Keiko Itoh is a Japanese writer and historian in the United Kingdom.
Life and education
editItoh was born in Kobe and was educated at Manhattanville College, she graduated with a BA in History from Swarthmore College in 1974[1] and then a MA in East Asian studies from Yale in 1976 Yale.[2] She worked at the UN, where she met and subsequently married British journalist Tommy Helsby.[3][4] In 1991 they moved to the UK, Itoh was press officer for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development[5] and then worked at the World Bank which she left in 1999.[6]
In 2001 Itoh completed a PhD in history from the London School of Economics on "The Japanese immigrant community in inter-war London: diversity and cohesion", exploring the Japanese community in 1920s and 1930s Britain.[7] As part of her research she organised the exhibition "A Visual History of the Japanese in Britain" in London.[8]
Writing and media
editItoh's PhD thesis was published in 2001 as a book entitled The Japanese Community in Pre-war Britain: From Integration to Disintegration by Curzon Press,[9] now Routledge.[10]
In 2013 she contributed a chapter on 'The Human Legacy of the Japan-British Exhibition' to the book Commerce and Culture at the 1910 Japan-British Exhibition: Centenary Perspectives, edited by Ayako Hotta-Lister and Ian Nish.[11]
In 2015 Itoh published My Shanghai[12] with Renaissance Books,[13] the historical novel looks at the life of the Japanese community in Shanghai in the 1940s.[14] The main character is London-educated protagonist Eiko Kishimoto[15] who is based on Itoh's mother.[16]
In 2021 Itoh was interviewed for the Earth 2 Air podcast[17] by New Earth Theatre[18] and she contributed to the Thames Festival Trust series about the Japanese Seamen's Club in Silvertown.[19][20] In 2022 she gave a talk at the Embassy of Japan, London on how the Japanese community grew in the UK from the late 19th century onwards.[21]
References
edit- ^ "Listen: Author Keiko Itoh '74 Discusses Her Novel, Set in Japanese-Occupied Shanghai". www.swarthmore.edu. Swarthmore College. 8 December 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ Kenrick, Vivienne (20 August 2000). "Keiko Itoh". The Japan Times. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ "Outlaws rule the wild web". the Guardian. 28 October 2000. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ "Tommy HELSBY Obituary (2019) – London Bridge, City of London – The Times". www.legacy.com. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ Rose, Julian (18 June 1993). "Danube falls victim to Croatian fighting". New Scientist. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ Kenrick, Vivienne (20 August 2000). "Keiko Itoh". The Japan Times. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ "History Theses 1970–2014: Historical research for higher degrees in the universities of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland". www.british-history.ac.uk. British History Online. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ Kenrick, Vivienne (20 August 2000). "Keiko Itoh". The Japan Times. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ Itoh, Keiko (2001). The Japanese community in pre-war Britain : from integration to disintegration. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon. ISBN 978-0-7007-1487-2. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ "The Japanese Community in Pre-War Britain: From Integration to Disintegration". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ Itoh, Keiko (1 January 2013). "The Human Legacy of the Japan-British Exhibition". Commerce and Culture at the 1910 Japan-British Exhibition: Centenary Perspectives: 189–205. doi:10.1163/9789004235427_015. ISBN 9789004229167. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ Itoh, Keiko (2015). My Shanghai, 1942-1946 : a novel. Folkestone: Renaissance Books. ISBN 978-1-898823-41-4. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ "Keiko Itoh". www.renaissancebooks.co.uk/. Renaissance Books. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ "Asia House Talk: Itoh's debut novel, My Shanghai 1942–46 – Nee Hao Magazine". Nee Hao Magazine. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ Treyvaud, Matt (27 February 2016). "A privileged perspective on WWII in 'My Shanghai, 1942–1946: A Novel'". The Japan Times. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ Group, SEEC Media (9 March 2017). "LitFest 2017: Keiko Itoh on My Shanghai 1942– 1946". www.timeoutshanghai.com. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
{{cite news}}:|last1=has generic name (help) - ^ "Tsunagu/Connect Ep 2 – Keiko Itoh by Earth 2 Air". Anchor. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ "TSUNAGU/CONNECT". newearththeatre.org.uk. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ "The Islanders". Thames Festival Trust. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ Trust, Thames Festival (29 September 2021). "The Islanders: The Japanese Seamen's Club". vimeo.com. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ "Update from JICC". Embassy of Japan in the UK. 26 November 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.