Episode 172 | The Louis Vuitton of Survival

Episode 172 | The Louis Vuitton of Survival

From Unhinged History by twigliot

May 8, 2026 · 58 min · Episode 177

About this episode

This episode explores the Silk Road and the story of Nakahama Manjiro, a Japanese fisherman who became the first Japanese man in the United States.

Unhinged History strives to bring you the stories you’ve never heard of in your history class, and this week is no exception. Angie kicks off this week by exploring the Silk Road and the heist that liberated silkworms and opened the door for countries other than China to produce this incredibly luxurious textile. Theresa veers off in a wildly different direction as she shares the story of Nakahama Manjiro, also known as John Mung. Manjiro starts off as a stranded Japanese 14-year-old fisherman, gets rescued by an American whaling ship, becomes the first Japanese man in the United States, and returns home just in time to be an interpreter for Commodore Matthew Perry coming to Japan to sell weapons. This episode pairs well with: Battle of Hastings and Bayeux TapestryThe Fall of the Shogun and the Women's Army Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/UnhingedHistory Email us: Unhinged.HistoryPod@gmail.com Head to Social Media and be Social With Us: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@unhinged.historyInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/unhinged.historypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unhingedhistory Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe. As a small, independent podcast, we rely…

People in this episode

Hosts: Angie, Theresa

Topics covered

  • Silk Road
  • heist
  • Japanese history
  • American whaling
  • textile production
  • cultural exchange

Keywords

  • Silk Road
  • Nakahama Manjiro
  • John Mung
  • Commodore Matthew Perry
  • textiles
  • cultural exchange
  • history
  • heist

Mentioned in this episode

Places: China, Japan, United States

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