Episodes

The first emperor of China dispatched a Taoist priest named Xu Fu to bring back the elixir of immortality. Xu Fu and his fleet vanished. Some legends say he settled in Japan. In Tim McGirk's novel, Xu Fu goes beyond Japan, tr...

Busan-based author Chris Tharp chats with John about The Cuttlefish , his hilarious novel set in the fictional East Asian island nation of Sukhan. The protagonist, an American called Zach, finds himself in Sukhan’s toughest p...

China Running Dog by Mark Kitto Controversial China figure and author Mark Kitto chats with John about his new novel, China Running Do g, set in the days of peak Shanghai Fever. It’s a brilliant novel and arguably more reveal...

Taiwanese Feet: My walk around Taiwan by John Groot (Almas Books, 2020) Canadian John Groot first came to Taiwan in 2001, fell in love with the island and its friendly people, and decided to stay. Years later, looking for a b...

Sam Baldwin chats about his life-changing two years as an English teacher on the JET Programme in the Japanese town of Ono, Fukui Prefecture. Snow-loving Sam made the most of his time in this backwoods location, especially du...

John talks with Taipei-based photographer Chris Stowers about his new book, “ Shoot, Ask ... and Run!, ” an account of his journalistic travels and life in Asia in the early 1990s. On this episode adventures are discussed, th...

Veteran East Asia journalist Ralph Jennings discusses his guide to understanding Chinese people and culture. His “Useful Tips” are better described as “insights,” as these are not your usual “Never stick chopsticks upright in...

Zhou Youguang (周有光) was one of the creators of Hanyu Pinyin, a system of romanization for Chinese characters. Introduced to PRC elementary schools in the late 1950s, it was instrumental in improving China’s literacy rates. Zh...

Robert Norris has been in Japan since 1983, mostly in Dazaifu (near Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu). He retired from university teaching in 2016, returning once more to his passion of writing. The result is a memoir of his a...

Chris Ruffle returns to Bookish Asia (we covered his memoir A Decent Bottle of Wine in China in Episode 2) to discuss his autobiographical novel, which is set in Beijing in 1983. After decades of Cold War tensions, China is s...

American Kim Liao describes unraveling her family’s mysterious history. Her grandfather was Taiwanese independence movement leader Thomas Liao (1910–1986); Kim, who grew up with family members and relatives silent on this rem...

John Ross talks with John Saeki about tigers in Hong Kong. The big cats once made frequent and sometimes deadly forays into the territory, even reaching islands such as Lamma and Lantau. Listen and learn about the 1911 Stanle...

Thomas Bird was living in Southern China when he decided to explore the country by train and write a book about it. A great idea – and long overdue; the last notable railway-flavored China travelogue was Paul Theroux’s “Ridin...

John talks with Chris Bates about one of Taiwan’s greatest ever martial artists, Hong Yixiang 洪懿祥 (1925–1993). He was Taiwan’s foremost master of the Chinese internal martial arts (which consist of baguazhang 八卦掌, xingyiquan ...

Ever dream of owning a vineyard? Yorkshireman Chris Ruffle did, and to make things even more interesting he decided to do it from scratch in the countryside of Shandong Province. And don’t forget the castle, a Scottish castle...

Veteran Hong Kong-based journalist and prolific author Mark O'Neill tells us what Taiwan was like in the early 1980s, when he first came to study Chinese. Despite a mysterious knife attack and various authoritarian elements (...