This episode features an interview with Dr. Jakobina K. Arch, author of Bringing Whales Ashore: Oceans and the Environment of Early Modern Japan (University of Washington Press, 2018). In our talk, we discuss Dr. Arch’s interest in telling the early modern oceanic history Tokugawa era Japan. We discuss why Japan’s oceans have often been left out of the telling of its history, and contemplate the limits of recounting history from a nonhuman perspective.