All Episodes
Displaying episodes 1 - 30 of 127 in total
Ollie is in Tokyo and Fukuoka (and Hong Kong and KL and Brighton and London and Edinburgh...)
Little message from Ollie to say that he's heading to Japan as part of his stand-up comedy tour. Tickets are available with a big JBRC discount if you use the promo co...
Fancy a Cheeky Valentine's Show? (live show announcement)
Links to tickets! Get your tickets ASAP for guaranteed entry! https://peatix.com/group/12083451/events
The official round-up of 2022 (every single news story) [Part 2: July~December]
We did it! The second half of all of the news that came out of Japan in 2022. All of it. And we don't get side tracked or distracted by other chats. Thank you for list...
The official round-up of 2022 (every single news story) [Part 1: January~June]
Part one of a (potential?) two-part run down of every single news story that came out of Japan in 2022.
Why was Shinzo Abe killed? (w/Jake Adelstein)
Shinzo Abe was assassinated. But did he deserve it? Jake Adelstein gets remarkably close to making the case that he did.
Tokyo, City of Dreams/Permissive Zoning Policy (w/Joe McReynolds)
Joe McReynolds is co-author of a new book about how flexible micro-spaces create the spontaneity and vitality of Tokyo, and how so much the city is built on the often ...
Biden Time! (w/Michelle Ye Hee Lee)
Joe Biden's Straight Talk Express comes to Asia! WaPo Bureau Chief Michelle Ye Hee Lee joins us to talk about what Biden took away from his time in Japan. If he's anyt...
Marching into April/Japanese Castles (w/Oleg Benesch)
Japan Scholar Oleg Benesch joins us to to talk about the past, present, and future of Japanese castles, and break down the debates around them, proving that when it c...
Imagining a Militarized Japan and then Laughing (w/Tom Phuong Le)
Author of Japan's Aging Peace, Tom Le, stops in to talk about Japan's security concerns and help us think about an important hypothetical question: Ok, Japan, let's sa...
Locked Out of our $500 Abandoned House (w/Alex Kerr)
Author Alex Kerr may be single-handedly responsible for the current global spotlight on restoring old Japanese country homes, so we talk to him about how these homes m...
JBRC HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2021, YAY!
Jesus is the reason for the season, so let's all THANK CHRIST that this year is finally over! Before we take a short hiatus ahead of Season 4, join us and a whole sle...
Married to Our Research (w/Joy Hendry)
Author of new book, "An Affair with a Village" and leading UK expert on Japan, Joy Hendry joins us to discuss a whole variety of things, like MEXT Scholarships, marria...
Fumio, Fumio, Whatfore art thou, Fumio? (w/Tobias Harris)
Abe-ographer (The Iconoclast) Tobias Harris stops by to break down the power dynamics in the LDP, speculate on whether or not Kishida's going to get a belated honeymoo...
Kat(akana) Got Your Tongue? (w/Dr. Wes Robertson)
Why do foreigners in Japan speak in Katakana? Well, Bobby does it because the TV director told him it's funnier that way. But Dr. Wes Robertson shares his NON-anecdota...
All in the Same Boat, But We're in Steerage (w/Thalia Harris)
Thalia Harris stops by to talk about second-class citizenship in Japan during the pandemic, and also has such an interesting story about the Titanic that we had NO CHO...
Need a Leader? Try Kishida! (w/Motoko Rich)
NYT Tokyo Bureau Chief Motoko Rich gets onboard to talk about Kishida's first month in office. What has he done so far? What does his administration mean for Japan? An...
The Runaway Bride (w/Aya Shimada)
Aya Shimada tells us what the fuss over Princess Mako's nuptials tells us about Japan's treatment of women, and also, what's so wrong with marrying a commoner? I did i...
Burakku Purin: The UK-Japan Trade Deal (w/Pernille Rudlin)
Business consultant Pernille Rudlin helps us look back on the largely disappointing post-Brexit trade deal between Japan and the UK, which may have only been signed be...
Bonus Extras from E83 (w/Chelsea Schieder)! (No episode this week)
We're really sorry to say we were unable to get an episode to you this week, so enjoy these extras that were previously released only to our monthly members. Thank you...
The Hair Police (w/Anne Crescini)
Anne Crescini talks about how Japanese schools often don't have the resources to properly combat bullying, because they're too busy using those resources on student ha...
How Many Nobel Prizes Does it Take to Make You Japanese? (w/Mary Kobayashi)
Syukuro Manabe and some other people win the Nobel Prize, illustrating a lot about how and why Japan claims people as Japanese. We talk to Mary Kobayashi about how s...
The Secret Ingredient is Entitlement (w/Marc Matsumoto)
Japan's likely new Prime Minister, Marc Matsumoto talks about how to wield Japanese recipes responsibly, and more.
Japan's Ready-For-Prime-Time Players (w/Derek Wessman)
Who will be Japan's next Prime Minister? Japanese Margaret Thatcher? The often shaken AND stirred Kono, TARO Kono? Mr. Speak-softly-and carry-no-nukes? Or Woma...
A Delhi-cate Predicament (w/Dr. Megha Wadhwa)
Dr. Megha Wadhwa shares her research on the Indian diaspora in Japan, as we look at the way Japan's handling of the Covid crisis has affected its Indian community. Don...
World Suicide Prevention Day (w/TELL outreach director Selena Hoy)
TELL outreach director Selena Hoy talks about different cultural approaches to mental health and why Japan needs a lifeline for English-speakers in one of the rare epi...
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (w/Hiromu Nagahara)
Hiromu Nagahara talks about Princess Mako's engagement and upcoming move to New York and the split in Japanese public opinion, between nationalists, who are angry, and...
The Big 97: Sometimes We Like Japan (w/Brian)
An hour-long celebration of JBRC's 97th episode! We take a moment to make sure Ollie is actually surviving, roast some headlines, and have a rare discussion about some...
Land of the Rising Floodwaters (w/ Dr. Wesley Cheek)
After the unprecedented rain and landslides in western Japan, disaster sociologist Dr. Wes Cheek talks about the country's future, and how facing the climate crisis ma...
Paralimited Access (w/Mark Bookman)
Disability activist and historian Mark Bookman talks about how accessibility progress is bolstered by the international spotlight of the Paralympics but hampered by th...