Kimonos, Madam Butterfly and Geisha

Before the great 2020 Coronavirus Lockdown began … I had lots of fun activities! I wrote an essay for the catalogue of the V & A’s splendid exhibition Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk on Geisha: Perpetuating the Kimono Mystique. It’s a beautiful book and a good fat read for quiet days! I was also lucky enough … Read more

A Date for Your Diary: Japan Society on 6th September

Panel to mark the 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration: with Ian Buxton (editor of Ernest Satow’s diaries) and David Warren (ex-ambassador to Japan). This will be the first event at the brand new Japan House.

For its second event marking the sesquicentennial of the Meiji Restoration, the Japan Society is delighted to welcome three scholars and researchers who will focus in this session on contemporary British connections with Japan.

A Date for Your Diary: University College London on July 31st

Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT 3.00 – 8.00 pm Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Meiji Restoration 5.00 pm ‘WHEN EAST AND WEST COLLIDED: FLASHPOINTS ON THE ROAD TO THE MEIJI RESTORATION’: illustrated talk The Meiji Restoration was actually a revolution, transforming Japan from a feudal to a … Read more

Troops clash on the bridge at Fushimi

January 29th 1868: the day the Imperial Banners flew

On July 8th 1853 four warships appear at the mouth of Edo Bay, threatening Edo, the shogun’s capital, today known as Tokyo. Their leader is the American Commodore Matthew Perry, on a mission to open Japan, which has been closed to foreigners for 250 years. Their arrival sparks civil war between north and south … … Read more

Travelling as research

Ibusuki was a beautiful place, a land of gold and sunshine where the sky and ocean were perpetually blue. Cranes swooped, birds twittered, monkeys roamed the flower-clad hills, palm trees swayed and the purple cone of Mount Kaimon, more perfect than Mount Fuji, rose misty on the horizon … The Shogun’s Queen For me researching … Read more

Geisha dancing with geisha accompaniment

A hidden world: Among the sophisticated geisha of Tokyo

When Atsu was a child her father had many geisha concubines and there were always geisha around the house. She called them all indiscriminately ‘Auntie.’ Her favourite was Wife Number Two, an earthy woman with a loud laugh and big personality, competent and unshakeable, very different from Atsu’s refined mother, Wife Number One. Wife Number … Read more

A bride on her wedding day

When Love was the Forbidden Fruit

“He turned away into the darkness and she heard his voice above the ripple and roar of the waves. ‘Okatsu-san, Okatsu-san. Don’t forget me.’She gave a sob and closed her fingers around the hilt of the dagger and said softly, ‘I won’t, I swear it. I won’t.’” The Shogun’s Queen How do you fall in … Read more

Lecture Dates – Archive 2018

2018: 150th Anniversary of the Meiji Restoration ‘When East and West Collided’ Past Lectures: Tuesday November 6th 1.00 – 4.10 pm ANAシンポジウム: 世界から見た明治維新 ANA Symposium: The Meiji Restoration as seen by the World Public lecture and seminar in Kagoshima, Japan 2.30 pm 東と西がぶつかったとき: 明治維新 に 向かって の できごと WHEN EAST AND WEST COLLIDED: STEPPING STONES … Read more

A Date for Your Diary: Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation on November 9th

Thursday 9 November at 6.00pm Daiwa Foundation Japan House 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle London NW1 4QP MAP Nearest station: Baker Street Admission free, booking essential Turning Point: The Momentous Events that Created Modern Japan To Japan, the arrival of Commodore Perry and his Black Ships in 1853 was almost as shocking as if Martians had landed. One of … Read more