New Books on Japan
The "New Books on Japan" series of Zoom-based conversations between book authors and noted scholars in the field was established in 2020 by Benjamin Uchiyama, Kirsten Ziomek, and Nick Kapur for the purpose of drawing more attention to some of the most exciting books on Japan published in recent years.
The series was initially made possible for the first two years thanks to the generous sponsorship of the University of Southern California's East Asian Studies Center, and now continues under the auspices of the Modern Japan History Association.
The current Organizing Committee for the New Books on Japan Series consists of:
SARA KANG, Princeton University
EMER O'DWYER, Oberlin College
SEIJI SHIRANE, City College of New York (Chair)
2025-2026 Series
Monday, September 8, 2025 | 8:00-9:30 PM ET
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Exhibitionist Japan: The Spectacle of Modern Development (Cambridge University Press, 2025)
Presenter: Angus Lockyer, Lecturer, Rhode Island School of Design
Discussant: Jordan Sand, Professor of History, Georgetown University
Moderator: Joseph Seeley, Assistant Professor of History, University of Virginia
The Modern Japan History Association invites the wider community to a conversation with Angus Lockyer, who will be speaking about his new book Exhibitionist Japan: The Spectacle of Modern Development (Cambridge, 2024). From the second half of the nineteenth century, Japan has been a particularly enthusiastic user of exhibitions. Large-scale international exhibitions, including Osaka 2025, form only the tip of an iceberg comprising over 1,300 industrial, regional, and local exhibitions held in Japan over the past 150 years. Exhibitionist Japan explores how and why these events have been used as catalysts of development and arenas for fostering modern industry, empire, and nation; traces their complicated genesis, realization, and reception; and demonstrates that although they rarely achieve their stated aims, this has not undermined their utility – Japanese expos have provided a model subsequently adopted around the world. The history of this enthusiasm provides a more nuanced understanding of development in modern Japan, and emphasizes the shared experiences of global modernity. Jordan Sand (Georgetown) will serve as interlocutor.