This interview with Phnom Penh Artist Sophal Neak is a fascinating chat on feminism and gender in Cambodia. Sophal is one of the few artists working in Cambodia to address gender and identity head on in her work. A subject that all too often is avoided or is addressed in a top-down manner with Westerners dictating the terms, rather than listening or having a dialogue with Cambodian women.

If you are interested in meeting Sophal in person you can check out our Cambodia Tour which focuses on Art, LGBTQ and Feminism in Cambodia: https://asiaarttours.com/tours/the-matriarchs-of-khmer-culture/

And for more on Cambodia check out our interview with artist Lauren Iida, who also hosts our tour!

https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=357079

For More on Sophal please check out her website! http://www.sophalneak.com

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Music provided by Rujay.

Instrumental: "Next Level" by SeriouzBeats.

Channel: https://YouTube.com/user/RujayTV.

In Marx's 18th Brumaire he provides his famous quote about history repeating "First as tragedy, then as Farce".

So what is unfolding in Hong Kong? Why are Hong Kong Tycoons who flourished under Beijing's rule turning against their former masters? Why are protesters who never knew democracy under imperial British rule marching with the Union Jack?

To find out, we spoke with Antony Dapiran an Attorney with over 20 years experience litigating in both Hong Kong and Beijng. Antony also has written one of the best books for understanding contemporary protests in Hong Kong:

City of Protest: A Recent History of Dissent in Hong Kong

Is Hong Kong protesting for a future that doesn't exist, or for a past that never was? Do we march first against Beijing and then against the Tycoons? What to make of a world of illiberal democracy versus Authoritarianism are our only choices?

All this and more in Part 3 of our series on the Hong Kong Protests! This is easily one of my favorite interviews. I know you will love it to!

For more information on who we are, what we do, and the Asia we want you to explore, check out Asiaarttours.com !

I had the chance to chat with Riley Quinn, the witty host of the Trash Future and Commie Book Club Podcasts.

Our conversation ranged between his own articles, criticisms of neoliberal technocrats and the schisms in the contemporary left between those who want power with the people versus those who want power over them.

We also discuss why I feel the UK Left feels more project oriented, much more friendly to average blokes and how the USA left may be getting to attracted to power (either personal or within existing institutions)

These issues are represented through two of the central figures we discuss today: Mark Fisher (the late British Philosopher) and the Godfather of The Frankfurt School Theodore Adorno. Riley explains how their ideas still resonate and explain many issues of power and culture the contemporary Left is wresting with.

Some of what we touch upon can be found below. And please head to Asiaarttours.com. And Like, share and review the episode if you enjoy the chat!

• https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/death-sentence/e/54309699?autoplay=true

• https://trashfuturepodcast.podbean.com/e/unlocked-rileys-commie-book-club-the-blurst-is-yet-to-come/

• https://billmoyers.com/guest/chris-hedges/

• https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13237181-the-apprentice-s-sorcerer

• https://krisis.eu/acid-communism/

• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/08/frankfurt-school-dialectic-of-enlightenment

• https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/12/liberalism-brexit-donald-trump

We spoke with one of China's bravest Artists:巴丢草 / Badiucao or "Buddy" about his journey from a promising legal student in Shanghai, to one of the world's best known fugitives. He has spent the past week, using art to focus international attention on the protests raging in Hong Kong against China.

Badiucao, unlike most artists had to leave his country forever. He now travels the world creating art to explain why the Chinese Government is not "communist" or "chinese" and what "democracy" really looks like.

Badiucao's art is brilliant and covers feminism, Hong Kong, China and Tech Censorship. We'll be featuring it all week (unless we conveniently get 'banned' by Twitter).

For more info on Badiucao or the Hong Kong protests please visit Asiaarttours.com or https://www.badiucao.com

With protests erupting throughout Hong Kong (over 1 million people on June 9th!) We recorded an emergency podcast with Brian Hioe, Founder of New Bloom Magazine. Brian is reporting live in Hong Kong at the epicenters of the protests, which are pitting Hong Kong's illiberal technocrats, and the Chinese Government against a ferocious movement of students and locals who see this as their last stand to save Hong Kong's unique culture, civil society and identity.

As Hong Kong goes, so goes Asia, and this chat is a great primer to a variety of issues, powers and economics that currently affect the East. Brian is an encylopedia of knowledge and you'll come away knowing much more about Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and The U.S.

If you like what we're doing spread the word! You can visit us at Asiaarttours.com and for more information on Brian and his work, please check out: newbloommag.net

We're thrilled to bring you a chat with a man who survived reporting on Tokyo's Underworld and the Yakuza, and is now ready to take on the Japanese Government: Jake Adelstein!

Reporter and Author Jake Adelstein is the foremost foreign authority on the Yakuza. From his time chasing leads on Japan's most dangerous men in Tokyo's darkest allies, he still manages to portray the Yakuza with a eye for detail and a keen understand of their long relationship to the Japanese state! Crime and Politics go hand in hand in Japan, as you'll hear in our chat!

In the second half we talk about Jake's transition from crime to politics, and how the line often blurs between them! Jake's reporting has been some of the most dogged and well-researched criticism into the Shinzo Abe administration. Our chat will lift the curtain and show what sinister implications Abe wishes to implement in Japan.

It's not all mascots and tourism in the land of the rising sun! This is a chat about where the sun doesn't shine and what happens when a government stops protecting its people, and they have to protect themselves.

Plus! For those interested, here are a list of some of the journalists, stories and authors I discuss with Jake:

For Jake's work check out the following---->

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/column/dark-side-of-the-rising-sun/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/jake-adelstein

https://www.powells.com/book/tokyo-vice-an-american-reporter-on-the-police-beat-in-japan-9780307378798

For other authors we mention please check out ------>

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201902080034.html

https://twitter.com/ISOKO_MOCHIZUKI?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WOxkXn1PkQ

http://www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun/item/411-yu-terasawa-is-an-information-hero/411-yu-terasawa-is-an-information-hero.html

(CAUTION TO THE AUDIENCE, THIS IS A PULLS NO PUNCHES CONVERSATION! Also, we spoil the plot of the movie "Shoplifters", so skip that section around 40:00 when we chat about it!)

I'm thrilled to bring you this conversation with Dr. Samuel Moyn, author of "Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World". It's a fascinating chat that touches upon Neoliberalism, Torture, Climate Change and how to build a just world in our present day, where a small handful of people, possess the same wealth as ancient kings and kingdoms.

For more on Dr. Moyn's writing please see below!

• https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/23/opinion/human-rights-movement-failed.html

• https://www.thenation.com/authors/samuel-moyn/

• http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674737563

If you like what we're doing at Asia Art Tours and our fascinating guests, please support us! Give us a like a review and follow us on Youtube, Facebook or our website Asiaarttours.com! And of course, please consider us for your next creative holiday in Asia!

We interview with William Andrews on his book- Dissenting Japan. In part one we discuss the origins of dissent and protest in Japan and continue on to discuss the 1950s and 1960s with the Communist Party of Japan, Student Protests and America's involvement in suppressing The Japanese Left.

It's a fascinating discussion for any liberal, leftist or really any traveler interested in a Howard Zinnesque recounting of the groups and figures who nearly changed the history of Japan. As well as a honest assessment as to the conservative and patriarchal Japanese government of Today.

If you're interested in a more sophisticated and nuanced approach to travel in Japan, please consider Asia Art Tours. We are one of the few travel companies offering tours focused on Feminism, LGBTQ and Environmentalism in the Land of the Rising Sun.

For more information on William Andrews and his work please head to dissentingjapan.com for his book Dissenting Japan. You can also find out more about his work here

Or his personal blog can be found here: https://throwoutyourbooks.wordpress.com

Today I'm happy to introduce a chat with Michael Pettis, the founder of Maybe Mars Records and a professor at China's prestigious Peking University.

It's a great conversation on how culture is created in China under censorship. What young Chinese people are concerned about, and how rock and roll, and other subcultures develop within China.

It's also a chance to promote to you our Rock and Roll in Beijing Tour. Come with Asia Art Tours to meet and listen to the musicians building a new culture and sound of China: https://asiaarttours.com/tours/rock-and-roll-in-china/

For more information on Maybe Mars Record Label, check out their website here: http://www.maybemars.com

Music featured in Podcast :

Band: Ourself Beside Me- Song: Sunday Girl

Band: Birdstriking- Song: Feed

I had the privilege of sitting down in the studio with Ernest Zacharevic, an artist and activist whose street art literally made Penang's UNESCO site of Georgetown one of the most photographed sites in Asia. Ernest has traveled the world creating street art and now he has moved into Activism.

His new Project Splash+Burn seeks to bring attention to the plight of Orangutans, the Great Ape closest to Extinction. Driven to demise by the West's desire for the East's commodities and corruption. Its his hope through art we can confront what we'll lose if we do not address capitalism or climate change.

Ernest is one of the kindest and bravest artists I've ever interviewed. And one of the most eloquent! This interview is a must for anyone interested in Art, Nature, and saving the world!

To meet some of the amazing artists in Asia, contact us anytime, at Asiaarttours.com. Or you can email me directly, [email protected]

For more on Ernest and his work please head to:

• http://www.ernestzacharevic.com

• https://www.splashandburn.org

Happy Listening!