Radio programmes, podcasts and interviews featuring Lesley Downer
Lesley Downer on Poetry in Japan’s Deep North – Personal Landscapes Podcast
In conversation with Ryan Murdock. We spoke about Basho’s haiku, mountain ascetics and Japan’s undiscovered north.
How Empresses Shaped Japan – Books on Asia Podcast 37
Our guest today is author Lesley Downer an expert on Japanese culture and history. She writes both fiction and non-fiction. Her novels transport readers to the intriguing world of 19th-century Japan, while her non-fiction takes us along on the Narrow Road to the Deep North with poet Matsuo Basho; behind the scenes of the Geisha community; and into the intrigues of the richest family in Japan. Oh, and she also writes fiction! Today, she discusses her just-released The Shortest History of Japan: From Mythical Origins to Pop Culture Powerhouse, which provides a concise yet detailed account of Japanese history.
The Books on Asia podcast is produced and edited by Amy Chavez and Michael Palmer.
Kyoto: Japan’s Imperial City – Echoes of History
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!
During the Onin Wars of the early Sengoku period, Kyoto was razed as civil war struck the Imperial capital. Only with unification did the city begin to rebuild. This episode will explore the rise and fall and rise again of Kyoto, what life in the city might have looked like, and why it held such significance to unification in the 16th century. In turn, we’ll reveal how the Sengoku period shaped the city’s meaning for early modern Japan.
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. Scroll forward about 4 minutes to get straight to me – and find out all about my life among the geisha and what geisha really do!
Building Utopias – The Failure of the Future
BBC Radio 4
First broadcast on 16 January 2024
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.
#20 History Hack: Reimagining Old Japan
Author and Historian Lesley Downer joins us to share her love of Japanese history and culture. From geishas, to Dutch merchants, to enforced assimilation with the west, we find out how a love of all things Japanese impacts her writing and why Whats’app is keeping people going.
English National Opera Pre-performance Talks 2019/20 – Madam Butterfly
Join in on a lively 45 minute talk about the season’s productions, whether you’re new to operas or an opera expert.
Wednesday 11 March, 2020
Ruth Knight (Staff Director)
Lesley Downer (Writer and Journalist)
Mark Down (Blind Summit Artistic Director)
English National Opera Pre-performance Talks 2019/20 – The Mikado
Join in on a lively 45 minute talk about the season’s productions, whether you’re new to operas or an opera expert.
Saturday 16 November, 2019
Christopher Cook (Host)
Elaine Tyler-Hall (Revival Director)
Mark Biggins (ENO Chorus Master)
Lesley Downer (Writer, Journalist and Broadcaster)
Commodore Perry’s Expedition to Japan, 1853
Travels Through Time Podcast #14
History Today
Travels Through Time is presented by bestselling historian, Peter Moore.
In this episode, writer and historian Lesley Downer takes us back to the moment when Perry’s fleet of ships sailed into Edo Bay (present day Tokyo), the tour of the ship taken by Kayama Eizaemon, Police Magistrate of Uraga, and Perry’s arrival on shore. Downer describes the collision of two contrasting worlds: the confusion, the power play and the consequences.
Kimono – Moving Pictures
BBC Radio 4
First broadcast on 23 March 2019
Each thirty-minute episode of Moving Pictures is devoted to a single artwork – and you’re invited to look as well as listen, by following a link to a high-resolution image made by Google Arts & Culture.
Was this vibrant robe worn by a Japanese courtesan? Cathy FitzGerald speaks to Lesley Downer to find out.
- Interviewees: Anna Jackson, Andrew Gerstle, Paul Griffith and Lesley Downer.
- Producer and Presenter: Cathy FitzGerald
- A White Stiletto production for BBC Radio 4
- Kimono © The Victoria & Albert Museum, London.