Lesley Downer

Journalist, Author and Broadcaster

Specialist in all things Japan

Welcome to my website.

My great passion is Japan but recently I’ve been spreading my wings a bit.

I’m a writer, journalist and all-round Japan specialist. In my books I’ve specialised in Japan but in my journalism I’ve ranged widely, writing travel pieces and covering arts and culture from many parts of the world for UK and US publications. I was the historical consultant for Northern Ballet’s spectacular 2020 ballet, Geisha, and appear on Age of the Samurai: Battle for Japan (Netflix and on Pernel Media’s Sekigahara on French TV. I speak Japanese and am consulted as a geisha and Japan expert.

Latest News

  • In the 80s Japan WAS the future!

    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. […]

Journalism and Travel writing

Recent travels have taken me to Mexico, Burma and Uzbekistan.

I write reviews for the TLS and the Literary Review. I also post on the History Girls blog and do podcasts. Here is one of my podcasts, on Commodore Perry’s arrival in Japan in 1853. 

Lesley Downer in Age of Samurai

Age of Samurai

Age of Samurai on Netflix

Thrilled to be involved in this brilliant Netflix series on Japan’s Age of Samurai. … I was lucky enough to be asked to tell the women’s side of the story. […]

Books

I’ve now completed The Shogun Quartet, four novels set in the tumultuous fifteen years after American ships arrived off Japan’s coast in 1853, sparking civil war and regime change. I’ve loved absorbing myself in the glittering and passionate world of nineteenth century Japan.

Here are the four books of the quartet and a few others I’ve particularly enjoyed writing.

The Shogun’s Queen

The Shogun’s Queen

The Last Concubine

The Last Concubine

The Courtesan and the Samurai

The Courtesan and the Samurai

The Samurai’s Daughter

The Samurai’s Daughter

Madame Sadayakko: The Geisha who Seduced the West

Madame Sadayakko: The Geisha who Seduced the West

Geisha: The Remarkable Truth Behind the Fiction

Geisha: The Remarkable Truth Behind the Fiction

The Brothers: The Hidden World of Japan's Richest Family

The Brothers: The Hidden World of Japan’s Richest Family

On the Narrow Road to the Deep North

On the Narrow Road to the Deep North