Pages
- About Lesley
- Book Reviews
- Books
- Across a Bridge of Dreams
- Foreign Editions of ‘Madame Sadayakko: The Geisha who Seduced the West’
- Geisha: The Secret History of a Vanishing World
- Madame Sadayakko: The Geisha who Seduced the West
- On the Narrow Road to the Deep North
- The Brothers: The Hidden World of Japan’s Richest Family
- The Courtesan and the Samurai
- The Last Concubine
- The Shogun’s Queen
- The Shortest History of Japan
- Contact
- Cookbooks
- Cookie Policy (UK)
- E-books
- Lesley Downer – Author and Historian
- Radio & Podcasts
- Recent Posts
- Site Map
- Site Terms, Cookies and Privacy
- Travel Writing and Features
- TV & Videos
- UK GDPR Compliance Statement and Privacy Notice
Posts
- Silk Roads exhibition: Review In Historia Magazine
- Lesley Downer on Poetry in Japan’s Deep North – Personal Landscapes Podcast
- Talk at The Japan Society on 21st October
- Travel in Old Japan: In Unseen Histories
- How Empresses Shaped Japan – Books on Asia Podcast 37
- From the world’s first pots to Cool Japan: In Book Brunch
- Japan’s Court Ladies, Warrior Women and Courtesans: In Historia Magazine
- A Master Class: In The Camden New Journal
- Kyoto: Japan’s Imperial City- Echoes of History Podcast
- HUGE NEWS! THE SHORTEST HISTORY OF JAPAN – out in Australia on June 4th and the US on July 31st
- History of Geishas – Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
- In the 80s Japan WAS the future!
- Octopus dreams: Japan, Stonehenge, Knossos
- The Shortest History of Japan: coming SOON!
- Exquisite Patterns: Japanese Textile Design Books Private View – Q&A
- Issey Miyake, a great loss
- MY ENCOUNTERS WITH THE MAYANS: In The Spectator US
- Of Captains and Khans: A Book Review in Slightly Foxed
- A Date for your Diary: British Library – Virtual Private View on 29th March 2022
- Lesley Downer featured in JETAA UK Newsletter
- A Date for your Diary: Ashmolean Museum Oxford – Online Talk on 9th December 2021
- A Date for your Diary: JSNW – Online Talk on 17th September 2021
- A Date for your Diary: Ashmolean Museum Oxford – Online Talk on 9th September 2021
- Rodin’s Japanese Muse
- Watch Lesley in conversation with Pico Iyer
- A Date for your Diary: British Library online on 6 May 2021
- More Tales of Japan’s Warlords – and their Women
- Tales of Japan’s Warlords – and their Women
- Age of Samurai on Netflix
- Princess Atsu’s palanquin
- Summer 2020 Update
- Kimonos, Madam Butterfly and Geisha
- A Date for Your Diary: Japan Society on 6th September
- A Date for Your Diary: University College London on July 31st
- January 29th 1868: the day the Imperial Banners flew
- Travelling as research
- A hidden world: Among the sophisticated geisha of Tokyo
- Ghosts, demons, fox spirits and pots and pans that torment you in the night
- When Love was the Forbidden Fruit
- Lecture Dates – Archive 2018
- A Date for Your Diary: Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation on November 9th
- Living with the Geisha of Kyoto – The Inside Story
- The Once and Future City – A Visit to Edo, Modern-Day Tokyo
- Edo Castle – Japan’s Versailles
- Concubines, Geisha and Me – Living as a Woman in Japan
- A True Japanese Ghost Story
- Tea the Japanese way
- A Date for Your Diary: Bradford Literature Festival on July 2nd
- Lesley Downer speaking on Sadayakko at the Royal Opera House
- A Date for Your Diary: Daunt Books talk on 9th February 2017
- A Date for Your Diary: SISJAC Talk at Norwich Cathedral 19th January
- A Date for Your Diary: Asia House talk on 8th February 2017
- A Date for Your Diary: Daiwa Foundation Japan House talk 13th December
- A Date for Your Diary: October Gallery lecture 7th December
- A Date for Your Diary: Travelling Through lecture 4th November
- A Date for Your Diary: SOAS lecture January 25th
- A Date for Your Diary: Japan Society lecture November 10th
- The Japanese Art of Scent
- Black Teeth (Ohaguro)
- Sharp-eyed Hambei the Fisherman and the Invading Aliens
- Walking in the Japanese hills
- How Jordan is trying to reassure tourists
- Cruising the waves of Japan’s culture
- Nagoya Castle – Tokugawa splendour
- Yokohama and Kamakura …
- The women’s palace – what it all came to …
- Sailing into Tokyo Bay …
- Crossing the Himalayas through memory to Ladakh
- Mountains of magic in Ladakh
- Episode 4 – ‘A Gilded Cage’
- Episode 3 – ‘A Gilded Cage’
- Episode 2 – ‘A Gilded Cage’
- Episode 1 – ‘A Gilded Cage’
- A Gilded Cage, episode 1 – coming soon …
- Shunga: more sex please, we’re Japanese
- Delving into Ethiopia’s ancient past and present
- A world of flowers and willows in Kyoto’s geisha districts
- The Butterfly Effect: Radio 4 programme on the story behind Madame Butterfly
- Winter Journey to Aizu
- National Geographic Traveller – Author Series: Lesley Downer
- A Geisha for the American Consul
- In search of the last samurai
- Japanese at Heart: article about Lesley in the Malaysian Star
- Across a Bridge of Dreams: 19th century Japan: Geisha, samurai and change – Birmingham Japan Society, October 2012
- Across a Bridge of Dreams – updated lecture dates October 2012
- The New Japan and the Last Samurai – Liverpool, September 2012
- Across a Bridge of Dreams – updated lecture dates 2012
- Focus on Lesley Downer on Historytellers website
- Across a Bridge of Dreams – more lecture dates 2012
- Lesley Downer’s romance with Japan: interview by the Japan Times
- Book launch of Across a Bridge of Dreams, Tuesday June 19 2012
- Review of Across a Bridge of Dreams in the Independent
- Across a Bridge of Dreams – lecture dates 2012
- World of flowers and willows
- No matter what they say I love Gion…
- In snowy Aizu
- Japan still finding its feet, one year on
- Back to Kyoto and the geisha district
- Lesley Downer interviewed by Italian literary blog ‘Critica Letteraria’
- Why ‘Across a Bridge of Dreams’?
- After each disaster Japan rebuilds bigger and better
- Waiting for disaster is a way of life in Japan
- The Courtesan and the Samurai – lecture dates tour 2011 update
- World’s greatest grilled eel
- Under the volcano; hot is better
- In Japan post earthquake to research my next book
- The Courtesan and the Samurai – lecture dates 2011 update
- The Courtesan and the Samurai – lecture dates 2011
- Burmese Lessons: A True Love Story by Karen Connelly
- Dreaming in Chinese by Deborah Fallows
- Two lovingly preserved Japanese villages
- The Courtesan and the Samurai – lecture dates tour 2010 update
- The Last Concubine – Thai edition
- The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
- Forthcoming lectures: May – July 2010
- The Courtesan and the Samurai – lecture and tour dates
- The Courtesan and the Samurai – launch and tour dates
- The Courtesan and the Samurai – Tour dates 2010
- Sadayakko, Debussy and the BBC Proms of July 24 2009
- Coming soon – The Courtesan and the Samurai
- Living among the hill tribes of Laos
- The Last Concubine – Second German Tour spring 2009
- Forthcoming book presentation – Japan Through Writers’ Eyes at Asia House
- Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2009
- The Last Concubine available in paperback
- The Last Concubine shortlisted for Romantic Novel of the Year
- Concubines, courtesans and geishas
- Oxford University Japan Society talk on 18 November, 2008
- Canadian paperback edition of The Last Concubine
- German interviews with Lesley Downer
- German translation of The Last Concubine
- Sunday Times article – Japan’s new professional seducers
- Italian translation of The Last Concubine
- The Last Concubine tour dates autumn 2008
- Portuguese translation of The Last Concubine
- The Last Concubine tour dates summer 2008
- The Last Concubine tour dates 2008 latest latest – and other events.
- The Last Concubine tour dates 2008 updated again – and other events!
- The Last Concubine tour dates 2008 updated and other events!
- Talk by Lesley at Japan Society Southern Counties on March 27th
- Lesley giving lecture at Asia House on Wednesday March 19th
- The Last Concubine book launch
- Why are people so fascinated by geisha?
- Hakodate, where west met east
- The Tokugawa Shoguns
- Secrets of the Shogun’s Harem
- Lesley talks about The Last Concubine on Meet the Author
- Listen to Lesley on Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4
- How do you fall in love when your society has no word for it?
- The Shogun’s Harem
- The Last Concubine – tour dates 2008
- Discover Your Inner Geisha