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. […]
News & Events
Tour dates, public lectures and other news
The Shortest History of Japan: coming SOON!
Out June 2024 in Australia and July 31st 2024 in the US and Canada.
The story of a small Asian country with an extraordinary aesthetic tradition that avoided colonization and overcame the devastation of World War II to become a highly prosperous modern force, while preserving its unique spirit and culture.
Exquisite Patterns: Japanese Textile Design Books Private View – Q&A
Watch Lesley Downer in conversation with Hamish Todd (Head of East Asian Collections) at the British Library.
A Date for your Diary: British Library – Virtual Private View on 29th March 2022
Finding out all about the wonderful world of Japanese kimono pattern books with curator Hamish Todd at the British Library.
A Date for your Diary: Ashmolean Museum Oxford – Online Talk on 9th December 2021
Edo Castle: The Glittering World of the Shogun’s Courtality
A Date for your Diary: JSNW – Online Talk on 17th September 2021
The Meiji Restoration and the part the British played in making sure it went ahead.
A Date for your Diary: Ashmolean Museum Oxford – Online Talk on 9th September 2021
The Decadent World of the Yoshiwara: Dream and Reality
Watch Lesley in conversation with Pico Iyer
Born in England and based in western Japan for 33 years, Pico Iyer talks about the changes, the changelessness and the paradoxes of his adopted home, as reflected in his recent works Autumn Light and A Beginner’s Guide to Japan at this British Library digital event on 6 May, 2021. […]