Hey, friend, welcome to this supplemental episode of the Renaissance English History podcast.

This is an interview I did, an author chat that we did with Thomas Lockley, who is the author of a very interesting new book on a story that I don't think has ever been told before, at least

any time lately, on the Japanese man called Christopher. Of course, that was not his original Japanese

name. But Christopher was the first Japanese person to step foot in both North America,

possibly the Americas in general. I believe the whole Americas,

and England, which is no small feat for the 1580s.

So Thomas Lockley is a associate professor at Nihon University College of Law in Tokyo.

He teaches courses about the international and multicultural history of Japan and East Asia. And he very kindly did a live

author chat with myself and one of my patrons. Marie came and hang out. Marie came and

hung out as well. Thomas co-authored African Samurai, the first

book in the world about Yasuki, the African warrior who served the Japanese warlord Nobunaga in 2019.

While visiting scholar at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London,

he did much of the research behind his new book,

a gentleman from Japan, the untold story of an incredible journey from Asia to Queen Elizabeth's court. He and his family live in Chiba, Japan. So we're going to go right into this unedited

interview with Thomas Lockley. Definitely check out his book. It comes out on May 21st. I've read it.

It's very, very interesting. I think you will enjoy it. All right. Enjoy the conversation.

You are a Japanese historian, right, as opposed to an English historian, but every once

a while your work coalesces with English history and that's what we have in this beautiful

story, right?

Correct.

It is.

And good evening to you in, where are you right now?

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