BBC Radio 4 Front Row

I was invited to go to the British Museum and review the Samurai exhibition as for BBC Radio 4’s front row.

This involved taking time off writing to travel to London, visit the BM, sign a few copies of The Cursed Tomb in their bookshop and waltz around the exhibition space before it was open to the public.

They really went for it, covering the changing role and meaning of Samurai in japan and globally from the high medieval to the present day. From bows and arrows to Darth Vader.

Some wonderful weapons, armour, netsuke, manga (plenty of blood splatter for the kids) and a good summary of the downfall of the tokugawa shogunate and the end of the Samurai. It is a subject we covered extensively in BBC Civilisations.

After a pancake with Julia, I headed to the BBC and got to share studio with Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation author), host Samira Ahmed and Emily Itami (a fellow Japan nerd and author).

Needless to day my book deadline is rearing its ugly head and I don’t quite see it happening on time. Shhh! Don’t tell Hannah my editor! I’d do better defending against Darth.