Radio & Podcast – Full List

2023

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 ThinkingConformity 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 LiveUp 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 ThinkingModern 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 ThinkingJapan 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 SanityBBC 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 ThinkingThe Tale of Genji / Culture and Psychotherapy

2015 & earlier

December 2015: Discussion with Philip Dodd and guests on BBC Radio 3 Free ThinkingKenzaburo 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 ThinkingGodzilla 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 WavesPsychotherapy 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 WavesPsychoanalysis and Buddhism [from 28:30 mins]