Books on Asia

Amy Chavez, John Ross
  • 4.5 (8)
  • Books
  • Updated Biweekly

Books on Asia is your guide to finding quality books on Japan and Asia, including travel, literature, current events, and culture. Explore Asia in-depth. Hosted by Amy Chavez.

  1. 3d ago

    The Devil’s Chow: A Chinese Food History–Stephen Jack

    Stephen’s childhood in Bendigo, Australia, gave him early exposure to Chinese culture and food. Nineteenth-century gold rushes brought numerous Cantonese workers to the town, and their cuisine has long since become part of local life. Decades later, Stephen – a longtime Taiwan resident – would pursue his interest in Chinese food by making extensive journeys across China. John and Stephen talk about the rich heritage of Chinese agriculture before eventually getting to some notable dishes, from the famed Peking duck to the infamous wangji dan (fertilized egg). Stephen tells the surprising story of chop suey – long dismissed as an American invention – and describes his joy at tracking down its roots in Guangdong. They finish with a healthy Chinese-style dessert: fruit, in this case the Chinese gooseberry (and its better-known descendant, the kiwifruit). The Devil’s Chow: A Chinese Food History by Stephen Jack (2026, Cold Press Books) is a lively combination of food history and travel writing, tracing the development of Chinese cuisine from the earliest times to the present. To learn more about Stephen and his writing you can visit: Stephen Jack’s website:https://www.eatingchina.com/devils-chow-chinese-food-history.htm Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Chow-Chinese-Food-History/dp/6269969425 The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.  Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan. The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

  2. Aug 10

    Taiwan 22: Travels in Paradox—Tyrel Cameron Eskelson

    For Tyrel Eskelson, a Canadian academic living in Hokkaido, curiosity about Taiwan-related news stories turned into something of an obsession; there were months of travel, hundreds of conversations, and a book (published by John at Plum Rain Press). In this BOA chat, Tyrel talks about his search to better understand the island nation and its people. Among the topics covered are Taiwan’s Japanese colonial legacy, the 228 Incident of 1947, the Battle of Kinmen, and why the book is called Taiwan 22. Taiwan 22 is available as an ebook on the Plum Rain Press website (but not yet on Amazon).https://www.plumrainpress.com/ Tyrel Cameron Eskelson has a YouTube channel called The Interlocutor Podcast, where he talks with writers, historians, and travelers, with an increasing focus on Taiwan, Japan, and China. He has also begun sharing audio versions of these conversations on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.  Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan. The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

  3. Aug 3

    What's it like to host a US Military Base? Jon Mitchell on Okinawa

    Today 31 US bases sit on a landmass smaller than Rhode Island, and Okinawans remain Japan's poorest people. Why is this? And what is the US military presence actually doing there? In his new book Why Are We in Okinawa?: A History of Violence (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026), award-winning journalist Jon Mitchell answers these questions and many more, tracing how the islands were annexed by Japan in the 19th century, occupied by the US through WWII, handed back to Japan in 1972, and now menaced by China — with tensions between the military and Okinawan citizens still simmering today. He gives Okinawans a voice, and we should listen. Because you're going to be shocked by some of what you hear on today's podcast episode. Jon Mitchell is a Welsh journalist based in Japan and a special correspondent for the Okinawa Times. He is the recipient of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan's Freedom of the Press Lifetime Achievement Award, and an expert in the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). He's the author of several Japanese-language books about Okinawa, along with two English-language books: Why Are We in Okinawa? (2026) and Poisoning the Pacific: The US Military's Secret Dumping of Plutonium, Chemical Weapons, and Agent Orange (2020), which won a Society of Environmental Journalists' award. In 2023, he received Japan's most prestigious journalism prize, the Ishibashi Tanzan Memorial Journalism Award for public service. Follow him on LinkedIn and visit his website  www.jonmitchellinjapan.com     The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.  Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan. The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

  4. Jul 27

    Old Lhasa: A Biography

    Old Lhasa – A Biography of a Sacred City Michael Aldrich joins John Ross to discuss Old Lhasa: A Biography, his richly detailed portrait of Tibet’s historic capital. It’s the third book in his trilogy on Asian cultural centers. He wrote the first two, on Beijing and Ulaanbaatar, while living in those cities, where he worked as a lawyer. There was no opportunity for this with Lhasa, so he had to rely on multiple trips (from his home in Taiwan) and an incredible amount of reading and research. Rather than writing a conventional history, Aldrich set out to present Lhasa as a living character – a city whose temples, alleyways, legends and surviving traditions can still tell their own stories. Books mentioned M.A. Aldrich The Search for a Vanishing Beijing: A Guide to China’s Capital Through the Ages (Hong Kong University Press, 2006) Ulaanbaatar beyond Water and Grass: A Guide to the Capital of Mongolia (Hong Kong University Press, 2018) Old Lhasa: A Biography Originally published by Camphor Press in January 2023 and subsequently reissued in 2025 by Speaking Tiger Books with a new epilogue based on Aldrich’s 2024 return to Tibet. The episode touches on the amazing story of Ekai Kawaguchi (河口慧海 1866–1945), a Japanese Buddhist monk who spent time in Lhasa in the early 1900s. He is the subject of Scott Berry’s A Stranger in Tibet.   The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.  Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan. The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

  5. Jul 20

    Golden Age of China Books: The 1930s

    China’s Golden Age on the Western Bookshelf China may seem like a big story today, but its presence on Western bookshelves was even greater during the 1930s. Books about China not only appeared on bestseller lists but often dominated them. In this short solo episode, John discusses some of the most notable titles of the decade. He begins with Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth and ends with Ruth Harkness’s account of panda collecting. Most of the popular books about China were highly sympathetic to the Chinese people. We take a close look at a striking exception: Ralph Townsend’s now-forgotten Ways That Are Dark, which viciously attacked China and lavished praise on Japan. Show Notes Books mentioned in the episode: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (1931) Also by Buck: Fighting Angel: Portrait of a Soul and The Exile (both 1936) Oil for the Lamps of China by Alice Tisdale Hobart (1933) Lost Horizon by James Hilton (1933) Ways That Are Dark: The Truth About China by Ralph Townsend (1933) My Country and My People by Lin Yutang (1935) Lin also wrote: The Importance of Living (1937) The Blue Lotus by Hergé / Georges Remi (1936)News from Tartary: A Journey from Peking to Kashmir by Peter Fleming (1936) Four Hundred Million Customers: The Experiences – Some Happy, Some Sad – of an American in China, and What They Taught Him by Carl Crow (1937) Red Star Over China by Edgar Snow (1937 in Britain, 1938 in the U.S.) The Lady and the Panda: An Adventure by Ruth Harkness (1938) The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.  Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan. The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

  6. Jul 6

    Japanese Literary Prizes—How many do you know?

    Amy breaks down Japan's most prestigious literary prizes — starting with the twin titans of the Japanese book world, the Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes, both announced twice a year, every January and July, on the very same day. Up your knowledge ahead of the next announcement of the winners on July 15, at around 6 pm! Most Japanese literature fans can probably guess who the Akutagawa Prize is named after (hint: Rashomon) — but how many know who the Naoki Prize honors? And while the Tanizaki and Mishima Yukio Prizes might be obvious, can you guess what the Noma Prize is for? Or what genre dominates that newspaper-sponsored heavyweight, the Yomiuri Prize? Amy sorts them all out — the history, the famous winners, and the controversies, including the AI scandal that rocked the Akutagawa Prize when 2024 winner Rie Kudan admitted to using ChatGPT in her prize-winning novel. Plus: how Japan's prize culture differs fundamentally from English-language institutions like the Booker Prize, Pulitzer or Nobel Prize for Literature — and why winning in Japan can launch a career instead of just crowning one. The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.  Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan. The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

  7. Jun 22

    Taiwan Travelogue: Food and Friendship in Japanese Formosa

    John Ross chats with Eryk, his Formosa Files co-host, about the International Booker Prize-winning novel Taiwan Travelogue. Set in colonial Taiwan in 1938, the story is told by narrator Aoyama Chizuko, a young Japanese novelist, who, accompanied by her brilliant Taiwanese interpreter, Chi-chan, travels around the island in search of memorable meals. The original Chinese edition came out in 2020. It caused quite a stir, as author Yang Shuang-zi was misleadingly credited as being the translator. (No translation was needed, however – this story was entirely fictional, not the rediscovered Japanese text it purported to be.) The English edition, translated by Lin King, was published by Graywolf Press in late 2024 to much acclaim. John has some strong opinions on the book and does not hold back in expressing them. Publisher link: https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/taiwan-travelogue The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.  Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan. The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

  8. Jun 15

    Replay: Tina deBellegard—The Art of the Short Story

    Episode Notes Today we're talking with Tina deBellegarde about short stories: What makes a good short story, and why certain short story writers are so appealing. Tina has been nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, has a short story published in the Mystery Writers of America anthology called "When a Stranger Comes to Town," and most recently won the USA Prize in the Writers in Kyoto annual story competition. They start the topic of the podcast by highlighting some Japanese short story writers such as Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto, Hiromi Kawakami, Aoko Matsuda, and Kyoko Nakajima. and foreign writers, including Lafcadio Hearn and, more recently, Rebecca Otowa. Amy also mentions two short story collections from China, one by the well-known author Xu Xu called Bird Talk, and an anthology of flash fiction called The Pearl Jacket and Other Stories: Flash Fiction from Contemporary China  which prompts a discussion on flash fiction, which Tina defines for us and elaborates upon, including the works of Mieko Kawakami. Lastly, Tina reveals what her favorite books on Japan are: Kyoto: Seven Paths to the Heart of the City by Diane Durston Kokoro by Natsume Sōseki Untangling My Chopsticks by Victoria Abbot Riccardi The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.  Podcast host Amy Chavez is author of The Widow, the Priest, and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island. and Amy's Guide to Best Behavior in Japan. The Books on Asia website posts book reviews, podcast episodes and episode Show Notes. Subscribe to the BOA podcast from your favorite podcast service. Subscribe to the Books on Asia newsletter to receive news of the latest new book releases, reviews and podcast episodes.

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4.5
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About

Books on Asia is your guide to finding quality books on Japan and Asia, including travel, literature, current events, and culture. Explore Asia in-depth. Hosted by Amy Chavez.

Information

  • Creator
    Amy Chavez, John Ross
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    92
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2018-2020 Amy Chavez, 2021-2025 Amy Chavez / Stone Bridge Press, 2025 Amy Chavez
  • Show Website
    Books on Asia

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