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. […]

Hideyoshi with some of his wives and concubines during his cherry blossom viewing party of 1598 at Daigo-ji Temple, Kyoto. By Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806)

More Tales of Japan’s Warlords – and their Women

II – Hideyoshi, His Wife Nene and His Hundred Concubines

‘Your beauty grows day by day. Tokichiro complains about you constantly and it is outrageous. While that bald rat flusters around trying to find another good woman, you remain lofty and elegant. Do not be jealous. Show Hideyoshi this letter.’

So speaks the unexpectedly kindly … Read more

Oda Nobunaga, depicted by the Jesuit missionary Giovanni Nicolao. This is undoubtedly a nineteenth century fake but I like it anyway

Tales of Japan’s Warlords – and their Women

I – Oda Nobunaga and Nohime

Every Japanese schoolchild knows the story about the warlords and the nightingale. Three men are in a garden when a nightingale lands on a branch. They wait expectantly, hoping to hear its beautiful song. But the nightingale stubbornly refuses to sing. What should they do about it? ‘Kill it,’ … Read more

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. […]

Summer 2020 Update

Thrilled to be contributing to Inaka, an anthology of writing on rural Japan. In my piece have revisited my very first book, On the Narrow Road, and written about what became of the people I met when I made that journey. …. Read more

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