Japan's Dirtiest Jobs — and Why One of Them Created a Caste System That Still Exists
For the Love of History - world history, women’s history, weird history

Japan's Dirtiest Jobs — and Why One of Them Created a Caste System That Still Exists

B2Upper-intermediateApril 24, 202633 min

From professional fart scapegoats to the workers who literally built civilization from the ground up. Edo Japan's labor history is wild, gross, and more relevant than you'd think. In this episode, we're diving into the worst jobs of the Edo period (1603–1868): the Buddhist nuns hired to take the blame for samurai princesses' flatulence, the night soil collectors whose poop trade kept an entire nation fed, and the leather workers whose occupation got them legally classified as non-human, a designation whose effects are still felt in Japan in 2026. What we cover: 💙The heoi-bekuni — Japan's professional fart scapegoat nuns and why only Bu...

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You're listening to an Airwave Media Podcast. Everybody shush! William Shatner has something to say. Cat and Jethro, box of oddities.

0:10

The show is examined. Weird things. What do you do when the woman you love dies? Well, of course, you dig her up and you live with her.

0:19

Aw. That is really mysterious. The strange. The bizarre.

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