Episódios

  • Charlotte Linton, "Dyeing with the Earth: Textiles, Tradition, and Sustainability in Contemporary Japan" (Duke UP, 2025)

    Charlotte Linton, "Dyeing with the Earth: Textiles, Tradition, and Sustainability in Contemporary Japan" (Duke UP, 2025)
    Apr 24 2026
    The past, present and future of ethical production in fashion In Dyeing with the Earth, Charlotte Linton explores the intersection of small-scale traditional craft production with contemporary sustainability practices. Focusing on natural textile dyeing on the southern Japanese island of Amami Ōshima, Linton details the complex relationship between preservation practices, resource extraction, and land access in the production of Oshima tsumugi kimono cloth, which uses the indigenous technique of dorozome (or mud-dyeing). As global interest in sustainable fashion grows, textile manufacturers on Amami have expanded from kimono production to dyeing garments and textiles for high-profile designers. While traditional craft may appear at odds with the large-scale global textile industry, Linton reveals how Amamian and global producers face similar social, economic, and environmental pressures. Ethical production in fashion, Linton contends, should focus on understanding local everyday practices that sustain direct relationships between people, place, and environment rather than rely on short-term solutions via new processes or materials. Weaving together ethnography, photography, and illustration, Linton underscores the continued relevance of traditional craft and material cultures amid ongoing climate change and biodiversity loss. Charlotte Linton is Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. Lucas Tse is Examination Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies
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    56 minutos
  • Daisuke Miyao, "Ozu and the Ethics of Indeterminacy" (Duke UP, 2026)

    Daisuke Miyao, "Ozu and the Ethics of Indeterminacy" (Duke UP, 2026)
    Apr 22 2026
    Ozu and the Ethics of Indeterminacy (Duke University Press, 2026) re-examines cinema studies through the work of Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu, employing the multiple methodologies and indeterminacy of Ozu’s films as a model for discussions of cinema’s relationship to the world and the formation of film studies as a discipline. Author Daisuke Miyao is Professor and Hajime Mori Chair in Japanese Language and Literature at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author and editor of several books, including Japonisme and the Birth of Cinema, The Aesthetics of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema, and Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom, published by Duke University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies
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    1 hora e 15 minutos
  • Masako Ichihara, "Climate Change Litigation in Japan: Cases, Challenges, and Opportunities for Environmental Law" (Brill, 2026)

    Masako Ichihara, "Climate Change Litigation in Japan: Cases, Challenges, and Opportunities for Environmental Law" (Brill, 2026)
    Apr 19 2026
    Climate Change Litigation in Japan: Cases, Challenges, and Opportunities for Environmental Law (Brill, 2026) provides the details of Japanese climate litigation, positioning them both within the global trends of climate litigation and on the trajectory of Japanese past pollution lawsuits. It identifies the barriers that hinders the number of climate cases in Japan, a country known with a significant low litigation use. It then discusses the future prospects for climate change litigation in Japan by comparing with tobacco litigation in the United States. This original work makes a significant contribution to the international academic community, by describing Japan's climate cases, previously little known internationally. Masako Ichihara, Ph.D. (2021), Kyoto Univeristy, is Program-specific Assistant Professor at the Unit of the Environment and Law, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Law and Policy, Kyoto University. Caleb Zakarin is the CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies
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    33 minutos
  • New Book Releases 2026 on Japan, Taiwan

    New Book Releases 2026 on Japan, Taiwan
    Apr 17 2026
    This episode of the Books on Asia podcast introduces new fiction and non-fiction on Japan to be published this year, 2026, along with two upcoming books on Taiwan. Books are presented in the order they appear on the podcast. Listen to the episode for more information on each title: Phantom Paradise: Escape from Manchuria, by Kay Enokido (Bold Story Press, January 13, 2026) Kokun: The Girl from the West, by Nahoko Uehashi (transl. Cathy Hirano) (Europa Editions, January 13, 2026) When the Museum Is Closed, by Emi Yagi (transl. Yuki Tejima) (Soft Skull Press, January 27, 2026) Hooked: A Novel of Obsession, by Asako Yuzuki (transl. Polly Barton) (HarperVia, March 17, 2026) Sisters in Yellow, by Mieko Kawakami (transl. Laurel Taylor and Hitomi Yoshio) (Knopf, March 31, 2026) Hollow Inside, by Asako Otani (transl. Ginny Tapley Takemori) (Pushkin Press, May 5, 2026) Japan’s Anime Revolution!: Twenty Animated Films That Changed the World, by Jonathan Clements (Tuttle Publishing, May 12, 2026) Troubled Waters, by Ichiyō Higuchi (transl. Bryan Karetnyk) (Pushkin Press Classics, May 26, 2026) Taiwan 22: Travels in Paradox, by Tyrel Eskelson (Plum Rain Press, TBA) Hidden Formosa: Life and Travels in Rural Taiwan, an anthology edited by John Ross(Plum Rain Press, TBA) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies
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    18 minutos
  • Ted Goossen on translating Hiromi Kawakami’s “Third Love”

    Ted Goossen on translating Hiromi Kawakami’s “Third Love”
    Apr 10 2026
    Translator Ted Goossen talks about everything from first landing in Japan in 1968 to the differences between translating Haruki Murakami and Hiromi Kawakami, especially the complexities of Hiromi Kawakami’s latest book The Third Love. Amy has a deep discussion with Ted Goossen about Japan, it’s emerging culture, it’s historically strong women and how Japanese literature and its themes are changing. In addition to talking about Hiromi Kawakami’s novel The Third Love, other prominent people mentioned in this podcast episode are feminist Chizuko Ueno, translator John Bester and authors Kanzaburo Oe, Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, Masuji Ibuse and Mieko Kawakami. The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies
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    45 minutos
  • Ruth Mandujano López, "Steamships Across the Pacific: Maritime Journeys between Mexico, China, and Japan, 1867–1914" (U Hong Kong Press, 2025)

    Ruth Mandujano López, "Steamships Across the Pacific: Maritime Journeys between Mexico, China, and Japan, 1867–1914" (U Hong Kong Press, 2025)
    Apr 9 2026
    How did the movement of people, goods, and ships reshape connections between Latin America and Asia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? In Steamships Across the Pacific: Maritime Journeys between Mexico, China, and Japan, 1867–1914 (U Hong Kong Press, 2025), Ruth Mandujano López examines this question through the lens of maritime travel. Focusing on Mexico’s participation in emerging steamship networks linking it to China and Japan, the book traces how these routes facilitated new forms of mobility, exchange, and encounter across the Pacific world. Steamships Across the Pacific is organized around specific voyages. Each chapter centers on a particular steamship journey and follows the people who traveled on the ships and observed the locations around them, including scientific voyages and chartered steamers filled with would-be immigrants. This structure allows Mandujano López to foreground the lived experience of transpacific travel, showing how these journeys were shaped by — and also shaped — larger processes of imperialism, mobility, and modernization. As such, this book will appeal to readers interested in global history, Pacific worlds, and the history of migration and mobility. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies
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    1 hora e 21 minutos
  • Marty Friedman with Jon Wiederhorn, "Dreaming Japanese" (Permuted Press, 2024)

    Marty Friedman with Jon Wiederhorn, "Dreaming Japanese" (Permuted Press, 2024)
    Apr 3 2026
    Marty Friedman is a multi-platinum recording artist and government-appointed Ambassador to Japan Heritage. He has written three books in Japanese and had long running columns in the Asahi Weekly, Nikkei Entertainment, Cyzo, Big Comic, Young Guitar, Guitar World and Burrn. The show opens with a moving tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, formerly of Black Sabbath, who passed away on July 25, 2025. Friedman then turns to the reason for writing his book, co-authored with Jon Wiederhorn. He talks about the co-writing process and describes it as “putting his musical abilities into words.” His latest solo release, Drama, he calls his best and most romantic work to date — a largely orchestral album that stretches beyond his usual style. He also reflects on the Japanese entertainment industry, the uniquely Japanese idea of heta-uma, idol music, and the role of “cuteness” in J-Pop. Producers such as Tsunku and Komuro Tetsuya play a key role in drawing out this unique appeal. J-Pop carries deeper cultural nuance than outsiders might assume. In addition, Friedman reflects on scandals, music managers ,and his first rehearsal with a J-Pop band. Read our book review of Dreaming Japanese (Permuted Press, 2024) as reviewed by Stephen Mansfield. Subscribe to the Books on Asia podcast, and the Books on Asia newsletter featuring new releases, book reviews and the latest podcast episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies
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    54 minutos
  • Robert Cribb and Sandra Wilson, "Twelve Japanese War Criminals and One Who Got Away" (U Hawaiʻi Press, 2026)

    Robert Cribb and Sandra Wilson, "Twelve Japanese War Criminals and One Who Got Away" (U Hawaiʻi Press, 2026)
    Apr 1 2026
    “Japanese war crimes are notorious. During the Second World War, as Japanese forces overran Southeast Asia and the Pacific, they massacred, murdered, raped, and tortured Asians and Westerners who fell into their hands. They also mistreated hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war (POWs) and civilian internees. After the war ended in 1945, the victorious Allied powers conducted trials in which they brought Japanese perpetrators to justice, as they also did with Germans in Europe… In this provocative new book, Twelve Japanese War Criminals and One Who Got Away, published by University of Hawaiʻi Press (2026), historians Robert Cribb and Sandra Wilson analyse thirteen case studies of Japanese war crimes. They attempt to answer a crucial question with contemporary relevance, how does one become a war criminal? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies
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    1 hora