Samurai, Castles, and the Making of Modern Japan - A Conversation with Professor Oleg Benesch

Asylum seekers are on a journey of death: Council worker's day-to-day struggles and message of hope

For this episode, we met up with UEA alumna Elham Metwly, who has an MA in Politics and vast experience in social care, specifically working with asylum seekers and refugees in various capacities for local government organisations in the UK.Elham shared her experiences and insight and helped dispel some of the myths about refugees and asylum seekers. She also spoke about the ways in which her UEA degree helps her in her current role, and shared her hopefuly thoughts about the future.

Samurai, Castles, and the Making of Modern Japan - A Conversation with Professor Oleg Benesch

In this episode, Ra and Sherzod welcomed Prof. Oleg Benesch to the podcast. Oleg is Professor of East Asian History at the University of York and has written and co-authored a number of amazing books on Japanese history. His first book was Inventing the Way of the Samurai (Oxford, 2014), and in 2019 he co-authored Japan's Castles with Ran Zwigenberg (who was also a guest of the podcast last year). He has also written on drugs in Japan. More recently, Oleg co-curated the upcoming exhibition "Samurai" at the British Museum. We asked Oleg our own questions on the wide range of fascinating topics, as well as questions from our viewers received via social media. This episode will be interesting to those who enjoy the history of Japan's making as a nation once run by a samurai class to a modern, and later postindustrial society. It will also enlighten, we hope, many Japanese studies students, including our own :) LinksOleg's books: Inventing the Way of the Samurai: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/inventing-the-way-of-the-samurai-9780198754251?cc=gb&lang=en& Japan's Castles: https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/history/east-asian-history/japans-castles-citadels-modernity-war-and-peace?format=PB Drugs and the Politics of Consumption in Japan: https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/6370 Books mentioned in the podcastSven Saaler, Men in Metal: A Topography of Public Bronze Statuary in Modern Japan:https://brill.com/display/title/39541?language=en&srsltid=AfmBOor6n3zh32DOjmx5Y0b2ZoQ5uXSAxQ6xuZOSDl6KtvH0ey-YnZL4Film mentioned in the podcastGhost Dog: The Way of the Samuraihttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165798/

Where will the babies come from? Talking Japan's future with a Japanese student

We invited Iguchi Haruka, a student from Japan currently studying International Politics at the UEA, to this Christmas episode. We asked Haruka questions on issues we often discuss on the podcast: Japan's declining population, attitudes to over-tourism and immigration, attitudes towards work-life balance among the Japanese people.We spent some time discussing the personality and policies of Japan's first female prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, and the reasons for her rising popularity among the Japanese populace, including the young.We aimed to better understand what young Japanese people like Haruka think about the nation's present and future, and the great challenges it currently faces. The resulting conversation, we hope, will shed light on the thinking and feelings of the new generation of Japanese people, and will thus be interesting to our viewers.

Cold War Japan, bears, Kyoto, sumo, and so much more—A conversation with Prof. Thomas French

We were delighted to host Prof. Thomas French, who is a historian of modern Japan, in this new episode of the East Angle.Tom has been a friend and colleague to both of us over many years. He has lived and worked in Kyoto for almost fifteen years, and is currently Associate Professor in the College of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University. He is a specialist on the Occupation of Japan, and peacetime military interactions between Japan and the West. You can learn more about Tom's current research following this link: https://tinyurl.com/53asyr7s [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbEhUb1owWnNVc0VTSkR3Rl92YUEwVFJRSVl3QXxBQ3Jtc0ttZThLV2NJcGduZlYyUzZfTThzcTZLdWJQY1gyOVhObmNhcDNDeVNaZTFEQ0Z0S1hsN0I3eWNMTEN2eWEweDJnZ0YzdW1pMlg1TkhjYVlCdEc1dlVQMFRmRTFMak1GVWxxbDBfNDRRNlhKOUxyV1pHTQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2F53asyr7s&v=APbxYvlQ-H8]Among his hobbies, Tom lists exploring Kyoto's cultural and culinary landscape, sumo and rugby, and hiking the beautiful mountains surrounding Japan's ancient capital.

We invited a colleague and a student to ask about their Japan experiences

In this episode, we sit down with a colleague, Dr Georgia Walker-Churchman, and a master’s student, Mr Kevin Revell, who both recently travelled to Japan. We were curious to hear about their experiences firsthand. The resulting conversation was full of curiosities for us. From favourite discoveries and cultural surprises to moments of challenge, we discussed what it was like for our guests to encounter Japan beyond the classroom — the delights, the curiosities, and the occasional frustrations of travelling abroad.Brief bios of our guests:Dr Georgia Walker-Churchman is a Lecturer in Humanities at the Interdisciplinary Institute of Humanities at the University of East Anglia.Mr Kevin Revell is a postgraduate student at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of East Anglia. His personal website can be found at: https://kevinrevell.com.