New Books in Japanese Studies

Marshall Poe

Alice In Wonderland

World War II

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

Japanese Empire

Myth Interpretation

Translation and Adaptation

Japanese Media

Cuteness Studies

Peace Preservation Law

Japanese Americans

Japanese Grammar

Ideological Conversion

Japan-Russia Relations

Transnational Cinema

Japanese Literature

Collective Memory

San Francisco

Japan

Burma

Philippines

This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to ... more

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Publishes	Twice weekly	Episodes	491	Founded	6 years ago
Number of Listeners		Categories	EducationArtsBooks

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Latest Episodes

Marty Friedman with Jon Wiederhorn, "Dreaming Japanese" (Permuted Press, 2024)

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, G... more

Today • 54 min

Robert Cribb and Sandra Wilson, "Twelve Japanese War Criminals and One Who Got Away" (U Hawaiʻi Press, 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 o... more

1 Apr 2026 • 1 hr

Peter Mauch, "Tojo: The Rise and Fall of Japan's Most Controversial World War II General" (Harvard UP, 2026)

The military general who became Emperor Hirohito’s prime minister, Tojo Hideki is most often remembered as an iron-fisted leader who dragged Japan into World War II and—after spectacular losses—was eventually executed as a war criminal. Yet Tojo was ... more

31 Mar 2026 • 1 hr 4 min

Gregory Smits, "The Ryukyu Islands: A New History from the Stone Age to the Present" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

The Ryukyu Islands between Japan and Taiwan consist of around 160 islands and are home to about 1.5 million inhabitants. Across the islands' history, sea-lanes and trade patterns have connected them to the East China Sea region, giving them a unique ... more

30 Mar 2026 • 1 hr 18 min

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Recent Guests

Robert Cribb

Emeritus Professor of Asian History at the Australian National University

Australian National University

Episode: Robert Cribb and Sandra Wilson, "Twelve Japanese War Criminals and One Who Got Away" (U Hawaiʻi Press, 2026)

Sandra Wilson

Professor of Japanese History at Murdoch University

Murdoch University

Episode: Robert Cribb and Sandra Wilson, "Twelve Japanese War Criminals and One Who Got Away" (U Hawaiʻi Press, 2026)

Peter Mauch

Author of Tojo: The Rise and Fall of Japan's Most Controversial World War II General

Western Sydney University / Harvard University Press

Episode: Peter Mauch, "Tojo: The Rise and Fall of Japan's Most Controversial World War II General" (Harvard UP, 2026)

Greg Smits

Author of The Ryukyu Islands, A New History from the Stone Age to the Present

University of Chicago Press / Penn State University

Episode: Gregory Smits, "The Ryukyu Islands: A New History from the Stone Age to the Present" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

Robert Whiting

Author and journalist known for books on Japan's underworld, baseball, and culture

Author of Gangsters, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies

Episode: Robert Whiting, "Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies: The Outsiders who Shaped Modern Japan (Tuttle, 2024)

Jeffrey Angles

Writer, translator and professor at Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University

Episode: Hiromi Ito, "The Thorn Puller" (Stone Bridge Press, 2022)

Pedro Thiago Ramos Bassoe

Author of Supernatural Japan, Izumi Kyōka and the Global Fantastic

Purdue University

Episode: Pedro Thiago Ramos Bassoe, "Supernatural Japan: Izumi Kyoka and the Global Fantastic" (U Michigan Press, 2026)

Osamu Kitayama

Training and supervising analyst at the Japan Psychoanalytic Society; Professor Emeritus at Kyushu University; president of Hakuoh University

Japan Psychoanalytic Society; Kyushu University

Episode: Osamu Kitayama and Jhuma Basak, "Psychoanalytic Explorations into the Primal Relationship in Japan and India" (Routledge, 2025)

Jhuma Basak

Training and supervising analyst at the Indian Psychoanalytical Society; prolific writer on culture and gender

Indian Psychoanalytical Society

Episode: Osamu Kitayama and Jhuma Basak, "Psychoanalytic Explorations into the Primal Relationship in Japan and India" (Routledge, 2025)

Host

Nathan Hopson

Host for The New Books in Japanese Studies podcast, New Books Network

Chart Rankings

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Apple Podcasts	#154	Indonesia/Arts/Books
Apple Podcasts	#197	Switzerland/Arts/Books

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Robert Whiting, "Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies: The Outsiders who Shaped Modern Japan (Tuttle, 2024)

Q: Has there been any change in laws about criminals profiting from writing books about their life of crime in Japan?

Whiting notes uncertainty about current laws but mentions prior practice where sometimes a judge would rule on profits from criminal writings, suggesting the legal framework has long grappled with balancing freedom of expression and accountability in criminal narratives.

Robert Whiting, "Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies: The Outsiders who Shaped Modern Japan (Tuttle, 2024)

Q: I'd like to move on to North Korea. Since 1989, North Korea has printed over $40 million in counterfeit US currency. How does this history connect to Japan's postwar crime landscape?

Whiting explains that North Korea used covert operations including counterfeit currency and narcotics to influence regional dynamics, and that these activities intersected with Japan's underworld networks, illustrating the cross-border nature of crime and state-sponsored activities in the postwar era.

Robert Cribb and Sandra Wilson, "Twelve Japanese War Criminals and One Who Got Away" (U Hawaiʻi Press, 2026)

Q: Can you give the listener a general overview of the war crimes trials that followed the war, including who conducted them and what the verdicts tended to be?

The Tokyo trials represented the international bench with a broader charge sheet, while most cases in the narrative come from national military tribunals run by seven allied countries, which tended to convict on clearer, more traditional war crimes charges; overall, sentences varied, with significant use of death penalties and lengthy imprisonment, and later reviews sometimes reduced sentences to align with other cases.

Gregory Smits, "The Ryukyu Islands: A New History from the Stone Age to the Present" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

Q: How does maritime trade and piracy shape our understanding of Ryukyu history?

The discussion emphasizes that Ryukyu was deeply embedded in maritime networks, with Wako pirates and merchants playing essential roles, and that the tribute system with China often operated as a framework that allowed both formal state-sanctioned trade and private, sometimes illicit, trade that profited Ryukyuan elites and local mariners alike.

Gregory Smits, "The Ryukyu Islands: A New History from the Stone Age to the Present" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

Q: What is the basic timeline or major eras of Ryukyuan history as you see them?

Smits explains a progression through three major political iterations: an early set of fragmented trade kingdoms with limited centralized power, a genuine centralized state or empire centered in Shuri around 1530, and finally a later configuration after 1609 where Ryukyu became distinctively tied to Satsuma and Japan while maintaining a facade of independence for diplomacy with China.

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Frequently Asked Questions About New Books in Japanese Studies

What is New Books in Japanese Studies about and what kind of topics does it cover?

A scholarly interview series that foregrounds recent research in Japanese studies, East Asian history, literature, and related humanities. Episodes typically feature authors and subject-matter experts discussing newly published books, with conversations that span premodern and modern Japan, cross-cultural perspectives, and interdisciplinary methodologies. Notable patterns include deep dives into historical memory, religion, media representations, and the global interconnections of Japanese studies, often framed through archival analysis, cultural history, and theoretical refraction. The format tends to blend biography, scholarly context, and book-specific takeaways, making it a strong fit for researchers, graduate students, librarians, and ... more

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New Books in Japanese Studies launched 6 years ago and published 491 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on New Books in Japanese Studies?

Recent guests on New Books in Japanese Studies include:

1. Robert Cribb
2. Sandra Wilson
3. Peter Mauch
4. Greg Smits
5. Robert Whiting
6. Jeffrey Angles
7. Pedro Thiago Ramos Bassoe
8. Osamu Kitayama

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