Over the past two years, Japan has received a record-breaking number of foreign tourists. Many of them, however, stopped at only “famous” cities or tourist spots while skipping less populated areas and historical remains despite the country’s very accessible public transportation. Through my Youtube videos, I would like both Japanese and English speakers across different age groups to realize that modern Japan did not emerge from a vacuum. Here, I introduce amazing intersections between past and present. I hope that such discoveries will inspire more people to do further investigations on their own.

Even before embarking upon my adventure to make the first video for the channel, I knew that visiting a historical site would tremendously help me to understand how past events, ideas, and materials were interconnected with today’s Japan and Asia. Visiting a place always inspires me to ask questions that lead me to further investigation.

I created my YouTube channel “Sachiko Exploring History” in October 2022 in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. My channel invites a broader audience to this delightful experience and exercise, by introducing Japanese places along with intriguing religious beliefs, cultures, histories, cuisines, businesses, and beautiful landscapes. As a historian whose comfort zone was academic research and teaching, this video-making journey was daunting but thrilling. In this talk, I will share my experience with you in developing videos while answering key questions: why I started the channel, what was the process of developing it, and now what I’m aiming for.

During this event, we are planning to focus on a few videos, but if you are interested, you can access the channel and watch anything you like from the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/@sachikoexploringhistory

Flyer

Bio

After receiving my PhD in History at the University of Southern California (USC), I have been enjoying both teaching and doing research at multiple institutions such as Harvard University and the National Museum of Japanese History. Additionally, my enthusiasm in studying premodern Japanese history and gender history developed into my book, Uncertain Powers: Sen’yōmon-in and Landownership by Royal Women in Early Medieval Japan (Harvard University Asia Center, 2021). Now, I have embarked on a totally different project, my YouTube channel “Sachiko Exploring History,” which introduces Japanese culture, history, food, local industry, and hot springs through visiting actual locations. I am experiencing a high learning curve, but I hope that this project will bear some fruits, helping my channel viewers see interesting connections between Japan’s past and present as well as stimulating their interests in East Asian cultures, religions, and histories.