Books on Asia
Episodes
Amy Reads from her Book: The Widow, The Priest & The Octopus Hunter
29 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Amy reads from The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. Chapter 1: The War Widow ...
Amy & John Discuss Childhood Reading Influences
22 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
During his schoolboy days, New Zealander John Ross, was interested in far-flung places such as South America, Papua New Guinea, Ancient Greece and Rom...
Carol Issac on Portland’s Lan Su Chinese Garden
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Carol and John chat about Lan Su, the Asian-American community in the Northwest, and Suzhou’s rich heritage as a center of book culture and scholar ...
Books on Korean Islands with John Ross and Chris Tharp
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The islands, in order of appearance in the episode, are: Geomun Island (Port Hamilton); the garden island of Oedo (Oe Island – “do” is the Korea...
Amy & John Discuss Gift Book Ideas for the Holidays
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Books discussed in this episode, in order of appearance:The Last Great Australian Adventurer: Ben Carlin's Epic Journey Around the World by Amphibious...
Ted Goossen on Translating Hiromi Kawakami's "Third Love"
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Amy Chavez has a deep discussion with Ted Goossen about Japan, it's emerging culture, it's historically strong women and how Japanese literature and i...
Sam Baldwin–Self-publishing Success and a New Travel Book Review Website
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sam Baldwin tells John Ross about some ingredients behind the success of his self-published memoir For Fukui’s Sake: Two Years in Rural Japan (the s...
What's it Like to Live in China? Mark Kitto on China Running Dog
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In his novel China Running Dog, a young man in his early twenties lives in Shanghai in the year 2000, in a greed-crazed free-for-all moral and lawless...
The Wondrous Elixir of the Two Chinese Lovers–Tim McGirk
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Wondrous Elixir of the Two Chinese Lovers – Tim McGirkThe novel tells the story of archaeologist Ned Sheehan's discovery of two ancient Chinese ...
Lauren Scharf on Japanese traditional houses: minka and akiya
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lauren Scharf talks about Japan's minka, kominka and akiya houses in Japan.MinkaCon 2025, is an event to be held from Nov. 7-9, in Shinshiro, Aichi Pr...
A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa (by Yao-Chang Chen, translated by He Wen-ching)Sitting in for Amy is the duo John Ross & Eryk Michael Smith of...
Sally Burdon: Asia Bookroom and rare books
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Asia Bookroom exhibits their most precious items at rare and antiquarian book fairs in Melbourne, Sydney, and Hong Kong. Look for them at the Sydney R...
Jake Adelstein: The Devil Takes Bitcoin
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Adelstein introduces the people behind Mt. Gox, one of the world's largest Bitcoin exchanges, based in Tokyo and run by Frenchman Mark Karpeles. As a ...
Stephen Mansfield on The Modern Japanese Garden
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we cover traditional Japanese gardens and how ancient gardens were related to nature, geomancy, literature and Japanese concepts of wa...
Book Talk: Korea
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Books discussed include:Korean Wilds and Villages (1938) by Swedish zoologist Sten BergmanThe Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why ...
Hector Garcia—The Spirit of Shinto
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Amy Chavez and Hector Garcia discuss his recently released book, The Spirit of Shinto, and how Shinto’s worldview permeates pop culture—anime, man...
Guitarist Marty Friedman and Dreaming Japanese
09 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Amy Chavez opens the show by asking Friedman to give a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, who passed away on July 25, 2025. Friedman then turns to the reason f...
Ginny Takemori on Translating Cats
01 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A few of Takemori's favorite books on Japan are:Hitomachi, a photo book by Araki NoboyoshiWalking The Kiso Road by William Scott Wilson (See our podca...
Lina Terrell on Translating Okinawa
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lina Terrell is a translator of Japanese historical texts. Today we are going to talk about her recently released translation of The Legacy of the Ryu...
Igor Prusa "Scandal in Japan"
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Igor Prusa, Ph.D. is a Czech scholar in Japanese and media studies, currently affiliated with Ambis University Prague and Metropolitan University Prag...
Baye McNeil talks about Racism in Japan
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Books on Asia podcast, Amy Chavez talks with Baye McNeil talk about being a black minority in Japan, Japanese views of black pe...
Michael Pronko's New Books: Shitamachi Scam and Tokyo Tempos
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Podcast host Amy Chavez talks with Michael Pronko, a Tokyo-based writer of murder, memoir, and music. He is professor of American Literature at Meiji ...
Paul Martin on Japanese Swords
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Martin is a Japanese sword expert who has worked at the British Museum and traveled extensively in Japan to study swords and armor. Martin's new ...
Burritt Sabin on Yokohama and Kamakura
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Burritt Sabin was born in New York City and came to Japan as a naval officer in 1975. His professional career in Japan started as a journalist, and he...
Lesley Downer and How Empresses shaped Japan
24 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Amy Chavez speaks with Lesley Downer, an expert on Japanese culture and history who writes both fiction and non-fiction. Her novels transport readers ...
Robert Whiting—Gangsters, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Amy Chavez talks with Robert Whiting about his recently released book Gangsters, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies: The Outsiders Who Shaped Modern Japan (...
The Healing Power of Female Poet Otagaki Rengetsu
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Books on Asia podcast, host Amy Chavez talks to author John Stevens about his new book The Lotus Moon: Art and Poetry of Buddhi...
Angus Waycott Walks Sado Island
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Author and travel-writer Angus Waycott talks about his 8-day walk around Sado Island off Niigata Prefecture in the Japan Sea. He gives us in-depth a...
The Future of Books and AI
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We talk with publisher Peter Goodman and author/translator Frederik L. Schodt about artificial intelligence as it relates to writing and publishing bo...
Fred Schodt on His Historical Non-Fiction on Japan
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Books on Asia podcast, host Amy Chavez talks with author and translator Frederik L. Schodt, who has written/translated many boo...
John Grant Ross on Taiwan & Japan
21 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the BOA podcast, host Amy Chavez talks with John Ross, a New Zealand writer based in Taiwan. Ross has spent three decades in Asia, ...
Japan's 31 Passions, with John Rucynski
12 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 2021 John Rucynski--who has been living in Japan on and off since 1994--self-published A Passion for Japan through Blue Sky Publishing. In this ant...
Stephen Mansfield Talks Tokyo
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Mansfield, author of Tokyo: A Biography (Tuttle, 2017), is a British writer and photo-journalist based in Japan. His photo-journalism work ha...
Translating Hiromi Ito's "The Thorn Puller" with Jeffrey Angles
23 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Books on Asia Podcast, host Amy Chavez sits down with writer, translator, and professor of Japanese at Western Michigan Univers...
Sarah Coomber and the Female Experience Teaching in Japan
12 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah Coomber is the author of The Same Moon (Camphor Press, 2020), a memoir about what happened when she traded out her wrecked Minnesota life for tw...
Azby Brown on Sustainability and his Book “Just Enough”
24 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the BOA podcast, host Amy Chavez talks with Azby Brown, a long-time resident of Japan and author of Just Enough: Lessons from Japan...
Traveling Japan as a Blind Person, with Maud Rowell
26 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the BOA podcast, host Amy Chavez talks with Maud Rowell about her new book Blind Spot: Exploring and Educating on Blindness (404 In...
Moving to Japan's Countryside with Iain Maloney
19 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Books on Asia podcast, podcast host and island-dweller Amy Chavez and Gifu countryside villager Iain Maloney discuss their expe...
The Spirit of Shizen: The Nature of Japan through 72 Seasons, with Robert Weis
01 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Podcast host Amy Chavez talks to Robert Weis, curator of the Luxembourg Natural History Museum's upcoming exhibit, “Spirit of Shizen – The Nature ...
Cody Poulton on Japanese Performing Arts
09 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Amy asks Poulton to explain the difference between reading Noh plays and seeing a Noh performance. Poulton goes into great detail on the subject, incl...
John Stevens, a lifetime of publishing
16 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week author and translator John Stevens joins us from Hawaii. Stevens has penned many books over his long career, mainly dealing with Japanese ma...
Abby Denson talks Japan via Comics
06 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Abby Denson is the award-winning author of Cool Japan Guide: Fun in the Land of Manga, Lucky Cats and Ramen, Cool Tokyo Guide: Adventures in the City ...
Novelist David Joiner talks “Kanazawa"
13 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Books on Asia Podcast, sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, podcast host Amy Chavez talks with novelist David Joiner about his new ...
Liza Dalby on Geisha, Kimonos, and Translating Setouchi Jakucho's "Places"
13 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Books on Asia Podcast, sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, host Amy Chavez talks with anthropologist, shamisen player, author, and...
Kathleen Burkinshaw, second-generation A-bomb victim
13 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Books on Asia Podcast, sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, podcast host Amy Chavez talks with Kathleen Burkinshaw in the U.S. abou...
Meredith McKinney on Saigyō and "Gazing at the Moon"
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of the Books on Asia Podcast, sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, we have guest interviewer Lisa Wilcut speaking with award-winning write...
Alex Kerr Discusses his Latest Book—Another Bangkok
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of the Books on Asia Podcast, sponsored by Stone Bridge Press, Alex Kerr is returning to the show. Alex is author of such notable b...
The Yamamba--Japanese Mountain Witch--with Rebecca Copeland and Linda C. Ehrlich
02 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today on the Books on Asia Podcast, host Amy Chavez talks with the co-editors of Yamamba: In Search of the Japanese Mountain Witch, just released by S...
Kyoto's Gion Festival: Exploring its Mysteries with Catherine Pawasarat
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cathrine Pawasarat, author of Gion Festival: Exploring its Mysteries, is one of the founders of the Clear Sky Retreat Center in British Columbia, Cana...
The Art of the Short Story with Tina deBellegarde
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're talking with Tina deBellegarde about short stories, what makes a good short story, and why certain short story writers are so appealing. T...
Robert Whiting Talks Baseball and Tokyo Junkie
06 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Books on Asia podcast, show host Amy Chavez talks with Robert Whiting about his just released memoir Tokyo Junkie: 60 Years of ...
Wes Lang, Hiking and Trekking the Japan Alps and Mount Fuji
19 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode starts out with Amy asking Wes for some tips on using mountain huts while hiking: What time to arrive, whether you should book meals, if ...
Janine Beichman on translating Japanese Haiku and Tanka
07 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode starts out with Amy and Janine talking about Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) and the poetic reforms that took place from 1868 during Japan's tr...
Alex Kerr, author of Finding the Heart Sutra
08 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Partial Transcript“Welcome to the Books on Asia podcast, I’m your host, Amy Chavez, and today we have with us Alex Kerr who is going to talk with ...
Richard Lloyd Parry, author of Ghosts of the Tsunami
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amy talks with author, journalist, and Times correspondent Richard Lloyd Parry about his books Ghosts of the Tsunami about the 2011 Tohoku Earthquak...
Lena Baibikov, translator of Haruki Murakami's non-fiction
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amy Chaez talks with Lena Baibikov who has translated Haruki Murakami’s non-fiction works from Japanese into Russian. Lena has translated What I Tal...
William Scott Wilson, author of Walking the Kiso Road
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amy talks with William Scott Wilson, author and translator of over a dozen books on Japan and China. They briefly discuss a few of these including, ...
Barry Lancet, author of Tokyo Kill
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Barry Lancet chats with podcast host Amy Chavez about Lancet's popular thriller series including Japantown, Tokyo Kill, Pacific Burn, and The Spy Acro...
Juliet Winters Carpenter on translating Japanese Literature
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amy meets up with Juliet Winters Carpenter to talk about her 70 or so translated works of Japanese literature including Shion Miura’s The Great Pass...
Judith Pascoe on Wuthering Heights in Japan
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amy talks with Dr. Judith Pascoe in her office on the campus of Florida State University while a Brontëesque storm rages outside their window. Pascoe...
John Dougill, founder of Writers in Kyoto
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
John Dougill talks about Japan’s indigenous religion of Shinto, its kami (deities) and the designation of Ise Shrine as the center of worship for Pr...