Podcasts about Kuroda

Last time we spoke about the invasion of the Palau Islands. General Rupertus's 1st Marine Division was tasked with attacking Peleliu, while General Mueller's 81st Division would land on Angaur. Prior to the landings, extensive neutralization of Japanese airfields was carried out by Allied forces. On September 6, carrier-based aircraft attacked the Palaus, significantly damaging enemy targets but encountering minimal resistance. The invasion fleet, led by Admiral Fort, began landing operations on September 15. Despite strong Japanese defenses, especially around Peleliu's rugged coral ridges, the Marines made some progress but faced intense resistance. Notable figures such as Eugene Sledge, author of “With the Old Breed,” provided personal insights into the brutal conditions faced. The landing saw heavy casualties and challenges, including ineffective pre-landing bombardments and fierce counterattacks, but the Marines managed to secure key positions by the end of the first day. The 81st Division then proceeded with landings on Angaur on September 17, facing lighter resistance but difficult terrain. This episode is the Battles of Peleliu and Angaur 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 left off, Peleliu and Anguar had just been amphibiously assaulted by US Marines. While the landings on Angaur were underway, General Rupertus pressed on with the Peleliu offensive on September 17. In the southern sector, Colonel Hanneken's 7th Marines made headway against the isolated Japanese defenders. The 3rd Battalion cleared a minefield and captured the southeast promontory, while the 1st Battalion took on the southwestern promontory but only managed to secure half of it due to fierce enemy resistance. To the north, the 1st and 5th Marines advanced further, encountering the Umurbrogol Mountains for the first time, where Colonel Nakagawa had fortified his defenses. On the left flank, Colonel Puller's 1st and 3rd Battalions encountered minimal opposition as they moved along the relatively flat coastal plain but had to halt their advance when the 1st Battalion was impeded by a reinforced concrete blockhouse. On the right, Colonel Harris' 2nd Battalion progressed well while staying hidden from Japanese artillery and mortar fire. However, despite reaching their objectives by mid-morning, Harris' 1st Battalion faced difficulty when Puller's 2nd Battalion, after making initial gains, was halted by the Umurbrogol defenses. They fought hard to secure Hill 200 but were immediately met with fire from the next ridge. Additionally, Harris' 3rd Battalion was pinned down by heavy flanking fire from the left. That night, additional armor was sent to the 7th Marines to support the ongoing operations in the south. The next morning, Hanneken's 3rd Battalion launched a final assault. During the night of D+2, additional armor (tanks and 75mm gun-mounted halftracks) was brought up and at 10:00 on September 18 the advance was resumed. Again progress was painfully slow with many reserve elements being attacked by Japanese from bypassed caves and underground emplacements. At 13:44 elements of Companies A and C reached the southern shores, though the area being assaulted by Company B was still heavily defended. Tank support had withdrawn to re-arm and before Company B was in a position to resume the attack, a bulldozer was needed to extricate the gun-mounted half-tracks, which had become bogged down. At that time, several explosions were heard from the Japanese defenses and it was found that remaining Japanese defenders had finished the job for the Marines. The final handful leaped from the cliff tops into the sea in an effort to escape, only to be picked off by Marine riflemen. With the taking of the two promontories, the southern part of Peleliu was secured. 1/7 and 3/7 squared themselves away for a well-earned rest, while headquarters reported "1520 hours D+3, 7th Marines mission on Peleliu completed." Unfortunately, this was not quite the case. Despite the slow progress and intense Japanese resistance, the Marines managed to secure the southern portion of Peleliu by the end of September 18. At the same time, the 1st and 5th Marines continued their fierce and costly push north. On the right flank, Colonel Harris's 2nd Battalion faced only sporadic resistance as it cut through the dense jungle. The Americans eventually reached a causeway leading east to Peleliu's northeastern peninsula, a potentially dangerous obstacle to their advance. After a successful patrol, Harris opted to call in an airstrike before crossing, but the strike missed its target and hit the area while the Marines were crossing. Despite this, the bridgehead was established, though further casualties were incurred due to friendly artillery and mortar fire. With this new foothold, Harris redirected his 3rd Battalion eastward across the causeway to support the 2nd Battalion's advance. On the left flank, the 1st Marines, having sustained 1,236 casualties, were urged by Rupertus to "maintain the momentum." This led Colonel Puller to commit all available reserves, including engineers, support personnel, and Hanneken's reserve 2nd Battalion. The 1st Marines suffered about 240 casualties during the 17th and in Japanese counterattacks the ensuing night; the 3rd Battalion was reduced to about one third of its original strength; and two companies of the 1st Battalion were practically finished as fighting units. On the other hand, there was some reason for optimism. Progress on the 17th had been measured in hundreds of yards in the rough, high ground at the southern end of the central ridges and strong Japanese resistance had been overcome. Whatever optimism may have existed was not to last too long. On the 18th, in what the Marine Corps' history of the operation characterizes as "savage and costly fighting," elements of the 1st and 7th Marines managed to advance more than 500 yards in the center, principally along the ridge lines and hills oriented north and south. But the advance during the day was held up at a group of peaks which seemed at first to form a continuous ridge line that was oriented more east and west than the rest of the Peleliu ridges. Soon, the name Five Sisters came to be applied to a cluster of peaks forming the western side of the terrain feature. A towering hill at its eastern extremity, separated from Five Sisters by a saddle, was designated Hill 300, or Old Baldy. With the 7th Marines held up in the center, at Five Sisters, the units on both sides of the central ridges halted so as not to create exposed flanks. Puller's 3rd Battalion made progress along the coastal plains but had to pause to stay in contact with other units. Meanwhile, the 2nd Battalion struggled against the Umurbrogol Mountains, capturing Hill 210 before being forced to withdraw due to a fierce Japanese counterattack on Hill 200 behind them. At Anguar, following a three-hour artillery bombardment supported by aircraft, General Mueller's 321st and 322nd Regiments resumed their advance north and west with tank support. After linking their advances, Colonel Venable pushed west and reached the high ground where Major Goto had established his main defenses, while Colonel Dark made significant progress south until his forces encountered the formidable defenses at Green Beach. The night of 18-19 September was noisy and nerve-racking all along the front and few troops got much sleep. Minor Japanese attacks harassed the exposed salient held by the 3d Battalion, 322d Infantry, while bats and large land crabs helped the Japanese to create distraction and started troops firing on nonexistent enemy infiltrators. Apparently no casualties resulted either from Japanese action or indiscriminate small arms fire. Friendly artillery fire did, however, cause some casualties. About 2030, four or five 105-mm. shells from the 316th Field Artillery Battalion hit the lines of the 2d Battalion, 321st Infantry, killing 4 men and wounding 15 others. The artillery fire was stopped before further damage could be done. On September 19, following a night of numerous Japanese infiltrations and small-scale counterattacks, the 322nd Regiment swiftly secured Saipan Town and advanced to the north shore of Garangaoi Cove. Meanwhile, the 321st Regiment successfully attacked and captured the Green Beach fortifications from their vulnerable side. To manage the exposed Japanese forces on the beaches, Dark's 2nd Battalion, supported by tanks, maneuvered left and progressed down the southwest of the island, halting just short of the shoreline by nightfall. At Peleliu, Harris' Marines made headway towards the Ngardololok area, overcoming light resistance and quickly dispatching the few enemy stragglers they encountered, reaching Purple Beach by day's end. However, in front of the O-3 line, Puller's weary troops, having endured a grueling night of Japanese counterattacks, resumed their assault on the Umurbrogol Mountains.  Despite some local advances, by evening on 20 September the 1st Marines had been stopped and, ". . . as an assault unit on the regimental level, had ceased temporarily to exist," having suffered almost 1,750 casualties, well over half its strength. Relief was absolutely necessary, not only because casualties were heavy but also because the survivors were physically exhausted from heat, lack of water, and continuous combat. Elements of the 7th Marines therefore relieved all 1st Marines units except those along West Road. While the 7th Marines took over from the exhausted 1st Marines on the right, the 5th Marines continued their advance through western Peleliu, securing its two peninsulas, including Island A and Ngabad Island, by September 21. General Mueller, concerned lest the Japanese reported on the south break through gaps or weak points in the forward lines, had special defenses in depth set up at RED and BLUE Beaches, utilizing Shore Party and antiaircraft troops. All units were alerted to expect Japanese attacks during the night. The division expected (and perhaps hoped) that the Japanese still believed to be located in southern Angaur might launch a suicidal desperation charge during the night or at dawn on the 20th. The night proved very quiet until, toward morning, some small, scattered Japanese parties infiltrated through the lines of both regiments. There was no banzai effort--rather, these Japanese troops were apparently attempting to escape to the northwest hill mass from positions in the mangrove swamp and GREEN Beach 3 areas. Action at dawn was limited to a mopping-up operation directed against four Japanese discovered in the headquarters area of the 2d Battalion, 321st Infantry. By 11:00 on September 20, Mueller reported to General Geiger that all organized resistance on Angaur had ended and that the island was secure. General Mueller's statement was probably prompted by his realization that the remaining Japanese were compressed into the northwest hills and by the reports that about 850 of the enemy had been killed through the 20th. This casualty figure was an overestimation. Probably fewer than 600 Japanese had been killed through the 20th, and Major Goto still had possibly 750 men with which to conduct an organized defense in the northwest. On orders from General Inoue, Goto planned no final banzai attack which would decimate his forces. Instead he withdrew over half his force to rugged terrain and emplaced them in natural or prepared fortifications. His lines of defense in the northwest were well conceived; many of his positions were mutually supporting; the amphitheater configuration of the bowl provided him with defensive areas whence heavy cross fires could be directed at attackers; the broken coral, with its crevices, fissures, caves, and ridgelets, gave him defensive advantages at least as good as those at the Ibdi Pocket on Biak; and he had available a number of artillery and anti-tank weapons, heavy and light mortars, and heavy and light machine-guns, most of them so emplaced as to give maximum support to his riflemen. In addition, he could still exercise effective control over the men he had gathered in the Lake Salome bowl. For whatever it was worth, Goto was ready to conduct a protracted defense, though the best he could hope for was to tie down the 322nd Regiment. Nevertheless, the real issue at Angaur--securing the prospective airfield area--had already been decided. To the north, while southern Angaur was being secured, Venable's men were probing the enemy's northwestern defenses with a series of company-sized attacks. These attacks allowed the Americans to gather crucial information about Goto's remaining positions, centered around the Lake Salome bowl. Venable discovered that organized resistance was still strong, prompting him to rearrange his units for a final push. Following a heavy artillery and air bombardment, the 322nd Regiment attacked the bowl with tank support, initially making some gains but soon encountering obstacles due to the terrain and enemy fire. By the end of September 21, Venable deemed the newly gained positions too exposed and decided to withdraw to the previous night's defenses. Meanwhile, the 1st and 7th Marines continued to face heavy casualties as they fought through the Umurbrogol Mountains, with the latter advancing less than 175 yards after two days of intense combat. Nakagawa's fierce defenders managed to halt the 1st Marine Division on the rough and well-defended terrain, resulting in a total of 4,000 casualties by this time. After visiting the front, Geiger decided to replace the battered 1st Marines with Dark's 321st Regiment, which had suffered minimal casualties and had completed its mission at Angaur. The 1st Marines by this time reported 1749 casualties. One Marine later described the fighting in the Umurbrogol, which attests to the level to which the 1st Marines had deteriorated: "I picked up the rifle of a dead Marine and I went up the hill; I remember no more than a few yards of scarred hillside, I didn't worry about death anymore, I had resigned from the human race. I crawled and scrambled forward and lay still without any feeling towards any human thing. In the next foxhole was a rifleman. He peered at me through red and painful eyes. I didn't care about him and he didn't care about me. As a fighting unit, the 1st Marines was finished. We were no longer human beings, I fired at anything that moved in front of me, friend or foe. I had no friends, I just wanted to kill." OnSeptember 19, he also dispatched Colonel Arthur Watson's reserve 323rd Regiment to secure Ulithi Atoll. After a successful reconnaissance mission, the infantrymen landed on September 22, discovering that the atoll's airfield and seaplane base had been abandoned by the Japanese. The Americans later established a major advanced fleet anchorage, a Marine airbase, and a Navy seaplane base there. Ulithi Atoll contained a 300-berth anchorage and a seaplane base. Occupation of these Western Caroline islands provided still another base from which future operations against the enemy could be supported. The construction of an airstrip on Ameliorate Island made possible fighter plane protection for the anchorage and afforded a base from which US aircraft could continue neutralization of the nearby Japanese bases on Yap. Together with Angaur and Peleliu Islands to the southwest and Guam, Tinian, and Saipan to the northeast, the capture of Ulithi Atoll completed a line of American bases that isolated Japanese holdings in the Central and South Pacific. The occupation of Ulithi Atoll further denied it to the enemy as a fleet anchorage, weather and radio station, and possible air and submarine base, in addition to precluding its use by the enemy to observe and report the activities of American forces in the sector. By September 25 the unloading of all the support ships had been completed and Vice Admiral John H. Hoover, Commander, Forward Areas Western Pacific, took over the task of developing Ulithi Atoll into an advanced fleet base. Within a month after its capture, more than 100 Navy craft from self-propelled types to lighters, floating drydocks, barges, landing craft, and seaplane wrecking derricks were en route to the island. During subsequent operations in the Philippines, the Pacific Fleet found Ulithi to be an extremely valuable base. Prior to the invasion of Okinawa, the island served as a staging area for fleet and amphibious forces. The atoll thus fulfilled a vital strategic role in the final phase of the Pacific War. On that day, Venable resumed his assault on the Lake Salome bowl. The coastal offensive faced little resistance, but the attack through the southern defile encountered heavy enemy fire. Despite this, the troops reached the shores of Lake Salome. However, Venable was severely wounded during the action and had to be evacuated, with his troops retreating to more defensible positions by nightfall. The main strength of the attack was placed on the right (southeast) section of the bowl, and tanks fired along the eastern rim about 200 yards in front of the leading elements. The mediums had been undisturbed by enemy fire all morning, but, apparently attracted by an incautious grouping of officers and men near the lead tanks and defile exit, a Japanese anti-tank gun opened fire from a hidden emplacement along the east rim. Three officers (including Colonel Venable, who was in the forward area to observe the new attack) and one enlisted man were severely wounded and had to be evacuated. During the retirement on the 22nd, one of the three forward tanks was so badly damaged by a mine or buried shell that it could not be moved through the defile. This tank blocked the defile's northern entrance and prevented the withdrawal of another medium, which had to be destroyed to keep it from falling into Japanese hands. In four days of fruitless effort to push into the bowl from the south, three tanks and two 75-mm SPM's had been lost. Heavier infantry losses also began to be sustained now that the Japanese, cornered, were fighting to the death. On that day, for instance, the 2nd Battalion lost 2 men killed and about 35 wounded. At 0730 on the morning of the 23d, the 2d Battalion, with Companies B, C, and E attached, continued the attack into the bowl from the south. Companies B and C worked up the east shore of Lake Salome. Companies I and G pushed toward the southwest and western shores, while Company F paid particular attention to caves along the southwest rim of the bowl. During the first part of the attack all companies moved forward rapidly, and Company I reached the northwest corner of the lake without much trouble. But Company B, pushing forward against increasingly heavy Japanese fire from the north, was pinned down by this fire when it reached the northeast corner of the lake. Company C was sent north on B's right to try to outflank the enemy machine gun and mortar positions from which the fire on Company B originated. The intention was to flush the Japanese from their positions and push them southwest and south against the main body of the 2d Battalion. But Company C could make little progress toward the northern section of the bowl, and its own position became precarious as Japanese mortar and machine gun fire increased and the 1st Battalion's own 81-mm. mortar ammunition ran out, making further mortar support impossible. Japanese fire continued to increase and the positions of all forward companies became untenable. A general withdrawal to the defile entrance was ordered. The withdrawal was painfully slow; companies were broken up; all units suffered more casualties. One small group of Company I, separated from its parent unit, worked over the cliffs and ridges at the bowl's western rim to the coast at BLACK Beach. Company B, retreating in small segments, lost men as it withdrew from the northeast corner of the lake. All told, the 2d Battalion and attached companies lost 18 men killed and over 75 wounded during the day. Concurrently, as the 1st and 7th Marines continued to struggle with the formidable Umurbrogol Mountains, Harris' Company G successfully secured the undefended Carlson Island, finally completing the 5th Marines' original mission. Despite concerns about a potential enemy attack on Koror and Babelthuap after the Peleliu operation, General Inoue decided to reinforce Nakagawa's beleaguered garrison. By 21 September effective Japanese infantry strength in the central ridges was down to 1,300 men. That, of course, does not paint a true picture of the situation in the central pocket. A trained soldier, well armed, can be tenacious on the defense in such terrain as the central ridges of Peleliu whether or not he be trained for infantry service. There were probably 4,000 Japanese troops (including the 1,300 infantrymen) still firmly ensconced in the central pocket as of 21 September, and there were at least 1,000 more troops in the Amiangal Mountain area at northern Peleliu. Nevertheless, Colonel Nakagawa, commanding the Peleliu Sector Unit, clearly needed reinforcements if he was to hold out much longer. There were perhaps 30,000 Japanese troops in the northern Palaus to draw from, including two battalions of the 59th Infantry, two battalions of the 15th Infantry, and four or five recently organized infantry battalions of the 53d Independent Mixed Brigade. The Japanese were not to reach their destination undetected. At 0535, the destroyer H.L. Edwards spotted seven enemy barges about 1,000 yards northeast of Akarakoro Point at the northern tip of Peleliu, obviously headed for the island. The destroyer opened fire, sinking one barge before the remainder reached the beach. A combination of bombing and strafing, naval gunfire, and artillery hit the barges on the beach, and by 0845 the cruiser Louisville reported all barges destroyed. The enemy version of this incident agrees only in part with the American account, adding that "despite receiving severe enemy air and artillery fire at a point two kilometers off the coast, they made a successful landing at 0520 hours under the command of 1st Lieutenant Murahori". Knowing that some Japanese forces had reached Peleliu, Rupertus decided to deploy his own reinforcements between the central ridges and the western shore, targeting the enemy's weak spot for an offensive up the western coast. The 7th Marines supported the Army by attacking enemy positions from the south and center, with Hanneken's 3rd Battalion advancing along the high ground to the right rear of the 321st. After relieving the 1st Marines, Dark sent patrols up the coastal flat to Garekoru, encountering little opposition initially. However, Dark's 2nd Battalion faced heavier resistance in the afternoon and had to retreat, postponing the northward advance until the next day. During the night, Inoue sent the remainder of the 2nd Battalion, 15th Regiment, and despite being shelled, most reinforcements reached Peleliu. By September 23, the Americans had secured important footholds on Peleliu and Angaur. However, intense fighting remained, with the 321st Regiment relieving the 1st Marines against Nakagawa's fortified positions, while the 322nd Regiment continued to attack Goto's defenses on the northwest hills. Yet that is it for the Palau's as we now need to turn to Mortai. General Persons' troops quickly secured and expanded the island perimeter, successfully repelling the enemy's night raids with little difficulty. An example of these raids is the September 18 attack. This is the Japanese report: “On 18 September the main body of the 2nd Provisional Raiding Unit, which had moved into position along the upper Tjao, launched a strong night infiltration attack with the objective of disrupting the enemy's rear area in the vicinity of Doroeba and Gotalalmo. Although deep penetration of the enemy lines was achieved and considerable casualties inflicted, the attack failed to reduce the beachhead or to interfere with the enemy's rapid preparation of Doroeba airfield.” In truth, the Americans easily repelled this attack, suffering very few casualties. These raids would continue throughout September and October. American engineers were busy constructing a new fighter strip at the Pitoe Drome area. This strip was scheduled to be ready for use by September 29 but was eventually abandoned and downgraded to an emergency field. A number of factors influenced the decision to abandon the site, which was renamed Pitoe Crash Strip. Japanese air reaction had been so ineffectual that the need for a fighter base on Morotai was not as urgent as had been expected. Aircraft based on escort carriers, some of which remained in the Morotai area for weeks, were able to keep away most of the Japanese planes, and their efforts were supplemented by long-range land-based fighters from Sansapor. Moreover, the line of approach which planes had to use to land on Pitoe Crash Strip interfered with that of the more important bomber base at Wama Drome. Finally, the terrain at the crash strip was by no means as well drained as that at other locations on the Doroeba Plain, and it was necessary to expend much engineer effort to keep the strip operational. The new field, which acquired the designation Pitoe Drome, was located about 1,200 yards north of Wama Drome. Construction proceeded slowly at Pitoe Drome because so much engineer effort had to be devoted to the completion of Wama Drome. By 4 October almost 7,000 feet at the new site had been cleared, but it was not until the 17th, D plus 32, that even one runway was surfaced, let alone taxiways and dispersal lanes. Meanwhile, the construction of a new bomber field at Wama Drome faced significant delays due to heavy rainstorms and a shortage of suitable surfacing material. Despite almost constant struggles with soggy ground and tropical downpours, engineers managed to make 4,000 feet of Wama Drome operational by October 4. However, the overall progress on building Morotai's new airbase, intended for the upcoming invasion of the Philippines, was slower than anticipated. Nevertheless, the Tradewind Task Force was disbanded on September 25, as the island was considered secure enough. General Hall then assumed command of the Morotai base as the commander of the 11th Corps. However, unbeknownst to the Americans, who believed the only possible Japanese response to the invasion was the ineffective air raids already carried out against them, troops in Halmahera were preparing to embark on a dangerous mission to reinforce Morotai and contest control of this key island. In the meantime, after the successful invasion of the Palaus, new developments were unfolding on the Philippines front following Admiral Mitscher's Task Force 38's recent successful strikes. These strikes had revealed an unexpected vulnerability in the enemy's air defenses, prompting Admirals Halsey and Nimitz to cancel the Yap operation, thereby freeing up many resources for the Philippines Campaign. Approximately 500 aircraft, or about 57% of the 884 believed to be in the Philippines, were rendered nonoperational or destroyed during these air attacks. Consequently, General MacArthur decided to cancel the preliminary Mindanao operations and instead make a direct jump from the Palaus-Morotai line to Leyte on October 20. Shortly after this change in schedule, MacArthur informed the Joint Chiefs that he could advance from Leyte to Luzon by December 20, two months earlier than planned. Meanwhile, the carrier raids on Mindanao and the Visayas strengthened the Southern Army command's belief that the Allies were preparing for an early invasion of the Philippines. As a result, Marshal Terauchi recommended accelerating the reinforcement of the Philippines, activating Operation Sho-Go, and authorizing the 4th Air Army to employ its main strength against enemy carrier task forces. This was in contrast to the current policy of not committing available air strength against enemy raiders, which was failing to conserve Japanese air power for a decisive battle. However, Tokyo denied these last two requests while also receiving concerning reports about General Kuroda's neglect of his duties as field army commander. In the middle of September, IGHQ decided to replace General Kuroda with General Yamashita. Not only did General Kuroda have a concept of the Philippine operations that differed from that of his superiors, but he was charged with neglecting his duty as field army commander. Lt. Col. Yoshie Seiichi of the Personnel Bureau of the War Ministry, who had been sent to the Philippines to investigate personnel matters in the Southern Army, said of the incident: “Stories reached the War Ministry that Lt. Gen. Kuroda was devoting more time to his golf, reading and personal matters than to the execution of his official duties. It appeared that his control over staff officers and troops was not sufficiently strong and that there was a good deal of unfavorable criticism of his conduct among the troops. There were also indications that discipline was becoming very lax. On September 4, I left Tokyo under orders . . . to investigate. As a result I obtained many statements substantiating the unfavorable stories in regard to Lt. Gen. Kuroda. The recommendations of all the staff was that Lt. Gen. Kuroda be relieved as soon as possible, and be replaced by Gen. Yamashita . . . who was a superb tactician and excellent leader.” Random note, for those interested, over on my personal podcast at the Pacific War Channel I did a single episode covering how Yamashita became the Tiger of Malaya and plan to do more pieces on him as I find him to be one of the more interesting generals of the Pacific War. Before an effective change in command could take place, the Japanese were about to experience a more dramatic display of Allied offensive power that they would soon encounter in the Philippines. On September 18, Mitscher's Task Force 38 was ordered to head back toward the islands for a major strike against Luzon, the heart of Japanese control in the Philippines. The American carriers achieved complete surprise and successfully attacked Luzon three days later. Despite the fierce defense by approximately 42 Zeros, between 09:30 and 18:00 on September 21, four waves of over 400 aircraft targeted the harbor area and airfields around Manila with bombs and strafing runs. The assault on the harbor and shipping along the west coast resulted in the sinking or severe damage of 34 vessels totaling over 100,000 gross tons, while the raids on the airfields inflicted significant damage on grounded aircraft. At 0610 the following day, 22 September, search planes discovered the enemy carrier groups still lurking off the coast of Luzon, and at 0730 a hit-and-run attack was carried out by 27 Japanese aircraft, with reported bomb hits on two carriers and one cruiser. Naval air units at Legaspi attempted to carry out a second attack on the enemy carriers during the late afternoon, but the attack force of 19 planes failed to locate the carrier groups. Following the failed Japanese hit-and-run counterattack, Mitscher continued his assaults on Manila, destroying an estimated 110 aircraft in the air and 95 on the ground, and sinking or damaging 44 vessels. After the apparent withdrawal of enemy carriers, the Japanese decided to relocate their remaining ships in Manila Bay to other anchorages, many of which were directed to the secure docks of Coron Bay. However, Mitscher's carriers returned on September 24 to launch further strikes against Luzon, including a raid by about 96 Hellcats and 24 Helldivers on Coron Bay, which resulted in the sinking or damaging of 10 more vessels. Additional attacks on other targets led to the sinking or damaging of 12 more ships. Despite the ongoing air attacks, the Imperial Japanese Navy still deemed it premature to fully activate Operation Sho-Go, believing the decisive battle would take place in or after late October. Meanwhile, the Imperial Japanese Army accelerated its preparations to defend the Philippines. The reserve 1st Division was ordered to move to the islands immediately, and plans were made to assign ten surface raiding regiments to the area. On September 26, as plans for air reinforcement to the Philippines were being approved, General Yamashita was confirmed as the new commander of the 14th Area Army. He arrived in the Philippines on October 6 and found the situation "unsatisfactory," with poor planning for the Leyte campaign and many of his staff unfamiliar with the conditions in the Philippines. Lt. Gen. Makino Shiro, now commanding the 16th Division, which was the major force on Leyte, had directed his efforts since April 1944 toward the construction of defensive positions on the island. The first line of defense, which was on the east coast in the Dulag area, was practically completed by the middle of October. The third defensive line was in the middle of Leyte Valley in the vicinity of Dagami. The second line of defense was between the two others, while the bulk of supplies was assembled in the central mountain range at Jaro. The distribution of the other troops at the time of the American landings was as follows: one battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment in the Catmon Hill and Tanauan district, and the main strength of the 33d Infantry Regiment in the Palo and Tacloban area. The larger part of the 33d Infantry Regiment, which was less adequately trained than the other regiments, had arrived on Leyte in mid-September from Luzon. Its officers were unfamiliar with the terrain and did not fortify their positions. However, the supply situation was favorable, with Manila serving as the main Japanese depot in the region. Following established plans, he instructed his subordinates that the Area Army would "seek decisive battle on Luzon" while in the central and southern Philippines, the focus would be to delay the enemy's advance and prevent them from securing naval and air bases. However, the September air strikes had led to a noticeable increase in guerrilla activity and civil disorder due to widespread destruction and panic. Small Japanese garrisons were attacked, pro-Japanese Filipinos molested and intimidated, and communications disrupted. In central Luzon there were indications that some guerrilla units were planning a move to the Lamon Bay area in order to be the first to cooperate with an American landing force, and on Negros and Panay guerrilla raids on Japanese airfields became boldly persistent. The Fourteenth Area Army feared that, as soon as enemy forces landed, the guerrillas would not only give them direct assistance as scouts and guides, but seriously hamper Japanese operations by attacking rear communication lines. Consequently, martial law was declared across the archipelago in anticipation of enemy landings. 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. Despite fierce and costly combat, American forces made significant advances in the Palaus, securing critical islands and establishing bases. The battle for Peleliu was marked by high casualties and intense fighting, with heavy losses on both sides. The successful capture of strategic locations like Ulithi Atoll and the subsequent strikes on Luzon further demonstrated Allied dominance and strategic planning in the Pacific Theater.

Last time we spoke about the fall of Guam and actions in New Guinea. General Shepherd's Marines had secured the Orote Peninsula, while General Turnage's Marines pushed the Japanese northwards. General Bruce's 77th Division prepared for an eastward assault, and engineers attempted, but failed, to build a supply road to Yona. Geiger's offensive began on July 31, with Marines quickly capturing Agaña and advancing despite dense jungle and resistance. The 77th Division faced tough terrain but liberated 2,000 Guamanians. The push north continued, facing logistical challenges and mined roads. By August 7th, coordinated attacks cleared key areas, culminating in the defeat of remaining Japanese forces by August 11. Guam was back in American hands although scattered Japanese forces continued guerrilla warfare until the war's conclusion. Thus the Marianas campaign had finally come to a conclusion, and now the allies were adding more bass of operation to hit the Japanese home islands.  This episode is the Fall of Myitkyina 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.  This week we are diving back over to the northern Burma front. Despite holding Myitkyina through a rainy, muddy summer-long siege, by late July, the Japanese had been gradually cornered into a small perimeter, cut off from all supply lines and running short on ammunition. The situation worsened due to a leadership crisis, between the two Japanese leaders was a matter of semantics. Colonel Maruyama of the 114th Regiment who was in charge of the defense of the city, interpreted his orders to “facilitate the future operations of 33rd Army ‘by securing the vital areas in the vicinity of Myitkyina',” as a call to defend the city street-by-street, house-by-house. When General Minakami of the 56th Division arrived, he pointed out that all Maruyama had to do to satisfy his orders was simply to continue to deny the Allies access to the Ledo-Kamaing road. Minakami thus found himself in a rather difficult position in regard to the command of the Myitkyina Garrison. Maruyama had conducted an excellent defense, was fully familiar with the situation and, because of his position as former commander, exercised considerable authority. Shortly after Minakami's assumption of command, General Honda asked how long Myitkyina could stand. Minakami replied that the garrison might be able to hold out for as long as two months. A few days later, Honda was surprised to receive a second message stating, "The Myitkyina Garrison finds it difficult to hold with the poor defense facilities and meager supplies of ammunition." The Army staff concluded that the first message was undoubtedly Minakami's personal opinion as it reflected his determined character and that the second message incorporated the views of Maruyama who was more cognizant of the actual situation. In order that there should be no doubt as to the importance of holding Myitkyina, Honda sent the following message, "Maj. Gen. Minakami will defend Myitkyina to the death” — a message sent with deep regret and sadness according to the staff officers who wrote and dispatched the order. Heavy casualties had reduced the Japanese forces from around 3,000 to fewer than 1,500, further weakening the garrison's defensive capabilities. This number included the heavily wounded and hospital patients, who could only be evacuated by drifting down the Irrawaddy River on rafts, often intercepted by the unforgiving Kachin Levies. On July 24, eight rafts and a boat laden with Japanese were attacked on the Irrawaddy by Kachins of the OSS Detachment 101. Twenty-four Japanese were killed, two captured, and then it was learned these were hospital patients fleeing Myitkyina. Three more Japanese seized by friendly Burmans revealed that hospital patients were being evacuated by the simple expedient of letting them drift down the river on rafts. As these fierce defenders began to falter, General Wessels felt ready to launch his final push. Reinforced by the 149th and 90th Regiments, the American-Chinese forces made daily gains of several hundred yards during the last days of July, though at a significant cost. As the Japanese-held area shrank, counterattacks became less dynamic, captured positions were less fortified, and many Japanese dead were found to be severely wounded men returned to the line. Unbeknownst to the Americans, the desperate defenders had requested a withdrawal to the east by the end of the month. Though Minakami had intended to fight to the last, he ultimately agreed to preserve his men's lives. On the night of August 1, the Japanese began their escape, crossing the Irrawaddy east of the town. Weighing the many evidences that control of the situation was rapidly passing into their hands, Wessels and his colleagues drafted a new plan of attack. It included an ingenious device, credited to General Pan Yu-kun of the 50th Division. A raiding party, formed into fifteen heavily armed sections, was organized and briefed on infiltrating Japanese lines facing the 50th Division. Having made its way through the Japanese lines in darkness, it was to remain hidden until 0430 when the 50th would assault while the raiders spread confusion behind the Japanese lines. Meanwhile, air reconnaissance revealed many rafts moored against the Irrawaddy within the Japanese lines. "At 0300 hours (3 August), when the moon went down and rain and thunder set in, the raiding party of the 50th Division moved out. The approach was detected only once and some shots were fired at the raiders, who hit the ground. The Chinese did not return fire however, and after laying low for a while, moved out again quietly and cautiously." While the raiders created confusion behind Japanese lines, the 50th Division launched a full attack, quickly overwhelming the remaining enemy positions and capturing 187 prisoners, thus securing Myitkyina for the Chinese. However, about 800 Japanese managed to escape eastward and later rejoined their allies. Minakami was not among them. As the 3rd of August meandered on in a haze of gunfire, blood and rain, Minakami went to sit with his back against a tree. There came the sound of a pistol shot. Japanese officers nearby sprinted to the scene. The general's orderly was in tears. They found Minakami's body erect against the tree trunk, facing northeast, towards Japan. The ten-week siege resulted in approximately 3,000 Japanese killed or captured; 972 Chinese killed, 3,184 wounded, and 188 evacuated due to illness; and 272 Americans killed, 955 wounded, and 980 evacuated sick. Overall, the total American-Chinese casualties in 1944 amounted to 13,618 Chinese and 1,327 American casualties. A week later, the Galahad Unit, reduced to only 130 combat-effective men from the original 2,997, was disbanded. The fall of Myitkyina was General Stilwell's greatest victory, earning him a promotion to full general on August 1, two days before the city fell. The attack was costly in terms of suffering and losses, but the Mogaung-Myitkyina area was a significant prize. It allowed Ledo Road builders and American transport planes to move to Myitkyina and enabled ground forces to link up with other Chinese forces in neighboring Yunnan. As the fighting moved further south down the Hukawng and Mogaung valleys, it became safer for transports to use the lower, more southerly routes to China. This, in turn, increased Hump deliveries to China from 13,686 tons in May to 18,235 tons in June and 25,454 tons in July.  While the Allies celebrated victories in northern Burma, the situation in China was dire as the Ichi-Go offensive resulted in many Chinese casualties. By August 1, General Yokoyama had amassed 110,000 troops around Hengyang, equipped with five heavy artillery pieces, fifty mountain artillery pieces, and 40,000 shells. Conversely, General Fang's resilient defenders had dwindled to 3,000 exhausted troops, with their defenses largely destroyed. General Xue Yue's reinforcements had failed to reach Hengyang, leaving the Chinese forces to rely on the 46th Army to launch an attack along the railway. On August 4, Yokoyama initiated his main offensive. The 68th and 116th Divisions launched a significant assault from the south and southwest, while the 58th Division quietly positioned itself near the enemy's northern defenses. Initially, progress was slow. However, by August 5, Yokoyama's forces had captured Yoping and School Hill. The next day, the 116th Division secured part of the city's defenses. On August 6, the 58th Division breached the city walls from the north, forcing Fang to redeploy troops to counter this new threat. Intense street fighting broke out on August 7 as the defenders valiantly tried to repel the Japanese attacks. By nightfall, the 68th Division had overrun the southern defenses and entered part of the Walled City. Gradually, enemy troops began to surrender, and before dawn on August 8, after 48 days of fierce resistance, Fang was compelled to surrender. Following the capture of Hengyang, Yokoyama declared the successful completion of the initial phase of Operation Togo and promptly began preparations for the subsequent offensive. In this phase, the Japanese reported casualties of over 3860 killed, 8327 wounded, and 7099 sick, with an estimated Chinese casualty count exceeding 100,000, including 8400 killed and 5000 captured in Hengyang alone. To spearhead the next stage of Operation Togo targeting Guilin and Liuzhou, General Okamura Yasuji's 6th Area Army was established on August 25, comprising the 11th, 23rd, and 34th Armies, along with the 27th, 40th, 64th, and 68th Divisions, alongside additional support units. This allowed General Hata to focus on countering potential American landings on the Chinese coast while Okamura directed the offensives in eastern China. Ahead of this operation, Lieutenant-General Tanaka Hisakazu of the 23rd Army initiated a preliminary offensive in late June, positioning the 23rd Independent Mixed Brigade in the northeastern sector of the Luichow Peninsula, advancing the 22nd Independent Mixed Brigade to the Tanjiang River, securing the Jiangmen area with the 22nd Division, and capturing the Qingyuan sector with the 104th Division. By late August, Yokoyama had deployed six divisions along the Shuangfeng-Leiyang line, poised to eliminate the enemy in the district west of Hengyang. On August 29, he launched the offensive, with over 100,000 troops advancing southwest amidst heavy artillery bombardment. Intense ground and aerial combat ensued, resulting in the loss of 10 Japanese planes and 15 enemy aircraft. Despite fierce resistance from Chinese defenders over three days, their entire line collapsed on September 1, prompting a retreat towards Shaoyang, Qiyang, and Jiahe. However, the Japanese advanced relentlessly, covering nearly 100 kilometers in the following days without pause. By September 5, both Qiyang and Huochangpingzhen had fallen, followed by the seizure of Lingling Airdrome on September 8 by the 3rd Division. Progressing along a north-south axis, Japanese forces secured Shaoyang and Changning, while the 58th Division captured Dongan on the same day. With initial objectives achieved, Yokoyama ordered further pursuit, with the 3rd and 54th Divisions converging in the Quanzhou area by September 14. Meanwhile, Tanaka prepared for his offensive, with the bulk of the 104th Division moving towards Taipingzhen, and a raiding unit conducting a wide envelopment maneuver along the Zhukeng-Huaiji road towards Wuzhou by September 6. Subsequently, the 23rd Brigade began its northward march from Suixi. However, Tanaka's offensive wouldn't commence for a couple of weeks. Turning to the broader context of the Pacific War, General Stilwell celebrated a major victory with the fall of Myitkyina, while General Slim's successful defense against Operation U-Go further bolstered Allied morale in the CBI Theater. In Thailand, Prime Minister Phibun's regime faced a significant crisis as Japan struggled to meet the country's essential import needs, leading to inflation, rationing, shortages, black markets, smuggling, corruption, and profiteering. The anti-Japanese Free Thai underground movement, spearheaded by Regent Pridi Banomyong, infiltrated the government, stoking public discontent against both the Japanese occupiers and Phibun's administration. As a result, following the downfall of the Tojo government, Phibun found himself compelled to step down in late July. For his part, Phibun also was thinking of ways, he claims, to prepare to turn against the Japanese. Part of these preparations included proposals to move the capital to remote Phetchabun, north of Bangkok, and construct a “Buddhist City,” a sort of center for world Buddhism, near Saraburi—both grandiose projects in typically extravagant Phibun style. Moving to the isolated, mountain-ringed Phetchabun, Phibun later argued, would facilitate a Thai uprising against the Japanese. Yet on July 18, the Tojo government in Japan resigned, and only six days later the Thai National Assembly turned down both government bills and forced the resignation of Phibun as prime minister. The deputies in the assembly voted against these plans motivated in part by the fall of Tojo, who was closely associated in their minds with Phibun, in part by their feeling that the war was turning against Japan, and in part by their feeling that Phibun was too closely identified with an authoritarian past that must now be buried for the sake of improving relations with the Allies.  Politician Khuang Aphaiwong then assumed his position as Prime Minister on August 1. Serving as a compromise candidate, he navigated between Phibun's supporters and the opposition while maintaining cooperation with the Japanese and safeguarding Free Thai members who had collaborated with the Allies. Meanwhile, in China, the success of Operation Ichi-Go led to another leadership crisis. Despite the initial rejection of Stilwell commanding troops in China in 1942, the effective Japanese offensive posed a threat of defeat to the Chinese Government, reigniting the debate over command authority. This was especially significant as Chinese troops under Stilwell's command were achieving significant victories in northern Burma. However, Stilwell's vocal criticism of Chiang Kai-Shek's corrupt regime and incompetent generals strained their relationship. Chiang favored General Chennault, who proposed that with a monthly allocation of 10,000 tons for operations in northern China, his 14th Air Force could halt the Japanese offensive. Despite his strained relationship with Chennault, Stilwell redirected Hump allocations to increase the 14th Air Force's allocation to 8,425 tons, although he couldn't secure an additional 1,500 tons from the Matterhorn allocation. Chennault's aircraft managed to disrupt the Japanese advance, but failed to halt it completely. In late June, Stilwell faced criticism when Vice-President Henry Wallace visited Chongqing. While Wallace persuaded Chiang to allow a small American observer mission into Communist territory, he also recommended Stilwell's recall due to his perceived lack of diplomacy and strained relations with the Chinese leadership. Nonetheless, Stilwell maintained the backing of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and President Roosevelt eventually nominated him to lead the China Theater, on the condition that he make every effort to avoid upsetting the Generalissimo. In July, the President attempted to persuade Chiang to accept this arrangement, but the Generalissimo employed various diplomatic maneuvers to reject the proposal, agreeing "in principle" only after an unspecified period for his forces to adjust. He also requested the presence of a presidential representative to facilitate smooth relations between himself and Stilwell. Major-General Patrick Hurley was appointed to this role and arrived in China in August. Concurrently, the Dixie Mission arrived in Yan'an, where over the following months, American observers assessed Communist society, military tactics, and guerrilla operations, issuing reports that commended them and suggested increased collaboration. Following the fall of Hengyang, tensions escalated in China, with rumors swirling about potential coup plans involving Marshall Li Zhongren and General Xue Yue against the Generalissimo. Meanwhile, Chennault urged Stilwell to divert Hump airlift capacity to supply ground forces in eastern China, a move opposed by Chiang, who feared supporting potential insurgents with lend-lease equipment. Stilwell, anticipating his imminent assumption of leadership in the China Theater, refrained from challenging Chiang's stance. With significant developments looming, the intensifying rift between Stilwell and Chiang foreshadowed the downfall of one of them. Elsewhere in the South Pacific, General MacArthur's troops had finished their final offensive in New Guinea and were preparing to return to the Philippines by way of an intermediate stop at Halmahera Island. To the east, Rabaul was completely surrounded, enduring heavy bombardment from Allied air forces. Meanwhile, on Bougainville, the remaining forces of the 17th Army had retreated to the island's southern region, unable to launch further counterattacks. The living conditions of the Japanese soldiers, never good under the best of circumstances, became increasingly desperate. Added to the dangers that forward troops always faced, such as contact with large American combat patrols, was the growing specter of starvation. Sealed off from regular supplies from New Ireland or New Britain, General Hyakutake's army had to depend entirely on its own laborers to acquire food. The normal rice ration of 750 grams of rice for each soldier was cut in April 1944 to 250 grams, and beginning in September there was no rice ration. A large portion of the available army and naval personnel had to be put to work growing food. Allied pilots took delight in dropping napalm on these garden plots whenever possible. The native workers who had been impressed into service were the first to defect, but soon many soldiers also just walked away from their units, taking the chance of surviving in the jungle on what could be gathered. After the failure of the March attack, morale in most units became deplorably low. There were instances, normally unimagined in the Japanese army, of open insubordination and even mutiny. Although General Hyakutake dreamed of a midsummer offensive, it became obvious that no operations as large as that smashed in March could be undertaken for months, if ever. Thus, almost as if by agreement, both sides adopted a defensive posture that minimized the conflict in the no-man's-land between them. In the Central Pacific, significant progress had been made over the past year, marked by the complete capture of the Gilbert, Marshall, and Mariana Islands, strengthening the Allied presence and providing a launching point for future offensives into the heart of the Japanese Empire. The next target for Admiral Nimitz was the Palaus, to be invaded concurrently with Halmahera. However, the architect of this southwestern advance was not Admiral Spruance, who had been overseeing operations with the 5th Fleet. Instead, it was Admiral Halsey's 3rd Fleet, known as the "Department of Dirty Tricks," that had been strategizing the next moves from Hawaii. Now, Admiral Halsey was set to assume command of the Pacific Fleet, leading the charge to the Palaus and the Philippines. This rotation in leadership between Halsey's 3rd Fleet and Spruance's 5th Fleet was orchestrated by Nimitz to maintain operational tempo and confuse the Japanese. The alternating command structure allowed for continuous planning of future operations while the active fleet conducted current ones. However, Tokyo was apprehensive about a potential invasion of the Philippines and sought to bolster its defenses. Following the surrender of the US Army Forces in the Philippines, the 14th Army, led by Lieutenant-General Tanaka Shizuichi, worked to establish military administration, secure cooperation from civilian institutions, and quell guerrilla groups across the countryside. Despite their endeavors, their control over certain regions, particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao, remained fragile. Allied submarines and aircraft from Australia and New Guinea also delivered supplies like signal equipment, weapons, explosives, propaganda materials, and counterfeit currency to support the guerrilla forces, further impeding Japanese efforts. Additionally, with the deteriorating situation in the South and Central Pacific, more troops were redirected from the Philippines' garrison to other areas, weakening the 14th Army, now commanded by Lieutenant-General Kuroda Shigenori since May 19, 1943. Undermanned and stretched thin, the Japanese halted their suppression operations in August, hoping that the imminent declaration of independence by the Second Philippine Republic would lead guerrillas to surrender. However, this strategy backfired, as the guerrillas only grew stronger during the pause. Consequently, Kuroda restarted intensive suppression operations in 1944, but guerrilla activities escalated in anticipation of the imminent liberation by American forces. As a result, the guerrillas gained strength in the following months, providing valuable intelligence to MacArthur's forces in preparation for their eventual return. Given this context, it was evident that the 14th Army would be ill-equipped to withstand an American invasion under the current circumstances. Due to its crucial strategic location bridging Japan and the southern region rich in natural resources, Japan couldn't risk losing the Philippines. It served as their primary rear base supporting the main defense perimeter. The Philippines were also to play the role of a rear base of operations–an assembly and staging area for troops and supplies and a concentration area for air reserves, to support operations at any threatened point on the main defense perimeter from the Marianas south to Western New Guinea and the Banda Sea area. To implement these plans, IGHQ in October 1943 directed the 14th Army to complete the establishment of the necessary base facilities by the spring of 1944. Major emphasis in this program was laid upon the construction of air bases. The Army alone planned to build or improve 30 fields in addition to 13 already in operational use or partially completed. The Navy projected 21 fields and seaplane bases to be ready for operational use by the end of 1944, expanding its total number of Philippine bases to 33. Line of communications and other rear­ area base installations were also to be expanded and improved. Of the 30 Army airfields projected in October 1943, six had been generally completed by May 1944, and 24 under construction. Of the 21 projected Navy fields, 15 were still incomplete by then. Consequently, in early 1944, the decision was made to strengthen the garrison in the Philippines. Initially, this involved reorganizing and expanding existing garrison units to establish four new independent mixed brigades. These brigades were primarily tasked with suppressing guerrilla activity, while infantry divisions were assigned to defend against potential enemy landings. However, despite the estimation that at least seven divisions were necessary for the defense of Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao, only the 16th Division was available. Additionally, it was deemed crucial to bolster air strength with at least two air divisions, anticipating Allied invasions in Halmahera and Palau before advancing to the Philippines. Plans were formulated in March to deploy reinforcements within eight months. In mid-May, General Terauchi relocated his headquarters to Manila to oversee operations more closely. Concurrently, efforts were made to transport the 30th Division to Mindanao and bring the 4th Air Army to Manila. Furthermore, the Philippines were reinforced with the 2nd and 4th Air Divisions, the latter being tasked with constructing 30 new airfields. In June, approximately 20,000 inexperienced replacements were transported to the Philippines to bolster the recently-formed independent mixed brigades, filling them up to division strength. Subsequently, in July, the 100th, 102nd, 103rd, and 105th Divisions were activated, along with the establishment of the 54th and 55th Independent Mixed Brigades. It's ironic that despite this reinforcement, the main Japanese forces were as inexperienced as the Philippine Army during MacArthur's defense. Nonetheless, Terauchi was resolute in further fortifying the Philippines to prevent its fall, unlike MacArthur's situation. By mid-July, the reinforced 58th Independent Mixed Brigade arrived at Lingayen. Later that month, the 14th Army underwent reorganization into the 14th Area Army, with units directly under its command tasked with defending the northern Philippines. Meanwhile, the 35th Army, led by Lieutenant-General Suzuki Sosaki, was established under the 14th Area Army to defend Mindanao and the Visayas. Additionally, Tokyo finalized plans for decisive battle operations, codenamed Sho-Go, covering the Philippines-Formosa-Ryukyus-Japan-Kuriles area. This determined the disposition of Army and Navy air forces across the Pacific, with the Philippines receiving the reorganized 1st and 2nd Air Fleets and the 4th Air Army. The Philippine garrison was strengthened to a total of nine divisions and four brigades, with the 1st Division at Shanghai and the 68th Independent Brigade at Formosa designated as general reserves. Defenses and fortifications were constructed at Luzon in preparation for the decisive battle there.  Known as the Combined Fleet Top Secret Operations Order No. 84,  issued on 1 August, this fixed the new tactical grouping of naval forces for the Sho-Go Operations. Almost the entire surface combat strength of the Fleet was included in a Task Force placed under the overall command of the First Mobile Fleet Commander, Vice­Adm. Ozawa Jisaburo. This force was broken down into three tactical groups: (1) the Task Force Main Body, directly commanded by Vice­Adm. Ozawa and consisting of most of the Third Fleet (carrier forces): (2) the First Striking Force, commanded by Vice Adm. Kurita Takeo and made up of the Second Fleet with part of the 10th Destroyer Squadron attached: (3) the Second Striking Force, commanded by Vice Adm. Shima Kiyohide and composed of the Fifth Fleet plus two destroyer divisions and the battleships Fuso and Yamashiro. The First Striking Force would be stationed at Lingga Anchorage, while the Task Force Main Body and the Second Striking Force would be stationed in the western part of the Inland Sea. However, if an enemy attack was expected, the First Striking Force would advance from Lingga Anchorage to Brunei, Coron or Guimaras while the Task Force Main Body and the Second Striking Force remained in the Inland Sea and prepared to attack the north flank of the enemy task force. During August, the Navy Section of Imperial General Headquarters also took action to give the Combined Fleet more unified operational control of naval forces in order to facilitate the execution of the Sho-Go plans. On 9 August the General Escort Command and units assigned to naval stations were placed under operational command of the Combined Fleet, and on 21 August the China Area Fleet was similarly placed under Combined Fleet command. On 10 August the 1st Carrier Division, reorganized around two newly-commissioned regular carriers, was added to the Task Force Main Body. Vice Adm. Ozawa, Task Force Commander, meanwhile set 15 October as the target date for completion of the reorganization and training of the 3d and 4th Carrier Division air groups. Concurrently with these preparations, steps were taken to strengthen the antiaircraft armament of combat units. Accordingly, the Japanese sought to deploy the 8th and 26th Divisions, the 2nd Tank Division, and the 61st Independent Mixed Brigade to the Luzon region for a decisive battle. However, enemy submarines posed a constant threat. Since February, they had been patrolling the South China Sea, targeting the Hi Convoys supplying Japanese territories in Southeast Asia and Japan itself. During these engagements, Admiral Ijuin was killed aboard the patrol boat Iki. Between August 18 and 25, Admiral Kajioka's Hi-71 convoy, carrying the 26th Division, was attacked by six American submarines. The escort carrier Taiyo, destroyers Yunagi and Asakaze, two oilers, four transports, and three kaibokans were sunk, with 7420 soldiers of the 26th Division lost. The submarine Harder was the only American vessel sunk in retaliation. Kajioka's Hi-72 convoy, returning from Luzon, was also attacked, resulting in the sinking of his flagship, the kaibokan Hirato, and the loss of the destroyer Shikinami, three transports, and one oiler. Despite these setbacks, advance units of the 8th Division, 2nd Tank Division, and 61st Independent Mixed Brigade successfully reached the Philippines in September. 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. After months the siege of Myitkyina had finally ended. The Japanese had held out as long as they could, but lack of supplies and rather terrible leadership lost them the fight. Meanwhile, in China, Japanese offensives intensified, challenging Chinese defenses and leadership. It seemed war was coming to the Philippines, where the Japanese prepared to fight to the death.

Ito-koku and Na-koku were the next two countries on the path of the Wei envoys noted in the Gishiwajinden.  They likely refer to the areas known today as Itoshima and Fukuoka, so what do we know about these places in the Yayoi period, and how is it that by the 3rd century Yamato seemed to have taken the foremost position on the archipelago and not one of these other countries, where wet paddy rice agriculture and other continental technologies first arrived in the archipelago. For more see our podcast blog post at: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/itoandna Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua, and this is Gishiwajinden Part Five: Ito-koku and Na-koku This episode we are finishing up our Gishiwajinden Tour, focusing on our journey to Ito-koku and Na-koku, or modern day Itoshima and Fukuoka. We'll talk about what we know from the records of these two areas in the Yayoi and early Kofun periods, and then look at some of the later history, with the development of the Dazaifu, the build up of Hakata and Fukuoka, and more.  A key thread through all of this will be our discussion about why it was Yamato, and not these early states, who eventually became paramount.  If this is where things like wet paddy rice agriculture started, and they had such close ties to the continent, including sending a mission to the Han dynasty, why did the political center shift over to Yamato, instead?  It is certainly something to wonder about, and without anything written down by the elites of Na and Ito we can only really guess based on what we see in the histories and the archaeological record. We ended our tour in Na for a reason: while the Gishiwajinden—the Japanese section of the Wei Chronicles—describes the trip from the continent all the way to Yamatai, the locations beyond Na are largely conjecture.  Did ancient travelers continue from Na along the Japan Sea coast up to Izumo and then travel down somewhere between Izumo and Tsuruga to the Nara Basin?  Or did they travel the Inland Sea Route, with its calmer waters but greater susceptibility to pirates that could hide amongst the various islands and coves?  Or was Yamatai on the island of Kyushu, and perhaps the name just happens to sound similar to the Yamato of Nara?  Unfortunately, the Wei Chronicles have more than a few problems with accuracy, including problems with directions, meaning that at most we have some confidence in the locations out to “Na”, but beyond that it gets more complicated.  And even “Na” has some questions, but we'll get to that later. Unlike the other points on our journey, we didn't stay overnight at “Ito-koku”, , and we only briefly stayed at Na—modern Fukuoka, but I'll still try to give an account of what was going on in both places, and drawing on some past visits to the area to fill in the gaps for you.   Both the Na and Ito sites are believed to be in the modern Fukuoka prefecture, in Itoshima and Fukuoka cities.  Fukuoka prefecture itself actually spans all the way up to the Shimonoseki straits and includes the old territory of Tsukushi—Chikuzen and Chikugo—as well as the westernmost part of Buzen, the “closer” part of the old land of “Toyo” on the Seto Inland Sea side of Kyushu.  When it comes to locating the country of Ito-koku, we have lots of clues from current place names.  The modern Itoshima peninsula, which, in old records, was known as the country of Ito, and was later divided into the districts of Ito and Shima.  Shima district, at the end of the peninsula, may have once been an island—or nearly so.  It is thought that there was a waterway between the two areas, stretching from Funakoshi bay in the south to Imazu Bay, in the north, in Fukuoka proper.  Over time this area was filled in with deposits from the local rivers, making it perfect for the Yayoi style wet rice paddy agriculture that was the hallmark of the growth in that period.  And indeed there are certainly plenty of Yayoi and Kofun era ruins in the area, especially in eastern reaches of the modern city of Itoshima, which reside in the valley that backs up to Mt. Raizan.  There you can find the Ito-koku History Museum, which tells much of the story of Ito. The Weizhi, or the Wei Chronicles, note that Ito-koku had roughly a thousand households, with various officials under their own Queen, making it one of the few Wa countries that the Chroniclers specifically noted as being a “kingdom”, though still under the nominal hegemony of the queen of Yamatai or Yamateg.  If you continue eastward along the coast from Itoshima, you next hit Nishi-ku, the Western Ward, of modern Fukuoka city, which now continues to sprawl around Hakata Bay.  Nishi-ku itself used to also be known as “Ito”, though spelled slightly differently, and you can still find Ito Shrine in the area. So was this part of Ito-koku also? It's very possible.   Na-koku, or the country of Na, was probably on the eastern edge of modern Fukuoka, perhaps around the area known as Hakata down to modern Kasuga.  Much like in Karatsu, this area features some of the earliest rice fields ever found in Japan – in this case, in the Itazuke neighborhood, just south of Fukuoka airport.  The land here is mostly flat, alluvial plains, formed by the rivers that empty out into Hakata Bay, another great area for early rice agriculture. Locating the country of Na is interesting for several reasons.  For one, unlike all of the other Wei Chronicles sites we've mentioned, there is no clear surviving placename that obviously matches up between “Na” and the local area.  It is a short enough name that it may simply be difficult to distinguish which “Na” is meant, though there is a “Naka” district in Kasuga that may show some promise.  There certainly is evidence for a sizeable settlement, but that's much more tenuous than the placenames for other areas, which remained largely in use in some form up to the modern day, it would seem. The name “Na” shows up in more than just the Weizhi, and it is also mentiond in the Houhan-shu, or the Record of the Later Han, a work compiled later than the Weizhi, but using older records from the Late Han dynasty period.  There it is asserted that the country of Na was one of the 99 some-odd countries of Wa, and they sent an embassy to the Later Han court, where they received a gold seal made out to the “King of Na of Wa”.  We talked about this in Episode 10: The Islands of the Immortals: That seal, made of gold, was seemingly found in the Edo period—1784, to be precise.  A farmer claimed to have found it on Shika island, in Hakata Bay, which is quite prominent, and connected to the mainland with a periodically-submerged causeway.  The description of the find—in a box made up of stones, with a large stone on top that required at least two men to move it—seems like it could have been an old burial of some kind.  The island certainly makes sense as an elite burial site, overlooking Hakata Bay, which was likely an important feature of the lifeways of the community.  While there have been questions about the authenticity of the seal, if it is a forgery, it is quite well done.  It looks similar to other Han era seals, and we don't really have a way to date the gold it is made of.  Without the actual context we can't be quite sure. This certainly seems like pretty strong evidence of the country of Na in this area, somewhere – probably not on the island itself, then close by.So unless something else comes along, I think we can say that this is at least the vicinity of the old country of Na.  Okay, so now that we've talked in general about where these two places were, let's go back and look at them in more detail. The Ito-koku site is just up the coast from where we stayed for Matsuro-koku, in Karatsu, which all makes sense from the position of the Chronicles in that it says the early envoys traveled overland from one place to the other.  Of course it also says they traveled southeast, which is not correct as the route is actually northeast.  However, they had traveled southeast from the Korean peninsula to Tsushima and then Iki and Matsuro, so that direction was well established, and this is an easy enough error that could have been made by the actual envoys or by later scribes, as it would be a one character difference. For Ito-koku, as with Matsuro-koku, we have no large, reconstructed sites similar to Harunotsuji on Iki or Yoshinogari, further inland in Saga prefecture, where we have an entire, large, so-called “kingly” settlement.  There is evidence of settlements, though, both near the major burial sites as well as around the peninsula.  And as for those burial sites, well, Ito has a few, and they aren't merely important because of their size.  Size is often an indication of the amount of labor that a leader must have been able to mobilize, and so it can be used to get a general sense of the power that a given leader or system was able to wield, as they could presumably turn that labor to other users as well. However, it is also important to look at other factors, like burial goods. What kind of elite material was the community giving up and placing with the deceased? That is the case with the first site we'll discuss, the Hirabaru burial mound.  At first glance it isn't much—a relatively unassuming square mound, about 12 by 14 meters, and less than 2 meters in height.  It was discovered in 1965 by a farmer who started digging a trench to plant an orchard and started pulling up broken pieces of a bronze mirror, one of the first clues that this was someone important.  They later found various post holes around the site, suggesting that it was more than just an earthen mound, and as they excavated the site they found pottery, beads, mirrors, and more. Let's start with those post-holes.  It looks like there was at least one large pillar set up due east of the burial.  We don't know how tall it was, but it was likely of some height given the size of the pillar hole—I've seen some estimates that it could have been up to 70 meters tall.  A tall pole would have provided visibility, and it may also be significant that it was east, in the direction of the rising sun.  We know that the ancient Wa had a particular connection with the sun, and this may be further evidence of that.  There are other holes that may be a gate, and possible a storehouse nearby, presumably for various ritual items, etc.  Suddenly, even without knowing exactly what was there, we start to see a picture of a large, manmade complex that seems to be centered on this burial and whomever is there. On top of that, there was a mirror in the tomb that was larger than any other ever found in Japan at that time—certainly the largest round mirror of that period.  It is not one of the triangular rimmed mirrors that Yamato is known for, but may have been part of another large cache brought over from the mainland.  About 40 mirrors in total, many of them very large, were found buried in the tomb, some of which appear to have been broken for some reason.  Furthermore, the large mirrors appear to fit within the dimensions given the Great Mirror—the Yata no kagami—housed at the sacred Ise Shrine.  There is a document in 804, the “Koutai Jingu Gishiki Chou”, detailing the rituals of Ise shrine, which describes the sacred mirror sitting in a box with an inner diameter of 1 shaku, 6 sun, and 3 bu, or approximately 49.4 centimeters, at least using modern conversions.  The same measurements are given in the 10th century Engi Shiki.  So we can assume that the mirror in Ise, which nobody is allowed to actually see, let alone measure, is smaller than that, but not by much, as the box would have been made to fit the mirror, specifically.  It isn't like you can just grab a box from Mirror Depot.  The mirrors found at Hirabaru Mound measure 46.5 centimeters, and have a floral pattern with an eight petaled flower on the back.  Could this mirror be from the same mold or the same cache, at least, as the sacred mirror at Ise?  At the very least, they would seem to be of comparable value.   In addition, there were many beads, jars, etc.  Noticeably absent from the burial were swords and weapons.  Based on this, some have argued that this was the burial of a queen of Ito-koku.  There is evidence that this may be the case, but I don't think the presence of weapons, or the lack thereof, is necessarily a good indicator. After all, we see in the old stories that women were also found wielding swords and leading troops into battle. So it's dangerous to make assumptions about gender based on this aspect alone. I wonder if the Hirabaru tomb assemblage might have more to do with something else we see in Yamato and which was likely applicable elsewhere in the archipelago: a system of co-rulership, where one role might have to do more with administrative and/or ritual practice, regardless of gender. This burial assemblage or mirrors and other non-weapons might reflect this kind of position. The Weizhi often mentions “secondary” or “assistant” positions, which may have truly been subordinate to a primary ruler, or could have just been misunderstood by the Wei envoys, who saw everything through their particular cultural stratification.  In a similar fashion, early European explorers would often name people “king”—from the daimyo of Sengoku era Japan to Wahunsenacawh, known popularly as “Powhatan” for the name of his people, on what would become known as North America.  That isn't to say that these weren't powerful individuals, but the term “king” comes with a lot of Eurocentric assumptions and ideas about power, stratification, etc.  Is there any reason to believe that the Wei envoys and later chroniclers were necessarily better at describing other cultures? And of course we don't have any physical remains of the actual individual buried there, either. However, there is a good reason to suggest that this may have been a female ruler, and that *is* because of something in the Weizhi, which specifically says that the people of Ito lived under the rule of a female king, aka a queen, using a description not unlike what is used for Queen Himiko.  In fact, Ito gets some special treatment in the record, even though it isn't the largest of the countries.  Let's look at those numbers first: Tsushima is said to have 1,000 households, while Iki is more like 3,000.  Matsuro is then counted at 4,000 families, but Ito is only said to have 1,000, similar to Tsushima.  Just over the mountains and along the Bay, the country of Na is then counted at a whopping 20,000 households, so 20 times as many.  These numbers are probably not entirely accurate, but do give an impression of scale, at least. But what distinguishes Ito-koku in this is that we are told that it had a special place for envoys from the Korean peninsula to rest when they came.  It makes you wonder about this little place called Ito. Hirabaru is not the only kingly tomb in the area.  Walk about 20 to 30 minutes further into the valley, and you might just find a couple of other burials—in particular Mikumo-Minami Shouji, discovered in 1822, and Iwara-Yarimizo, which includes artifacts discovered in the 1780s in the area between Mikumo and Iwara as they were digging a trench.  Based on evidence and descriptions, we know that they pulled out more bronze mirrors and other elite goods indicative of the late Yayoi paramounts. In these areas they have also found a number of post holes suggesting other buildings—enough to perhaps have a relatively large settlement. As noted earlier, we do not have a reconstructed village like in Harunotsuji or Yoshinogari, given that these are private fields, so the shape of the ancient landscape isn't as immediately impressive to people looking at the area, today.  The apparent dwellings are largely found in the triangle created between two rivers, which would have been the water source for local rice paddies.  The tombs and burials are found mostly on the outskirts, with the exception of the kingly burial of Mikumo-Minami Shouji.  This is also interesting when you consider that the later Hirabaru mound was situated some distance away, raising a bunch of questions that we frankly do not have answers for. The area of these ruins is not small.  It covers roughly 40.5 hectares, one of the largest Yayoi settlements so far discovered.  Of course, traces of other large settlements—like something in the Fukuoka area or back in Yamato—may have been destroyed by later construction, particularly in heavily developed areas.  This is interesting, though, when you consider that the Weizhi only claimed some 1,000 households. There are also other graves, such as various dolmens, across Ito and Shima, similar to those found on the peninsula, and plenty of other burials across both ancient districts.  And as the Yayoi culture shifted, influence of Yamato can be seen.  While Ito-koku clearly had their own burial practices, which were similar to, but not exactly like, those in the rest of the archipelago, we can see them start to adopt the keyhole style tomb mounds popular in Yamato. During the kofun period, the area of Itoshima built at least 60 identified keyhole shaped tombs, with a remarkable number of them from the early kofun period.  Among these is Ikisan-Choushizuka Kofun, a large, round keyhole tomb mound with a vertical stone pit burial, estimated to have been built in the latter half of the 4th century.  At 103 meters in length, it is the largest round keyhole tomb on the Genkai coast—that is to say the northwest coast of Kyushu. All of these very Yamato-style tombs would appear to indicate a particular connection between Ito and  Yamato—though what, exactly, that looked like is still up for debate.  According to the various early Chronicles, of course, this would be explained because, from an early period, Yamato is said to have expanded their state to Kyushu and then even on to the Korean peninsula.  In particular, the Chronicles talk about “Tsukushi”, which is both used as shorthand for the entirety of Kyushu, while also indicating the area largely encompassing modern Fukuoka prefecture.  On the other hand, this may have been a sign of Ito demonstrating its own independence and its own prestige by emulating Yamato and showing that they, too, could build these large keyhole tombs.  After all, the round keyhole shape is generally thought to have been reserved, in Yamato, for members of the royal family, and Ito-koku may have been using it similarly for their own royal leaders.  It may even be something in between—Ito-koku may have recognized Yamato's influence and leadership, but more in the breach than in actuality.  Afterall, until the standup of things like the various Miyake and the Dazai, we aren't aware of a direct outpost of the Yamato government on Kyushu.  The Miyake, you may recall, were the ”royal granaries”, which were basically administrative regions overseeing rice land that was directly controlled by Yamato, while the Dazai was the Yamato government outpost in Kyushu for handling continental affairs.  On top of a lack of local control in the early Kofun, the Weizhi appears to suggest that the Yamato paramount, Himiko, was the “Queen of the Wa” only through the consensus of other polities, but clearly there were other countries in the archipelago that did not subscribe to her blog, as it were, as they were in open conflict with Yamato.  This all leads into something we've talked about in the main podcast at various times, but it still bears discussing:  How did Yamato, over in the Nara Basin, become the center of political life in the Japanese archipelago, and why not somewhere in Kyushu, like ancient Na or Ito?  While we don't entirely know, it is worth examining what we do and some of the factors that may have been in play.  After all, Kyushu was the closest point of the main Japanese islands to the mainland, and we see that the Yayoi culture gets its start there.  From there, Yayoi culture spread to the east, and if we were to apply similar assumptions as we do on the spread of the keyhole shaped kofun, we would assume that the culture-givers in the west would have held some level of prestige as groups came to them to learn about this new technology, so why wasn't the capital somewhere in Kyushu?  We likewise see other such things—Yayoi pottery styles, fired in kilns, rather than open fired pottery; or even bronze items brought over from the continent.  In almost every instance, we see it first in Kyushu, and then it diffuses eastward up to the edge of Tohoku.  This pattern seems to hold early on, and it makes sense, as most of this was coming over from the continent. Let's not forget, though, that the Yayoi period wasn't simply a century: by our most conservative estimates it was approximately 600 years—for reference, that would be roughly equivalent to the period from the Mongol invasions up to the end of the Edo period, and twice as long as the period from Mimaki Iribiko to the Naka-no-Oe in 645, assuming that Mimaki Iribiko was ruling in the 3rd century.  So think about all that has happened in that time period, mostly focused on a single polity, and then double it.  More recent data suggests that the Yayoi period may have been more like an 1100 to 1300 year range, from the earliest start of rice cultivation.  That's a long time, and enough time for things in the archipelago to settle and for new patterns of influence to form.  And while Kyushu may have been the first region to acquire the new rice growing technology, it was other areas around the archipelago that would begin to truly capitalize on it. We are told that by the time the Wei envoys arrived that the state of Yamato, which we have no reason not to believe was in the Nara Basin, with a focus on the area of modern Sakurai, had approximately 70,000 households.  That is huge.  It was larger than Na, Ito, and Matsuro, combined, and only rivaled in the Weizhi by Touma-koku, which likely referred to either the area of Izumo, on the Japan Sea coast, or to the area of Kibi, along the Seto Inland Sea, both of which we know were also large polities with significant impact in the chronicles.  And here there is something to consider about the Yayoi style agriculture—the land determined the ultimate yield.  Areas with more hills and mountains are not as suited to wet rice paddy agriculture.  Meanwhile, a flat basin, like that in Yamato, which also has numerous rivers and streams draining from the surrounding mountains into the basin and then out again, provided the possibility for a tremendous population, though no doubt it took time to build. During that time, we definitely see evidence of the power and influence of places like Na and Ito.  Na sent an embassy to the Han court—an incredible journey, and an indication of not only their interest in the Han court and continental trade, but also their ability to gather the resources necessary for such a journey, which likely required some amount of assistance from other, nearby polities.  Na must have had some sway back then, we would assume. Meanwhile, the burial at Ito shows that they were also quite wealthy, with clear ties to the continent given their access to large bronze mirrors.  In the absence of other data, the number and size of bronze mirrors, or similar bronze items, likely only useful for ritual purposes, indicates wealth and status, and they had some of the largest mirrors as well as the largest collection found for that period.  Even into the stories in the Nihon Shoki and the Kojiki we see how mirrors, swords, and jewels all are used a symbols of kingship.  Elite status was apparently tied to material items, specifically to elite trade goods.  Assuming Yamato was able to grow its population as much as is indicated in the Weizhi, then by the 3rd century, they likely had the resources to really impress other groups.  Besides things like mirrors, we can probably assume that acquisition of other goods was likewise important.  Both Ito and Yamato show evidence of pottery shards from across the archipelago, indicating extensive trade networks.  But without any other differentiating factors, it is likely that Yamato, by the 3rd century, at least, was a real powerhouse.  They had a greater production capacity than the other states listed in the Weizhi, going just off of the recorded human capital. And this may answer a question that has been nagging me for some time, and perhaps others:  Why did other states acquiesce to Yamato rule?  And the answer I keep coming back to is that it was probably a combination of wealth, power, prestige, ritual, and time. For one thing, wealth: Yamato had it.  That meant they could also give it.  So, if Yamato was your friend, you got the goods, and you had access to what you need.  You supported them, they could help you with what you needed.  These transactional alliances are not at all uncommon, and something I think most of us can understand. There is also power—specifically military power.  With so many people, Yamato would likely have been a formidable threat should they decide that violence was the answer.  That said, while we read of military campaigns, and no doubt they did go out and fight and raid with the best of them, it's expensive to do so.  Especially exerting control over areas too far out would have been problematic, especially before writing AND horses.  That would be costly, and a drain on Yamato's coffers.  So while I do suspect that various military expeditions took place, it seems unlikely that Yamato merely bested everyone in combat.  Military success only takes you so far without constant maintenance. And so here is where I think prestige and ritual come into play.  We've talked about how Yamato did not exactly “rule” the archipelago—their direct influence was likely confined to the Kinki region for the longest period of time.  And yet we see that they influenced people out on the fringes of the Wa cultural sphere: when they started building large, keyhole shaped kofun for their leaders, and burying elites only one to a giant mound, the other areas of Japan appear to have joined in.  Perhaps Yamato was not the first to build a kofun for a single person, but they certainly were known for the particular shape that was then copied by so many others.  But why? We don't know for certain, but remember that in Yamato—and likely the rest of the Wa cultural sphere—a large part of governance was focused on ritual.  The natural and what we would consider the supernatural—the visible and invisible—worked hand in hand.  To have a good harvest, it required that workers plant, water, harvest, etc. in the right seasons and in the right way.  Likewise, it was considered equally important to have someone to intercede with the kami—to ensure that the rains come at the right time, but not too much, and a host of other natural disasters that could affect the crop. And if you want to evaluate how well ritual works, well, look at them.   Are you going to trust the rituals of someone whose crops always fail and who barely has a single bronze mirror?  Or are you going to trust the rituals of someone with a thriving population, multiple mirrors, and more?  Today, we might refer to this as something like the prosperity gospel, where wealth, good health, and fortune are all seen as stemming from how well one practices their faith, and who's to say that back in the day it wasn't the same?  Humans are going to human, after all. So it makes sense that one would give some deference to a powerhouse like Yamato and even invite their ritualists to come and help teach you how it is done.  After all, the local elites were still the ones calling the shots.  Nothing had really changed. And here is where time comes in.  Because over time what started as an alliance of convenience became entrenched in tradition.  Yamato's status as primus inter pares, or first among equals, became simply one of primus.  It became part of the unspoken social contract.  Yamato couldn't push too hard on this relationship, at least not all at once, but over time they could and did demand more and more from other states. I suspect, from the way the Weizhi reads, that Yamato was in the early stages of this state development.  The Weizhi makes Queen Himiko feel like something of a consensus candidate—after much bickering, and outright fighting, she was generally accepted as the nominal paramount.  There is mention of a male ruler, previously, but we don't know if they were a ruler in Yamato, or somewhere else, nor if it was a local elite or an earlier paramount.  But not everyone in the archipelago was on board—Yamato did have rivals, somewhere to the south (or north?); the directions in the Weizhi are definitely problematic, and it may refer to someone like the Kuma or Kumaso people in southern Kyushu or else people that would become known as the Emishi further to the east of Yamato. This lasted as long as Yamato was able to continue to demonstrate why they were at the top of this structure.  Theoretically, anyone else could climb up there as well, and there are certainly a few other powerful states that we can identify, some by their mention and some by their almost lack of mention.  Izumo and Kibi come to mind almost immediately. The Weizhi makes it clear that Himiko's rule was not absolute, and part of her reaching out to the Wei in the first place may have been the first attempt at something new—external validation by the continent.  A large part of international diplomacy is as much about making people believe you have the power to do something as actually having that power.  Getting recognition from someone like the Wei court would further legitimize Yamato's place at the top of the heap, making things easier for them in the long run. Unfortunately, it seems like things did not go so smoothly, and after Himiko's death, someone else came to power, but was quickly deposed before a younger queen took over—the 13 year old Toyo.  Of course, the Wei and then the Jin had their own problems, so we don't get too many details after that, and from there we lose the thread on what was happening from a contemporary perspective.  Instead, we have to rely on the stories in the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki, which are several hundred years after the fact, and clearly designed as a legitimizing narrative, but still present us something of a picture.  We don't see many stories of local elites being overthrown, though there do seem to be a fair number of military campaigns.  Nonetheless, even if they were propped up by Yamato, local elites likely had a lot of autonomy, at least early on, even as they were coopted into the larger Yamato umbrella.  Yamato itself also saw ups and downs as it tried to figure out how to create a stable succession plan from one ruler to the next.  At some point they set up a court, where individuals from across the archipelago came and served, and they created alliances with Baekje, on the peninsula, as well as with another polity which we know of as Nimna.  Through them, Yamato continued to engage with the continent when the dynastic struggles there allowed for it.  The alliance with Baekje likely provided even more legitimacy for Yamato's position in the archipelago, as well as access to continental goods. Meanwhile the court system Yamato set up provided a means for Yamato to, itself, become a legitimizing factor. Hierarchical differences in society were already visible in the Yayoi period, so we can generally assume that the idea of social rank was not a new concept for Yamato or the other Wa polities.  This is eventually codified into the kabane system, but it is probably likely that many of the kabane came about, originally, as titles of rank used within the various polities.  Yamato's ability to claim to give—or even take away—that kabane title, would have been a new lever of power for Yamato.  Theoretically, other polities could just ignore them and keep going on with their daily lives, but if they had already bought into the social structure and worldview that Yamato was promoting, then they likely would have acquiesced, at least in part, to Yamato's control. Little by little, Yamato's influence grew, particularly on those closer to the center.  Those closer, and more affected, started to listen to Yamato's rules about kofun size and shape, while those further on the fringes started to adopt Yamato's traditions for themselves, while perhaps maintaining greater independence. An early outlier is the Dazai.  It is unclear whether this was forcibly imposed on the old region of Na and nearby Ito, or if it was more diplomatically established.  In the end, though, Yamato established an outpost in the region early on, almost before they started their practice of setting up “miyake”, the various royal granaries that appear to have also become local Yamato government offices in the various lands.  The Dazai was more than just a conduit to accept taxes in the form of rice from various locals—it was also in charge of missions to the continent.  Whether they were coming or going, military or diplomatic, the Dazai was expected to remain prepared.  The early iterations were likely in slightly different locations, and perhaps not as large, but still in roughly the area near modern Fukuoka and Dazai.  This was a perfect place not only from which to prepare to launch or receive missions from the continent, but also to defend the nearby Shimonoseki straits, which was an important entryway into the Seto Inland Sea, the most direct route to Naniwa and the Yamato court. The first iterations of direct Yamato control in Tsukushi—modern Fukuoka—claim to have been focused largely on being a last point to supply troops heading over to fight on the peninsula, not unlike the role of Nagoya castle on the Higashi-Matsuura peninsula in the 16th century.  Over time, though, it grew into much more.  The Weizhi, for its part mentions something in the land of Ito, where there were rooms set up for envoys from the continent, but the Dazai was this on steroids. Occasionally we see evidence of pushback against Yamato's expansion of powers.  Early on, some states tried to fool the envoys into thinking that they were Yamato, perhaps attempting to garner the trade goods for themselves and to take Yamato's place as the interlocutor between the Wa polities and the continent.  We also see outright rebellions—from Iwai in Kyushu, in the 6th century, but also from various Emishi leaders as well.  The Iwai rebellion may have been part of the impetus for setting up the Dazai as a way to remotely govern Tsukushi—or at least help keep people in line.  For the most part, though, as time goes by, it would seem that Yamato's authority over other polities just became tradition, and each new thing that Yamato introduced appears to have been accepted by the various other polities, over time.  This is likely a much more intricate process than even I'm describing here, but I'm not sure that it was necessarily a conscious one; as the concept of Yamato as the “paramount” state grew, others ceded it more and more power, which only fed Yamato's self-image as the paramount state.  As the elites came under the Yamato court and rank system, they were more closely tied to it, and so Yamato's increased power was, in a way, passed on to them as well.  At least to those who bought in. By the 5th century, we know that there were families sending people to the court from as far away as Hi no Kuni in Kyushu—near modern Kumamoto—and Musashi no Kuni in the east—including modern Saitama.  All of that said, while they may have subordinated themselves to Yamato in some ways, the various polities still maintained some independent actions and traditions.  For example, whatever their connection to Yamato, the tombs at Itoshima also demonstrate a close connection to the peninsula.  The horizontal entry chamber style of tomb—something we saw a lot in Iki, and which seems to have been introduced from the continent—started to become popular in the latter half of the 4th century, at least in the west of the archipelago. This is well before we see anything like it in Yamato or elsewhere, though it was eventually used across the archipelago.  Itoshima appears to have been an early adopter of this tomb style, picking it up even before the rest of the archipelago caught on, making them the OG horizontal chambers, at least in Japan. Ultimately, the image we have of Ito-koku is of an apparently small but relatively influential state with some influence on the cross-strait trade, with close ties to Yamato. The history of the region seems a bit murky past the Kofun period.  There are earthworks of an old mountain castle on Mt. Raizan that could be from the Asuka period, and in the 8th century the government built Ito castle on the slopes of Mt. Takaso, possibly to provide some protection to the Dazaifu, which was the Yamato outpost in Kyushu, and eventually became the main administrative center for the island.  It seems, then, that whatever power the country of Ito may have once had, it was subsumed by the Dazai, which was built a little inland, east of the old Na territory.  Furthermore, as ships grew more seaworthy over time, they could make the longer voyages straight to Iki or Tsushima from Hakata.  For the most part, the area of the Itoshima peninsula seems to have been merely a set of districts in the larger Tsukushi and then the Chikuzen provinces.  The area of Na, meanwhile, which is said to have had 20,000 households in the 3rd century—much larger than nearby Ito—was completely eclipsed by the Dazaifu after the Iwai rebellion.  After the fall of Baekje, the Dazaifu took on even greater administrative duties, and eventually took over all diplomatic engagement with the continent.  They even set up a facility for hosting diplomatic envoys from the continent.  This would come to be known as the Kourokan, and they actually found the ruins of it near the site where Maizuru castle was eventually built in what is now Chuo-ku, or the central ward, of Fukuoka city. From the Heian period onwards, the Harada family eventually came to have some power in the area, largely subordinate to others, but they built another castle on Mt. Takaso, using some of the old Ito Castle earthworks, and participated in the defense of the nation during the Mongol invasions. The Harada family rose briefly towards the end of the Sengoku Period, pushing out the Otomo as Hideyoshi's campaign swept into Kyushu.  They weren't quite fast enough to join Hideyoshi's side, though, and became subordinate to Kato Kiyomasa and eventually met their end during the Invasions of Korea. The Ito district at some point after that became part of the So clan's holdings, falling under Tsushima's purview, along with a scattering of districts elsewhere, all likely more about the revenue produced than local governance.  In the Edo period, there were some efforts to reclaim land in Imazu bay, further solidifying links with the Itoshima peninsula and the mainland, but that also fits in with the largely agricultural lifestyle of the people in the region.  It seems to have remained largely a rural backwater up into modern times, when the Ito and Shima districts were combined into an administrative district known as “Itoshima city”. Meanwhile, the Dazaifu continued to dominate the region of modern Fukuoka.  Early on, worried about a Silla-Tang alliance, the Yamato state built massive forts and earthworks were built around the Dazaifu to protect the region from invasion.  As the Tang dynasty gave way to the Song and Yuan dynasties, however, and the Heian court itself became more insular, the Dazaifu's role faded, somewhat.  The buildings were burned down in the 10th century, during the failed revolt of Fujiwara no Sumitomo.  The government never rebuilt, and instead the center of regional government shifted to Hakata, closer to the bay. Appointed officials to the Dazai were known as the Daini and the Shoni.  Mutou Sukeyori was appointed as Dazai Shoni, the vice minister of the Dazaifu, in the late 12th century.  Though he had supported the Taira in the Genpei wars, he was pardoned and made the guardian of Northern Kyushu, to help keep the region in check for the newly established Kamakura Bakufu.  He would effectively turn that into a hereditary position, and his family became known as the “Shoni”, with their position eventually coming to be their family name.  They would provide commendable service against the Mongol invasion, and eventually became the Shugo Daimyo over much of western Kyushu and the associated islands, though not without pushback from others in the region. Over time, the power of the Shoni waned and various other daimyo began to rise up.  The chaos of the Sengoku period saw the entire area change hands, back and forth, until Hideyoshi's invasion of Kyushu.  Hideyoshi divided up control of Kyushu, and Chikuzen, including the areas of Hakata and modern Itoshima, was given to Kobayakawa Takakage.  Hideyoshi also began to redevelop the port of Hakata.  After the battle of Sekigahara, Kobayakawa Hideaki, Takakage's adopted son and nephew to the late Hideyoshi, was transferred to the fief of Okayama, and the area of modern Fukuoka city was given to Kuroda Nagamasa, creating the Fukuoka Han, also known as the Kuroda Han. Nagamasa would go on to build Maizuru Castle on the other side of the Naka river from the port of Hakata, creating two towns with separate administration, each of which fell under the ultimate authority of the Kuroda.  Hakata, on the east side of the river, was a city of merchants while Fukuoka was the castle town, and largely the domain of samurai serving the Kuroda.  The Kuroda would remain in control of the Fukuoka domain through the Edo period, and only lost control at the very start of the Meiji, as the domain system in general was dissolved. Over that time, Hakata remained an important port city, and the samurai of Fukuoka were known for maintaining their martial traditions. In the Meiji era, samurai from the Kuroda Han joined with other Kyushu samurai, rising up during Saigo Takamori's rebellion.  Later, it would be former samurai and others from Fukuoka who would form the Gen'yosha, an early right wing, nationalist organization that would greatly influence the Japanese government heading into the latter part of the 19th and early 20th century. But that is getting well into more modern territory, and there is so much else we could discuss regarding the history of this area, and with any luck we will get to it all in time.  For now, this concludes our Gishiwajinden Tour—we traveled from Kara, to Tsushima and Iki, and then on to Matsuro, Ito, and Na.  From here the envoys traveled on to Fumi, Toma, and then Yamato.  Fumi and Toma are still elusive locations, with various theories and interpretations as to where they were.   For us, this was the end of our journey. Next episode we will be back with the Chronicles and getting into the Taika era, the era of Great Change.  There we will really see Yamato starting to flex its administrative muscles as it brings the various polities of the archipelago together into a single state, which will eventually become known as the country of Nihon, aka Japan. Until then, thank you for listening.  If you like what we are doing, tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to us at our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

Bright on Buddhism - Asian Religions Series - Shintō Part 2 Hello and welcome to the Asian religions series. In this series, we will be discussing religious traditions in Asia other than Buddhism. Buddhism never existed in a vacuum, and as it has spread all across East Asia, it has developed, localized, and syncretized with local traditions in fascinating and significant ways. As such, we cannot provide a complete picture of East Asian without discussing those local traditions such as they were and are. Disclaimer: this series is very basic and introductory, and does not and cannot paint a complete picture of these religious traditions as they are in the present or throughout history. Today, we will be discussing Shintō, a very historically and culturally significant religious tradition in Japan. We hope you enjoy Resources: Azegami, Naoki (2012). Translated by Mark Teeuwen. "Local Shrines and the Creation of 'State Shinto'". Religion. 42 (1): 63–85. doi:10.1080/0048721X.2012.641806. S2CID 219597745.; Bocking, Brian (1997). A Popular Dictionary of Shinto (revised ed.). Richmond: Curzon. ISBN 978-0-7007-1051-5.; Boyd, James W.; Williams, Ron G. (2005). "Japanese Shinto: An Interpretation of a Priestly Perspective". Philosophy East and West. 55 (1): 33–63. doi:10.1353/pew.2004.0039. S2CID 144550475.; Breen, John; Teeuwen, Mark (2010). A New History of Shinto. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-5515-1.; Cali, Joseph; Dougill, John (2013). Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan's Ancient Religion. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-3713-6.; Earhart, H. Byron (2004). Japanese Religion: Unity and Diversity (fourth ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. ISBN 978-0-534-17694-5.; Hardacre, Helen (2017). Shinto: A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-062171-1.; Kenney, Elizabeth (2000). "Shinto Funerals in the Edo Period". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 27 (3/4): 239–271. JSTOR 30233666.; Kitagawa, Joseph M. (1987). On Understanding Japanese Religion. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-10229-0. ;Kuroda, Toshio (1981). Translated by James C. Dobbins and Suzanne Gay. "Shinto in the History of Japanese Religion". Journal of Japanese Studies. 7 (1): 1–21. doi:10.2307/132163. JSTOR 132163; Inoue, Nobutaka (2003). "Introduction: What is Shinto?". In Nobutaka Inoue (ed.). Shinto: A Short History. Translated by Mark Teeuwan and John Breen. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 1–10. ISBN 978-0-415-31913-3. Littleton, C. Scott (2002). Shinto: Origins, Rituals, Festivals, Spirits, Sacred Places. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-521886-2. OCLC 49664424.; Offner, Clark B. (1979). "Shinto". In Norman Anderson (ed.). The World's Religions (fourth ed.). Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press. pp. 191–218.; Picken, Stuart D. B. (1994). Essentials of Shinto: An Analytical Guide to Principal Teachings. Westport and London: Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-313-26431-3.; Picken, Stuart D. B. (2011). Historical Dictionary of Shinto (second ed.). Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7172-4.; Williams, George; Bhar, Ann Marie B.; Marty, Martin E. (2004). Shinto (Religions of the World). Chelsea House. ISBN 978-0-7910-8097-9. Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by tweeting to us @BrightBuddhism, emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com, or joining us on our discord server, Hidden Sangha ⁠⁠https://discord.gg/tEwcVpu⁠⁠! Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host

Bright on Buddhism - Research Project Series - Chōgen's Tōdaiji Campaign: Reconstruction and Reimagination Hello and welcome to a new type of episode of Bright on Buddhism. In this series, I will be presenting and discussing some of my own original research, which covers a broad range of topics in Japanese Buddhism, and discussing it in the context of East Asian Buddhism and other disciplines broadly Resources: Andreeva, Anna. “Buddhist Temple Networks in Medieval Japan.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 47, no. 1 (2020): 11–41.; Bushelle, Ethan. “The Mountain as Mandala: Kūkai's Founding of Mt. Kōya.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 47, no. 1 (2020): 43–83.; Collection of Benevolent Deeds (Sazenshū 作善集). By Chōgen 重源 (1121–1206).In Shunjōbō Chōgen shiryō shūsei 俊乗房重源資料集成, ed. Kobayashi Takeshi小林 剛.Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1965.; Dobbins, James C. Jōdo Shinshū: Shin Buddhism in Medieval Japan. Religion in Asia and Africa Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.; Goodwin, Janet R. “The Buddhist Monarch - Go-Shirakawa and the Rebuilding of Tōdai-Ji.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, The Emperor System and Religion in Japan, 17, no. 2/3 (1990): 219–42.; Horton, Sarah (2004). The Influence of the Ōjōyōshū in Late Tenth- and Early Eleventh-Century Japan, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 31 (1), 29-54; Inagaki, Hisao. “Esoteric Meaning of Amida.” Pacific World Journal New Series, no. 10 (1994).; Ingram, Evan. “Chōgen's Vision of Tōdaiji's Great Buddha as Both Mahāvairocana and Amitābha.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 46, no. 2 (2019): 173–92.; Johnson, Peter Lunde. Land of Pure Bliss: Sukhavati, 2021.; Kainuma, Yoshiko. “Chōgen's Jōdoji Amida Triad and Its Environment: A Theatrical Effect of the ‘Raigō' Form.” Artibus Asiae 74, no. 1 (2014): 97–127.; Kuroda, Toshio. “The Development of the Kenmitsu System as Japan's Medieval Orthodoxy.” Translated by James C Dobbins. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, The Legacy of Kuroda Toshio, 23, no. 3/4 (1996): 233–69.; Rosenfield, John. “Introduction: Todaiji in Japanese History and Art.” In The Great Eastern Temple: Treasures of Japanese Art From, edited by Yutaka Mino, 17–31. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1986.; Rosenfield, John M. Portraits of Chōgen: The Transformation of Buddhist Art in Early Medieval Japan. Japanese Visual Culture ; Volume 1. Leiden, the Netherlands ; Brill, 2011.; Stone, Jacqueline I. Right Thoughts at the Last Moment–Buddhism and Deathbed Practices in Early Medieval Japan. University of Hawai'i Press, 2016.; Tōdaiji zōryū kuyōki 東大寺造立供養記. Anonymous. In Dai Nihon Bukkyō zen-sho 121, Tōdaiji sōsho 1, ed. Bussho Kankōkai, 47–57. Tokyo: Bussho Kankōkai,1912–1922.; Yen-Yi, Chan, and 晏怡詹. “Revealing the Miraculous: Objects Placed inside the Statue of the Kōfukuji Nan'endō Fukūkenjaku Kannon.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 49, no. 1 (2022): 45–88. Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by finding us on email or social media! https://linktr.ee/brightonbuddhism Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brightonbuddhism/message

Bright on Buddhism - Asian Religions Series - Shintō Part 1 Hello and welcome to the Asian religions series. In this series, we will be discussing religious traditions in Asia other than Buddhism. Buddhism never existed in a vacuum, and as it has spread all across East Asia, it has developed, localized, and syncretized with local traditions in fascinating and significant ways. As such, we cannot provide a complete picture of East Asian without discussing those local traditions such as they were and are. Disclaimer: this series is very basic and introductory, and does not and cannot paint a complete picture of these religious traditions as they are in the present or throughout history. Today, we will be discussing Shintō, a very historically and culturally significant religious tradition in Japan. We hope you enjoy. Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by tweeting to us @BrightBuddhism, emailing us at Bright.On.Buddhism@gmail.com, or joining us on our discord server, Hidden Sangha ⁠https://discord.gg/tEwcVpu⁠! Resources: Azegami, Naoki (2012). Translated by Mark Teeuwen. "Local Shrines and the Creation of 'State Shinto'". Religion. 42 (1): 63–85. doi:10.1080/0048721X.2012.641806. S2CID 219597745.; Bocking, Brian (1997). A Popular Dictionary of Shinto (revised ed.). Richmond: Curzon. ISBN 978-0-7007-1051-5.; Boyd, James W.; Williams, Ron G. (2005). "Japanese Shinto: An Interpretation of a Priestly Perspective". Philosophy East and West. 55 (1): 33–63. doi:10.1353/pew.2004.0039. S2CID 144550475.; Breen, John; Teeuwen, Mark (2010). A New History of Shinto. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-5515-1.; Cali, Joseph; Dougill, John (2013). Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan's Ancient Religion. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-3713-6.; Earhart, H. Byron (2004). Japanese Religion: Unity and Diversity (fourth ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. ISBN 978-0-534-17694-5.; Hardacre, Helen (2017). Shinto: A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-062171-1.; Kenney, Elizabeth (2000). "Shinto Funerals in the Edo Period". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 27 (3/4): 239–271. JSTOR 30233666.; Kitagawa, Joseph M. (1987). On Understanding Japanese Religion. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-10229-0. ;Kuroda, Toshio (1981). Translated by James C. Dobbins and Suzanne Gay. "Shinto in the History of Japanese Religion". Journal of Japanese Studies. 7 (1): 1–21. doi:10.2307/132163. JSTOR 132163; Inoue, Nobutaka (2003). "Introduction: What is Shinto?". In Nobutaka Inoue (ed.). Shinto: A Short History. Translated by Mark Teeuwan and John Breen. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 1–10. ISBN 978-0-415-31913-3. Littleton, C. Scott (2002). Shinto: Origins, Rituals, Festivals, Spirits, Sacred Places. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-521886-2. OCLC 49664424.; Offner, Clark B. (1979). "Shinto". In Norman Anderson (ed.). The World's Religions (fourth ed.). Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press. pp. 191–218.; Picken, Stuart D. B. (1994). Essentials of Shinto: An Analytical Guide to Principal Teachings. Westport and London: Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-313-26431-3.; Picken, Stuart D. B. (2011). Historical Dictionary of Shinto (second ed.). Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7172-4.; Williams, George; Bhar, Ann Marie B.; Marty, Martin E. (2004). Shinto (Religions of the World). Chelsea House. ISBN 978-0-7910-8097-9. Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brightonbuddhism/message

Hiroki Kuroda, Motonobu Tanishige Inducted into Japan's Baseball Hall of Fame

Join me for a summary looking at miniscrews, looking at where the answer to successful TAD placement lies, in research or clinical practice. The reasons for higher failure rates than others with TADs was explored through 3 key factors; insertion torque, site selection and root proximity. Evaluation of both scientific and clinical processes were described by Sebastian Baumgartel at the British Orthodontic Conference, as the Northcroft lecture.   Is torque a factor in TAD success? Torque study – compression during insertion Motoyoshi 2006 ·      High torque – 60% ·      Low torque = 72% ·      Medium torque – 92% Understanding ·      Low torque = low compression, low primary stability - early failure as not engagement with screw ·      High torque = high compression, early success, but greater resorption after insertion, remodelling results in a resorption process ·      Medium = best of both = sufficient compression for primary stability, not high enough to cause resorption remodelling Ideal ·      Ideal torque range – 10 Ncm Shantavasinkal 2016 o   Study of buccal tads ·      Sebastian's empirical experience between 10-25Ncm depending on site   Rules: ·      Aim for medium torque ·      Target 10Ncm ·      Exceed 10Ncm on palate acceptable   What is the best site for TAD insertion?   Keratinised gingiva ·      Evidence - states no difference  Lim 2009, Chen 2008, Park 2006, Cheng 2004 ·      Non Keratlised – depends on mobile or non mobile, with non-mobile higher success rate Viwattanatipa 2009 ·      2mm apical to muco-gingival junction o   zone of opportunity   Target zones and site o   No roots o   Consistent cortical bone o   More tolerant to higher torque o   Attached gingiva with low mobile mucosa     Is there ideal bone? ·       = if ideal torque = ideal cortical plate thickness §  1-1.5mm cortical plate thickness ·      CBCT can be overkill, using research sites for average sites     Ideal site: –      1st premolar region  (transverse)  Sebastian 2009 –      2 mm away from mid-palatal suture o   = creates ideal zone ‘Mx1'   Evidence of site selection success ·      98% Vs buccal 71% Houfar 2017 ·      84% Trainee success Sebastian 2020 ·      Success of Sebastian anterior palate 100%, maxillary buccal lowest 85%   Does root proximity influence TAD success? ·      Not just contact with roots, but proximity to root also causes failure Kuroda 2007, Asschericks 2008, Chen 2008   Understanding o   Increase root and PDL proximity =  bone stress increases = increase bone turnover = increase failure of TAD ·      4mm interradicular distance needed (depending on size of tad) to achieve 1 mm clearance from roots ·      Most buccal sites have less than 4mm (resolve through diverging roots, or sites with no roots)   What happens if TADs fail and we try again? –      Secondary insertion success o   58% (reduced by 33%) Park 2006 o    44.2%  (reduced by 36%) Uesugi 2017 o   58.1% buccal (reduced by 21%), 88.9% palatal (increased by 4%) Uesugi 2018 §  Uesugi 2018 showed buccal failure increases for secondary insertion, but palatal insertion increases success   For more education see Sebastian's TAD course: https://tadchallenge.com/tad-certification-course   I have no financial interest  

Los Deportes con Misael Valenzuela.

El cambio de sede se concretó luego de la firma de un convenio entre el IMUDEG, la directiva de la liga de béisbol regional de primera fuerza y el club Algodoneros de Guasave, oficializándose que el juego 5, y en caso de ser necesario el 6 y 7, se disputarán en el inmueble guasavense. Los Deportes con Misael Valenzuela.

In this episode of Current Account, Clay is joined by Nathan Sheets, Global Chief Economist at Citi, to talk about Japan. The discussion centers on a recent history of Japanese economy, what a transition from Gov. Kuroda to Gov. Ueda is looking like, explaining the policy of Yield Curve Control and its pros and cons and what the future may look like for Japan.

JR and Ethan sit down with Rutgers star shortstop Joshua Kuroda-Grauer to talk about his first 1.5 years of college ball and what is to come in the next 1.5, before the potential of the pros. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ffm-sports-network/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ffm-sports-network/support

This debut episode is from our brand new podcast Market Depth hosted by Weston Nakamura. Follow Market Depth using the links below to stay up to date with the latest episodes! Follow Market Depth On Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3mVTs9U Follow Market Depth On Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40dA2vm Follow Market Depth On YouTube: http://bit.ly/3JKhw8I -- Follow Weston: https://twitter.com/acrossthespread Follow Blockworks: https://twitter.com/Blockworks_  Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Disclaimer: Nothing discussed on Market Depth or On The Margin should be considered as investment advice. Please always do your own research & speak to a financial advisor before thinking about, thinking about putting your money into these crazy markets.

Follow Market Depth On Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3mVTs9U Follow Market Depth On Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40dA2vm Follow Market Depth On YouTube: http://bit.ly/3JKhw8I -- On today's episode of On the Margin, Weston Nakamura, the latest addition to the Blockworks team joins the show to discuss his brand new podcast Market Depth! You can follow the links above to listen to the first episode of Market Depth. Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Mike and Weston discuss the market reaction and subsequent historic moves in the bond market, which saw the largest decline in the 2Y treasury yield since 1982. We also discuss broader implications on global markets, the BoJ's passing of the guard as Kuroda leaves office and how markets have seemingly shrugged off the SVB collapse. To hear all this and more, you'll have to tune in! -- Follow On The Margin: https://twitter.com/OnTheMarginPod Follow Weston: https://twitter.com/acrossthespread Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/MikeIppolito_ Follow Blockworks: https://twitter.com/blockworks_ -- Research, news, data, governance and models – now, all in one place. As a listener of On The Margin, you can use code "MARGIN10" for a 10% discount when signing up to Blockworks Research https://www.blockworksresearch.com/ -- Use code MARGIN10 to get 10% off Permissionless 2023 in Austin: https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-2023 -- Disclaimer: Nothing discussed on On The Margin should be considered as investment advice. Please always do your own research & speak to a financial advisor before thinking about, thinking about putting your money into these crazy markets.

In this debut episode of Market Depth, Tokyo- based Weston Nakamura takes a deep dive look into Haruhiko Kuroda's decade-long tenure as the Governor of the Bank of Japan, who leaves his post as the most consequential major central banker in the modern era.  Governor Kuroda was appointed (then re-appointed for a rare second term) by Prime Minister Abe in 2013, specifically to carry out radically aggressive monetary easing measures- for which Kuroda delivered upon from his very first policy meeting with QQE. A decade later, Kuroda certainly has delivered- perhaps even overdelivered on the “easing without backing down” promise by conducting the world's largest and now increasingly controversial experiment in monetary policy easing: yield curve control. As Kuroda now hands the keys over to a new governor, the Bank of Japan now owns more than half of the Japanese government bond market, and is capping long term yields at explicit levels by policy, battling market forces that are pushing for a higher yielding environment against a backdrop of inflation at 40 year highs. Despite a 4% CPI reading in Japan, Governor Kuroda's only regret is that he “was unable to achieve the 2% inflation goal.” Whether Kuroda had achieved his objectives or not is up for debate. The question is - in the process of attempting to pull Japan out of a deflationary spiral, did Governor Kuroda create a meteoric 500 trillion yen bubble in JGBs? And what happens when he is no longer there to keep the largest bubble in history inflated? -- Follow Weston: https://twitter.com/acrossthespread Follow Blockworks: https://twitter.com/Blockworks_  Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Disclaimer: Nothing discussed on Market Depth should be considered as investment advice. Please always do your own research & speak to a financial advisor before thinking about, thinking about putting your money into these crazy markets.

This debut episode is from our brand new podcast Market Depth hosted by Weston Nakamura. Follow Market Depth using the links below to stay up to date with the latest episodes! Follow Market Depth On Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3mVTs9U Follow Market Depth On Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40dA2vm Follow Market Depth On YouTube: http://bit.ly/3JKhw8I -- Follow Weston: https://twitter.com/acrossthespread Follow Blockworks: https://twitter.com/Blockworks_  Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Disclaimer: Nothing discussed on Market Depth or Forward Guidance should be considered as investment advice. Please always do your own research & speak to a financial advisor before thinking about, thinking about putting your money into these crazy markets.

The Bank of Japan's decision to stay the course at its March meeting was the calm before the Silicon Valley Bank collapse's storm. Over the near term, market participants will remain on guard and USDJPY and JPY rates will inevitably fall. JPY basis could be mixed, depending on duration. In today's episode, MUFG Chief Japan Strategist Takahiro Sekido reviews the BoJ's March Monetary Policy meeting, discusses his expectations regarding the government-BoJ joint statement as well as his outlook for BoJ monetary policy. He also shares his views on spot Dollar/Yen, Yen rate, and Yen basis. Disclaimer: www.mufgresearch.com (PDF)

Link to slide deck: https://bit.ly/3FaQOmL   - Today we look at a market that is holding its breath in anticipation of incoming US data to refresh the probabilities that the Fed feels forced to re-accelerate the pace of rate hikes at the March 22. But as well, all traders need to consider the Bank of Japan meeting risk up overnight tonight as a surprisingly large adjustment from Kuroda could set even global bond and equity markets on edge, not just the Japanese yen. We also look at interesting stories in equities, from the latest on ASML to CATL and other companies. Today's pod features Garnry on equities, with John J. Hardy hosting and on FX. Read daily in-depth market updates from the Saxo Market Call and Saxo Strategy Team here. Click here to open an account with Saxo   - Intro and outro music by AShamaluevMusic

USDJPY has stopped rising while 10-year JGB yields remain stuck at 0.50%. The Nikkei Average is up and risk sentiment is positive. Japanese investors have been rebuilding their foreign bond positions ahead of the end of fiscal year 2022. Japanese investors' foreign bond flows are stronger than JPY bond flows among foreigners. In today's episode, MUFG Chief Japan Strategist Takahiro Sekido previews the March Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Board meeting and shares his outlook for JPY rates in March. He also shares his views on spot Dollar/Yen, Yen rate, and Yen basis. Disclaimer: www.mufgresearch.com (PDF)

The annual National People's Congress in China got underway yesterday and China has set a cautious growth target of “around 5%” for this year. With expectations now that demand may be softer than had been expected, iron ore, copper and oil prices all fell on this news. Eyes will stay on Beijing this week but investors will also be watching out for several economic data releases, including US non-farm payrolls figures due on Friday, and interest rate decisions including the last from the Bank of Japan under the current governor Kuroda. Mensur Pocinci, Head of Technical Analysis, provides his latest thoughts from a technical perspective.00:14 Introduction and markets wrap-up by Helen Freer (Investment Writing)03:43 Markets from a technical view by Mensur Pocinci (Head of Technical Analysis)06:01 Closing remarks by Helen Freer (Investment Writing)

Next month the leadership of the Bank of Japan will change hands, so what policy shifts might be in store and what does this imply for markets?----- Transcript -----Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Daniel Blake from Morgan Stanley's Asia and Emerging Markets Equity Strategy team. Along with my colleagues, bringing you a variety of perspectives, today I'll discuss Japanese equity markets and the changing of the guard at the Bank of Japan. It's Thursday, February 16th at 8 a.m. in Singapore. March the 10th will mark the end of an era for Japan, with Haruhiko Kuroda completing his final meeting at the helm of the Bank of Japan. Alongside the late Shinzo Abe, Kuroda-san has been instrumental in creating and implementing the famous Abenomics program over the last decade, and we think he's been successful in bringing Japan out of its long running deflationary stance. And just this week we've had the nomination of his replacement, Kazuo Ueda, a well-respected University of Tokyo professor and former Bank of Japan board member. He may not be a household name outside of the economics community, but his central bank and policy bloodlines run deep, having studied a Ph.D. at MIT alongside former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and under the tutelage of Stanley Fischer, former Bank of Israel governor and vice Fed chair. So as we see a generational handover at the BoJ, what do we expect next and what does it imply for equity markets? Firstly, Japan has made a lot of progress, but we don't think the mission has been fully accomplished on the Bank of Japan's 2% inflation target. Current inflation is being driven by cost pressures and while wage growth is picking up, we don't think wages will move up to the levels needed to see inflation at 2% being sustained. So we don't expect the BoJ under Ueda-san to embark on a tightening cycle the way we have seen for the Fed and the ECB. However, we can look for some change and in particular we think Ueda-san will look to resolve some of the market dysfunction associated with the policy of yield curve control. This is where the BoJ looks to cap bond yields at the ten year maturity, around a target of 0%. We expect he'll exit this policy of yield curve control by summer 2023, allowing the curve to steepen. And thirdly, we'll be watching closely his perspective on negative interest rate policy as we weigh up the costs and benefits and the transmission of negative rates into the real economy, albeit at the cost of profitability impacts for the banking sector. His testimony before the DIT on February 24th and his approach to negative interest rates under his governorship will be important to watch. We expect negative interest rate policy to be dropped, but not until 2024 in our base case, but this remains a key debate. So in terms of implications, this is more evolution than revolution for macro policy in Japan. And importantly, we see fiscal policy remaining supportive as the program of new capitalism and Ueda-san looks to strengthen social safety nets and double defense spending from 1% of GDP. Secondly, for equity markets, we see a resilient but still range bound outlook for the benchmark TOPIX Index. Our base case target of 2020 for December 2023 implies it doesn't quite break the top of its three year trading range, but remains well supported. Finally, at a sector level, banks and insurers may benefit from a tilting policy away from yield curve control. Again, especially if followed by a move back to zero rates from negative rate policy. In summary, we'll be watching for any shifts in the BoJ reaction function under the new leadership of Kazuo Ueda, but we do not expect a macro shock to asset markets. Instead, some micro adjustment in the yield curve control policy, and potentially negative interest rates, could help the sustainability of very low interest rates in Japan. Thanks for listening and if you enjoyed the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and share Thoughts on the Market with a friend or colleague today.

The sky is falling - literally. We are seeing markets applaud spending cuts - but how far does that reach? An update on inflation and the Fed's latest shenanigans. PLUS we are now on Spotify and Amazon Music/Podcasts! Click HERE for Show Notes and Links DHUnplugged is now streaming live - with listener chat. Click on link on the right sidebar. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter Warm Up - Superbowl - thoughts on adverts/halftime? - Jesus Gets Us - Big news at the BOJ - Crypto Under Fire - AI frenzy seems over already - Kanye West Fallout continues - Soft Landing - Really? Market Update - Inflation ticks up again - UFO sightings and not much concern (Aliens) - Biden Eco Team shuffle - Inflation comes in a bit hot - markets shrug - What is making market move? Interesting insight - Parade of Fed speakers this week - mostly trying to sell their story (markets deaf to it) Happy Valentines Day! - Great time for a donation of either $214 or even $14 - Anyone that donated $214 will get a personally signed copy of my book - The Disciplined Investor - Essential Strategies for Success Soft landing - A soft landing by a central bank is when "the central bank tightens monetary policy to fight inflation but does not cause a recession." If it causes a recession, then it is a hard landing. - If there is a "soft landing" then there is going to be perpetual higher prices| - How is that possible knowing the economic cycles? Inflation Update - CPI comes in at 0.50% today (prior was 0.1%) - YoY 6.4% - Some serious concern that inflation may be much more sticky than thought ---- Potential 0.25% increase for more meetings and higher terminal rate - MARKETS DO NOT CARE Morning Meeting - Breakfast with big shot from Merrill today - Message, it will be messy but just stay invested - made some odd comments about valuation and earnings and just rushed past them - AH had sidebar with him.. Asked about the comment of $200 projected earnings for SP500 - -- Infers P/E forward of 20+ - Asked about his overweight US if better value elsewhere --- He said that makes sense of course, yeah ----- These guys are full of crap What is actually powering market? - Slashes, Cuts and Layoffs - - - Spending cuts, layoffs and other creative money saving --- Let's take that apart and see what we get - WHY???? Earnings for S&P 500 companies are down 23% YoY Updates - Yahoo plans to lay off more than 20% of its total 8,600 workforce as part of a major restructuring. - Many other companies are cutting back on CapEX and other expansion plans - Markets applauding when they see companies are practicing fiscal restraint - Financial Services also cutting Tech Layoffs ECO Team Shuffle - President Joe Biden has decided to name Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard as his top economic adviser, with an announcement coming as soon as Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said. - In addition, according to the people, Jared Bernstein, a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, is considered likely to be named its chair, replacing Cecilia Rouse, who is stepping down. BOJ Changes - Kazuo Ueda is set to become the next governor of the Bank of Japan, succeeding current central bank chief Governor Haruhiko Kuroda. - Kuroda was first appointed in March 2013 - Kishida recently emphasized the need for the next central bank governor to have "global communication skills" and be able to coordinate closely with global peers - There was some worry about Kishida not being as DOVISH as Kuroda (very difficult shoes to fill) Starting with $20 Million on Jesus - The “He Gets Us” ads, which directed viewers to a website to learn more about Jesus, were funded by Hobby Lobby CEO David Green and a string of other anonymous Christian donors. (Donor advised funds and

The guys discuss the slide of the YEN as the Bank of Japan begins their transition from Kuroda to Masayoshi Amamiya. Several large deals are not going through as cash proves to be king during this market, stock options are not highly incentivized by purchasers. The WSJ expects more restaurant IPOs as travel and leisure are making their combacks.For information on how to join the Zoom calls live each morning at 8:30 EST, visit https://www.narwhalcapital.com/blog/daily-market-briefingsPlease see disclosures:https://www.narwhalcapital.com/disclosure

Max Kettner, HSBC Chief Multi-Asset Strategist, says he's not 'massively bullish' on equities just yet. Jane Foley, Rabobank Head of FX Strategy, says we could get a 'slightly less dovish' Bank of Japan when Kuroda steps down as governor. Binky Chadha, Deutsche Bank Chief Global Strategist & Head of Asset Allocation, sees the market going sideways in 2Q. William McDonough, Elements Funds Founder, CEO & Lead Portfolio Manager, discusses Tesla ahead of its earnings. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

No change in YCC. Short sellers RIP

Link to slide deck: https://bit.ly/3kpPRzF   - Today, we look at the jolt back to the downside for the JPY after wily Bank of Japan governor Kuroda failed to deliver further policy tweaks and looks set to end his time at the helm in April without offering further policy tightening. Still, the JPY may not sell-off much more beyond the knee-jerk as bond yields are on the decline, keeping spreads to "capped" Japanese yields orderly and even tighter. Elsewhere, we note easign financial conditions and plenty of USD liquidity and whether it has the potential to driver further gains for risky assets and a weaker US dollar. We also dive into the latest on crude oil and metals, and earnings reports and macro data up today in the US. Today's pod features Ole Hansen on commodities and John J. Hardy hosting and on FX. Read daily in-depth market updates from the Saxo Market Call and Saxo Strategy Team here. Click here to open an account with Saxo   - Intro and outro music by AShamaluevMusic

Link to slide deck: https://bit.ly/3XeSVgD   - Today, we look at the upcoming Bank of Japan meeting, noting the extreme anticipation around the event, together with the likelihood of considerable intraday volatility in the wake of the event, even if the Bank of Japan tries to deliver as little as possible, as we all know that new leadership and a likely further tightening of policy is in the pipeline with Kuroda's replacement after April. A look at crude oil, copper, upcoming earnings and macro data and more on today's pod, which features macro strategist Charu Chanana on the BoJ, Ole Hansen on commodities and John J. Hardy hosting and on FX. Read daily in-depth market updates from the Saxo Market Call and Saxo Strategy Team here. Click here to open an account with Saxo   - Intro and outro music by AShamaluevMusic

Explore your CI Futures options: http://completeintel.com/inflationbusterHarris Kupperman, popularly known as "Kuppy" on Twitter, is pretty bullish on Oil. We had a show full of oil bulls last week, which you can watch here:  https://youtu.be/m4riWW-tkIU  What does he see that would bring crude to $300? He helps us understand the thesis around that.Also, Kuppy had been bullish on housing. He goes a little bit into what he's thinking about the market right now.Kuroda changed policy a bit and markets reacted with a stronger yen. Is this a real policy change or is he just preparing markets for a new BOJ chair in April? Brent Johnson of Santiago Capital explains Japan's "normalization." Also, what does Brent see that everyone else is missing on the Dollar right now?Tracy posted a really interesting chart about the crash in household savings in the US. This is following a couple of years with MASSIVE government handouts to keep people and companies solvent through Covid. How this will affect oil demand, considering that travel has been up with retail sales down? How elastic or inelastic is oil demand? Tracy shares her thoughts on this.Key themes1. $300 crude & (still?) bullish housing2. Japan's “normalization”3. Recession & oil demand elasticity--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is the 47th episode of The Week Ahead, where experts talk about the week that just happened and what will most likely happen in the coming week. Follow The Week Ahead panel on Twitter:Tony: https://twitter.com/TonyNashNerdKuppy: https://twitter.com/hkuppyBrent: https://twitter.com/SantiagoAuFundTracy: https://twitter.com/chigrlWatch this episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/-n7xWVVcXyc

APAC stocks traded lower across the board with the broader risk profile hit by the BoJ's unexpected tweak to its Yield Curve ControlBoJ tweaked YCC in which it widened the 10yr yield band to +/- 0.5% (prev. +/-0.25%) and unexpectedly announced it is to increase bond purchases to JPY 9tln/m (prev. JPY 7.3tln/m) in Q1; Kuroda presser due at 06:30GMT/01:30ESTJPY soared on the BoJ decision to tweak its YCC, with USD/JPY slumping from levels around 137.00 to lows below 133.00, Nikkei 225 closed lower by 2.5%, and JGB yields spiked higherUS and European equity futures were hit by the BoJ's unexpected move; ES Mar'23 -0.9% and Euro Stoxx 50 Mar'23 -1.4%Looking ahead, highlights include Canadian Retail Sales, US Building Permits, EZ Consumer Confidence, speech from ECB's Kazimir, supply from the UKRead the full report covering Equities, Forex, Fixed Income, Commodites and more on Newsquawk

Explore your CI Futures options: http://completeintel.com/inflationbusterThis Week Ahead is a special episode because it was recorded live, with guests Albert Marko, Sam Rines, and Mike Smith, together with host Tony Nash in a face-to-face conversation. It's also the first time that we had a Twitter Spaces, joined by a few people and taking their questions.Gasoline prices have continued to decline here in the US. Since June, RBOB has been pretty much one way, sliding from ~$4.30 to $2.16. That's half. Of course, lower crude prices are a huge factor, but over the summer we were hearing all about refinery capacity. Is there more to it than the oil price? XLE vs crude – XOM closing in on 100, etc. How much of an impact is this having to help affordability given the broader inflationary environment?Inflation is proceeding unabated, as we saw Sam's newsletter this week. Some Goldman guy was out this week saying there may be a recession in 2023. Sam looked at the terminal rate in his newsletter this week. How would accelerated inflation or steepening of recession worries affect the Fed's actions?We had BOJ head Kuroda (who has been in the job for a decade) begin talking about Japan hitting its 2% inflation target. If that were to happen, how likely would the BOJ be to scale back is ultra-loose monetary policy? Impact on Japan's equity market, govt bonds, etc?Key themes1. How low will gasoline go?2. Inflation/Recession worries3. The day after Japan hits 2%This is the 45th episode of The Week Ahead, where experts talk about the week that just happened and what will most likely happen in the coming week.Follow The Week Ahead panel on Twitter:Tony: https://twitter.com/TonyNashNerdAlbert: https://twitter.com/amlivemonSam: https://twitter.com/SamuelRinesTracy: https://twitter.com/chigrlWatch this episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/WK94po2V1rA

House majority undecided as Democrats keep Senate control. Japanese inflation shows signs of easing, Kuroda says. Luke Vargas hosts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Featured in this podcast are Ayako Fujita, Benjamin Shatil and Yuka Mera. We expect the BoJ to adjust its YCC policy in March next year, Kuroda's last meeting before the end of his term, alongside broadening inflation momentum. But until that time, policy faces a tension between maintaining a functioning JGB market and limiting the impact of dovish monetary policy on currency stability. We do not expect the BoJ to provide any advance signal ahead of tweaking policy, but think every meeting from hereon is probably live. We do not expect a change at the October meeting, but nor is it a zero-probability event. This podcast was recorded on Oct 21, 2022. This communication is provided for information purposes only. Institutional clients can view the related report at https://jpmorganmarkets.com/research/content/GPS-4231649-0, https://jpmorganmarkets.com/research/content/GPS-4223217-0 and https://jpmorganmarkets.com/research/content/GPS-4217274-0 for more information; please visit www.jpmm.com/research/disclosures for important disclosures. © 2022 JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved.

APAC stocks traded mostly negative in a resumption of last week's global stock rout. European equity futures are indicative of a lower open with the Euro Stoxx 50 future -0.7% after the cash market closed down 2.3% on Friday.GBP/USD suffered a flash crash to 1.0327, DXY breached 114 to the upside, Italian election had little sway on EUR.Italy is on course to appoint a right-wing government led by the Brothers of Italy party; Meloni claimed leadership of the next government.Crude traded lower with an early attempt to nurse losses thwarted by resistance at USD 80/bbl for WTI.Looking ahead, highlights include German Ifo, Speeches from Fed's Collins, Bostic & Mester, ECB's Lagarde, de Guindos & Panetta, BoE's Tenreyro, BoJ's Kuroda & Amamiya, Supply from the EU & US.Read the full report covering Equities, Forex, Fixed Income, Commodites and more on Newsquawk

European bourses are softer after a mixed cash open and despite a brief foray higher, Euro Stoxx 50 -0.5%, as sentiment remains subdued amid recession/inflation concerns.Stateside, futures are lower across the board in-fitting with peers going into a week of Fed speak and inflation data.DXY climbed to a fresh YTD high of 114.58 before paring modestly, but remaining firmer, as GBP in particular lifts off worst levels.Cable succumbed to a flash crash overnight, with GBP/USD hitting an all-time-low around 1.0350; FX peers hit by broader USD strengthGilts have retained some composure after slumping over 200ticks at the commencement of trade; EGBs/USTs downbeat in sympathyWTI and Brent November futures remain subdued in early European trade following last week's recession-induced losses.Looking ahead, highlights include Speeches from Fed's Collins, Bostic & Mester, ECB's Lagarde, BoE's Tenreyro, BoJ's Kuroda & Amamiya, Supply from the US.Read the full report covering Equities, Forex, Fixed Income, Commodites and more on Newsquawk

James Williams, Williams Blade Design, joins Bob "The Knife Junkie" DeMarco on episode 342 of The Knife Junkie Podcast. Find show notes and links mentioned in this episode at https://theknifejunkie.com/342.Williams is the President of Bugei Trading Company, Inc. He has been studying martial arts since 1960 and teaching since 1975. He has trained, competed and taught a number of different martial disciplines: Japanese, Okinawan, Chinese, Filippino as well as the Brazilian system of Jujitsu as taught by Rorion and Royce Gracie.His love of samurai martial traditions came with his study of the Yanagi ryu of the Yoshida han under Don Angier Sensei and the martial traditions of the Kuroda han as taught by Kuroda Tetsuzan Sensei. Williams also teaches Close Quarters Combat to police and military both foreign and domestic. The method used, “The System of Strategy,” is based on those skills developed and cultivated by ancient warriors. He is the designer of the “Hissatsu,” a close quarter battle knife that is produced by Columbia River Knife. He also designs and releases blades under his own shingle, Williams Blade Design.Find Williams Blade Design at https://williamsbladedesign.com and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/williamsbladedesign. Find The System of Strategy at https://www.systemofstrategy.com and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/system_of_strategy.Be sure to support The Knife Junkie and get in on the perks of being a Patron -- including early access to the podcast and exclusive bonus content. Visit https://www.theknifejunkie.com/patreon for details.Let us know what you thought about this episode. Please leave a rating and/or a review in you podcast app. Your feedback is much appreciated. Also, call the listener line at 724-466-4487 or email bob@theknifejunkie.com with any comments, feedback or suggestions on the show, and let us know who you'd like to hear interviewed on an upcoming edition of The Knife Junkie Podcast.To listen to past episodes of the podcast, visit https://theknifejunkie.com/listen.

Armando Kuroda es un artista financiero, emprendedor e inversionista. Es el Fundador de Credilikeme, Kobra y JAKA. Por su parte Armando también fue el creativo encargado de crear productos desde ahorro, crédito y cobranza hasta cajeros automáticos con joystick y guilds de play-to-earn. En este episodio de Rockstars del dinero hablamos sobre crear tokens apartir de bienes raíces, música, películas arte y la industria de los videojuegos. También Armando nos habló sobre las ventajas de la Ethereum Virtual Machine. Además platicamos sobre la descentralización del Blockchain y sobre las ventajas de su transparencia de sus movimientos y gestión. No pierdas tu tiempo, inviértelo en esta gran conversación con Armando Kuroda.Suscríbete al newsletter: https://javiermtzmorodo.substack.com/Sigue @sonoropodcast en todas las redes sociales.//Descubre los beneficios de Jeeves aquí: https://www.tryjeeves.com/?ref=ROCKSTARS#Signup  

Emily Kuroda, best known as Mrs. Kim on the hit show Gilmore Girls, talks about her experiences working on the show, getting involved in the industry, as well as her new show on Disney+, Baymax!, the follow-up to Big Hero 6. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dunklevision/support

On today's episode of “The Macro Trading Floor,” Andreas and Alfonso discuss the top stories of the week before offering up their very own trade idea for manoeuvring this environment. With all eyes on the Bank of Japan as they fiercely defend their yield curve control, many investors are worried about something breaking in Japan. Alfonso highlights that "the only entity that can break something in Japan, is Japan itself". Just how will Kuroda and the BoJ be forced react to a weakening Yen, surging yields and increasing pressure from the bond vigilantes. To find out, you'll just have to tune in! --  Follow Andreas: https://twitter.com/AndreasSteno  Follow Alfonso: https://twitter.com/MacroAlf  Follow Blockworks: https://twitter.com/Blockworks_  Subscribe To The Macro Compass: https://themacrocompass.substack.com/  Subscribe To Stenos Signals: https://andreassteno.substack.com/  Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ -- Referenced In The Show: Jerome Powell Takes a Pounding: https://www.wsj.com/articles/jerome-powell-takes-a-pounding-11655936900  The Bank of Japan will not be bullied: https://www.ft.com/content/cc054493-8339-4c53-a60c-a413b05404f9 The New York Fed DSGE Model Forecast—June 2022: https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2022/06/the-new-york-fed-dsge-model-forecast-june-2022/ -- Timestamps:  (00:00) Introduction  (00:33) Top Stories Of The Week (07:33) Bank Of Japan Will Not Be Bullied (12:06) Feature Interview With Andreas (12:38) What The Heck Is Going On With The BoJ? (20:31) Andreas' Actionable Trade Idea (27:36) Feature Interview With Alfonso (30:48) Heading For An Earnings Recession (37:13) Alfonso's Actionable Trade Idea (42:27) Post Interview: Final Thoughts -- Disclaimer: Nothing discussed on The Macro Trading Floor should be considered as investment advice. Please always do your own research & speak to a financial advisor before thinking about, thinking about putting your money into these crazy markets.

Ever since May's CPI print blew away expectations, the already jittery global capital markets have become even more unsettled. And on Wednesday, June 15th, the Fed responded by raising rates 75 basis points, which is the first time the Fed has hiked by that amount since November 1994.Back then the Fed was pretty successful in engineering a soft landing in the economy, but the circumstances are very different this time around. To make sense of it all, we are pleased to welcome Weiss's bond expert Lundy Wright. So please check disclosures at the end of the episode and get ready for this one.Resources:What is Yield Curve Control?Bank of Japan's Kuroda 20-year Fight Against InflationIs the Fed Still in Fantasy Land?Disclosures: This podcast and associated content (collectively, the “Post”) are provided to you by Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers LLC (“Weiss”). The views expressed in the Post are for informational purposes only and are subject to change without notice. Information in this Post has been developed internally and is based on market conditions as of the date of the recording from sources believed to be reliable. Nothing in this Post should be construed as investment, legal, tax, or other advice and should not be viewed as a recommendation to purchase or sell any security or adopt any investment strategy. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. You should consult your own advisers regarding business, legal, tax, or other matters concerning investments. Weiss has no control over information at any external site hyperlinked in this Post. Weiss makes no representation concerning and is not responsible for the quality, content, nature, or reliability of any hyperlinked site and has included hyperlinks only as a convenience. The inclusion of any external hyperlink does not imply any endorsement, investigation, verification, or ongoing monitoring by Weiss of any information in any hyperlinked site. In no event shall Weiss be responsible for your use of a hyperlinked site. This is not intended to be an offer or solicitation of any security. Please visit www.gweiss.com to review related disclosures and learn more about Weiss.

Welcome Harrison Kuroda to the HNL Movement Podcast! There's many great insights he shares from his experiences as an athlete and a coach. He talks about how baseball grew into his primary sport that led him to play at the University of Hawaii. His road wasn't without obstacles and adversity as he persevered to return after shoulder surgery during his collegiate career. He talks about suffering multiple shoulder dislocations on his throwing shoulder. The first incident happened while playing soccer in high school and eventually led to a Bankart and labral repair. He shares many great firsthand insights through his recovery process to get back to pitching in college. He greatly credits Tommy Heffernan (Episode 100) with restoring his strength to play Division-I baseball again.All of Harrison's experiences have led him toward helping pitchers with strength & conditioning, throwing mechanics, and progressing on and off the field. In 2016, Harrison opened his facility Pitching Performance Hawaii, which is now in a 10,000 sq. ft. training space that includes a strength & conditioning, pitching, and hitting space. He encourages his athletes to be curious about learning and improving and prides himself on being a fresh set of eyes when coaching players of all ages. There are many great gems in this episode that will help athletes throughout their journey. Check out what he is doing on social media and his website below. Listen in and enjoy the episode!Website: https://pitchingperformancehawaii.com/FB: https://www.facebook.com/PitchingPerformanceHawaii/IG: https://www.instagram.com/pitching_performance_hawaiiEmail: pitchingperformancehawaii@gmail.com Phone: (808) 352-0478Did you enjoy this episode?Please subscribe and leave a review on:AppleSpotifyGooglePandoraiHeartRadio

Joining us in the latest installment of our search for The End Game is Michael Kao, formerly of Goldman Sachs, Canyon Partners and Akanthos and now a family office investor and prolific presence on Twitter, where his many epic threads have sparked debate and educated thousands. In this conversation, we discuss multiple threads of The End Game including the changing dynamics in Japan, where Kuroda-san is belatedly realising what Mick & Keith figured out almost 70 years ago: ‘you can't always get what you want.' Elsewhere we cover the changing face of both the oil market and the dollar as Michael highlights brilliantly why it's time to reverse our thinking about which drives price moves in the other, the Russia/Ukraine situation, China's options and so much more... As a reminder, Silver Tier subscribers to https://www.grant-williams.com get access to both Things That Make You Go Hmmm… and all editions of The Grant Williams Podcast, including The End Game, The Super Terrific Happy Hour, The Narrative Game, This Week In Doom and Shifts Happen so sign up today!

Welcome back to HFPod On Tour (Live)! In this week's episode we discuss Chris Kuroda's first lighting performance w/ Phish on 4/7/89, as well as his overall impact on the band. We share our favorite eras for his lights and discuss what Phish might be without him on board. In addition we dive into The Island Tour and discuss our favorite jams and sets from the legendary run which just celebrated 24 years!Tune into our LIVE SHOWS every Monday & Wednesday at 4:30pm ET.Please subscribe to OSIRIS MEDIA on Apple Podcasts to hear BONUS HFPod Episodes as well as all of Osiris Media Ad Free!Visit Sunset Lake CBD and enter the promo code HFPOD for 20% off your order.HFPod on Tour is hosted and produced by Jonathan Hart, Brian Brinkman and RJ Bee and Megan Glionna. Brought to you by Osiris Media. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

European equities (Eurostoxx 55 -0.9%) trade on the backfoot as markets digest the reaction to yesterday's peace talks. Regional CPIs from Germany have seen notable jumps from priors on a M/M and Y/Y basis ahead of the mainland metric at 13:00BST/08:00EDT.The DXY has slipped below the 98.00 mark, EUR/USD has gained a firmer footing above 1.11, JPY leads in G10 FX.US equity futures are indicative of a softer open with the ES -0.4% after the S&P closed higher by 1.2% yesterday.Looking ahead, highlights include German CPI Prelim., US ADP & GDP (Final/Q4), Speeches from Fed's Barkin, Bostic & George.GEOPOLITICSRUSSIA-UKRAINENEGOTIATIONS/TALKSUkrainian President Zelenskiy said they are not reducing defensive efforts as the Russian army still has significant potential to carry out attacks, according to Reuters.Ukraine Deputy PM says three humanitarian corridors have been agreed for evacuations on Wednesday; said Ukraine had requested 97 corridors to be opened in the worst-hit areas. Ukraine Forces warn of danger of Russian ammunition exploding at Chernobyl.Ukraine Presidential Adviser says on negotiations, Ukraine has improved its position in all respects.Russian Kremlin says Ukraine has begun to put demands down on paper and be more specific which is a positive thing. Not seen anything really promising that looks like a breakthrough, there is a lot of work ahead.DEFENCE/MILITARYGovernor of Donestsk region says situation is difficult, shelling is continuing in nearly all cities around the demarcation line.ENERGY/ECONOMIC SANCTIONS & UPDATESGermany declares "Early Warning" stage of gas supply emergency to prepare for possible escalation by Russia; Economy Minister says no current gas supply shortages, gas supplies are safeguarded at the moment. Will not accept any gas contract breaches by Russia. German gas storage is at around 25% capacity - says key question is how full gas capacities will be in the Autumn. EU countries must deal with gas supply issues together.US State Department warned that Moscow may detain Americans in Russia, while it issued a Level 4 travel advisory for Ukraine and stated 'do not travel' to Ukraine, according to AFP.Russian grain exporters reportedly may request payment in Roubles, according to Kommersant.Russian Kremlin says that the idea from lawmakers of asking other nations to pay for a wide range of Russian exports in RUB should be worked on. Will not immediately demand a switch to gas payments in RUB. Changes will be gradual.OTHERSaudi-led coalition announced it is halting military operations in Yemen for the month of Ramadan to help negotiations succeed, with operations halted from this Wednesday, according to the Saudi state news agency.China confirms China-EU summit to take place virtually on April 1st; President Xi and Premier Li will attendEUROPEAN TRADEEQUITIESAPAC stocks traded mostly positive following the strong handover from the US. Nikkei 225 was pressured by weaker than expected Retail Sales and as the Yen nursed losses. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were underpinned after continued PBoC liquidity efforts and a deluge of earnings.European equities (Eurostoxx 50 -0.8%) are mostly lower as optimism from Ukraine/Russia updates yesterday fades and inflation concerns were further bolstered by regional German CPIs. FTSE 100 (+0.1%) remains afloat following gains in Energy and Basic Resources names.Click here for more detail.FXYen repatriation offsets BoJ yield intervention to keep recovery intact - Usd/Jpy extends sharp retreat to circa 121.31 from 125.10 on Monday.Euro inflated by significantly stronger than expected preliminary CPI prints and further EGB/UST yield convergence - Eur/Usd takes out recent peak and probes Fib retracement in decent option expiry zone before fading around 1.1160.Kiwi rebounds on strong building approvals and improvements in NBNZ survey readings - Nzd/Usd firmly above 0.6950 and Aud/Nzd back under 1.0800.Dollar drifts ahead of ADP and more Fed commentary, with DXY under 98.000.Click here for more detail.Notable FX Expiries, NY Cut:EUR/USD: 1.1000 (2.44BN), 1.1050-60 (1.8BN), 1.1100 (2.17BN), 1.1150-55 (1.36BN), 1.1195-00 (1.64BN)USD/JPY: 122.00-05 (690M), 122.50 (250M), 122.90-00 (1.0BN)Click here for more detail.FIXED INCOMEHot inflation readings undermine EZ bonds and prompt more convergence vs Treasuries and GiltsBoJ steps up defence of YCC via scheduled and unplanned JGB purchases.UST curve tips after mixed 7 year auction ahead of ADP as a proxy for NFP.Click here for more detail.COMMODITIESWTI and Brent have continued to pare back some of the aggressive selling pressure seen during yesterday's session.From a technical standpoint, May'22 WTI has made it back up to USD 107.30 vs. yesterday's peak of USD 107.84, whilst June'22 Brent sits at 113.05 vs. yesterday's peak of USD 114.83.US Energy Inventory Data (bbls): Crude -3.0mln (exp. -1.0mln), Gasoline -1.4mln (exp. -1.7mln), Distillate -0.2 (exp. -1.6mln), Cushing -1.1mln.US House Energy and Commerce Committee is to hold a hearing next week with six oil company executives regarding rising gas prices, according to Reuters.Germany declares "Early Warning" stage of gas supply emergency to prepare for possible escalation by Russia; says no current gas supply shortages.India is to increase natural gas prices for April-Sept to USD 6.10/mmbtu from USD 2.90mmbtu currently, according to Reuters sources.Spot gold traded sideways and only marginally benefitted from the weaker greenback.Click here for more detail.NOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINESECB's Lagarde says in the short-term will face higher inflation and slower growth. The longer the war goes on, the higher the economic costs will be. Incoming data supports inflation outlook and will conclude APP in Q3.ECB's Kazimir says that unless their is a dramatic escalation in the conflict in Ukraine, first rate increase might come towards the end of 2022.ECB's Muller says that APP could cease in Q3 and a rate hike could come after that.BoE Deputy Governor Broadbent says that it is doubtful whether the UK has experienced an external hit to real national income on this scale. In the near term in the difficult combination of even higher inflation but weaker domestic demand and output growth.DATA RECAPUK BRC Shop Price Index YY (Mar) 2.1% (Prev. 1.8%)EU Consumer Confid. Final (Mar) -18.7 vs. Exp. -18.7 (Prev. -18.7)EU Cons Infl Expec (Mar) 59.8 (Prev. 37.7)EU Selling Price Expec (Mar) 58.1 (Prev. 49.8)Spanish HICP Flash YY (Mar) 9.8% vs. Exp. 8.1% (Prev. 7.6%)Regional CPIs from Germany have seen notable jumps from priors on a M/M and Y/Y basis ahead of the mainland metric at 13:00BST/08:00EDT.NOTABLE US HEADLINES:Fed's Bostic (2024 voter) said the Ukraine war is impacting inflation and increases uncertainty which is a risk for demand. Bostic stated the Fed is withdrawing policy support to allow the economy to stand on its own but added it could harm the economy if the Fed moves too quickly, while he reiterated that he favours six hikes for 2022.Click here for the US Early Morning NoteCRYPTOBitcoin is modestly softer but holding on to USD 47k status.APAC TRADEEQUITIESAPAC stocks traded mostly positive amid optimism from Russia-Ukraine talks in which negotiators discussed a ceasefire and with Russia to scale down military activity in Kyiv and Chernihiv, although the US was unconvinced.ASX 200 gained on continued tech strength and with consumer stocks helped on Budget support measures.Nikkei 225 fell beneath the 28,000 level after weaker than expected Retail Sales and as the Yen nursed losses.Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were underpinned after continued PBoC liquidity efforts and amid a deluge of earnings including from large banks in which Bank of China and China Construction Bank both topped estimates.NOTABLE APAC HEADLINESPBoC injected CNY 150bln via 7-day reverse repos with the rate at 2.10% for a CNY 130bln net injection.PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 6.3566 vs exp. 6.3478 (prev. 6.3640)Chinese city of Xuzhou has declared a three-day lockdown from WednesdayBoJ Governor Kuroda said he discussed a post-COVID global economy, Russia and Ukraine with PM Kishida, as well as talked about the economy and financial markets in Japan and abroad with the PM. Kuroda told Kishida FX moves should reflect economic fundamentals but they did not discuss anything in particular on FX and don't think that a monetary adjustment would have a direct impact on currencies. Furthermore, Kuroda said the yen is weakening but is driven partly by buying the dollar for energy imports and with higher US rates also a factor.BoJ announced to buy JPY 600bln in 3yr-5yr JGBs, JPY 725bln in 5yr-10yr JGBs, JPY 150bln in 10yr-25yr JGBs, JPY 100bln in 25yr+ JGBs and JPY 60bln in inflation-indexed JGBs, while it also offered to buy an unlimited amount of 10yr JGBs at a fixed rate of 0.25%. The BoJ later announced an emergency operation to buy JPY 500bln in 5yr-10yr JGBs, JPY 100bln in 10yr-25yr JGBs and JPY 50bln in 25yr+ JGBs, according to Reuters.Japan former currency diplomat Shinohara says yen decline reflects economic fundamentals to some extent, moves not very fast; meaningless for Tokyo to conduct yen-buying intervention; intervention will not have lasting effect in reversing weak yen.DATA RECAPJapanese Retail Sales YY (Feb) -0.8% vs. Exp. -0.3% (Prev. 1.6%, Rev. 1.1%)New Zealand Building Consents (Feb) 10.5% (Prev. -9.2%, Rev. -8.7%)New Zealand NBNZ Business Outlook* (Mar) -41.9% (Prev. -51.8%)New Zealand NBNZ Own Activity* (Mar) 3.3% (Prev. -2.2%)

APAC stocks traded mostly positive following the strong lead from the US which was spurred by Ukraine/Russia optimism. A western official said they haven't seen anything so far that has demonstrated Russia is particularly serious about peace talks.The DXY remains subdued following yesterday's declines, USD/JPY has continued to fade recent gains. European equity futures are indicative of a softer open with the Euro Stoxx 50 future down 0.4% after the cash market closed higher by 3.0% yesterday.Looking ahead, highlights include German CPI Prelim, US ADP & GDP (Final/Q4), Speeches from Fed's Barkin, Bostic & George, ECB's Lagarde, BoE's Broadbent, Supply from Italy.US TRADEUS stocks finished positive with risk appetite spurred by optimism post-Russia/Ukraine talks and after Russia suggested it would be withdrawing some troops, while both sides alluded to prospects of a Putin-Zelensky meeting.S&P 500 +1.2% at 4,633, Nasdaq 100 +1.7% at 15,239, Dow Jones +1.0% at 35,294, Russell 2000 +2.7% at 2,133.NOTABLE US HEADLINESFed's Bullard (2022 voter, 50bp dissenter) reiterated that he favours raising the FFR to 3% by year-end and is in favour of implementing a plan to quickly reduce the size of the Fed's balance sheet, while he added the extent and pace of these actions can be adjusted if macroeconomic conditions evolve differently than what they expect, according to the St Louis Fed.Fed's Harker (temp voter) said the Fed 'collectively underestimated' impact fiscal spending would have on inflation and he would not take a 50bps rate hike off the table for the next meeting but is not committing to it either. Harker stated that developments in China is "another wrench" in the supply chain and could make a 50bps hike more likely appropriate, while he noted a balance sheet reduction could add the equivalent of two quarter-point rate increases and that they can move methodically to a neutral rate of around 2.5% then assess what more may be required, according to Reuters.Fed's Bostic (2024 voter) said the Ukraine war is impacting inflation and increases uncertainty which is a risk for demand. Bostic stated the Fed is withdrawing policy support to allow the economy to stand on its own but added it could harm the economy if the Fed moves too quickly, while he reiterated that he favours six hikes for 2022.US Senate voted to move the Fed nomination of Lisa Cook forward to a confirmation vote. (Newswires)GEOPOLITICSRUSSIA-UKRAINENEGOTIATIONS/TALKSUkrainian President Zelenskiy said signals from Russia talks could be called positive but do not drown out the explosions of Russian shells and they see no reason to trust words from "certain representatives of a power that continues to fight for our destruction". Zelensky also said they are not reducing defensive efforts as the Russian army still has significant potential to carry out attacks, according to Reuters.US President Biden said "we'll see" about Russia's de-escalation statement and will have to see if Russia follows through but the US will continue to keep strong sanctions and help the Ukraine military, according to Reuters.French President Macron discussed the Ukraine situation with Russian President Putin in a phone call and Macron told Putin paying gas contracts in Roubles was not possible, according to a French Presidency official. Furthermore, Macron brought up the topic of carrying out a humanitarian mission for Mariupol with Putin although conditions are not in place for now and Russia's position on a humanitarian mission for Mariupol remains tough but Putin told Macron he would think about it, according to Reuters.DEFENCE/MILITARYUS Department of Defense confirmed there has been some movement by small amounts of Russian forces away from Kyiv but reiterated this is repositioning and not a withdrawal, while it added that Russia is spinning a lack of progress as the next steps and the threat to Kyiv isn't over despite Russian talk. Furthermore, it stated that Russian President Putin's goals still stretch beyond the Donbass and that a small number of Russian troops leaving Kyiv are moving north for now and are to be used elsewhere in Ukraine, according to Reuters.US official said the US believes any movement of Russian forces from around Kyiv is a "redeployment, not a withdrawal" and said the world should be prepared for a continuation of major offensives in other areas in Ukraine as Russia is shifting gears, according to Reuters.A western official said they haven't seen anything so far that has demonstrated Russia is particularly serious about peace talks and seems to be more of a tactical exercise to play for time, according to Reuters.US is mulling sending another USD 500mln of humanitarian aid to Ukraine which could be used for military purposes, according to Bloomberg.ENERGY/ECONOMIC SANCTIONSWhite House said they will continue to intensify sanctions on Russia and they are not going to run out of options anytime soon, according to Reuters.Russia is studying the possibility of importing equipment for the fuel and energy complex through friendly countries, according to Interfax.FUND/SOVEREIGN/OTHER NEWSUS State Department warned that Moscow may detain Americans in Russia, while it issued a Level 4 travel advisory for Ukraine and stated 'do not travel' to Ukraine, according to AFP.Russian grain exporters reportedly may request payment in Roubles, according to Kommersant.OTHERSaudi-led coalition announced it is halting military operations in Yemen for the month of Ramadan to help negotiations succeed, with operations halted from this Wednesday, according to the Saudi state news agency.APAC TRADEEQUITIESAPAC stocks traded mostly positive amid optimism from Russia-Ukraine talks in which negotiators discussed a ceasefire and with Russia to scale down military activity in Kyiv and Chernihiv, although the US was unconvinced.ASX 200 gained on continued tech strength and with consumer stocks helped on Budget support measures.Nikkei 225 fell beneath the 28,000 level after weaker than expected Retail Sales and as the Yen nursed losses.Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were underpinned after continued PBoC liquidity efforts and amid a deluge of earnings including from large banks in which Bank of China and China Construction Bank both topped estimates.US equity futures took a breather following yesterday's advances.European equity futures are indicative of a softer open with the Euro Stoxx 50 future down 0.4% after the cash market closed higher by 3.0% yesterday.FXDXY remained subdued after the prior day's retreat beneath the 99.00 level as yields eased and with risk sentiment underpinned by hopes surrounding the Russia-Ukraine talks.EUR/USD strengthened above 1.1100 amid hopes of a de-escalation in Ukraine.GBP/USD lacked direction after yesterday's choppy mood with the pair stuck around the 1.3100 level.USD/JPY continued to fade recent advances with the pair slipping to a low of 121.31 overnight vs. 125.10 on Monday.Antipodeans benefitted from the risk tone with NZD outperforming on cross-related flows and encouraging data which showed an improvement in Building Permits and Business Activity Outlook.SNB's Vice Chair Zurbruegg said vulnerabilities have increased in the swiss real estate market and Swiss apartments are overvalued by 10-35%, while the SNB will monitor developments in the real estate market, according to Reuters.FIXED INCOME10yr USTs extended on the prior day's gains as yields eased and with the recent declines in oil prices helping alleviate some of the inflationary concerns. 2s10s inverted (briefly) for the first time since 2019, whilst a mixed 7yr auction had little follow-throughBunds continued to recoup recent losses to test the 158.00 level to the upside.10yr JGBs were underpinned after the BoJ boosted today's regular buying operations for various maturities and conducted a special operation for unlimited JGBs, while it later announced emergency purchases to cap yields.COMMODITIESWTI and Brent nursed the losses from yesterday's intraday drop after Ukraine/Russia optimism weighed heavily on oil, with prices well of their lows amid skepticism from the US on Russia scaling down operations.US Energy Inventory Data (bbls): Crude -3.0mln (exp. -1.0mln), Gasoline -1.4mln (exp. -1.7mln), Distillate -0.2 (exp. -1.6mln), Cushing -1.1mln.US House Energy and Commerce Committee is to hold a hearing next week with six oil company executives regarding rising gas prices, according to Reuters.Spot gold traded sideways and only marginally benefitted from the weaker greenback.Copper was higher amid the constructive risk tone.CRYPTOBitcoin was choppy overnight with prices relatively flat heading into the European morning.NOTABLE APAC HEADLINESPBoC injected CNY 150bln via 7-day reverse repos with the rate at 2.10% for a CNY 130bln net injection.PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 6.3566 vs exp. 6.3478 (prev. 6.3640)Chinese city of Xuzhou has declared a three-day lockdown from WednesdayBoJ Governor Kuroda said he discussed a post-COVID global economy, Russia and Ukraine with PM Kishida, as well as talked about the economy and financial markets in Japan and abroad with the PM. Kuroda told Kishida FX moves should reflect economic fundamentals but they did not discuss anything in particular on FX and don't think that a monetary adjustment would have a direct impact on currencies. Furthermore, Kuroda said the yen is weakening but is driven partly by buying the dollar for energy imports and with higher US rates also a factor.BoJ announced to buy JPY 600bln in 3yr-5yr JGBs, JPY 725bln in 5yr-10yr JGBs, JPY 150bln in 10yr-25yr JGBs, JPY 100bln in 25yr+ JGBs and JPY 60bln in inflation-indexed JGBs, while it also offered to buy an unlimited amount of 10yr JGBs at a fixed rate of 0.25%. The BoJ later announced an emergency operation to buy JPY 500bln in 5yr-10yr JGBs, JPY 100bln in 10yr-25yr JGBs and JPY 50bln in 25yr+ JGBs, according to Reuters.DATA RECAPJapanese Retail Sales YY (Feb) -0.8% vs. Exp. -0.3% (Prev. 1.6%, Rev. 1.1%)New Zealand Building Consents (Feb) 10.5% (Prev. -9.2%, Rev. -8.7%)New Zealand NBNZ Business Outlook* (Mar) -41.9% (Prev. -51.8%)New Zealand NBNZ Own Activity* (Mar) 3.3% (Prev. -2.2%)EUROPENOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINESUK ministers are reportedly mulling a fourth delay of the introduction of full checks on imports from the EU in a move to tackle trade friction and the cost of living crisis, according to FT citing officials briefed on talks.DATA RECAPUK BRC Shop Price Index YY (Mar) 2.1% (Prev. 1.8%)

APAC stocks traded mixed with the growth and tech-led momentum from the US fading overnight.European equity futures are indicative of a slightly higher open with the Euro Stoxx 50 future up 0.1% after the cash market closed lower by 0.2% yesterday.DXY hovers around 98.50, EUR/USD is back above 1.10 and USD/JPY has pulled back below 122.00.The US and EU have struck a deal for the US to supply the bloc with additional LNG and lower dependence on Russian supply.Looking ahead, highlights include UK Retail Sales, German Ifo, US Uni. of Michigan (Final), EU Council Meeting and EU/US Meeting, Speeches from Fed's Williams, Fed's Barkin & ECB's de Cos, Supply from Italy.US TRADEUS stocks were firmer across the board led by outperformance in tech/growth amid a pullback in oil prices and despite the continued upside in yields.S&P 500 +1.4% at 4,520, Nasdaq 100 +2.2% at 14,766, Dow Jones +1.0% at 34,708, Russell 2000 +1.1% at 2,075.NOTABLE US HEADLINESApple (AAPL) is reportedly developing hardware subscription service for iPhones which could be launched by the end of the year or in 2023, according to Bloomberg.GEOPOLITICSRUSSIA-UKRAINEDEFENCE/MILITARYUS official said Russian President Putin tends to act out and not back down which sparks concerns in the US that he feels cornered and may lash out.US assessed a significant failure rate of Russian missiles in Ukraine of as high as 60%, according to three US officials.US Pentagon senior official said Russia is running out of precision-guided munitions for the war in Ukraine and that the Ukraine war makes Russia a strategic burden for China.US Pentagon's new strategy will describe Russia as an acute threat but one that cannot pose a long-term systemic challenge, while Russia will emerge from the Ukrainian war weaker militarily and politically.Russian Foreign Ministry said NATO summit decision to keep providing support to Ukraine confirms alliance wants the conflict to continue, according to Ria.ENERGY/ECONOMIC SANCTIONSUS President Biden said the US and NATO will sustain sanctions as long as needed to change Russian President Putin's course of action and not just for one or two months, but for the entire year. President Biden warned they would respond if chemical weapons are used whereby the nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use, while he thinks Russia should be removed from the G20 and said they are coordinating with the G7 and EU on food and energy security.EU joint statement noted the EU demands that Russia stop committing war crimes in Ukraine and EU is prepared to close loopholes in Russian sanctions.French President Macron said no decision has been made on sanctioning Russian oil, gas, and coalJapan is to freeze assets on 25 more Russian individuals and will prohibit exports to an additional 81 Russian organisations, according to the Foreign Ministry.Australia announced new sanctions on Russia and Belarus including Belarusian President Lukashenko and members of his family.Russia's Medvedev said it is foolish to expect Russian authorities can be influenced by sanctions against Russian businesses.Russia is mulling selling its oil and gas for Bitcoin as sanctions intensify, according to CNBC.Lukoil's global trading arm is scaling back operations following sanctions, according to Reuters sources.Nord Stream 2 is to file for insolvency in the coming days, according to Stuttgarter.US DoJ charged four Russian government workers over hacking campaigns that targeted the global energy sector, according to FT.OTHER NEWS/REMARKSUS charged Russian Ministry of Defence official Gladkikh with conspiring to damage critical infrastructure and charged three Russians employed by Russia's federal security service with launching attacks on energy sector computers.FUND/SOVEREIGN ACTIONRussia's 2029 Eurobond holders received some overdue coupon payments, according to Bloomberg.OTHERNorth Korea confirmed Thursday's launch was a 'new-type' Hwasong-17 and that its leader Kim directly guided the ICBM test, while Kim sees the new ICBM as an important deterrent against nuclear war. Kim also stated the new weapon shows the might and modernity of North Korea's strategic force and that they are preparing for a long confrontation with US imperialism. Furthermore, he said North Korea's strategic force is ready to check and contain any military attempt by the US, while he warned whoever attempts to infringe on North Korea's security will pay dearly.US and South Korean defence officials agree on the need for firm responses to North Korean ICBM launch, including at the UN, according to Pentagon statement.US imposed sanctions on five entities and individuals in Russia, North Korea and China for weapons proliferation, according to the State Department.APAC TRADEEQUITIESAPAC stocks traded mixed with the growth and tech-led momentum from the US fading overnight.ASX 200 was led higher by strength in mining stocks but with upside capped by a lack of fresh catalysts.Nikkei 225 was indecisive as JPY nursed recent losses and the 10yr yield neared the BoJ's cap.Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. weakened with tech names pressured after the US downplayed speculation of a deal on Chinese stock listings and with the PBoC's liquidity boost only providing brief support.US equity futures took a breather with price action rangebound near yesterday's peak.European equity futures are indicative of a slightly higher open with the Euro Stoxx 50 future up 0.1% after the cash market closed lower by 0.2% yesterday.FXDXY faded recent gains with the DXY back around the 98.50 level, despite continued upside in yields.EUR/USD climbed above 1.1000 and gained further traction after it breached its 100- and 200-hour MAs.GBP/USD benefitted from the softer greenback and broke out of yesterday's range.USD/JPY pulled back from above 122.00 as the BoJ refrained from intervening to defend its yield cap.Antipodeans were rangebound and edged mild gains amid the dollar weakness.BoJ Governor Kuroda said it is desirable for FX rates to move stably and doesn't think the weak JPY reflects eroding market trust in the value of the currency, while he stated the market's view is that a weak JPY is due to Japanese importers' dollar demand and prospects of Fed rate increases. Kuroda added the impact of weak JPY can be uneven but noted it is still beneficial to Japan's economy.Banxico hiked rates by 50bps to 6.5%, as expected, via unanimous decision and stated with this action, the monetary policy stance is adjusted to the trajectory required for inflation to converge to its 3% target within the forecast horizon.FIXED INCOME10yr USTs were lacklustre after recent selling following the recent selling pressure as yields remained elevated and with plenty of Fed speakers this week echoed a hawkish message.Bunds traded subdued, albeit off Thursday's lows with the 159.00 level providing support overnight.10yr JGBs conformed to the uninspired mood as the 10yr yield rose to the highest since January 2016.COMMODITIESWTI and Brent were uneventful after Thursday's losses amid calls from the west for increased supply and with the IEA prepared to release more oil stocks if needed, while the CPC pipeline partially resumes.Dubai set the official crude differential to DME Oman for June at a USD 0.25/bbl discount.White House Economic Adviser Deese said the US economy is strong enough to navigate challenges and that they should see more US oil production.Saudi Arabia and the UAE are pushing the US for deeper security cooperation, according to FT.US is finalising plans to supply the EU with up to 15bcm of LNG by the end of 2022, according to FT sources.Canada said it has the capacity to increase oil and gas exports in 2022 by up to 300k BPD, including 200k BPD of oil and up to 100k BPD of natural gas, while PM Trudeau said Canada can play a modest role in replacing Russian energy on global markets.Spot gold traded sideways and largely ignored the softer greenback.Copper was subdued as Asia failed to sustain the risk momentum from Wall St.LME is immediately introducing a rules-based prohibition on the submission of orders on any execution venues where such order is outside the applicable daily price limits (up or down) for the relevant metal.CRYPTOBitcoin was indecisive oscillated around the USD 44,000 level.NOTABLE APAC HEADLINESPBoC injected CNY 100bln via 7-day reverse repos with the rate at 2.10% for a CNY 70bln net injection.PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 6.3739 vs exp. 6.3639 (prev. 6.3640).DATA RECAPTokyo CPI YY (Mar) 1.3% vs. Exp. 1.2% (Prev. 1.0%)Tokyo CPI Ex. Fresh Food YY (Mar) 0.8% vs. Exp. 0.7% (Prev. 0.5%)Tokyo CPI Ex. Fresh Food & Energy YY (Mar) -0.4% vs. Exp. -0.5% (Prev. -0.6%)EUROPENOTABLE EUROPEAN HEADLINESECB's Schnabel said they would need to reconsider the end of APP if they were to enter a deep recession due to the Ukraine crisis, while she also commented that developments in real wages are a bit surprising.DATA RECAPUK GfK Consumer Confidence* (Mar) -31 vs. Exp. -30.0 (Prev. -26.0)

Episode 117d Saint Patrick: Converting Pagans or Banishing Snakes?Description: In today's episode Dr. Carly McNamara of the University of Glasgow takes us through the incredible life of that most famous of Irish saints, Patrick. We will talk about where he came from, what he wrote about and some interesting facts about his life. We will also discuss trade, slavery, travel and other aspects of life in a distant corner of Europe in the era of a Roman Empire that was falling apart and it wasn't quite clear what would replace it.About Today's Guest:Dr. Carolyn McNamaraOn Twitter: @MedievalCarlyEducation Evolved: @EducationEvolvd www.educationevolvedltd.com/Slavery After Rome by Alice Riohttps://www.amazon.com/Slavery-500-1100-Studies-Medieval-European/dp/0198865813Book of Kells Onlinehttps://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/home/index.php?DRIS_ID=MS58_003vYou can learn more about the History of Papacy and subscribe at all these great places:http://atozhistorypage.com/https://www.historyofthepapacypodcast.comemail: steve@atozhistorypage.comhttps://www.patreon.com/historyofthepapacyparthenonpodcast.comhttps://www.gettr.com/user/atozhistoryBeyond the Big Screen:Beyondthebigscreen.comThe History of the Papacy on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6DO2leym3kizBHW0ZWl-nAGet Your History of the Papacy Podcast Products Here: https://www.atozhistorypage.com/productsHelp out the show by ordering these books from Amazon!https://amzn.com/w/1MUPNYEU65NTFMusic Provided by:"Danse Macabre" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"Virtutes Instrumenti" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"Crusades" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"Funeral March for Brass" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"String Impromptu Number 1" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"Intended Force" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Agnus Dei X - Bitter Suite Kevin MacLeaod (incomptech.com)"Folk Round" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"Celtic Impulse" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Image Credits:By Ariely - Own work, CC BY 3.0, ttps://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4533576By Pam Brophy, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9124089By ACBahn - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33810833Begin Transcript:Thank you for listening to the History of the Papacy. I am your host Steve and we are a member of the Parthenon Podcast network, including Scott Rank's History Unplugged, James Early's Key Battles of American History, Richard Lim's This American President. Go to parthenon podcast dot com to learn more.•Patreon Plug patreon.com/history of the papacy•4 Tiers – Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople and Rome•Inclusion on the History of the Papacy Diptychs, bonus audio and video content, Pope coin coming soon, monthly book drawings, early content, and add free, early content. Sign up early so that you have your name at the top of the lists!•Now, let us commemorate the Patreon Patrons on the History of the Papacy Diptychs. We have oRoberto, Goran, William, Brian, Jeffrey, Christina, John, and Sarah at the Alexandria level oDapo, Paul, Justin and Lana all of who are the Magnificent at the Constantinople Level. oReaching the ultimate power and prestige, that of the See of Rome: we have Peter the Great!•In today's episode Dr. Carly McNamara of the University of Glasgow takes us through the incredible life of that most famous of Irish saints, Patrick. We will talk about where he came from, what he wrote about and some interesting facts about his life. We will also discuss trade, slavery, travel and other aspects of life in a distant corner of Europe in the era of a Roman Empire that was falling apart and it wasn't quite clear what would replace it.•With that, here is the next piece of the mosaic of the history of the Popes of Rome and Christian Church.[00:00:00] Let's get it. There's I have a couple of more questions about that diffusion, but I think it'll, we'll have a better picture if we talk about kind of the, the big player that everybody's probably been waiting for and that's Patrick or St. Patrick, as he's also called, who was Patrick and how did he make his impact on how Christianity spread throughout Ireland?Yeah. So one thing that's really fantastic about Patrick is that we have two works that are his own writings, and this is almost unheard of. We have so little personal writings from. The Atlantic islands in this period. I mentioned Gilda's previously, but he's after Patrick, even. So it it's amazing that we've got this from Patrick, although it was very purposefully preserved at our ma and we'll probably get into that a little bit.So we've got his confession and his letter to Corona. [00:01:00] K. No, the earliest version of the confession survives in the ninth century book of our ma uh, it appears to be a document written by Patrick in his old age, as he reflects upon his life and his actions, and seems to be a response to some unnamed detractors who appear to level accusations against him for poor behavior.Now, this is. We really think of when we're thinking of the great Patrick these days? No, not at all. So you can see this level of defensiveness that runs through the entire piece. He even tells us specifically the quote that he long thought to write. But up to now, he has hesitated because he feared what people would say.And quote, and if you're reading interested in reading the full confession for yourself, it's available in translation online at confess CEO dot I E, [00:02:00] and the letter to Kuroda kisses there as well. But I don't think we'll have time to get into the letter today. Would they have been written in Latin? Yes.So you can see the original, if you want to try yourself at some Latin it's there in, in the original Latin, but they've also got it translated into a few different languages, which is so fantastic. Sure. We'll dive into this in later times, but how much were, what somebody of like, um, Patrick or, and that meantime have written in Irish, would that have been done at all or was everything pretty well, Latin eyes?A lot of it is going to be Latin. We get written Irish after exposure to Latin. So it, I like to think of it as someone's like, this is really great that we can write this down. So let's do that with our own language too. And it's really thanks to the Irish in large part that. We have so much [00:03:00] about what it was like to learn Latin, because we have all of these Latin primers and study books basically about how to learn Latin that were written by the Irish.And it's really cool, I think. Yeah, absolutely. And I think we'll probably wind up getting into that a lot more because that's going to affect things later on. Yeah. I mean, it seems obvious that Patrick probably would've learned Irish. You know, he spent six years as a slave. He tells us, and it would be really hard to communicate with anyone if you didn't have any shared language and.As many years as he has meant to have spent as an adult in Ireland, he, he must have taken up language ability during that time. But I want to back up a little bit and get to the beginning of Patrick. So he gives us a little bit of information about himself in his confession. He tells us his father's name was Calpurnia [00:04:00] and that his father was a deacon.His grandfather's name. and he was a priest. He tells us that his family lived near a village called , which was where he was taken from when he was 16. And while this is fantastic information that we frequently yearned for in early sources, the sad news is that we have. No idea where ban of him to Bernie, I was meant to be.And that has engendered lots of discussion on the possible locations that run the gamut from Wales to England and even into Southern Scotland. We also don't have anything concrete by which to reckon his year of birth. And there has been much additional discussion on that. Uh, and just to round out this early picture of Patrick, he tells us that he wasn't particularly religious as a youth.I think that's fascinating [00:05:00] that, um, and it's gotta be so frustrating when you read a document and it's probably when they wrote it, everybody knew whereOr was, and now, you know, why would they ever write down? Oh yeah, well, it's next to this or that. And now it's completely gone. The same thing happens to us with Gilda's. He tells us that he was born very specific number of years after the battle of Mount Baden. But, uh, we don't know when that was so.Thanks. Gilda's yeah, yeah. Again, everybody knew when the battle was, well, why bother writing it down 1500 years later? Not so much. Yeah, exactly. So then getting into, now we know a little bit about Patrick's background. What was that next phase of his life? Yeah. So, uh, I think it's worth mentioning that just kind of can dealing Patrick together that he probably lived in the fifth century, a D he was the son of a [00:06:00] Romanized Britain and nominally, a third generation Christian.He was also sufficiently educated. To be able to write in Latin, which as we've already mentioned is the language that he, his two texts are in. So he worked as a shepherd in Ireland for six years as a slave, once he was captured. And he only tells us that it was in a wooded area near the Western sea. And for that reason it's location also.Elusive.

In this episode, Michael talks with Yukiko Kuroda, Managing Director and Founder of People Focus Consulting and external board member of listed Japanese companies including Mitsui Chemicals and Seven Bank, about the state of corporate purpose in Japan and the importance of courageous leadership, inclusiveness, psychological safety and individual employee purpose in striking a healthy balance between meeting investors' expectations and contributing to society.

Andy Lattal joins BAPcast to talk about his paper, Big Surprises: Jackpot Reinforcers in Research and Practice. Show Notes Remember to join us on Facebook to suggest articles to review and questions for authors. https://www.facebook.com/BApractice Acknowledgments Host and Executive Producer: Cody Morris, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA https://salve.edu/users/dr-cody-morris Assistant Productor: Elizbeth Narvaez Production Assistants for this Episode Jesse Perrin Tatiana Pullar Taylor Rainho Organizational Support ABAI https://www.abainternational.org/welcome.aspx Behavior Analysis in Practice Editor, Stephanie Peterson, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA https://www.abainternational.org/journals/bap.aspx Music Cruising Altitude by Jim Carr and his band New Latitude http://www.newlatitudemusic.com Link to Article https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40617-020-00423-0 Links from Talk Books and Articles Referenced Pryor, K. (1999). Don't shoot the dog!: The new art of teaching and training. New York: Bantam Books. Kuroda, Toshikazu. (2009) An experimental analysis of jackpotting. Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 2799. Flaherty, C.F. (1982) Incentive contrast: A review of behavioral changes following shifts in reward. Animal Learning & Behavior10, 409–440. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212282

Chris Kuroda is the longtime lighting designer for Phish. He is a premier lighting and production designer who, in addition to his work with Phish, has worked with A-List touring acts worldwide, including Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, as well as on large scale festival environments and in professional sports. In the inaugural episode of KWIZCAST, Chris shares his accidental career origins, his creative process and inspirations, crossing over from lighting concerts to sports, personal learnings during the pandemic and his thoughts on the future of live concerts.