New Books in East Asian Studies

Marshall Poe

Episodes

Mentioned books

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Apr 10, 2026 • 45min

Ted Goossen on translating Hiromi Kawakami’s “Third Love”

Ted Goossen, translator and editor known for bringing Japanese writers like Hiromi Kawakami and Haruki Murakami to English readers, discusses his decades in Japan and the craft of translation. He compares translating Murakami and Kawakami, unpacks The Third Love’s time-shifting ties to Edo and Heian eras, and explores changing roles of women, historical language for love, and literary traditions.
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Apr 9, 2026 • 1h 21min

Ruth Mandujano López, "Steamships Across the Pacific: Maritime Journeys between Mexico, China, and Japan, 1867–1914" (U Hong Kong Press, 2025)

Ruth Mandujano López, cultural historian of 19th-century Mexican-Asian maritime ties, discusses steamship journeys linking Mexico with China and Japan. She describes archival detective work across global repositories. Conversations cover structuring the book around specific voyages, migration controversies, technological shifts around 1914, and surprising archival discoveries.
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Apr 6, 2026 • 1h 12min

Ho-fung Hung, "The China Question: Eight Centuries of Fantasy and Fear" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

Ho-fung Hung, a Johns Hopkins professor of political economy, argues that both romanticizing and demonizing China are simplistic. He discusses how stereotypes persist despite data, how Western politics and Chinese authorities shape narratives, and why open, plural debate and inter-Asian perspectives are needed to dismantle long-standing Orientalist images.
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Apr 3, 2026 • 54min

Marty Friedman with Jon Wiederhorn, "Dreaming Japanese" (Permuted Press, 2024)

Marty Friedman, American-born guitarist, multi-platinum artist turned Japan-based cultural ambassador and memoirist. He discusses why he wrote his memoir and the co-writing process. He explores J-pop’s musical mechanics, the role of heta-uma and cuteness, Japanese managerial and media culture, and his orchestral album Drama.
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Apr 2, 2026 • 51min

Avner Greif et al., "Two Paths to Prosperity: Culture and Institutions in Europe and China, 1000–2000" (Princeton UP, 2025)

Guido Tabellini, Intesa Sanpaolo Chair in Political Economics and Bocconi vice president, co-author of Two Paths to Prosperity. He traces how Europe's corporations and open knowledge networks contrasted with China’s clan-based order. Short takes cover legal origins, family structures, why the Industrial Revolution favored Europe, and whether modern China can drive radical innovation.
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Apr 1, 2026 • 1h 2min

Kristina Jonutytė, "Between the Buddha and the New Tsar: Urban Religion and Minority Politics at the Asian Borderlands of Russia" (Cornell UP, 2026)

Kristina Jonutytė, social anthropologist studying contemporary Buddhism and minority politics in Eurasia, discusses urban Buryat Buddhism and its ties to the Russian state. She explores urban temple economies, everyday ritual practices, fieldwork challenges after 2019 and 2022, and how war and migration reshape Buryat identity and religious life.
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Mar 31, 2026 • 1h 4min

Peter Mauch, "Tojo: The Rise and Fall of Japan's Most Controversial World War II General" (Harvard UP, 2026)

Peter Mauch, historian of modern Japan and author of a new Tojo biography, explores the life of Hideki Tojo. He traces Tojo’s rise from military schooling and Manchurian campaigns to centralizing the army and becoming prime minister. The conversation highlights his wartime strategies, failed exit plans, postwar downfall, and enduring controversial legacy.
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Mar 31, 2026 • 1h 21min

Jeffrey Wasserstrom, "Everything You Wanted to Know about China*: * But Were Afraid to Ask" (Brixton Ink, 2025)

Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a historian of modern China with decades of research and time in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, answers tough questions about contemporary China. He explores personality cults and Confucian revival. He discusses censorship tactics, youth culture and rock concerts as political signals. He reflects on soft power, Hong Kong’s crackdown, and why accessible history matters.
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Mar 30, 2026 • 1h 18min

Gregory Smits, "The Ryukyu Islands: A New History from the Stone Age to the Present" (U Chicago Press, 2026)

Gregory Smits, a Penn State historian who specializes in Ryukyuan history, walks through 35,000 years of island life. He explores migrations and archaeological evidence. He reframes Ryukyu as part of maritime East Asia and traces the rise, transformations, and external pressures on the Ryukyu polity. He also covers modern occupation, identity, and ongoing geopolitical and environmental challenges.
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Mar 28, 2026 • 1h 5min

Nellie Chu, "Precarious Accumulation: Fast Fashion Bosses in Transnational Guangzhou" (Duke UP, 2026)

Nellie Chu, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke Kunshan University, studies migrant entrepreneurs and fast fashion in southern China. She explores migrant 'boss' identities, Guangzhou’s urban village markets, transnational traders from Korea and West Africa, and how pandemic platformization reshaped just-in-time garment production. Short, vivid stories trace mobility, precarity, and informal accumulation.

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