Kyoto: Japan’s Imperial City- Echoes of History Podcast
Hugely enjoyed delving deep into Kyoto life in the glittering Momoyama period … Hideyoshi’s tea parties and cherry blossom parties and much else. Please have a listen! […]
News
Tour dates, public lectures and other news
HUGE NEWS! THE SHORTEST HISTORY OF JAPAN – out in Australia on June 4th and the US on July 31st
The exciting, engrossing and thrilling story of the whole of Japanese history – 16,500 years in a few pages, from 14,500 BC (world’s first pottery) to yesterday, to make you think, ‘Wow, Japanese history is really exciting!’ […]
History of Geishas – Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
Hugely enjoyed talking about all things geisha with Kate Lister on the Betwixt the Sheets podcast … find out all about my life among the geisha and what geisha really do! […]
In the 80s Japan WAS the future!
Happy to be included in Johny Pitts’ series The Failure of the Future on BBC Radio 4 – including my memories of the Tsutsumi Seibu empire, which I wrote about in my book The Brothers. […]
The Shortest History of Japan: coming SOON!
Out June 2024 in Australia and July 31st 2024 in the US and Canada.
The story of a small Asian country with an extraordinary aesthetic tradition that avoided colonization and overcame the devastation of World War II to become a highly prosperous modern force, while preserving its unique spirit and culture.
Exquisite Patterns: Japanese Textile Design Books Private View – Q&A
Watch Lesley Downer in conversation with Hamish Todd (Head of East Asian Collections) at the British Library.
A Date for your Diary: British Library – Virtual Private View on 29th March 2022
Finding out all about the wonderful world of Japanese kimono pattern books with curator Hamish Todd at the British Library.
A Date for your Diary: Ashmolean Museum Oxford – Online Talk on 9th December 2021
Edo Castle: The Glittering World of the Shogun’s Courtality