The Shortest History of Japan – The Interlocutor Podcast – Ep. 31

This is a conversation about Lesley Downer’s career as a writer about Japan, beginning with her background and how she first went to Japan as part of the first group of Japanese English Teachers (JET) Program. Also about how she came to write her first book about Matsuo Basho’s Narrow Road to the Deep North. Two-thirds of the remaining conversation is about the themes of Lesley’s book The Shortest History of Japan.