2023
November 2023: Presenter, BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Korea and Japan)
October 2023: Presenter, BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Faith, Consciousness and Meaning in Life)
September 2023: Presenter, BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Black Atlantic)
September 2023: Presenter, BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Why Go Into Space?)
September 2023: Interview for BBC History Extra podcast: ‘Tokyo’s Devastating 1923 earthquake’
July 2023: Presenter, BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Oxford Philosophy)
June 2023: Presenter, BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Boyhood to Manhood)
June 2023: Presenter, BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Yellowface, AI and Asian Stereotypes)
May 2023: Guest, BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time (Shimabara Rebellion)
May 2023: Presenter, BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Mountaineering, Sport and Science)
April 2023: Presenter, BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Religion and Science)
April 2023: Presenter, BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (New Generation Thinkers 2023)
February 2023: Presenter, BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Tin Cans, Cutlery & Sewing)
February 2023: Presenter, BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Lady Macbeth
2022
December 2022: Interview for The Rest Is History podcast
October 2022: Discussing Samuel Taylor Coleridge and India, on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Romanticism Revisited)
October 2022: Presenter for an episode of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (My Neighbour Totoro)
June 2022: Presenter for an episode of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Iain McGilchrist and David Chalmers)
June 2022: Presenter for an episode of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Amia Srinivasan and Genealogical Thinking)
May 2022: Presenter for an episode of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Goddesses)
April 2022: Presenter for an episode of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Kyōsai and Mishima)
February 2022: Presenter for an edition of BBC Radio 3’s New Thinking: ‘From Pong to VR for Vets‘
February 2022: Modernism Around the World, on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking
January 2022: interview for the Beyond Japan podcast series
2021
July 2021: Japan in Five Lives, series of The Essay for BBC Radio 3
July 2021: Tokyo Olympics 1964: the Games that Defined Japan (BBC History Magazine podcast)
July 2021: Contribution to BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, on the Tokyo Olympics
March 2021: The Black Lizard, edition of The Essay for BBC Radio 3, on the Japanese detective writer Edogawa Ranpo
March 2021: interview for The Bunker podcast
2020
November 2020: Discussing The Japanese: A History in Twenty Lives on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking: Conformity and Rebellion
October 2020: Interview with BBC History Magazine: ‘Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Japan…’
May 2020: Contribution to BBC Radio 4’s From Our Home Correspondent (Home School)
2019
March 2019: Presenter for an episode of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Empathy)
February 2019: Presenter for an episode of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Images of Japan)
February 2019: Interview with BBC History Magazine about my book Japan Story (2019)
2018
December 2018: Radio 4’s Start the Week, with Neil MacGregor and Kajsa Norman.
November 2018: University of Edinburgh History Society’s Retrospect Podcast
November 2018: Interview for ABC’s Japan in Focus
November 2018: Review of Shoplifters for Radio 4’s Front Row
November 2018: Radio 5 Live, Up All Night
October 2018: Interview with The Skeptic Magazine, on ‘The Appeal of Yūrei’ (Japanese ghosts)
October 2018: Discussion with Rana Mitter, Julian Baggini, and Tiffany Watt Smith on BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking: Modern Japanese History, Being Inspired by Others, and Enjoying Their Pain
August 2018: Presenter for a BBC Proms Plus talk on ecstatic states
May 2018: Presenter for an episode of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (America: Inequality & Race)
April 2018: Dark Blossoms, series of The Essay for BBC Radio 3
April 2018: Supernatural Japan, BBC Radio 3 Sunday Feature
April 2018: Discussion with Anne McElvoy and other guests on BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking: Japan and Nature
February 2018: The Music of Time: Jazzing Up Japan, BBC World Service
2017
August 2016 – December 2017: Assistance to BBC and British Museum with the making of the Radio 4 and World Service series Living With The Gods. Contributor for the episode ‘Here Comes the Sun‘.
May 2017: Presenter for an episode of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Japan, Korea, Hokusai)
March 2017: ‘Killing Time in Imperial Japan‘, episode of The Essay for BBC Radio 3.
February 2017: Presenter for an episode of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Japan Now Festival)
2016
October 2016: Presenter for an episode of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking (Enoch Powell drama, The Supreme Court)
August/September 2016: The Borders of Sanity, BBC World Service version in five parts.
August 2016: BBC Proms Extra discussion on ‘Devils‘ with Rev Richard Coles and Imtiaz Dharker
August 2016: BBC Radio Scotland discussion on the Japanese Emperor’s wish to abdicate (Good Morning Scotland).
June 2016: Contribution on Mental Health in Ghana, From Our Own Correspondent, BBC Radio 4.
May/June 2016: Four-part BBC Radio 4 documentary: The Borders of Sanity.
May 2016: Discussion with Rana Mitter and guests on BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking: The Tale of Genji / Culture and Psychotherapy
2015 & earlier
December 2015: Discussion with Philip Dodd and guests on BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking: Kenzaburo Oe and Japan
August 2015: BBC Radio 4 documentary: Archive on 4: Misunderstanding Japan
February 2015: Discussion with Mark Vernon and other guests on BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking: Buddhism, Therapy, Violence and Rationality
November 2014: Freud in Asia, radio documentary (‘Sunday Feature’) for BBC Radio 3.
May 2014: Discussion with Matthew Sweet on BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking: Godzilla and Hayao Miyazaki [from 33 mins]
December 2013: Radio column for BBC Radio 3 Night Waves: Christmas in Japan [from 26 mins]
December 2013: Discussion with Giles Fraser on BBC Radio 3 Night Waves: Psychotherapy and/vs religion [from 31.40 mins]
October/November 2013: Talk at BBC’s Free Thinking Festival, later broadcast on Radio 3 as The Essay: Therapy vs Prayer
June 2013: Radio column for BBC Radio 3 Night Waves: Psychoanalysis and Buddhism [from 28:30 mins]