9 épisode 32 est apparu en premier sur La 5e de Couv' - Le podcast de débat autour du manga !.

We discuss Nobuyoshi Araki's prolific work, how he's both internationally famous yet pigeonholed, censorship, his surprising versatility, obsessions and more!

Gregg Araki, probably best known for THE DOOM GENERATION (1995), though not prolific, he has come out with a number of films of note including MYSTERIOUS SKIN (2004). The script was written by Araki based off a novel of the same name written by author Scott Heim. A Patreon pick from one of our listeners, the podcast takes a look at the film.Brian Lackey (Brady Corbet), a young man, remembers passing out as a child for unknown reasons. During one of his episodes he sees a shadowy figure staring down at him. When he sees a documentary about alien abductions on televisions, he goes visits a young woman his age that claims she too had been abducted. His discussions with her lead to him searching out Neil McCormick (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who appears in photographs with him as a youngster. Does Neil have an answer or is there a bigger story?The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Michelle Trachtenberg, Bill Sage, and Elizabeth Shue. Due to its subject matter, the film received the “dreaded” NC-17 rating. Controversial, the film still received fine reviews from critics including Roger Ebert. Your co-hosts take a look at the film and give their thoughts.

A. MRD5 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/medgen/382611  B. SYNGAP1 NSID - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21237447/ (Hamdan, 2011) C. SYNGAP1 NDD - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6128754/ (Kilinc, 2011) D. Confusing https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ajmg.a.37189 (Parker, 2015) De Novo, Heterozygous, Loss-of-Function Mutations in SYNGAP1 Cause a Syndromic Form of Intellectual Disability E. SYNGAP1 DEE - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30541864/ (Vlaskamp, 2019) F. SYNGAP1 Related-ID - ICD-10 & Hopkins  - https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2308891120 (Araki 2023)  - https://curesyngap1.org/blog/syngap1-assigned-its-own-icd-10-code-f78-a1-srf/ (ICD-10, 2021) G. SYNGAP1 Related Disorders - https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/syngap1-related-disorders H. SYNGAP1 Syndrome - ICD-11  - https://twitter.com/cureSYNGAP1/status/1730629792137883800 (2024) My vote (today) is that we have a disease that is a DEE called SYNGAP1 Related Disorders (SRD). These monogenic disorders are anything but monolithic. Disease vs. Syndrome, read this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1480257/ (Cavalo, 2003) A syndrome is a recognizable complex of symptoms and physical findings which indicate a specific condition for which a direct cause is not necessarily understood...Once medical science identifies a causative agent or process with a fairly high degree of certainty, physicians may then refer to the process as a disease, not a syndrome. NDD vs DEE - We are a DEE “Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) encompass highly prevalent conditions such as autism and epilepsy, with cognitive disabilities alone affecting 1-3% of the global population. Developmental epileptic encephalopathies (DEE) are NDD characterized by epilepsy and delayed development or loss of developmental skills. Although the prevalence of DEEs remains to be determined, studies estimate that single-gene epilepsies occur in around 1 in 2100 births annually.” https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-12-neurodevelopmental-epilepsy-disorder-genetic.html Give all three of our podcasts 5 stars everywhere.   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/channel/syngap1-podcasts-by-srf/id6464522917  This is a podcast subscribe! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/syngap10-weekly-10-minute-updates-on-syngap1/id1560389818  Episode 133 of #Syngap10 - Feb 13, 2024 #epilepsy #autism #intellectualdisability #id #anxiety #raredisease #epilepsyawareness #autismawareness #rarediseaseresearch #SynGAPResearchFund #CareAboutRare #PatientAdvocacy #GCchat #Neurology #GeneChat

Manga by Ono, Genki   What if Araki made a sports manga?   David and Jordan give their first thoughts on Shonen Jump manga Full Drive. Listen in as they give an overview of the first chapter, where they think it will go from there, and ultimately their “power word” to describe the series so far. They also dive into some listener questions.    Show Notes: • You can reach us at Twitter @shonenflopcast or email us shonenflop@gmail.com   • Help keep the show running by joining the Shonen Flop Patreon at patreon.com/shonenflop. Get perks like early access to episodes; joining us during recordings, and exclusive episodes on manga like Agravity Boys, Magu-chan: God of Destruction, and PPPPPP.   • Get Shonen Flop merch, including this episode's cover art, on a shirt, mug, print, or whatever else might catch your eye https://www.teepublic.com/stores/shonen-flop?ref_id=22733   • Become a member of our community by joining our Discord. You can hang out with us, submit your questions or six word summaries! Find it at https://discord.com/invite/4hC3SqRw8r   • Want to be a guest? You can ask to be on a future episode at bit.ly/shonen_flop_guest   Credits:   • Shonen Flop is hosted by David Weinberger and Jordan Forbes   • Additional editing assistance by Dylan Crider you can find his podcast, Anime Out of Context at animeoutofcontext.com   • Episode art by Shannon (IG: illuminyatea)   MAL Description: 9-year-old Tamashiro Dan is teased relentlessly by others for being weak and small until his grandfather teaches him table tennis and gives him an old worn-out racket. Four years later he's left Germany with his family to Japan, to prove himself on a bigger stage.  

The Doom Generation: Movie Review from the Ray Taylor ShowShow topic: Dive into the anarchic world of "The Doom Generation," Gregg Araki's explosive 1995 indie film, in this comprehensive episode of the Ray Taylor Show. Join Ray as he navigates the nihilistic odyssey of two teenage lovers, Amy Blue and Jordan White, portrayed by Rose McGowan and James Duval, who, along with a mysterious adolescent drifter played by Jonathan Schaech, find themselves on a surreal journey marked by sex, violence, and a series of bizarre convenience store encounters.Labelled as "A Heterosexual Movie by Gregg Araki," this film stands as a seminal piece in the Teenage Apocalypse trilogy, bridging the gap between "Totally Fucked Up" (1993) and "Nowhere" (1997). This episode not only explores the film's thematic content and visual aesthetics but also delves into the performances that brought these complexcharacters to life, offering listeners an in-depth analysis of their motivations and the film's critique on youth and society.Whether you're a die-hard fan of Araki's work or a newcomer intrigued by the film's cult status, this episode provides a fresh perspective on "The Doom Generation," its place in'90s indie cinema, and its legacy within the pantheon of cult classics. Tune in for a riveting discussion on this chaotic journey through the dark heart of teenage angst and rebellion.JOIN Inspired Disorder +PLUS Today! InspiredDisorder.com/plus Membership Includes:Ray Taylor Show - Full Week Ad Free (Audio+Video)Live Painting ArchiveEarly Access to The Many FacesMember Only Discounts and DealsPodcast Back Catalogue (14 Shows - 618 Episodes)Ray Taylor's Personal BlogCreative WritingAsk Me AnythingDaily Podcast: Ray Taylor Show - InspiredDisorder.com/rts Daily Painting: The Many Faces - InspiredDisorder.com/tmf ALL links: InspiredDisorder.com/linksGenres: Comedy - Drama - Crime

The Doom Generation: Movie Review from the Ray Taylor ShowShow topic: Dive into the anarchic world of "The Doom Generation," Gregg Araki's explosive 1995 indie film, in this comprehensive episode of the Ray Taylor Show. Join Ray as he navigates the nihilistic odyssey of two teenage lovers, Amy Blue and Jordan White, portrayed by Rose McGowan and James Duval, who, along with a mysterious adolescent drifter played by Jonathan Schaech, find themselves on a surreal journey marked by sex, violence, and a series of bizarre convenience store encounters.Labelled as "A Heterosexual Movie by Gregg Araki," this film stands as a seminal piece in the Teenage Apocalypse trilogy, bridging the gap between "Totally Fucked Up" (1993) and "Nowhere" (1997). This episode not only explores the film's thematic content and visual aesthetics but also delves into the performances that brought these complexcharacters to life, offering listeners an in-depth analysis of their motivations and the film's critique on youth and society.Whether you're a die-hard fan of Araki's work or a newcomer intrigued by the film's cult status, this episode provides a fresh perspective on "The Doom Generation," its place in'90s indie cinema, and its legacy within the pantheon of cult classics. Tune in for a riveting discussion on this chaotic journey through the dark heart of teenage angst and rebellion.JOIN Inspired Disorder +PLUS Today! InspiredDisorder.com/plus Membership Includes:Ray Taylor Show - Full Week Ad Free (Audio+Video)Live Painting ArchiveEarly Access to The Many FacesMember Only Discounts and DealsPodcast Back Catalogue (14 Shows - 618 Episodes)Ray Taylor's Personal BlogCreative WritingAsk Me AnythingDaily Podcast: Ray Taylor Show - InspiredDisorder.com/rts Daily Painting: The Many Faces - InspiredDisorder.com/tmf ALL links: InspiredDisorder.com/linksGenres: Comedy - Drama - Crime

Jason gives you a quick overview of Godzilla 1954.Read the essay here: https://historywiththeszilagyis.org/hwts228 Find us on Twitter:The Network: @BQNPodcasts The Show: @HistorySzilagyi. Chrissie: @TheGoddessLivia. Jason: @JasonDarkElf.Send topic suggestions via Twitter or on our Facebook page History with the Szilagyis.History with the Szilagyis is supported by our patrons: PatiSusan Capuzzi-De ClerckLaura DullKris HillVince LockeJoin these wonderful supporters by visiting patreon.com/historywiththeszilagyis. The BQN Podcast Collective is brought to you by our listeners. Special thanks to these patrons on Patreon whose generous contributions help to produce this podcast and the many others on our network! You can join this illustrious list by becoming a patron here: https://www.patreon.com/BQN

Totally F***ed Up: Movie Review from the Ray Taylor ShowShow topic: Explore the pivotal world of '90s queer cinema with Ray Taylor as he reviews 'Totally F***ed Up,' a groundbreaking 1993 American drama by Gregg Araki. This film marks the first installment of Araki's influential Teenage Apocalypse trilogy and is renowned for its significant role in the New Queer Cinema genre. The film offers a raw and unfiltered look into the lives of six gay adolescents who form their own familial bond while navigating the complexities of identity, relationships, and societal challenges.In this episode, Ray Taylor delves into the film's avant-garde style, its impactful narrative, and how it blends elements of experimental cinema with a queer twist on the teen movie genre, reminiscent of a John Hughes film. The podcast provides an in-depth analysis of the characters' dynamics, their struggles, and the film's cultural significance, particularly in representing the queer youth experience.Listeners can expect a thoughtful and engaging discussion on 'Totally F***ed Up,' which premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival and has since become a touchstone in LGBTQ+ film history. Join Ray Taylor for a deep dive into this influential film and its lasting impact on cinema and the queer community.JOIN Inspired Disorder +PLUS Today! InspiredDisorder.com/plus Membership Includes:Ray Taylor Show - Full Week Ad Free (Audio+Video)Live Painting ArchiveEarly Access to The Many FacesMember Only Discounts and DealsPodcast Back Catalogue (14 Shows - 618 Episodes)Ray Taylor's Personal BlogCreative WritingAsk Me AnythingDaily Podcast: Ray Taylor Show - InspiredDisorder.com/rts Daily Painting: The Many Faces - InspiredDisorder.com/tmf ALL links: InspiredDisorder.com/linksGenres: Comedy - Drama

Totally F***ed Up: Movie Review from the Ray Taylor ShowShow topic: Explore the pivotal world of '90s queer cinema with Ray Taylor as he reviews 'Totally F***ed Up,' a groundbreaking 1993 American drama by Gregg Araki. This film marks the first installment of Araki's influential Teenage Apocalypse trilogy and is renowned for its significant role in the New Queer Cinema genre. The film offers a raw and unfiltered look into the lives of six gay adolescents who form their own familial bond while navigating the complexities of identity, relationships, and societal challenges.In this episode, Ray Taylor delves into the film's avant-garde style, its impactful narrative, and how it blends elements of experimental cinema with a queer twist on the teen movie genre, reminiscent of a John Hughes film. The podcast provides an in-depth analysis of the characters' dynamics, their struggles, and the film's cultural significance, particularly in representing the queer youth experience.Listeners can expect a thoughtful and engaging discussion on 'Totally F***ed Up,' which premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival and has since become a touchstone in LGBTQ+ film history. Join Ray Taylor for a deep dive into this influential film and its lasting impact on cinema and the queer community.JOIN Inspired Disorder +PLUS Today! InspiredDisorder.com/plus Membership Includes:Ray Taylor Show - Full Week Ad Free (Audio+Video)Live Painting ArchiveEarly Access to The Many FacesMember Only Discounts and DealsPodcast Back Catalogue (14 Shows - 618 Episodes)Ray Taylor's Personal BlogCreative WritingAsk Me AnythingDaily Podcast: Ray Taylor Show - InspiredDisorder.com/rts Daily Painting: The Many Faces - InspiredDisorder.com/tmf ALL links: InspiredDisorder.com/linksGenres: Comedy - Drama

The Australian Core Gift Alliance is off and running… Filippa Araki and Diane Hewitt are founding members of the Australian Core Gift Alliance, a collaborative that has come together to spread the word of gifts by being certified to teach the Core Gift Master Facilitator and other gift-related courses in Australia. Diane is a seasoned Executive coach with a host of certifications for working with a diverse range of individuals and groups. Filippa came into the Core Gifts world from her training expertise in Non-Violent Communication and being a University educator. Each of them have done more than seventy-five interviews and have recently finished a contract for twenty-five Core Gift Discovery interviews for a University Leadership program. They are both very skilled Core Gift Facilitators and have an in-depth perspective on the interview process, how it effects people, and the impact that gifts has had in each of their own lives. Find out more about the Core Gift Institute by visiting our website, www.coregift.org Thanks to Jeff Hoyt at Hoyt's Greater Community Radio for vocal additions. Music by Benson.

for the full episode join the Patreon [patreon.com/fashiongrunge]--There are times when I think about the films and directors that shaped me in my teenage years.  Back in the 90s I could have never imagined connecting with anyone outside of my own friend group who liked the same weird movies and things I did. Now, because of this magical place called the internet it's easy to find people from all corners of the world and generations with shared interests.This brings me to the latest interview episode. I connected with Kev via IG on our love for Gregg Araki movies. Since there is all this hype surrounding the latest remastered editions of The Doom Generation and Nowhere, it was great to chat with someone who has been to the screenings and has some 'irl' experience with the cast. We get into how we discovered Araki, Gen Z and Millennial culture, and much more! ---GIVE US A 5 STAR RATING & SUBSCRIBE to the main Fashion Grunge Podcast feed on  (mostly) 90s films!Guest: Kev Creature @kevcreatureHost: Lauren @lauren_melanieFollow Fashion Grunge PodcastSubstack The Lo Down: a Fashion Grunge blog/newsletterInstagram @fashiongrungepodTwitter @fgrungepodLetterboxd Fashion Grunge PodcastTikTok @fashiongrungepod 

We discuss the parts of JoJo we'll never see. Ever wonder what happens between Parts or behind the scenes in JoJo? Or what happens to some of our favorite characters and if they ever reunite? Or what the Joestar family is really like? We wonder this all the time, so we're sharing the side stories we wish Araki would write that could give us a glimpse into the moments we never got to experience. Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/4Rnq4GTePP Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/thestrictlyseries Website: https://www.thestrictlyseries.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestrictlyseries Twitter: https://twitter.com/strictlyseries Part of The Strictly Series of podcasts

In Dreams in Double Time: On Race, Freedom, and Bebop (Duke UP, 2023), Jonathan Leal examines how the musical revolution of bebop opened up new futures for racialized and minoritized communities. Blending lyrical nonfiction with transdisciplinary critique and moving beyond standard Black/white binary narratives of jazz history, Leal focuses on the stories and experiences of three musicians and writers of color: James Araki, a Nisei multi-instrumentalist, soldier-translator, and literature and folklore scholar; Raúl Salinas, a Chicano poet, jazz critic, and longtime activist who endured the US carceral system for over a decade; and Harold Wing, an Afro-Chinese American drummer, pianist, and songwriter who performed with bebop pioneers before working as a public servant. Leal foregrounds that for these men and their collaborators, bebop was an affectively and intellectually powerful force that helped them build community and dream new social possibilities. Bebop's complexity and radicality, Leal contends, made it possible for those like Araki, Salinas, and Wing who grappled daily with state-sanctioned violence to challenge a racially supremacist, imperial nation, all while hearing and making the world anew. "Dreams of Autumn" on Spotify. "Dreams of Autumn on Apple Music. Nathan Smith is a PhD candidate in Music Theory at Yale University Email: nathan.smith@yale.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

In Dreams in Double Time: On Race, Freedom, and Bebop (Duke UP, 2023), Jonathan Leal examines how the musical revolution of bebop opened up new futures for racialized and minoritized communities. Blending lyrical nonfiction with transdisciplinary critique and moving beyond standard Black/white binary narratives of jazz history, Leal focuses on the stories and experiences of three musicians and writers of color: James Araki, a Nisei multi-instrumentalist, soldier-translator, and literature and folklore scholar; Raúl Salinas, a Chicano poet, jazz critic, and longtime activist who endured the US carceral system for over a decade; and Harold Wing, an Afro-Chinese American drummer, pianist, and songwriter who performed with bebop pioneers before working as a public servant. Leal foregrounds that for these men and their collaborators, bebop was an affectively and intellectually powerful force that helped them build community and dream new social possibilities. Bebop's complexity and radicality, Leal contends, made it possible for those like Araki, Salinas, and Wing who grappled daily with state-sanctioned violence to challenge a racially supremacist, imperial nation, all while hearing and making the world anew. "Dreams of Autumn" on Spotify. "Dreams of Autumn on Apple Music. Nathan Smith is a PhD candidate in Music Theory at Yale University Email: nathan.smith@yale.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/latino-studies

In Dreams in Double Time: On Race, Freedom, and Bebop (Duke UP, 2023), Jonathan Leal examines how the musical revolution of bebop opened up new futures for racialized and minoritized communities. Blending lyrical nonfiction with transdisciplinary critique and moving beyond standard Black/white binary narratives of jazz history, Leal focuses on the stories and experiences of three musicians and writers of color: James Araki, a Nisei multi-instrumentalist, soldier-translator, and literature and folklore scholar; Raúl Salinas, a Chicano poet, jazz critic, and longtime activist who endured the US carceral system for over a decade; and Harold Wing, an Afro-Chinese American drummer, pianist, and songwriter who performed with bebop pioneers before working as a public servant. Leal foregrounds that for these men and their collaborators, bebop was an affectively and intellectually powerful force that helped them build community and dream new social possibilities. Bebop's complexity and radicality, Leal contends, made it possible for those like Araki, Salinas, and Wing who grappled daily with state-sanctioned violence to challenge a racially supremacist, imperial nation, all while hearing and making the world anew. "Dreams of Autumn" on Spotify. "Dreams of Autumn on Apple Music. Nathan Smith is a PhD candidate in Music Theory at Yale University Email: nathan.smith@yale.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In Dreams in Double Time: On Race, Freedom, and Bebop (Duke UP, 2023), Jonathan Leal examines how the musical revolution of bebop opened up new futures for racialized and minoritized communities. Blending lyrical nonfiction with transdisciplinary critique and moving beyond standard Black/white binary narratives of jazz history, Leal focuses on the stories and experiences of three musicians and writers of color: James Araki, a Nisei multi-instrumentalist, soldier-translator, and literature and folklore scholar; Raúl Salinas, a Chicano poet, jazz critic, and longtime activist who endured the US carceral system for over a decade; and Harold Wing, an Afro-Chinese American drummer, pianist, and songwriter who performed with bebop pioneers before working as a public servant. Leal foregrounds that for these men and their collaborators, bebop was an affectively and intellectually powerful force that helped them build community and dream new social possibilities. Bebop's complexity and radicality, Leal contends, made it possible for those like Araki, Salinas, and Wing who grappled daily with state-sanctioned violence to challenge a racially supremacist, imperial nation, all while hearing and making the world anew. "Dreams of Autumn" on Spotify. "Dreams of Autumn on Apple Music. Nathan Smith is a PhD candidate in Music Theory at Yale University Email: nathan.smith@yale.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In Dreams in Double Time: On Race, Freedom, and Bebop (Duke UP, 2023), Jonathan Leal examines how the musical revolution of bebop opened up new futures for racialized and minoritized communities. Blending lyrical nonfiction with transdisciplinary critique and moving beyond standard Black/white binary narratives of jazz history, Leal focuses on the stories and experiences of three musicians and writers of color: James Araki, a Nisei multi-instrumentalist, soldier-translator, and literature and folklore scholar; Raúl Salinas, a Chicano poet, jazz critic, and longtime activist who endured the US carceral system for over a decade; and Harold Wing, an Afro-Chinese American drummer, pianist, and songwriter who performed with bebop pioneers before working as a public servant. Leal foregrounds that for these men and their collaborators, bebop was an affectively and intellectually powerful force that helped them build community and dream new social possibilities. Bebop's complexity and radicality, Leal contends, made it possible for those like Araki, Salinas, and Wing who grappled daily with state-sanctioned violence to challenge a racially supremacist, imperial nation, all while hearing and making the world anew. "Dreams of Autumn" on Spotify. "Dreams of Autumn on Apple Music. Nathan Smith is a PhD candidate in Music Theory at Yale University Email: nathan.smith@yale.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-american-studies

In Dreams in Double Time: On Race, Freedom, and Bebop (Duke UP, 2023), Jonathan Leal examines how the musical revolution of bebop opened up new futures for racialized and minoritized communities. Blending lyrical nonfiction with transdisciplinary critique and moving beyond standard Black/white binary narratives of jazz history, Leal focuses on the stories and experiences of three musicians and writers of color: James Araki, a Nisei multi-instrumentalist, soldier-translator, and literature and folklore scholar; Raúl Salinas, a Chicano poet, jazz critic, and longtime activist who endured the US carceral system for over a decade; and Harold Wing, an Afro-Chinese American drummer, pianist, and songwriter who performed with bebop pioneers before working as a public servant. Leal foregrounds that for these men and their collaborators, bebop was an affectively and intellectually powerful force that helped them build community and dream new social possibilities. Bebop's complexity and radicality, Leal contends, made it possible for those like Araki, Salinas, and Wing who grappled daily with state-sanctioned violence to challenge a racially supremacist, imperial nation, all while hearing and making the world anew. "Dreams of Autumn" on Spotify. "Dreams of Autumn on Apple Music. Nathan Smith is a PhD candidate in Music Theory at Yale University Email: nathan.smith@yale.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

In Dreams in Double Time: On Race, Freedom, and Bebop (Duke UP, 2023), Jonathan Leal examines how the musical revolution of bebop opened up new futures for racialized and minoritized communities. Blending lyrical nonfiction with transdisciplinary critique and moving beyond standard Black/white binary narratives of jazz history, Leal focuses on the stories and experiences of three musicians and writers of color: James Araki, a Nisei multi-instrumentalist, soldier-translator, and literature and folklore scholar; Raúl Salinas, a Chicano poet, jazz critic, and longtime activist who endured the US carceral system for over a decade; and Harold Wing, an Afro-Chinese American drummer, pianist, and songwriter who performed with bebop pioneers before working as a public servant. Leal foregrounds that for these men and their collaborators, bebop was an affectively and intellectually powerful force that helped them build community and dream new social possibilities. Bebop's complexity and radicality, Leal contends, made it possible for those like Araki, Salinas, and Wing who grappled daily with state-sanctioned violence to challenge a racially supremacist, imperial nation, all while hearing and making the world anew. "Dreams of Autumn" on Spotify. "Dreams of Autumn on Apple Music. Nathan Smith is a PhD candidate in Music Theory at Yale University Email: nathan.smith@yale.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/performing-arts

In Dreams in Double Time: On Race, Freedom, and Bebop (Duke UP, 2023), Jonathan Leal examines how the musical revolution of bebop opened up new futures for racialized and minoritized communities. Blending lyrical nonfiction with transdisciplinary critique and moving beyond standard Black/white binary narratives of jazz history, Leal focuses on the stories and experiences of three musicians and writers of color: James Araki, a Nisei multi-instrumentalist, soldier-translator, and literature and folklore scholar; Raúl Salinas, a Chicano poet, jazz critic, and longtime activist who endured the US carceral system for over a decade; and Harold Wing, an Afro-Chinese American drummer, pianist, and songwriter who performed with bebop pioneers before working as a public servant. Leal foregrounds that for these men and their collaborators, bebop was an affectively and intellectually powerful force that helped them build community and dream new social possibilities. Bebop's complexity and radicality, Leal contends, made it possible for those like Araki, Salinas, and Wing who grappled daily with state-sanctioned violence to challenge a racially supremacist, imperial nation, all while hearing and making the world anew. "Dreams of Autumn" on Spotify. "Dreams of Autumn on Apple Music. Nathan Smith is a PhD candidate in Music Theory at Yale University Email: nathan.smith@yale.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

In Dreams in Double Time: On Race, Freedom, and Bebop (Duke UP, 2023), Jonathan Leal examines how the musical revolution of bebop opened up new futures for racialized and minoritized communities. Blending lyrical nonfiction with transdisciplinary critique and moving beyond standard Black/white binary narratives of jazz history, Leal focuses on the stories and experiences of three musicians and writers of color: James Araki, a Nisei multi-instrumentalist, soldier-translator, and literature and folklore scholar; Raúl Salinas, a Chicano poet, jazz critic, and longtime activist who endured the US carceral system for over a decade; and Harold Wing, an Afro-Chinese American drummer, pianist, and songwriter who performed with bebop pioneers before working as a public servant. Leal foregrounds that for these men and their collaborators, bebop was an affectively and intellectually powerful force that helped them build community and dream new social possibilities. Bebop's complexity and radicality, Leal contends, made it possible for those like Araki, Salinas, and Wing who grappled daily with state-sanctioned violence to challenge a racially supremacist, imperial nation, all while hearing and making the world anew. "Dreams of Autumn" on Spotify. "Dreams of Autumn on Apple Music. Nathan Smith is a PhD candidate in Music Theory at Yale University Email: nathan.smith@yale.edu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/music

Last time we spoke about the allied drive to Munda and General Sasaki's major counter offensive. General Wing began the drive upon Munda Point, but General Sasaki predicted many of the routes the Americans would take and ordered his forces to create tedious roadblocks and defensive positions to foil their advances. The allied progress was brutally slow, despite having the enormous advantage in artillery, naval and aerial bombardment support. The Japanese pillboxes were proving to be devastating to the allied infantry, requiring tanks to be brought over to New Georgia. When things began to halt, suddenly General Sasaki performed a counter offensive seeing a daring attack directed at the headquarters of the 43rd division. The attack nearly broke the lines of communications, but luckily the Fijian commandos outperformed the japanese at their own game of night fighting. Lastly the IJN suffered terrible losses to allied aircraft collapsing their reinforcement efforts. This episode is the Mysterious Battle of the Pips Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  The battles in New Guinea and New Georgia were particularly bloody, in all honesty things had begun to really escalate when you look at it from a numerical point of view. Over on Green Hell, General Savige had just seized Mubo, the Pimple, Green Hill and Observation hill taking them out of Japanese hands. The Japanese had withdrawn to Komiatum while simultaneously trying to defend the Bobdubi ridge area against Brigadier Hammer's 15th brigade. General Savige, still unaware Salamaua was not the main target and in fact was being used as a deception to cover for Lae, continued his offensive, hoping to drive the enemy north of the Francisco River. Over on the other side, General Nakano's 1st battalion of the 80th regiment had managed to  push Companies B and A off their ambush position on the Bench Cut Track. They were forced to withdraw towards Gwaibolom by July 10th. Meanwhile to the south Major Warfe launched an attack along Goodview junction. Captain Wally Meares of C platoon marched up Stephens Track while Captain John Winterflood's B platoon took Walpoles track. Lt Hugh Egan created a blocking position using just 7 men around 800 meters south of Goodview Junction. The platoons went to work advancing down the steep ridges dislodging Japanese from outposts. Captain Meares platoon were continuing along the Stephens track when they suddenly encountered strong resistance from some Japanese who took a position along the Tambu Saddle which is at a junction between Stephens track and the Mule track. After engaging the Japanese, the platoon was forced to bypass them moving along the Mule track towards the Komiatum track where they ran into more Japanese. Meares men killed 13 Japanese on the Mule track before deciding to withdraw back to the Stephens track and dug in. The Japanese had surprised Warfe's men. The forces they were running into were mainly the 1st and 2nd companies of the 66th battalion along with Araki's HQ staff who had been on the run from Mubo to Komiatum. The Japanese tried to press on with a counter attack aimed at Winterflood's B platoon. The Japanese tossed mortar and machine gun fire, but received terrible losses to the commandos, forced to pull back up Walpole track. The next day Warfe ordered Winterflood's platoon to make a frontal assault, but quickly found themselves pinned down by machine gun fire and during the night received a heavy counter attack that forced them to dig in. The Japanese continued to block the way, covering their withdrawal further east, but all the mayhem prompted General Savige to relieve the commandos by tossing up companies C and B of the 2/5th who adopted the name Bennett force as they were led by Captain Cam Bennett. The rest of the 2/5th marched up the Buigap. Meanwhile General Herring was dealing with a supply issue for the 3rd Australian division. The 3rd division was too far from the coast and thus had been relying on supply via airdrops, which we have seen during this series to not be particularly accurate and quite inadequate. The supply problems mounted more when the decision was made to target Lae as such a campaign required building up reserve dumps. Warfe's men were critically low on supplies; the 58/59th had nearly used up all the supplies they received, being brought up via the Missim Track and from airdrops. Getting further and further away from the source of supplies and with declining carrier capacity, Warfe's men were reaching starvation point. Further back, Companies A and C of the 2/6th battalion got drafted the job of moving the supplies from Mubo to Buigap creek. General Herring considered it extremely difficult, but not impossible to maintain further units in the Salamaua area, if they were closer to the coasts. To solve the problem General Herring designated Tambu Bay as a new coastal base for supplies and it would also help as an artillery position. And thus, the 3rd battalion, 162nd regiment of Major Archibald Roosevelt landed at Nassau Bay back on July 12th commencing with their coastal advance. They were accompanied by Brigadier General Ralph Coane's artillery that had landed prior to them. Yet their advance would begin in an extremely confused and chaotic manner. The question of command was at the core of the issue, General Fuller had decided to separate units such as Archibald Roosevelts from the MacKechnie Force, and thus they were now placed under the command of the Coane Force. General Herring was forced to intervene, placing the Coane Force under General Savige. At the same time, Colonel MacKechnie was relieved of his command because Fuller felt that he had favored the Australians over the Americans. To dig depper into this mess, what occurred was General Savige and Colonel MacKechnie were both unaware that two-thirds of the 162nd regiment had been allocated to the Coane Force when General Herring sent the a confusing message to try and clarify things “all units MACK force are under operational control of 3 Aust Div”. Troubles began at Moten ordered Major Roosevelt to advance north, but Roosevelt had also been told by General Fuller that he was not under Australian command. Thus Roosevelt bluntly replied to Moten “For your information I obey no orders except those from my immediate superior”. Then MacKechnie tried to smooth things over with Moten when he was informed of Fuller's position. He apologized for Roosevelt's message, and tried to speak about how great all the Australian/American cooperation was going. Fuller and Herring then tried to clarify the situation by placing the Coane Force under General Savige, but Fuller also decided to dismiss MacKechnie, mostly because he had relinquished command of his men to the Australians and thus had failed to protect American interests. As I say on my personnel channel, often when talking about China's Warlords in the 1920's, this is some kindergarten bullshit. Back to the action at hand, the Coane Force was being aided by a Papuan company who were scouting ahead of the Americans. They managed to confirm that Tambu Bay and the Dot Inlet were occupied and fortified by the Japanese. A platoon of the 5th Sasebo SNLF and the 3rd battalion, 66th regiment were holding a position on Tambu Bay while the remnants of the 3rd battalion, 102nd regiment were on a ridge overlooking the bay, which would later be named Roosevelt Ridge. On July 18th, Roosevelt led the troops with Companies L and I taking the lead, guided by two Papuan platoons. L Company with a Papuan company advanced along an inland track while K Company likewise did so along the coast. K Companies's Papuan guides hit a Japanese outpost south of Boisi on July 18th. On the morning of the 20th, the Papuan platoon managed to kill four Japanese before K Company helped destroy the outpost. By the 20th they seized Boisi and Roosevelt with the others approached the Tambu bay. Roosevelt had Coane's artillery support, they brought up four 25 pounders of the 2/6th Australian field regiment originally placed at Nassau Bay along with 2 batteries of the 218th American field artillery battalion, 8 75mm guns from north Salus, a battery of the 205th American field artillery battalion and 4 105mm guns. Under the cover the artillery they attacked the enemy, but they were met with heavy mortar fire coming from Roosevelt Ridge. Roosevelt Ridge extended westwards from the sea for nearly 2000 yards, forming kind of bulwark that shielded the northern end of Tambu Bay. Thus Tambu Bay could not be secured unless the ridge was taken first. The Australian broadcasting commission correspondent, Peter Hemery described the ridge like this “a piece of old style razer blade jutting into the sea”. According to some Japanese sources they had this to say of it “The area around Boisi had a lay of land most suitable to the arrest of the enemy advancing northward along the coast” General Nakano had also decided to reinforce the ridge with 250 men of the 1st battalion, 115th regiment, but of course this came at the coast of Salamaua's defense. By this point the bulk of the 102nd regiment was at the Malolo-buang coastal area and the bulk of the 115th regiment, the 2nd Maizuru SNLF, two companies of the 5th Sasebo SNLF and the 14th field artillery regiment were at Salamaua, around 150 men in total. On the other side, after the fall of Mubo Brigadier Moten had the men advance north. The Bennet Force took over Goodview Junction; Companies A and D of the 2/5th advanced to Mount Tambu. Mount Tambu was the highest feature along the route between Mubo and Salamaua. It consisted of a series of razorback ridges covered in dense jungle, ideal for camouflage pillboxes. Its area was defended by roughly 700 Japanese from the 2nd and 3rd battalions of the 66th regiment led by Lt Colonel Fukuzo Kimura and Major Sakai Sugiyama. On July 16th, Captain Mick Walter led 60 men of Company A up the steep track leading to the south crest of Mount Tambu. Walter led the men to storm the two forward knolls, taking the Japanese by complete surprise. The two knolls were captured, but during the night the Japanese counterattacked in force. The Japanese crawled up the knolls through some heavy undergrowth before they unleashed mortars and mountain gun fire. Walters men however had captured some Japanese pillboxes upon the two knolls and thus the turn tables. 8 counterattacks were tossed at Walters men, each repulsed with heavy losses, around 39 casualties for the Australians and 350 for the Japanese. The following day, D company came up to help the Australian defenders, bringing much needed mortars. They dug in on a knoll around 300 yards back on the track. Alongside D company also came much needed supplies and an additional platoon to reinforce his men who he deployed on his western flank.  On July 18th, Walter ordered an advance going northwest in an attempt to secure the southern portion of Mount Tambu. The advance was spearheaded by Lance Corporal Jackson who alongside his comrades tossed grenades into a Japanese pillbox. Jackson then stormed inside killing 3 Japanese with this Tommy gun. Alongside Jackson, mortar and mountain gun fire aided Walters men to gain 80 additional yards, securing the southern portion of Mount Tambu. They could advance no further however as it became much more difficult from this position as the Japanese basically were encircling them upon razer back ridge to their north. Walter would write later on “we dug in on the new ground and shortened our perimeter to the narrowing plateau”. For this action the Australians paid with 6 lives, 13 wounded while the Japanese lost 82. At this point Walter had D company with one of his platoon holding the western flank; A company held the northern knoll and two platoons from D company held the eastern knolls. The Japanese had been devastated, losing hundreds of men and allied artillery was becoming a nightmare. Captain Newman's C Company of the 162nd battalion had come to a junction of the Buigap and Bui Eo. From there a reconnaissance patrol found suitable artillery positions northwest of the junction. With the help of native carriers and 80 men of the 2/6th battalion, two guns were hauled over the Buigap track and by July 17th another 4 guns of the American 218th battalion were hauled up from the southern arm of the Bitoi river to Green Hill. From these positions the allies could smash multiple Japanese defensive positions. General Nakano realized Mount Tambu was an essential component of General Muroya's defensive line so he sent the remainder of the 3rd battalion, 66th regiment to reinforce Colonel Araki's men. Then during the early hours of July 19th a large earth tremor startled the Australian defenders. It was the prelude to an assault led by Captain Kunizo Hatsugai's 9th company of the 66th regiment. They had crept up silently managing to get behind the southern knolls then suddenly charged up under the cover of darkness. But the defenders had their guard up and were not taken by surprise. A Bren gunner managed to knock out one of the Japanese raiders machine guns with a lucky hit in the dark. As the Japanese scrambled to try and recover it they were met with fire causing severe casualties. The Japanese surprise attack was a failure, forcing them to withdraw by first light, leaving 21 dead across the knoll. While this raid was occuring, Walters men were also repelling a series of attacks against the Northern Knoll. During these attacks, Walter was injured. Luckily for Walter and his company, they were relieved on the 19th by D Company. Another American unit, C Company of the 1st battalion, 162nd regiment led by Captain Delmar Newman also arrived to take up a position on the southern knolls. Until july 23rd, the Australians limited their actions to patrols. On the 20th, Bennet led a patrol making contact with a strong Japanese position on the Walpole track; Another company led by Morse found a Japanese position in the Goodview area dug within 100 yards of their own. Meanwhile the Japanese also limited their actions to a few patrols proding Mount Tambu for weaknesses.   On July 23rd Moten ordered the 2/5th battalion to attack the remaining Japanese positions on the Tambu Knoll, but it was the most heavily fortified yet. Basically it was like a castle keep, complete with a ravine for a moat, near vertical walls and deep tunnels going through the knoll. Mount Tambu's peak held  10 log reinforce bunkers connected by the tunnels which could shelter half a battalion or so. They also had a chain of weapon pits set up on lower ledges. Later on when investigating the entire system, the allies found weapon pits to be around 4 logs thick, interconnected by crawl trenches. Many of these weapon puts had been carefully sited within the roots of large trees, making them impervious to allied artillery fire. The tunnel entrances were dug into the side of the peak directly behind the defensive positions, allowing the defenders to storm out from their shelters underground within seconds. It was these kind of ingenious defensive works that would be built upon later on in the war to create absolute nightmares for the allies.   Moten had not carried out a thorough reconnaissance of the Japanese positions prior to ordering the attack and thus many of his subordinates elected to make a frontal assault instead of encircling them. D company took the center for the frontal attack while to the left were the 16th platoon led by Sergeant Alvin ‘Hungry' Williams and the 18th platoon led by Lt Bernard Leonads; and A company advanced along a Caffins track heading for the western flank of Mount Tambu to try and cut off the main Japanese supply route going back to Komiatum. 15 minutes before they charged, Australian and American artillery and mortars fired upon Mount Tambu. Two Australian mountain guns fired 90 rounds while the 4 75mm American guns fired 60 per gun from Green hill. D company began their attack around midday, trying to drive a wedge between two lines of pillboxes. Corporal John Smith laid cover fire as Captain Lin Cameron crept forward, getting within 15 yards of the pill boxes on the left side of the track. Cameron counted around 7 pill boxes in two lines of defense going across both sides of the track. The steep slopes on both sides gave little venues of approach, allowing around just a platoon at a time. There was also sharpened bamboo pickets on the left flank, leading Cameron to believe that an attack was expected there.   The Japanese knowingly let two platoons reach their line of forward pillboxes before unleashing hell upon them. The casualties were terrible. As Cameron recounted, “we were within 20 meters of the enemy bunkers before all hell let loose”. One of the men in the forward sections was killed outright, Cameron was wounded, his right elbow was shattered by a machine gun bullet. As he saw his men hesitate, he screamed out “forward! Get stuck into them!” With his right arm now useless and his eyesight dimming, Cameron handed command over to Lt Martin. Despite the horror, the Australians pressed on. Corporal Carey led his depleted platoon forward in a great dash and swept the outer ring of the Japanese pillboxes. On his left were Leonards men who stormed two pillboxes before heavy enfilade fire pinned them down. Then the 17th platoon led by Corporal John Smith charged up Mount Tambu from behind with their bayonets fixed. Smith screamed out “follow me!” as he charged. 3 other men out of the 11 managed to keep up with Smith, but soon Japanese grenades began to rain down on them. The grenades caught them just as they passed a third line of pillboxes. Smith was hit, but he kept charging and when he reached the peak of Mount Tambu with his back to the enemy he screamed “come on boys! come on boys!”. Without additional support and with no indication A company were making progress over on the left flank, the 4 men on the peak were forced to withdraw. The gallant Smith had to be dragged down and would die from severe wounds two days later. Smith was decorated for bravery in Syria in 1941, when he cleared out 3 machine gun nests at a roadblock and despite being wounded during the battle of Wau he still had gas left in the tank for some more.   Scouts had made their way towards the Tambu saddle track and spotted Japanese soldiers, around 125 of them a full company or so. The scouts quickly realized they were outnumbered, thus when the artillery began to open up and Walter's company moved in for the attack across the saddle, no sooner then they started the enemy halted them in their tracks. Walter had no choice but to withdraw around 500 yards south east as the Japanese were too strong. Walter's inability to make progress in the west ultimately ruined the entire attack. Despite the defeat, Companies A and D had done very well against such a heavily fortified position.   Meanwhile, Warfe and his men were marching when they discovered Ambush Knoll had come back under the hands of some Japanese from the 2nd battalion, 66th regiment. On July 15th, Warfes commandos launched an attack, with C Platoon performing a frontal assault along the narrow ridge top track. There were 16 men in the attack and they found themselves face to face with well dug in Japanese. The Japanese were behind a bamboo barricade with some pillboxes scattered about. The platoon got within 50 feet of the main barricade, but the Japanese fire was too much and casualties were mounting quickly. Meanwhile B Platoon was maneuvering around the Japanese eastern flank. At 5:30 B Platoon began attacking the eastern side of the knoll. The men got behind an enemy pillbox covering the track from Orodubi, but the Japanese quickly saw the Australians and began tossing grenades at them. Despite the resistance, B Platoon managed cut off the Japanese supply line to Ambush Knoll. With their supply lines cut the Japanese were forced to withdraw   With Ambush Knoll back under allied control, Brigadier Hammer ordered A company of the 58/59th battalion to depart Gwaibolom and attack Orodubi from its southern flank. Even with the help of the 58/59th company, the commando's yet again failed to dislodge the Japanese. On the night of July 19th, fresh troops of the 1st company, 80th battalion used the light of the full moon to come up the ridge. This became a staging point for them to attack Ambush Knoll, seeing artillery fire beginning in the morning to support their attack. Warfe's commandos were manning the trenches on Ambush Knoll, turning the tables on the Japanese and inflicting heavy casualties upon them. The Japanese were forced to retreat. The next day Warfe reinforced Ambush Knoll with two Vickers guns, which gave the Japanese a nasty surprise when they attacked again. On the 20th, the Japanese opened fire with mortars and artillery before charging the ridge. They managed to get as far as to cut the Australian lines of communication, but were ultimately repealed once again. Over 14 consecutive attacks would be made on the 20th, and even more on the 21st, but it all came to nothing, Warfe's commandos held their ground. Facing such pressure from the Japanese, Hammer still felt the greater weight of their attention was directed at Bobdubi and not towards Tambu, believing it to all be a consequence of Moton's lack of progress. General Savige decided to order Motens 2/6th battalion to take responsibility over Bobdubi ridge. The 2/6th then came across the Japanese rear near the slopes of Ambush Knoll and began harassing them. On the 22nd the Japanese tried yet again to attack Ambush Knoll, but were beaten back firmly, forcing them to finally withdraw to Sugarcane Ridge. By July 23rd, Warfes' exhausted commandos earned a relief by the 2/6th and were sent to relieve A company at Gwaibolom, while A company advanced north. The 2/6th likewise would advance north. But now we are moving away from the troubles of New Guinea and heading back up north to the frigid Aleutians. After the successful seizure of Attu, now Admiral Kinkaid and General Buckner needed to plan the invasion of Kiska. Kiska was the last Japanese bulwark in the Aleutians and held an incredible underground city. There were miles of tunnels, buried ammunition dumps, barracks,  3 hospitals, dental clinics, mess halls, machine shops, warehouses, photo labs, telephone rooms, all shoved and shored with wood. Ventilation pipes connected the maze of caves and tunnels, with Japanese troops wearing great fur lined coats busy at work. The Americans had experienced hell, on Attu, over 2872 Japanese had been killed or committed suicide, just 28 men were captured and it cost 549 american lives, 1148 wounded and nearly another 2000 ill or battered by harsh climate. The American leadership expected Kiska to be another hellscape and did not want to come at it lightly. The 7th division led by Brigadier General Archibald Arnolrd, Buckner's 4th regiment, the 87th Mountain infantry regiment, the 13th Canadian Brigade, consisting of the 6th Canadian division led by Major General George Pearkes, the Canadian Fusiliers regiment, the 1st battalion of Winnipeg grenadiers, the Rocky Mountain rangers regiment and e Regiment de Hull along with the 1st Special Service Force led by Colonel Robert Frederick were to be part of the invasion of Kiska, codenamed Operation Cottage. Unfortunately, the actual invasion will not be happening in this episode, you will actually have to wait  weeks for that one, but I just so happened to have recently done a podcast with a Canadian Military Historian named Brad St.Croix from the Youtube channel OTD Military History, the same gentleman who I interviewed for this series about the battle of Hong Kong. The podcast we recently did was on the Canadian experience of the Pacific War and the battle of Kiska is 1/3rd of it, so if you are, impatient and want to learn some neat stuff about how Canadians had to change their entire military organization and use American equipment for the battle of Kiska, check out my Youtube channel, the Pacific War channel for the full episode.  Now the last time we spoke about Kiska, the Japanese were forced to perform a bit of a miracle to evacuate their boys. After Attu had fallen, Rear Admiral Akiyama Monzo alongside 6000 men were ordered to evacuate Kiska. To try and do this, the Japanese began by sending 13 I-class submarines of the 1st submarine squadron of Rear Admiral Kouda Takeo. Despite these Type C submarines being enormous in size, they could only carry around 150 men per trip, thus it would have took 40 successful journey's to evacuate the entire Kiska garrison. With the US Navy fully decked out with sonar, this was not going to be a walk in the park. The efforts had begun on May 27th and by July, the submarines had managed to get 800 men safely back to Japan, but lost 300 due to american attacks.  Meanwhile Admiral Giffen had a considerable armada to work with consisting of a trio of older battleships; the Mississippi, Idaho and New Mexico, a quintet of cruisers; Louisville, Portland, San Francisco, Santa Fe and Wichita and 9 destroyers. He was ordered to bombard Kiska who already had been smashed with aerial attacks all throughout June and early July. On July 6th, Giffen steamed towards Kiska with 4 cruisers and 4 destroyers and bombarded the island for 22nd minutes causing a handful of casualties. It was not all that impressive, but it convinced Admiral Kawase that the Americans were about to invade Kiska at any moment.Admiral Kawase Shiro realized the futility of the submarine effort and was forced to come up with a new plan. Kawase came up with a bold plan, he was going to wait for a night when a thick fog was occurring and would take a surface fleet to sneak over into the Aleutians to assault enemy warships and evacuate all the remaining men on Kiska in a single go. To be blunt, it was a dumb idea. The American warships were equipped with radar that would pick up any surface ship with ease despite any type of fog, but what was about to occur can only be described as spectacular and bizarre.  Rear Admiral Kimura, the victor of the battle of the bismarck sea, would lead the force and he had at his disposal Destroyer Squadron 1: consisting of Yugumo, Kazagumo, Asagumo, Akigumo, Usugumo, Hibiki (one of my favorite whiskeys), Shimakaze, Samidare, Naganami, Wakaba, Hatsushimo and light cruisers Abukuma and Kiso. In close support of these there was also a covering force consisting of heavy cruisers Nachi, Maya, light cruiser Tama and destroyers Nokaze and Namikaze. The large convoy force departed from Paramushiro on July 7th with Takeo's 1st submarine squadron performing reconnaissance. The covering force departed Paramushiro on July 10th and by July 12th the fleet was around 500 miles south of Kiska. When they took up this assembly position, the sailors were in despair to see the fog was quite low. While it did not matter for warships with radar, Kimura knew full well what allied aircraft could do to his forces if they were not better concealed. Thus he elected to wait until the fog reappaered to cover his force. But the weather did not change, the skies remained clear forcing him to head back on July 15th. Meanwhile on Kiska, Rear Admiral Monzo was frantically ordering his troops to lay out a road from the underground base to the harbor piers to help facilitate the impending evacuation. All of the Japanese on Kiska felt an impending doom placed upon them. If the Americans landed first, it was all but over for them. Luckily, Japanese weather stations reported a dense fog would emerge over Kiska by July 25th, and unlike here in Montreal Canada, I guess these weather reporters are accurate. Kimura once again departed Paramushiro on July 22nd, accompanied by Admiral Kawase aboard cruiser Tama. Yet a few days prior, on July 19th, Admiral Kinkaid had ordered Admiral Giffen to bombard Kiska again. This time Giffen took a two pronged naval attack force consisting of battleships Mississippi and Idaho, cruisers Portland, Wichita, San Francisco, Louisville, Santa Fe and destroyers Abner Read, Farragut, Monaghan, Perry, Aylwin, Bache, Hughes, Morris and Mustin. Giffen's force reached Kiska on July 22nd and his ships smashed the island with 424000 lbs of high explosive shells. Just an hour later, a PBY suddenly detached with her radar 7 radar pips southwest of Attu. The PBY maintained contact for around 6 hours before low fuel forced her to return to base. These radar pips alarmed Admiral Kinkaid which was being reported in conjunction with a massive increase in Japanese radio activity on Kiska. Kinkaid believed a major Japanese fleet had just entered Aleutian waters, most likely a reinforcement convoy. Kinkaid immediately ordered Rear Admirals Giffen and Griffin to intercept the suspected enemy. However, by doing this he had also done something extremely favorable for the Japanese, he had left Kiska Harbor open and unguarded. Kinkaid dispatched a quartet of PT boats to try and provide a makeshift blockade, but the terrible weather forced the smaller vessels to return to port as trying to dash over to Kiska would probably see them all sunk. While this was occurring, Kimura's ships were traveling through the dense fog separately. The fog prevented the Americans from intercepting them initially, and having failed to make contact with the enemy, Kinkaid became nervous the Japanese might escape the blockade and ordered the force to return to Kiska at maximum speed on July 25th. The American ships dutifully turned back while Kinkaid sent the Oiler Pecos out to meet them for refueling. By dusk of the 25th, the American ships were around 90 miles from Kiska, when the fog had all but disappeared showing a cloudless sky. Kimura's vessels seeing their fog betray them, all reunited as a single force, now bearing 400 miles south of the American warships. At precisely 12:43am on July 26th the American warships picked up 7 strong radar pips around 15 miles northeast. It was Mississippi's SG radar that first picked them up, the American destroyers were actually unable to detect any pips on their radar due to the curvature of the ocean's surface at such a distance. The New Mexico, Portland, San Francisco and Wichita began picking up the same radar pips. The radar pips zigzagged across the sea surface, changing direction in much the same way ships attempting to evade detection might. The ships were being detected all at different angles, verifying to the Americans there were physical presences of some kind occupying definite points in space. On top of this, the immobile radar signature of Kiska's volcano at a range of 78 miles appeared clearly the entire time, verifying the validity of the pips moving with a fixed landmark. The radar pips converged 22,000 yards ahead of the Americans forcing them to spring into action. Admiral Giffen called for the entire fleet to turn left to intercept the pips on their southerly heading and in the hopes of foiling a possible torpedo attack. All of the American ships turned their guns to fire salvo's into the night. Great flame lances stabbed into the darkness as destroyers launched volleys of torpedoes and radar plotters frantically calculated salvo corrections. For 67 minutes the Americans tracked the 7 radar pips firing wildly at them. At 1:30am the Mississippi's log recorded zig-zags and a 20 degree course change, but not a single sailor saw an enemy ship. Cruisers San Francisco and Santa Fe registered shell splashes, but never an enemy target.  75 miles over on Kiska, the Japanese were watching a spectacle. From their point of view it was like a night-time light show over the horizon. By 2:22am the radar pips thinned, faded and vanished completely. During the morning surface ships and aircraft fanned out looking for wreckage, ships, floating papers, oil slick, anything to indicate something was even out there! The American warships reported no return fire, it was as if they faced ghosts. With a lack of fuel and ammunition, the US ships began refueling on the 28th and resumed their blockade of Kiska. What famously has become known as the battle of the Pips left the US Navy with a mystery that remains unsolved to this very day. The radar equipment was operating at times where there was a cloudless night with no fog, zero reasons for false radar echoes. An Aleutian crab fishing captain named Captain George Fulton may have solved the mystery in 1991 when he managed to duplicate the radar signatures observed during the battle by using his radar on a natural phenomenon common to the area. He presented his findings to the Alaska War Symposium in 1993 in a letter “I […] duplicated the Battle of the Pips using color radar. Sure enough there were blips on the tube and their density changed from red to orange to yellow and finally to black, providing an exact replication of the Battle of the Pips. What you described fits exactly the […] pattern of dense flocks of mutton birds or dusky shearwaters […] As mutton birds fly they veer left and right. This accounts for the zigzagging that was reported on the radar logs” Captain Fulton further went on to say how these huge flocks continue until they see large schools of fish, such as pollack. When the birds see them they begin landing on the sea surface then dive for their prey. This maneuver causes them to vanish from radar screens entirely. In the 1990s Aleutian fishing crews use this trait to locate large concentration of pollack, identifying the blips by their zigzagging motion and cast their nets accordingly. Were the Japanese saved by shearwater birds? Another answer came from the US Navy who officially stated that atmospheric echoes, a sort of phenomena caused the radar pips, that explanation has been highly contested. Its also been speculated that the American radar pips were 7 IJN submarines running reconnaissance. What we do know is Kimura made it to Kiska on the 28th undetected and unharmed while the US warships were enroute miles back. No American ships were anywhere near Kiska on the 28th. Admiral Kimura pulled the ships into Kiska anchorage and evacuated the entire remaining forces on the island, all 5183 men onto 8 vessels all within 55 minutes. The Japanese soldiers made sure to spend their last moments on the island setting up a plethora of booby traps. Four days later Kimura and Kawase were back in Paramushiro, successfully evacuating Kiska without firing a single shot. The Americans had no idea the evacuation occurred. In the words of one disgruntled American Colonel after the Kiska ordeal ““How I hate those bastards but I've got to give them credit for the most masterly evacuation by any army at any time and I'm not forgetting Dunkirk” I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The drive to Lae and Salamaua rages on New Guinea as the American Navy in the frigid northern seas fought perhaps a ghost ship army. Or perhaps some pesky birds looking for tasty pollock saved the entire Japanese garrison on the island of Kiska. 

Tune in as the program returns from its two-week hiatus to invite back previous guests Clayton Jones II and Shawn Murphy (Men Who Like Men Who Like Movies Podcast) for a breakdown of Death Note, one of Arthur's all-time favorite anime series. Complex moral and philosophical questions, the show's Quentin Tarantino-level obsession with feet, the smoldering love that clearly burns between Light and L, and a presentation of the hosts' Scream rankings comprise just a few of the talking points on this episode. Directed by Tetsurō Araki, Death Note stars: • Japanese cast: Mamoru Miyano, Shidô Nakamura, Kappei Yamaguchi, Aya Hirano, Kimiko Saito, Noriko Hidaka, Nozomu Sasaki, Naoya Uchida, Vincent Tong, Masaya Matsukaze, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, and Naoko Matsui. • English cast: Brad Swaile, Brian Drummond, Alessandro Juliani, Shannon Chan-Kent, Christopher Britton, Colleen Wheeler, Cathy Weseluck, French Tickner, Kirby Morrow, David Hurwitz, Heather Doerksen, and Tabitha St. Germain. Spoilers start at 35:10 Good Word: • Shawn: Scream VI • Clayton: Cover to Credits, Apple TV+'s Schmigadoon, The Little Mermaid (2023), and Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim • Arthur: Death Parade Reach out at email2centscritic@yahoo.com if you want to recommend things to watch and read, share anecdotes, or just say hello! Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes or any of your preferred podcasting platforms! Follow Arthur on Twitter, Goodpods, StoryGraph, Letterboxd, and TikTok: @arthur_ant18 Follow the podcast on Twitter and Instagram: @two_centscritic Follow Arthur on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144101970-arthur-howell --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/arthur746/message

Last time we spoke about the amphibious assaults in New Georgia, New Guinea and the naval battle of Kula Gulf. The boys on New Guinea were edging ever closer to their objective of Lae while drawing the Japanese attention elsewhere. In the Solomons, Admiral Kusaka tossed as many aircraft as he could to thwart the multiple allied landings, but it was to no avail. Having depleted his airpower, now he turned to the navy to see if they could reinforce New Georgia before another Guadalcanal situation occurred. Rear Admiral Teruo Akiyama was given the task of launching a Tokyo Express to New Georgia while also trying to give some fight to the enemy. Aboard his flagship the Niizuka, Akiyama did indeed give a fight to the Americans, showcasing a brand new type of radar and the ever trusty type 93 long lance torpedoes. The Japanese landed a few of their boys and now the real fight for New Georgia would begin.  This episode is the Fall of Mubo & battle of Kolombangara  Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  So the past few weeks we have been chaotically juggling multiple events across the Solomons and New Guinea and this week it shall be no different. So let's first jump into New Guinea. General MacArthur's forces managed to pull off the Nassau Bay landing, getting General Savige some much needed reinforcements on his eastern flank and a new supply route. Now the landing at Nassau Bay was part of an ongoing operation codenamed Doublet, aimed at dislodging the Japanese from Bobdubi and Mubo. Taking these were necessary for the future push against Lae and Salamaua. Mubo held an airfield and its capture would greatly facilitate troop movements towards Salamaua. The movement in the interior towards Mubo was complicated by rough terrain. There were a series of ridges that could be defended sternly by the Japanese. As we have seen for weeks, Roosevelt ridge, the pimple, Green Hill, Observation hill, Lababia ridge and Bitoi ridge proved to be very heavily defended. For the Japanese headquarters, all of the allied offensives were confusing as to where exactly the main target was to be. General Nakano remained confident, Salamaua was the main target and he acted accordingly by beefing up the defense there. He ordered Major General Chuichi Muroya, the commander of the 51st infantry division to fortify and defend Salamaua. As part of this, he also ordered Muroya to dispatch around 1000 men to halt American forces trying to move up the coast towards Lake Salus. Now by July 2nd Brigadier Moten's plan was for the 2/6th and 2/5th battalions to take Mubo and Observation hill. While the new Taylor Force would capture Bitoi ridge and then the ridge between Bui Alang and Bui Kumbul Creeks. After this the forces would link up and the Japanese lines of communications along the Buigap Creek would be severed. While this was going on the 15th brigade who was working in conjunction with the newly landed troops, were performing an offensive directed at reducing the Japanese presence around Lae and Salamaua. Part of this offensive involved the inexperienced 58th/59th battalion who had a hell of a time facing the Japanese at Bobdubi ridge. The 58th/59th battalion were two previous militia battalions from Victoria. Initially they were a defensive force in Australia, not meant to go to places like New Guinea, but as they say times were tough. They got a taste of hand to hand combat in late june and while they did not make much progress, they still impacted the campaign, forcing General Muroya to request reinforcements so he could maintain a firm defense for the approaches to Salamaua. Nakano made it clear Bobdubi was of grave importance stating “this location is the last key point in the defense of Salamaua”. Muroya received Major Otoichi Jinno's 1st and 3rd companies of the 80th battalion. They marched through the Coconuts area to Bobdubi bringing with them 2 mountain guns of the 26th field artillery regiment. Meanwhile Colonel Araki his 1st battalion over to the Old Vickers position. By early July Muroya now held 5 infantry companies, around 500 men strong in all. But with all the activity hitting the north, Araki became worried and ultimately decided to move his regimental HQ and 1st battalion to Komiatum, leaving only his 2nd battalion to hold Mubo.  On July 4th, Brigadier Heathcote Hammer took command of the 15th brigade. He was a veteran of the second battle of El Alamein, one of the most iconic battles of WW2, yours truly actually wrote quite a large episode for Kings and Generals on that one, and I think by the time this podcast comes out it should as well. Anyways Hammer had taken a German bullet right through both of his cheeks, but he did not lose a single tooth in the process, I guess lucky on that count. He earned a distinguished service order for his time in the middle east and in june of 1943 was promoted to Brigadier and given command of the 15th brigade. He was considered one of the most original and magnetic leaders of the Australian Infantry. “Hard as Nails” was said to be his motto, and “as you train, so you fight” his creed. When the 58/59th battalion stalled, he was tossed into the thick of it. Now do remember he was coming directly off the victory at Alamein, so he was I guess you can call it “desert minded” when he was tossed into the unforgivable jungles of New Guinea. He would have to deal with completely different terrain, different types of troops and a different enemy than the Italians and Germans. Another result of the delays at Bobdubi saw General Saviege dispatched Major Warfe's commands over to stop the Japanese from escaping Mubo. On July the 5th, General Savige ordered Hammer to send the company towards Tambu Saddle and Goodview Junction where they could cut off the Komiatum Track, thus preventing the Japanese from escaping Mubo to the north. Meanwhile B Company were on the Bench Cut Track carrying out ambush attacks. The two mountain guns brought up to the old vickers position were sporadically hitting Australian positions to their misery. C Company was performing a diversionary attack, while D Company was trying to capture the Coconuts and were successful at taking its northern region by nightfall on July 6th. The next day, the 80th regiment were pushing the 58/59th battalion back as air attacks from 6 Bostens hit the Old vickers allowing C Company to charge in with further support from D Company's mortars. The men charged up the steep ridge into Japanese machine gun nets and pillboxes. Likewise the 1st company of the 80th regiment with support of the 1st battalion, 66th regiment were launching counterattacks out of Komiatum. The Japanese managed to ambush some Australian supply lines inflicting casualties. On July 9th, the Australians tried to charge again into the Old Vickers, through a Sugarcane Knoll, but it went the exact same as last time, the machine gun nests and pillboxes were simply too much. Bobdubi ridge proved a tough nut to crack, but all of the activity was causing more and more Japanese units to move away from Mubo. By this point Mubo was being defended by 950 men and of those 770 were front line soldiers of the 66th regiment and the 14th field artillery regiment. And so the time was ripe to hit Mubo. Moten tossed Companies A and B from the 2/6th and C Company from the 2/5th towards Buiapal Creek; C Company of the 2/6th at Lababia ridge; D company of the 2/6th at the Saddle and the remainder of the 2/5th battalion into reserve. Warfe's commands went to work cutting off the escape route along the Komiatum track at Goodview Junction, but his forward units were spotted by Japanese patrols. As the commandos approached the area the Japanese came down from Orodubi ambushing them at Ambush Knoll…because of course its named that, silly Aussies, and this resulted in some lost supplies. Hammer was determined not to be thwarted by any delays so he ordered Warfe to launch a counterattack immediately. The Commandos were able to push the enemy back and reclaim their lost supplies, some of which were mortars and machine guns. On the night of the 6th, Warfe was ordered to leave a force to secure Wells junction while the rest of his men would proceed to cut off the escape route. During the morning of July 7ty, Moten's leading companies were wading through waste deep water in the Buiapal Creek due south of Observation Hill. The allied assault against Mubo was set to begin at 9:30am on the 7th, with Mitchell bombers coming in to strafe Kitchen Creek, Woody Island and Observation Hill. After this some Botsons and liberators would likewise bomb and strafe the same targets. The view from the ground was quite the spectacle for Moten's men. It looked like the entirety of the Mubo valley was being enveloped in thick black smoke and flames as the bombers dropped their payloads. Over 159 bombers and fighters dropped 109 tons of bombs over the Mubo area. Even if the bombs did not directly cause casualties among the Japanese in the area, it still caused chaos. Once the air attacks dissipated, the ground forces opened up their artillery and charged. A company of the 2/5th advanced without encountered any opposition, successfully climbing the northern slopes of Observation Hill. The southern slopes proved much more difficult with the Japanese putting up a fight against B company. B Company were forced to take a defensive position in a Kunai patch southwest of the slopes of Observation Hill. During this time, the Artillery over at the beaches of Nassau Bay were being moved further inland and would arrive at Napier by July 8th. This allowed Taylor Force to have the guns necessary to launch an assault of Bitoi ridge. Taylors men managed to get to the southern slopes of the ridge by 3pm while A Company touching its forward crest. B Company likewise broke through to the north and got to a point between Kitchen and Bui Savella Creek. A Company attempted another assault against Observation Hill but was repelled again, prompting Captain Dexter's D company to be sent to reinforce them. July 9th saw numerous patrol clashes as the Australians prodded deeper and deeper into the area. In the afternoon the Japanese sent a strong counterattack against the 2/5th companies seeing fierce fighting. As noted by Arthur Pearson of D company “In most cases we were firing blind, but sometimes we were abl to pick up the smoke from their rifles”. Pearson  at one point jumped into a weapon pit, trying to draw the Japanese fire his way. A bullet came at him, piercing the stock butt of his rifle, before slamming into one of the soldiers beside him killing the man. Pearson had no idea where the bullet had come from and frantically fired into the jungle hoping to hit the Japanese sniper. The next day saw a lot of the same, more patrol clashed. On the 10th, B Company engaged the enemy around Kitchen Creek. Meanwhile US infantry had cut the main track north of Bui Alang Creek on the 9th. The Americans began advancing down to Buigap Creek, then south to the Komiatum Track by July 10th, before hitting Buigap where they drove off a bunch of Japanese. The Americans now guessed the Japanese on Mubo were using a route north east along the Buikumbul to withdraw to Mount Tambu. With the Australian and now Americans infiltrating the sector, General Nakano ordered the Mubo garrison to pull out on the 11th, back over to Komiatum. To mask their withdrawal the Japanese planned to begin moving after sundown. By July 13th, they made their way along the Saddle to Mount Tambu, but the Americans had spotted them and gave them hell using artillery. The Japanese got out, but suffered many casualties doing so. On July the 12th, with the Japanese leaving the area, the Australians seized the Pimple, Green Hill and Observation hill with little opposition. Thus the allies had finally driven the Japanese out of their positions near Mubo, but they had also allowed them to escape. It turned out to be quite the fiasco with General Savige and Herring both believing they controlled the US troops of the 162nd, but in truth General Fuller refused to relinquish command to either. This confusion helped the Japanese squeeze out, though they did suffer 313 deaths and 981 casualties. The Australians received around 300 casualties. Mubo had fallen, its airfield was captured, mop up operations would go on for sometime, but most of the Japanese outposts were cleared. The path to Salamaua and Lae was ever closer. But now we are heading east over to the Solomons. General Wing's 172nd and 169th regiments were assembling at Zanana by July 6th. Their task now was to advance along the Barike River towards Munda. Meanwhile on the northern coast of New Georgia Colonel Liversedge's men successfully landed at Rice Anchorage by July 5th. His force was the 1st Marine Raider battalion, the 3rd battalion, 148th infantry and Companies K and L from the 145th infantry. His men began their advance south towards what is known as the Dragons peninsula. At the same time, as a result of the battle of Kula Gulf, the Japanese were able to land some men of the 13th regiment over at Vila. Defending Vila were forces led by Colonel Tomonari Satoshi. With more men on hand, General Sasaki intended to move the troops via barge through Bairoko so they could reinforce Munda. Sasaki had already brought his 3rd battalion, 229th regiment from Vila using barges. He was lucky the first time but now he felt the Americans would try to attack the airfield directly, perhaps by setting up artillery on the nearby Hopei island. Roviana island likewise could be used as a staging area for amphibious tanks to charge over. Thus Sasaki brought over some 8cm dual purpose guns and 13mm anti aircraft machine guns to try and defend the beaches. He also ordered Major Sato's 2nd battalion of the 229th regiment to dig some anti-tank ditches along the beach with the intent to smash any enemy tanks at the waters edge. He received word of the landings made at Zanana on July 3rd, prompting him to quickly reinforce his eastern line that ran north from Ilangana point. By July 6th, he had the 3rd battalion, 229th regiment and Sato's 2nd battalion holding positions along the the Ilangana line with a roadblock position held by a company who were using felled trees and barbed wire in front of Barike. Sasaki also had at his disposal a company of the Kure 6th SNLF led by Commander Okumura Saburo at Bairoko with a small detachment of the 2nd battalion, 13th infantry led by Major Obashi Takeo.  Meanwhile General Wing managed to get most of his 172nd regiment to the mouth of the Barike, but the 2nd battalion of the 169th remained on Rendova and the 1st and 3rd battalions were moving inland towards the Japanese roadblock. Unfortunately for the 3rd battalion, they had not found the roadblock by the night of july 6th and dug in just a bit east of it. They did not establish a good perimeter for their fox holes, there were no trip wires or barbed wires anywhere. Thus when the darkness came, so did the Japanese from the roadblock. The Japanese performed their classic infiltration tactics. The men in the foxholes began to hear random screaming, the odd firing of rifles all around them. The Japanese began to infiltrate their perimeter with one soldier reported that Japanese troops were approaching while calling out company code names in English. It was a brutal night to be sure. The shaken men of the 3rd battalion advanced with I company leading the way. They found themselves running into Japanese machine gun positions by 10:55pm around the Munda trail. They retaliated with mortars and machine guns, but could not properly see where the enemy was. Luckily B company from the 172nd showed up attacking the roadblock from the rear. In the carnage 3 platoon leaders were wounded, K Companies commander was killed, no progress was being made. Firing lanes were drawn out, the Americans were trying to find the enemy but their muzzle blasts were tiny. Some of the Americans tossed grenades, but they could not get close enough to effectively do it. By 3:30 the 3rd battalion withdrew from what they called “blood hill” to dig in for the night, but the Japanese continued to harass them. According to the 169th infantry “it was a sleepless night spend under continued harassment from enemy patrols speaking English, making horror noises, firing weapons, throwing hand grenades, swinging machetes and jumping into foxholes with knives”  On the 8th, the roadblock was overrun costing the 3rd battalion, 169th regiment and B company of the 172nd 6 deaths and 13 wounded. The next day the 169th finally got to their assembly point at the Barike line, while Colonel Liversedge and his men were crossing the Tamaku river. Colonel Liversedge planned to send Colonel Griffiths 1st Raiders with 2 companies of the 145th regiment to swing around the west shore of the Enogai Inlet prior to assaulting Bairoko while the 3rd battalion, 148th regiment would advance over to the Munda-Bairoko trail to cut off Munda from reinforcements. Liversedge estimated taking the Enogai Inlet and cutting off the trail would be done by July 8th, and it was critical it was done speedily as his men only had 3 days rations on hand. In the late afternoon of the 7th, the 148th managed to reach the trail and created a roadblock the following day. Griffiths team and secured the villages of Triri and Maranusa, clashing with a few Japanese patrols along the way. After capturing the villages the men came across some Japanese documents showcasing the defense plan for Enogai. On the 8th, the Raiders moved out of Triri enroute to Enogai only to run into an impassable mangrove swamp. Meanwhile Major Obashi launched a counterattack against Triri which would be eventually repelled. Griffith got the men to resume the advance using another trail west of the swamp and found themselves around Leland Lagoon where they clashed with some Japanese.  The morning of the 9th, saw General Wings main advance began. At 5am General Barkers 3 battalions of artillery positioned on both shores of the Honiavasa passage and some 155mms on Rendova opened fire on Munda. The artillery put several thousand rounds of 105mm and 155mm high explosives upon Munda. This was followed up by a naval bombardment by the USS Farenholt, Buchanan, McCalla and Ralph Talbot who were firing from the Blanche Channel, showering Munda with over 2000 5 inch shells. Then on top of all that 107 Dauntless and Avengers dropped 79 tons of bombs over Munda, Enogai and Bairoko harbor beginning at 8:30am. The Japanese recorded that the area was lit up as if it were daytime. The 172nd regiment forded the Barike, the 169th was unable to move because of the battle against the Japanese roadblock. On the night of July 6th, Admiral Samejima sent the rest of the troops that were supposed to be transported during the battle of Kula Gulf, the 2nd battalion of the 13th regiment, some 1200 men. They were aboard 4 destroyers, the Matsukaze, Yunagi, Mikazuki and Satsuki escorted by the cruisers Sendai and Chokai and 4 other destroyers the Yukikaze, Hamakaze, Tanikaze and Yugure. They only saw some harassment from a small strike force consisting of 5 PBY's as they made their way to Vila and safely returned. Admiral Kusaka requested some naval reinforcements from the Combined Fleet, so Admiral Kogo send Admiral Nishimura's Cruiser division 7, arriving on the 11th. Alongside this, Rear Admiral Izaki Shunji came over with light cruiser Jintsu and destroyer Kiyonami, taking command of the reinforcement unit. Back on land, the Kure 6th's batteries were firing upon Rice Anchorage prompting Griffith to begin the assault of the Enogai Inlet. Supported by mortars, B Company stormed the village of Baekineru. The Japanese began withdrawing from Enogai allowing the Americans to seize it by the 11th. This came just in time as the Raiders had run out of food and water. The raiders had paid heavily, suffering 47 deaths, 80 wounded and 4 men missing. The Kure 6th SNLF would report 81 deaths and a platoon of 50 men lost. The heavy losses forced Liversedge to request the 4th raiders be landed for the capture of Bairoko, but they would only arrive on the 18th. Meanwhile Colonel Tomonari brought forward his 1st and 3rd battalion to Bairoko to help reinforce Munda. At around 4pm, the 3rd battalion led by Colonel Takabayashi attacked the American roadblock, nearly dislodging them. By nightfall the Japanese took up a position on a ridge to the 148th's northern flank. There was a series of counterattacks until the next day saw a bit of a stalemate, then the morning after that the Japanese backed off. The 148th regiment would hold onto the roadblock for more than a week, but would quickly run low on food. It mattered not however as the Japanese just advanced along another trail further west, prompting Liversedge to order the roadblock abandoned on July 17th. Now Admiral Kusaka wanted to reinforce the important volcanic island of Kolombangara. Kolombangara was a perfectly round stratovolcanic cone soaring out of the sea to an altitude of 5800 feet. The Japanese had a garrison at Vila airfield on the islands southern shore. The island was often to put men and supplies upon barges that would make nighttime transits across the straits to Munda point. Kusaka sought to toss another 1200 troops, Major Yamada Tadaichi's 2nd battalion, 45th regiment and the 8th battery, 6th field artillery. Transporting them would be Matsukaze, Yunagi, Minazuki and Satsuki coming from Buin, escorted by Admiral Izaki's aboard the Jintsu alongside 5 destroyers Mikazuki, Yukikaze, Hamakaze, Kiyonami and Yugure coming from Rubaul. Unfortunately for the IJN, allied coastwatchers saw reported their movement and Admiral Halsey responded by ordered Admiral Ainsworth and task force 18 to intercept them. Ainsworth had light cruisers USS Honolulu, St Louis, the Royal New Zealand light cruisers HMNZS Leander; destroyers USS Nicholas, O'Bannon, Taylor, Jenkins, Radford, Ralph Talbot, Buchanan, Maury, Woodworth and Gwin. Half of Ainsworth's forces came from Captain Ryan's Destroyer squadron 12 who were quite inexperienced. Ainsworths set up his force making his vanguard the Nicholas followed by O'Bannon, Taylor, Jenkins and Radford. Honolulu, Leander and St Louis followed in the center. Ainsworth specifically placed Leander in the middle because she held inferior radar, he preferred St Louis to take the lead out of the Cruisers. Ryan's destroyers would take up the rear with Ralph Talbot, followed by Buchanen, Maury, Woodworth and Gwin. By 5pm task force 18 was sailing once again for the Kula Gulf. Task Force 18 had left Tulagi at 5pm on July 12th under clear skies and calm seas. As they passed Savo Island, Ainsworth took a course along the west coast of Santa Isabel island hoping to use it to hide his force from Japan reconnaissance aircraft. At 12:35am a PBY reported the course and composition of Izaki's force, and Ainsworth heading in for the intercept. As the two forces were converging, Izaki dispatched his Destroyer transport through Vella Gulf to unload the troops but at 1am he was alerted of the approaching enemy. It was actually the Americans who established radar content first, but the Japanese gained visual contact by 1:08am As the two forces converged, Izaki sent his destroyer transports through Vella Gulf; yet by 01:00, the Americans detected his force. However it was actually the Japanese who detected the Americans first for almost 2 hours or so because of the electromagnetic impulses the American radar systems emitted. The Japanese crews had managed to gain a fairly accurate picture of Ainsworths disposition. At 1:08 the Japanese made visual contact and were the first to attack, launching 29 torpedoes by 1:14am. Ainsworth's vanguard increased speed to engage the Japanese with their torpedoes while the cruisers turned to deploy their main batters and engage to starboard. Ainsworth yet again ignorant of the type 93 long lance capabilities had no idea the fish were already in the water coming towards his force as they watched the Japanese destroyers turn away. The American destroyers tossed 19 Mark 15 torpedoes, but the Japanese were over 10,000 yards away and turning north thus completely wasted the volley. When the Japanese were 10,000 yards or so Ainsworth cruisers began opening fire, concentrating on the Jintsu. When the Japanese column closed to 10,000 yards at 01:12, Ainsworth ordered his cruisers to open fire, concentrating on the Jintsu which was leading. Honolulu and St Louis fired an incredible amount of shells for 18 minutes at 1100 and 1360 6 inch rounds joined by 350 5in rounds. The Leander fired 160 6 inch rounds. The Jintsu was hit first to her rudder, then her bridge killing Izaki, followed by 10 or more shells to her engineering spaces. She was a doomed burning ship, that came to a dead drift quickly. The Americans then launched another volley of torpedoes, 21 in all, but they would all fail to hit a mark. By this time, the Japanese torpedoes were finally arriving. Leander was hit at 1:22 forcing Ainsworth to detach Radford and Jenkins to help her limp away. The rest of Ainsworth forces managed to avoid the torpedoes. While this was occurring the destroyer transports had successfully unloaded the 1200 troops and were moving north to withdraw with Izaki's other destroyers. The Japanese were not running away however, they were getting to a safe position to reload torpedoes and re-engage. After finishing off the Jintsu at 1:45, Ainsworth ordered the force to pursue the enemy going northwest. They made radar contact again at 1:56, but Ainsworth doubted the blips to be the enemy, but rather his vanguard ships. Instead of opening fire, Ainsworth attempted making contact with the vanguard force and began firing starshells, this would prove to be a fatal error. The Japanese launched another volley of 31 torpedoes. At 2:08 the first to be hit was St Louis, it opened her bow, next Gwin was hit near her No 2 engine room; Honolulu was third receiving a hit to her starboard bow at 2:11, with another hitting her stern without exploding. Honolulu's rudder jammed and she nearly smashed into Gwin coming within 50 yards of her. That effectively ended the battle as Ainsworth ordered the task force to withdraw back to Tulagi. The Gwin had lost 61 men and was forced to be scuttled, Leander lost 28, the Jintsu 482 and another Japanese Admiral was dead. 21 survivors of the Jintsu were rescued later on by the I-180, a few others were picked up by American ships. The Japanese had won a tactical victory and demonstrated yet again their superior night fighting techniques. But it was a pyrrhic victory in many ways as well, the Americans could afford to lose ships, the Japanese could not.   After the defeat, Admiral Nimitz decided to change tactics and not confine anymore cruisers to the Solomons as they could not hope to chase the IJN destroyers and their troublesome torpedoes were a major threat. Nimitz wrote a letter to Halsey suggesting that a well trained squadron of 2100 ton Fletcher class destroyers would be better suited to such waters rather than cruises. Halsey argued despite the Japanese having superior torpedoes, he believed Ainsworth's night battle plan A, that had employed SG radar with radar directed gunnery were still superior to anything the IJN had. He thought the solution “appears to be the greatest volume and weight of gunfire that can be incorporated into a highly maneuverable unit–and a unit that is certainly not appreciably weaker than the enemy unit.” Regardless Halsey went to work designating two squadrons of 2100 ton destroyers to take over New Georgia operations and would not risk anymore of his cruisers going up the Slot on any more missions. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The New Guinea and New Georgia campaigns were seeing gradual progress for the allies, but the naval battles were much less to be desired. While the Japanese were earning some victories, they were rather pyrrhic in nature as American production was winning the day.

We're back with a bonus episode for Pride Month! For this edition of In the Studio With, we're joined by writer Mimi Stringfield to talk about The Doom Generation (1995), directed by Gregg Araki and starring Rose McGowan, James Duval, and Johnathon Schaech. In this episode, we talk about Araki's polarizing output and his Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy, love and self discovery on road trip through Hell, and the importance of classic 90s "freak shit." Our recommendations: the rest of Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy (Totally Fucked Up (1992), Nowhere (1997)), The Last Days of Disco (1998), Party Girl (1995), Lost Highway (1997), Natural Born Killers (1994), and Y tu mamá también (2001) Ashley's Queer Cinema List: https://letterboxd.com/breakyoselffool/list/queer-cinema/ Follow Mimi: https://twitter.com/verymimi https://www.instagram.com/mimistringfield/ Check out the rest of our socials and join our new Discord server at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

Last time we spoke about operation Cartwheel, developments in Green hell and some new adventures in Burma. General Douglas MacArthur had his work cut out for him as he developed his original Elkton plan into what would become Operation Cartwheel. Alongside the US Navy, MacArthur set out the blueprints for seizing parts of New Guinea and the Solomons before taking the ultimate prize that was Rabaul. The Japanese meanwhile extended their efforts to hammer allied airbases in the south pacific with lackluster results. Over on New Guinea the allied forces were drawing closer to seizing Lau, by using Salamaua as a distraction. Over in the Burma front, the disastrous Arakan campaign had resulted in some shuffling of leadership and now the Auk was working with General Slim to see if they could prepare the Indian Army for another go at the Japanese. And today we are going to be venturing back into all of these stories.  This episode is Battle of Lababia Ridge Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.    Last time we were speaking about Operation Cartwheel and part of phase one for Admiral Halsey in the Solomons was to move north from Guadalcanal to hit New Georgia code named Operation Toenails. Halsey planned to perform four simultaneous landings. One was directed at Wickham Anchorage by the 2nd battalion, 103rd regiment plus two companies from the 4th raider battalion to be led by Lt Colonel Lester Brown. Wickham would become a new landing craft layover base. A second landing would be made at Segi Point by Companies O and P of the 4th Raider battalion and Companies A and D of the 103rd regiment would garrison Segi point and its airfield afterwards. Another landing would be made at Viru Harbor by Company B of the 103rd regiment for its small craft base. And a final landing would be made at Rendova Harbor by the 172nd regiment and 24th naval construction battalion Seabees which would become a stage for further troops coming over to New Georgia before an assault on Munda was made. The 43rd infantry division led by Major General John Hester were going to take the lead against Munda. The 43rd were actually a national guard division from Connecticut, Maine, Rhode island and Vermont who were mobilized and reorganized as a “triangular” division. This meant they were going to be 3 regiments rather than 4. They would be brought up to strength, but in reality the only real experience they by this point was some unopposed landings on the Russell islands early in 1943. They had several months to prepare for the campaign. Hester got the men to construct pill boxes modeled after the Japanese one's found on Guadalcanal for training exercises. However the terrain found on Guadalcanal or on the Russell Islands did not really bear much resemblance to that of New Georgia. In April 1943, the 14th corps arranged for the 147th regiment, veterans of the Guadalcanal campaign who had chased the Japanese west during Operation KE to conduct several training exercises with the 43rd division. However as noted by many of the men in the regiment the terrain was not very similar to what was expected on New Georgia hampering the training. By mid june the 103rd infantry and the 169th infantry also began training exercises on Guadalcanal using landing craft. Now you probably noticed in my listening there was mention of the 4th raiders. Two new Raider battalions were entering the fray; the 3rd Raiders led by Lt Colonel Harry Liversedge were coming over fresh from Samoa; and the 4th Raiders led by Lt Colonel James Roosevelt from Camp Pendleton of California. And yes you are probably wondering, James Roosevelt II was the eldest son of FDR. Since 1936 he had been serving as his fathers military aide, under the commission of a captain in the Marine Corps Reserve. When the war broke out in 1939 he entered active duty and starting in April of 1941 FDR sent him on a secret mission. James traveled around the world on a diplomatic mission to assure other governments that the US would soon join the war despite the official neutrality stance. He met with Chiang Kai-shek in China, King Farouk of Egypt, King George of Greece, Sir Winston CHurchill of Britain and such. After the attack on Pearl Harbor he sat right beside his father as he gave the legendary Day of Infamy speech, and soon he requested an active combat assignment. He was transferred to the Marine Raiders by January of 1942 and became the 2nd in command of the 2nd Raiders under Carlson. He took part in the Makin Island Raid in August of 1942 where he earned a Navy Cross. He had some health issues, such as flat feet, and got the special privilege of being allowed to wear sneakers while the other Marines wore boots. On March 15th the 4 Raider battalions were reorganized as the 1st Raider regiment, stationed at Espiritu Santo with Liversedge as their commander and Carlson executive officer. Carlson infused his fire team and squad models into the raiders, while Edson molded them into a highly trained, lightly equipped force who could accomplish special missions or fill a line battalion on the fly. The 1st Raider Regiment was no guerilla outfit, though it felt like that initially. For Operation Toenails, Halsey assigned both the 1st Raiders led by Colonel Griffith and the 4th Raiders led by Lt Colonel Michael Currin, supported by the 9th defense battalion which was carrying a 155mm gun units and light tank platoon. The Navy was also sending the legendary Seabees; Acorn 7, the 24th and a single section of the 20th naval construction battalions. It can't be said enough how much the Seabee's brought to the table in the Pacific. During the war theSeabee's would receive 5 Navy Crosses, 33 Silver Stars and over 2000 Purple Hearts alongside numerous citations and commendations. They performed legendary deeds in the Atlantic and Pacific creating over 400 advanced bases along the 5 figurative roads to victory.   Lastly and quite interesting to note, the Americans would have a unique commando units of 130 Fijians known as the 1st Commando Fiji Guerillas. When the Pacific War broke out, Japan had seized numerous territory going as far south as the Solomon islands getting just 8 hours flight time away from places like Fiji. At this time Britain was too preoccupied with the Atlantic and America was scrambling to recover from Pearl Harbor. Fiji was in a critical position and for several months while the US was organizing her forces so was Fiji. Fiji possessed 2 good harbors and 2 airfields and her position on earth put her smack dab on the way between America and Australia / New Zealand. The allies knew the Japanese would love to take such a territory and thus she needed defense. Small numbers of troops were garrisoning Fiji, many from New Zealand, but she had little to spare as she became heavily committed to Africa and the Middle East. Thus the Americans came to Fiji to relieve the New Zealanders and they helped expand Fiji's forces. The result were commando units who proved themselves uniquely equipped for combat on pacific islands like the solomons. For New Georgia the Fiji guerillas were tasked with locating enemy soldiers scattered about the island. The eastern landing force consisted of the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 103rd regiment alongside the 4 raider battalion to be led by Colonel Daniel Hundley. Their job was to secure the lines of communication to Rendova directly across from Munda. The Western Landing Force consisted of the 172nd and 169th Regiments; 3rd Battalion, 103rd Regiment; 9th Marine Defense Battalion; 24th Naval Construction Battalion (Seabees) and 1st Commando Fiji Guerrillas, to be led by General Hester. They had the initial mission of securing the island of Rendova and afterwards the 3 islets in the Blanche Channel opposite of Munda. For the islets it would be the job of Companies A and B, 169th Regiment; and 1st Commando Fiji Guerillas. Once all of that was done, the 172nd and 169th regiments led by Brigadier General Leonard Wing would advance to Zanana through the Honiavasa passage, then take a overland route over the Barike River for the final drive upon Munda supported by destroyer bombardment. Hester also planned to use the 3rd battalion, 103rd regiment to hook around Munda's from the west coast. For all of these amphibious landings, Admiral Turner was in charge with his task force 31. He divided his forces into two groups; the Western Force under his personal command which would make the Rendova landings; and the Eastern Force led by Rear Admiral George Fort would perform the landings at Wickham, Segi Point and Viru Harbor. For the Rendova harbor landing, Turner employed 4 Attack transports and 2 Aka's; during WW2 Aka's referred to merchant ships that were modified for combat use. These took the 172nd regiment and 24th seabees over on June 30th, while Turners larger landing craft, LST's (landing ship tank), LCT's (Landing craft tank) and LCI's (landing craft infantry) would move Hesters initial units over the next few days. The Amphibious forces would be covered by Halsey's Task Force 36 constituting of forces that had previously been under the command of Admirals Ainsworth and Merrill, destroyers, cruisers, some battleships and a few carriers. Merrill would help the landings by performing a bombardment of the Shortland islands as minelayers created minefields across the southern entrance to Bougainville, and a smaller detachment of destroyers hit Vila as a diversion. Ainsworth would get himself into position in the seas around Rendova while Admiral Fitch would grant the operation a total of 1182 aircraft, including 626 from Admiral Mitschers Airsols as cover. To gain air supremacy, 17 air missions were assigned such as PBY crews for rescue operations and last minute supply drops over New Georgia. AirSols aircraft would be assigned to New Georgia missions with a few SBDS set aside for Russell operations. Fitch also went ahead and created the New Georgia Air force commanded by General Mulcahy who would direct missions from the ground. Closing in on Operation Toenails, Halsey and Turner also decided to add a last minute landing directed at Rice Anchorage on the Kula Gulf. Designated Northern Landing Group, the landing was to be performed by the 3rd battalions, of the 145th and 148th regiments alongside the 1st raider battalion led by Colonel Harry Liversedge. This would occur on July the 4th to create a base from which the allies could launch an attack against the Enogai inlet and Bairoko harbor. By seizing these the allies could interdict Japanese supply lines and prevent reinforcement efforts for Munda. Now that is all for the plans for the Solomons, but Operation Cartwheel had other plans over on New Guinea being handled by General Douglas MacArthur and Kreuger, code named Operation Chronicle, the invasion of the Woodlark and Kiriwina islands. The two Trobriand islands held airfields and were only 125 miles from New Britain and 200 miles from Bougainville. Capturing them would allow the allies to launch bombers with fighter escort to hit Rabaul, Kavieng and the northern solomons. It was also a great opportunity to test what was colloquially known as “MacArthur's Navy”, officially known as the 7th amphibious force. Now Lt General Krueger had sent reconnaissance missions to the islands which indicated there were no Japanese present on them in May. Nonetheless he instructed the men to prepare for a fight and at the least to expect aerial attacks when they approached them. Kruegers plan of attack was simplistic, Colonel Julian Cunningham would lead the Woodlark force. This consisted of the 112th Cavalry Regiment; 134th Field Artillery Battalion; and 12th Defense Battalion. Also, the 20th and 60th Naval Construction Battalions and ARGUS 1. They would depart Townsville Australia on June 25th and land on Woodlark by June 30th. The Kiriwina Force would be led by Colonel Prugh Herndon consisting of the  158th Regiment; and 148th Field Artillery Battalion. They would depart from Milne Bay on June 30th and quickly land at Kiriwina that same day. To get them to the beaches, Admiral Barbey would have 4 destroyer transports, the Gilmber, Sands, Humphrey and Brooks alongside 6 LSTS, a subchaser 7 mechanized landing craft, 2 small coastal transports and a survey ship, a real hodge podge. Escorting them would be Barbey's task force 76 consisting of the destroyers Mugford, Bagley, Conyngham, Henley and helm along with Carpenders task force 74 consisting of cruisers Australia and Jobart with destroyers Arunta and Warramunga. For aerial support they had multiple squadrons from Australian Wing 73 operating off Goodenough island. Now on the grounds of New Guinea in mid June, Generals Savige, Herring, Berryman and Colonels Archibald MacKechnie met with Brigadier Moten to hear about his plans for the 17th brigade's salamaua offensive. Moten laid out a 5 phase plan, phase 1 consisted of the 1st Battalion, 162nd Regiment creating a beach head at Nassau Bay, with the support of a company from the 2/6th battalion. Phase 2 would see the 2/6th reinforced by a company of the 2/5th who would capture Observation Hill and a ridge between Bui Savella and Kitchen Creeks. From there they would be able to move through Mubo Valley to Archway while American forces captured Bitoi ridge. Phase 3 would see the capture of Green Hill and the Pimple by American forces and some of the 2/6th. From there they could advance towards Komaitum and Lokanu. Phase 4 would see the 2/5th advance from Mubo through the 2/6th position to occupy Mount Tambu, linking up with the 15th brigade at Komiatum. Lastly Phase 5 would see the capture of Lokanu and Boisi, clearing the enemy away from the Francisco river area. The plan looked good to all present. But nothing was mentioned about the capture of Lae, nor the critical fact, that Salamaua needed to fall prior to Lae, lest they all lose the element of surprise for Operation Postern. This was done for security reasons, it all had to be held under wraps, but despite this General Savige remained convinced he had to capture Salamaua as soon as possible. His subordinate, Brigadier Moten was aware of the grand plan created by Blamey. Yet while all of these allied commanders were planning, a war was still afoot and the Japanese tossed a counter offensive on the night of June 20th. The Japanese commanders had determined in late May that they needed to dislodge the Australians from Lababia Ridge. General Nakano had brought forward the 1500 men of 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 66th regiment. He concealed their movements by ordered heavy airstrikes and ordered the men to make no fires. This also allowed the exhausted 102nd infantry regiment to rotate back a bit as they had been fighting the Australians ever since the battle of Wau. On the 20th, Nakano began sending patrols made up of the 66th with a few guides from the 102nd who probed the Australian position on Lababia ridge, at that time being held by just 80 men. The Japanese patrols defused many booby traps the Australians laid out for them, made up of piano wire attached to hand grenades. However the Japanese were not too familiar with the Australian hand grenade, so instead of pocketing them to use against the enemy they simply left them. Some sporadic skirmishes occurred that day alongside some bombing missions aimed at Guadagasal, Mat Mat and the Mubo Valley. 83 Japanese aircraft caused some casualties and damage against the 2/6th and spooked a ton of native carriers. The next day the Australians would be searching for native carriers who fled, losing around 578 of them for over 3 days. This greatly delayed the movement of rations, ammunition and other supplies. On the morning of June 21st, the 1st battalion of Araki, guided by some men of the 102nd regiment, began advancing around the eastern flank of the Australian position on Lababia, getting into position for a dawn attack set for the following day. Behind them was the 2nd battalion who were doing a similar maneuver but on the Australians left flank. The Japanese were extremely careful as they advanced having learnt bitter lessons throughout the war about how much the Australians liked to hang grenades attached to piano wire just about anywhere one would think to walk. Oh and it was not limited to fragment grenades, they hooked up thermite grenades, cans of petrol and other goodies. Now they were going to be attacking 80 men as I said, which were being led by Captain Walter Dexter's D company. He had two platoons in a forward position on the Jap track and two others to the back guarding his HQ. Further north he set up listening posts to watch for enemy activity around the Pimple. Dexter figured he was holding a decent enough position going on to say ”if you've got to fight them you've got to see them'. Around noon Australian patrols began to notice signs of Japanese activity along the track towards the observation post just a bit due east along the ridge. At 7:30 the telephone line to that observation post was suddenly cut and the Japanese could be seen approaching. The Australians went to work setting off booby traps that had been rigged up as early warning devices and a small firefight emerged. Then at 2pm the Japanese launched an assault from the north and north east of the Australian position, firing off mortars. The Japanese were repelled, but they came right back later in the afternoon screaming into a bayonet charge. Over the course of the afternoon 3 major attacks were made to the sound of Japanese bugles. This was a classic Japanese strategy to intimidate the enemy, but it actually aided the Australians as it warned them of the incoming attack each time. The attacks were turned back and during the night the Australians were reinforced by another platoon,  70 men of C company led by Corporal Keith Mew. As the night wore on, the Australians sent out some patrols to try and make contact with their forward positions only to find out they had been wiped out in the attacks. Meanwhile under heavy rain, the Japanese were recovering their wounded and trying to get rid of more pesky booby traps in front of the Australian positions.    The next morning came screams and charging Japanese setting off booby traps all morning long. Dexter responded by ordered the men to shoot mortars and rifle grenades at anything that looked like a Japanese position. At 2pm on the 21st, the Japanese began a heavy attack on one of the forward positions held by Sergeant John Hedderman lying between the Jap track and Lababia track. The attack spread to Roach's and Lt Edward Exton's front sending a rain of automatic and mortar fire into the two forward platoons. A bayonet charge along the Jap track was halted within just 10 yards of the forward positions and another one to the right flank got within 20 yards before being stopped. The Australians tossed lead in all forms into the banzai charges, but no matter how much mortar, bullets and grenades were tossed, the Japanese were closing in. Sensing a breakthrough, Moten ordered forward more men from the 2/5th battalion allowing Dexter to reinforce his left flank using a small reserve he had at his HQ. They arrived at the flank just in time to repel another banzai charge. By the late afternoon the Australians had 12 dead men and 10 wounded, they were down to just 55 abled bodies, but the brunt of the Japanese attack was done. The arrival of C company allowed Dexter to reinforce his forward positions, now bolstered to 150 men.    The Japanese did not give up however and continued their attack during the late afternoon. Suffering so many casualties, it looked like the Japanese might break through Exton's position. Exton and Corporal Martine charged forward to rally their men, getting them through the brunt of another assault. By dusk the attacks began to decrease until the gradually stopped. The night saw a ton of rain, making it miserable for the Japanese who were dragging their wounded and dead comrades through booby trapped jungle. On the morning of the 22nd, Araki sent some patrols to probe Dexter's left flank who were met by Australian sniper fire. An attack was launched against Dexter's rear, held by Smiths platoon who overwhelmed the Japanese causing them to give up after 5 minutes. Frustrated by the lack of progress, Araki ordered his two mountain guns from the 14th artillery regiment to start shelling Lababia. However the foliage was too much and only two shells actually landed within Dexters perimeter. Thus when the Japanese recommenced their attacks they were met by the full brunt of the defenders. By night, Araki was forced to toss in the towel and he ordered the men to begin a withdrawal. To cover the retreat, Araki ordered his men to fire heavy automatic guns and motors into Dexter's position on the morning of the 23rd. The Australians responded the same way, but then Dexter unleashed a nasty surprise. He ordered his units to mark the forward lines with smoke. Soon the RAAF send Bristol Beaufighters in who strafed the Japanese up and down the Jap Track.  It was an incredible defense, the defenders had been outnumbered 10-1. The Japanese had received 42 dead, 131 wounded while killing 11 and wounded 12 Australians. As Moten would go on to say ‘the engagement is noteworthy and is a classic example of how well-dug-in determined troops can resist heavy attacks from a numerically superior enemy”. Dexter had been pretty much left to his own to defend Lababia and for his excellent leadership he was later awarded the Distinguished service order while some of his platoon commanders; Lt edward Exton, Laurence and Roach received Military crosses and Sergeant John Hedderman received a military medal. Dexter was praised by Moten for “taking every trick during the battle” and one of his colleagues, Captain Jo Gullet described him as“he was too exacting to be popular, although he was a thorough soldier, a good trainer of men and a painstaking tactician”. Lababia was secured, and in the next week major operations were about to begin. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Operation Cartwheel was getting its ducks all in order for a major push set on June 30th. The boys down unda fought like lions to protect Lababia ridge. Outnumbered 10-1 they proved, well dug-in positions sometimes made all the difference. 

Blane & Ashley Dallen & Melissa Oakley in Canada just raised over $10k together with two events. SynGAP Paddle Slap Stats: They had 12 teams play in the tournament.  About 120 people joined the crawfish boil.  Actual $ breakdown: Total Actual Income $23,250.00. Article https://www.localmemphis.com/article/life/family/rare-disease-research-promoted-integra[…]1-austim-epilepsy/522-b805046b-d05e-4f17-a8ab-69421293f926  Minnie's article in the Chicago Tribune. (behind firewall) https://www.chicagotribune.com/people/health/ct-hayden-cheng-syngap-diagnosis-0525-20230527-zacxfmtrhbd4bm5gbc3su5hsr4-story.html  Vicky & Paulina in Chihuahua, Mexico at Sociedad Mexicana de Neurología Pediátrica's annual conference https://twitter.com/cureSYNGAP1/status/1659250923611496449  Two blogs en Español https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/post/vacacionar-con-un-syngap1-147  https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/post/notas-de-terliz-mama-syngap1-145  STUDIES ENDD S1 NHS - Email ENDD@chop.edu to sign up and please cc mike@curesyngap1.org, lauren@curesyngap1.org & sydney@curesyngap1.org https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ASUkKQOgjbs9hkJVCJ40N8MbVFH4X9_h/view#  Watch #S10e105 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy5YrPIlH0I  Cornell study English https://redcap.link/syngapcaregiversurvey  Spanish https://redcap.ctsc.weill.cornell.edu/redcap_protocols/surveys/?s=MWTW743PHENPPRPY  COMBINEDBrain Biorepository - https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/webinars/74-combinedbrain-biobank-our-partnership-with-srf-for-syngap1  SCIENCE 1st Syngap Patient Derived Models from SRF grant to Dr. Araki & Dr. Huganir https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.25.542312v2  "Eye of the Fly" Chow article - https://www.ksl.com/article/50638506/eye-of-the-fly-how-fruit-flies-could-help-find-treatment-for-a-rare-genetic-disease  EVENTS June 10 - MDBR https://charity.pledgeit.org/t/Optdm6sOX9  June 21 - Splash for Syngap https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/post/share-your-love-for-someone-with-syngap1-for-splash4syngap  August 26 - Syngap Soiree  https://e.givesmart.com/events/wiH  October 7 - Scramble for Syngap https://secure.givelively.org/event/syngap-research-fund-incorporated/scramble-for-syngap-2023  October 21 - SynGAP Research Fund Gala Honoring Caren Leib - https://e.givesmart.com/events/wBy/  CONFERENCE Nov 30-Dec 1 - SYNGAP1 Conference 2023 hosted by SRF https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/professionals/syngap1-roundtable-2023-syngap-research-fund  Conference pre-registration link: https://Syngap.Fund/2023conf  Book hotels ASAP: https://Syngap.Fund/2023hotel Tshirts: https://www.bonfire.com/srf-syngap1-conference-2023/  WEBINARS June 8 - Therapeutic strategies for autism: Targeting Three levels of the central dogma of molecular biology - Dr. Lilia Iakoucheva & Mr. Derek Hong https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/webinars/78-therapeutic-strategies-for-autism-targeting[…]tral-dogma-of-molecular-biology-with-a-focus-on-syngap1  June 15 - Quantifying perturbed SYNGAP1 Function Caused by Coding Mutations - Dr. Michael Courtney from Turku in Finland https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/webinars/79-quantifying-perturbed-syngap1-function-caused-by-coding-mutations  PODS - Syngap Stories, interviews, see #8 with Heather Bensch https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/podcast-episodes/syngap1-stories-episode-008  - Syngap Stories, interviews, see #9 with Lauren Perry https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/podcast-episodes/syngap1-stories-episode-009  This is a podcast: subscribe to and rate this 10 minute #podcast #SYNGAP10 here  - https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/syngap10-podcast Apple podcasts:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/syngap10-weekly-10-minute-updates-on-syngap1-video/id1560389818 Episode 106 of #Syngap10 - June 6, 2023 #epilepsy #autism #intellectualdisability #id #anxiety #raredisease #epilepsyawareness #autismawareness #rarediseaseresearch #SynGAPResearchFund #CareAboutRare #PatientAdvocacy #GCchat #Neurology #GeneChat --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/syngap10/message

Aloha! Today's episode will make you want to run away to Hawaii! This interview with the reigning, Mrs. Hawaii American 2022, Chunmi Araki, is not only inspiring but her dynamic with her family, her outlook on life and her lovely personality will warm your heart! Chunmi shares her journey to winning her title and also shares her thoughts on achieving goals at any stage of life. Have a listen as she takes a trip down memory lane, talks about her many successes and shares her tips on #MomLife beauty inside and out! Fun fact: Chunmi and I went to college together for a bit and are connecting after so many years! She is just as warm as she was then! Hope you all enjoy this episode!

See you next universe.

We're back and discussing what a real man is. Finally! How does Araki pick his character names other than mix tapes? We explain how Ringo Roadigan's stand works so even Courtney can understand it. Mountain Tim gains another newsletter subscriber. Gyro Zeppeli grows up. And even though he's not in this story, we still manage to talk about Hol Horse again. -- JoJo's Bizarre Explainer JoJo's Bizarre Adventure! Either you love it, or you've never seen it. But what exactly is JoJo? Why is everyone talking about it? Why is it so great? Whether this is your first foray into Hirohiko Araki's decades-spanning masterpiece, or you're a seasoned JoJo Opinion Haver looking for more of your kind, JoJo's Bizarre Explainer is here for you! Hosted by Elizabeth Simins, Courtney Stanton, and Darius Kazemi, this podcast will tease out the running motifs, fascinating weirdnesses, occasional dog deaths, and ineffable charm of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure—anime-episode by anime-episode, with stops along the way for the manga, the videogames, and whatever else we can get our hands on. Join us as we attempt to do the impossible: Explain JoJo! explainjojo.com @explainjojo @explainjojo@crazynoisybizarre.town Here's where to find the gang on the internet! Eliz: eliz.abeth.net @elizsimins Courtney: superopinionated.com @courtney@friend.camp Darius: tinysubversions.com @tinysubversions @darius@friend.camp

We're joined by special guest Cameron Kunzelman of Ranged Touch as we go over the first third of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean! Cameron has never watched JoJo and we had him watch these 12 episodes with no other context provided.