AFIO Now Interviews & Podcasts

Interview of Monday, 3 November 2025 of Stephen Mercado discussing his new book "Japanese Spy Gear and Special Weapons: How Noborito’s Scientists and Technicians Served in WWII and the Cold War"

TOPIC: In this episode Stephen Mercado and James Hughes discuss "Japanese Spy Gear and Special Weapons: How Noborito’s Scientists and Technicians Served in the Second World War and the Cold War" War, and the threat of war, spurs governments to invest in secret military technologies and weapons. Imperial Japan, ahead of the Second World War, was no exception. After the First World War, Japan set up the Noborito Research Institute: a division of scientists and technicians to invest in overt and clandestine warfare. Mercado dives into this history in his new book Japanese Spy Gear and Special Weapons: How Noborito’s Scientists and Technicians Served in the Second World War and the Cold War. At Noborito, Japanese scientists researched fanciful weapons, like balloon bombs and death rays; covert techniques like poisons and counterfeiting—and more insidious activities, like biological weapons.