New Books Network Podcast

Japanese Studies September 24, 2023

Inglorious, Illegal Bastards

Japan's Self-Defense Force During the Cold War

Aaron Skabelund

Hosted by Ran Zwigenberg

In Inglorious, Illegal Bastards: Japan's Self-Defense Force During the Cold War (Cornell UP, 2022), Aaron Herald Skabelund examines how the Self-Defense Force (SDF)—the post–World War II Japanese military—and specifically the …

Literary Studies September 21, 2023

Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again

The Original Novellas by Shigeru Kayama

Shigeru Kayama

Hosted by Daniel Moran

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Godzilla emerged from the sea to devastate Tokyo in the now-classic 1954 film, produced by Tōhō Studios and directed by Ishirō Honda, creating a global sensation and launching one of …

Japanese Studies September 11, 2023

Globalizing the Soybean

Fat, Feed, and Sometimes Food, c. 1900–1950

Ines Prodöhl

Hosted by Nathan Hopson

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Ines Prodöhl’s Globalizing the Soybean: Fat, Feed, and Sometimes Food, c. 1900-1950 (Routledge, 2023) is a history of how, why, and where the soybean became a critical ingredient in industry …

Japanese Studies September 5, 2023

Gas Mask Nation

Visualizing Civil Air Defense in Wartime Japan

Gennifer Weisenfeld

Hosted by Ran Zwigenberg

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Airplanes, gas masks, and bombs were common images in wartime Japan. Yet amid these emblems of anxiety, tasty caramels were offered to children with paper gas masks as promotional giveaways …

Asian American Studies August 19, 2023

Citizens, Immigrants, and the Stateless

A Japanese American Diaspora in the Pacific

Michael R. Jin

Hosted by Donna Anderson

This episode features a conversation with Dr. Michael R. Jin regarding his recently published book Citizens, Immigrants, and the Stateless: The Japanese American Diaspora in the Pacific. Published in November …

East Asian Studies August 17, 2023

Slavery in East Asia

Don J. Wyatt

Hosted by Dong Wang

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Today I talked to Don J. Wyatt about his book Slavery in East Asia (Cambridge UP, 2022). In premodern China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, just as in the far less culturally …

Madison's Notes August 15, 2023

Paratroopers in the Pacific

A Conversation with James Fenelon

James M. Fenelon

Hosted by Annika Nordquist

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In the final episode of Season 3, Annika sits down with James Fenelon, a veteran-turned-historian, who served in the Army for over a decade and is a graduate of the …

Japanese Studies August 15, 2023

The Time of Laughter

Comedy and the Media Cultures of Japan

David Humphrey

Hosted by Nathan Hopson

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David Humphrey’s The Time of Laughter: Comedy and the Media Cultures of Japan (U Michigan Press, 2023) examines the roles of mediated laughter in the media and cultural history of …

Chinese Studies August 13, 2023

Networks of Faith and Profit

Monks, Merchants, and Exchanges Between China and Japan, 839-1403 CE

Yiwen Li

Hosted by Laurie Dickmeyer

In her book, Networks of Faith and Profit: Monks, Merchants, and Exchanges Between China and Japan, 839-1403 CE (Cambridge UP, 2023), associate professor of history at City University of Hong …

Japanese Studies August 12, 2023

Fukushima Futures

Survival Stories in a Repeatedly Ruined Seascape

Satsuki Takahashi

Hosted by Jingyi Li

Both before and after the 2011 "Triple Disaster" of earthquake, tidal wave, and consequent meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, anthropologist Satsuki Takahashi visited nearby communities, collecting accounts …

Japanese Studies August 9, 2023

The Meiji Restoration

Japan as a Global Nation

Robert Hellyer and Harald Fuess

Hosted by Ran Zwigenberg

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In world history, the Meiji Restoration of 1868 ranks as a revolutionary watershed, on a par with the American and French Revolutions. In this volume, leading historians from North America …

Japanese Studies August 1, 2023

Language Ideologies and L2 Speaker Legitimacy

Native Speaker Bias in Japan

Jae DiBello Takeuchi

Hosted by Jingyi Li

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Jae DiBello Takeuchi's Language Ideologies and L2 Speaker Legitimacy: Native Speaker Bias in Japan (Mulitlingual Matters, 2023) examines dilemmas faced by second language (L2) Japanese speakers as a result of …

East Asian Studies July 28, 2023

Territorializing Manchuria

The Transnational Frontier and Literatures of East Asia

Miya Qiong Xie

Hosted by Linshan Jiang

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Xiao Hong, Yom Sang-sop, Abe Kobo, and Zhong Lihe—these iconic literary figures from China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan all described Manchuria extensively in their literary works. Now China’s Northeast—but a …

Asian Review of Books July 27, 2023

Korea at War: Conflicts That Shaped the World

Michael J. Seth

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

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The Korean War “ended” exactly fifty years ago at Panmunjom. On July 27, 1953, United States and United Nations commanders on one side, and the North Koreans and Chinese commanders …

Korean Studies July 23, 2023

The Other Great Game

The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia

Sheila Miyoshi Jager

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Dr. Sheila Miyoshi Jager presents dramatic new telling of the dawn of modern East Asia, placing Korea at the center of a transformed world order wrought by imperial greed and …

Japanese Studies July 16, 2023

The Arts of the Microbial World

Fermentation Science in Twentieth-Century Japan

Victoria Lee

Hosted by Nathan Hopson

Victoria Lee’s The Arts of the Microbial World: Fermentation Science in Twentieth-Century Japan (U Chicago Press, 2021) is an in-depth exploration of the social history of microbial science in modern Japan …

Japanese Studies July 11, 2023

Tōhoku Unbounded

Regional Identity and the Mobile Subject in Prewar Japan

Anne Giblin Gedacht

Hosted by Nathan Hopson

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Anne Giblin Gedacht’s Tōhoku Unbounded: Regional Identity and the Mobile Subject in Prewar Japan (Brill, 2022) centers cross-border mobility in its narrative of the history of Japan’s Tōhoku region in …

General History July 8, 2023

How Asia Found Herself

A Story of Intercultural Understanding

Nile Green

Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall

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The nineteenth century saw European empires build vast transport networks to maximize their profits from trade, and it saw Christian missionaries spread printing across Asia to bring Bibles to the …

Japanese Studies July 7, 2023

Tsushima

Great Battles Series

Rotem Kowner

Hosted by Ran Zwigenberg

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Today I talked to Rotem Kowner about Tsushima (Oxford UP, 2022), which is part of the great battle series in Oxford University press. The Battle of Tsushima, in which the Japanese Imperial …

Indian Ocean World July 2, 2023

Connecting the Indian Ocean World

Across Sea and Land

Radhika Seshan and Ryuto Shimada

Hosted by Ahmed Almaazmi

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The Indian Ocean world has a rich history of socio-economic and cultural exchanges across time and space. Connecting the Indian Ocean World Across Sea and Land (Routledge, 2023) and its companion, Merchants …