In this episode, Ra and Sherzod welcomed Prof. Oleg Benesch to the podcast. Oleg is Professor of East Asian History at the University of York and has written and co-authored a number of amazing books on Japanese history. His first book was Inventing the Way of the Samurai (Oxford, 2014), and in 2019 he co-authored Japan's Castles with Ran Zwigenberg (who was also a guest of the podcast last year). He has also written on drugs in Japan. More recently, Oleg co-curated the upcoming exhibition "Samurai" at the British Museum. We asked Oleg our own questions on the wide range of fascinating topics, as well as questions from our viewers received via social media. This episode will be interesting to those who enjoy the history of Japan's making as a nation once run by a samurai class to a modern, and later postindustrial society. It will also enlighten, we hope, many Japanese studies students, including our own :) LinksOleg's books: Inventing the Way of the Samurai: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/inventing-the-way-of-the-samurai-9780198754251?cc=gb&lang=en& Japan's Castles: https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/history/east-asian-history/japans-castles-citadels-modernity-war-and-peace?format=PB Drugs and the Politics of Consumption in Japan: https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/6370 Books mentioned in the podcastSven Saaler, Men in Metal: A Topography of Public Bronze Statuary in Modern Japan:https://brill.com/display/title/39541?language=en&srsltid=AfmBOor6n3zh32DOjmx5Y0b2ZoQ5uXSAxQ6xuZOSDl6KtvH0ey-YnZL4Film mentioned in the podcastGhost Dog: The Way of the Samuraihttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165798/

We invited Iguchi Haruka, a student from Japan currently studying International Politics at the UEA, to this Christmas episode. We asked Haruka questions on issues we often discuss on the podcast: Japan's declining population, attitudes to over-tourism and immigration, attitudes towards work-life balance among the Japanese people.We spent some time discussing the personality and policies of Japan's first female prime minister, Takaichi Sanae, and the reasons for her rising popularity among the Japanese populace, including the young.We aimed to better understand what young Japanese people like Haruka think about the nation's present and future, and the great challenges it currently faces. The resulting conversation, we hope, will shed light on the thinking and feelings of the new generation of Japanese people, and will thus be interesting to our viewers.

We were delighted to host Prof. Thomas French, who is a historian of modern Japan, in this new episode of the East Angle.Tom has been a friend and colleague to both of us over many years. He has lived and worked in Kyoto for almost fifteen years, and is currently Associate Professor in the College of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University. He is a specialist on the Occupation of Japan, and peacetime military interactions between Japan and the West. You can learn more about Tom's current research following this link: https://tinyurl.com/53asyr7sAmong his hobbies, Tom lists exploring Kyoto's cultural and culinary landscape, sumo and rugby, and hiking the beautiful mountains surrounding Japan's ancient capital.

In this episode, we sit down with a colleague, Dr Georgia Walker-Churchman, and a master’s student, Mr Kevin Revell, who both recently travelled to Japan. We were curious to hear about their experiences firsthand. The resulting conversation was full of curiosities for us. From favourite discoveries and cultural surprises to moments of challenge, we discussed what it was like for our guests to encounter Japan beyond the classroom — the delights, the curiosities, and the occasional frustrations of travelling abroad.Brief bios of our guests:Dr Georgia Walker-Churchman is a Lecturer in Humanities at the Interdisciplinary Institute of Humanities at the University of East Anglia.Mr Kevin Revell is a postgraduate student at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of East Anglia. His personal website can be found at: https://kevinrevell.com.

In this episode, the hosts Ra and Sherzod dive into England’s heated flag-hanging debate that has dominated the news over the past few weeks (with a local twist as Ra provides an eye-witness account of a nervy encounter), unpack the candidates and stakes in Japan’s LDP leadership race, and gear up for the excitement of the new football season.

This week's guest is a former student of one of the hosts, Sherzod, and current supervisee of the other, Ra.Heather Faure is writing a dissertation on Japan's soft power, which she says explains the nation's rising popularity globally, including nations where the memory of its expansionist empire and war conduct remains a divisive issue.We talked about soft power as a concept and its impact and importance in the world dominated (and divided, some would say) by social media, with Japan as the case study most of the time.

In a post-truth world where more and more people get their news and knowledge from social media or other non-traditional sources, does expertise count anymore? The spread of mobile phones and high-speed internet has enabled unprecedented levels of access to information, but how does one navigate this knowledge maze without the help of experts?To discuss these and other questions, we invited our colleague Dr Anuradha Sajjanhar, who teaches politics and public policy at the University of East Anglia, and one of our talented graduate students, Pham Minh.We talked about a number of things: knowledge production and trust in experts, the role of governments and think-tanks, and the viability of building a more equal, less divided world.We ended our discussion by asking our guests, who both have had experience of being international students, for their advice to potential international students, who comprise a good number of our regular viewers.Dr Anuradha Sajjanhar's professional website: https://anuradhasajjanhar.com---PromotionImmigration into the UK is one of the areas where one cannot do without the help of an experienced expert. Graeme Ross is one such expert, with more than two decades of immigration legal experience, of which thirteen years have been spent assisting postdocs and academics at the University of Cambridge, helping thousands with his top-notch advice and support. Graeme has recently opened a new immigration consultancy, "Postdoc Visas." While anyone with a complicated immigration application can benefit from Graeme's advice, he offers preferential rates for postdocs, whose needs he understands more than any other lawyer due to his rich experience.Please contact Graeme by emailing him at [email protected], and if you know anyone who is going to apply for a long-term UK visa, please share Graeme's details with them too. ---

For this episode, we invited our UEA colleague Dr Juvaria Jafri to discuss the hot topic of our times - immigration. Why has immigration become such a controversial issue? Why do all the so-called First World countries worry about the growing number of migrants despite the fact that these very countries depend on immigration for maintaining their population and employment levels?The conversation became emotional - partly because Juvaria and Sherzod are immigrants themselves and have navigated the system. But this discussion at the intersection of personal experience and academic research uncovered so many immigration-related issues that determine the post-truth world we live in.

In this episode the hosts Ra and Sherzod discussed the issues besetting contemporary Japan - and the world - such as the decline of birthrate, rise in mental health issues, and the feeling of helplessness and uncertainty about the future. They talked about "social ailments" such as the hikikomori problem, and how the rise in porn production and consumption is impacting the relations between the sexes in Japan and elsewhere.

We invited our postgraduate student, Anastassia Melnikov, to this episode for a refreshing perspective on the university, society, and the world.

Anastassia has a unique family history. A child of Soviet parents who fought against authoritarianism, she grew up in several countries and experienced a variety of cultures and lifestyles. Having gained her first degree in the United States, Anastassia decided to come to the University of East Anglia because of the diversity of its curricula and the interdisciplinary focus of the programme she is currently in. We discussed the importance of facing the past, especially some of its unedifying chapters, in gaining a better understanding of the current world and preparing for the future.

In the future, we hope to invite our students more regularly to the podcast.