I am a historian of modern Japan with a special interest in musical culture. Currently I am an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen, having previously held appointments at the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Stirling, and Berlin. As well as a doctorate from the University of Bonn, I hold a Dr. Phil. (Habilitation) from the University of Copenhagen.

I have lived and worked in Japan as a researcher on several occasions, where have held affiliations with the University of Tokyo and with Waseda University. I have published widely on the history of historiography, education, and music in modern Japan. My previous books include History and the State in Nineteenth-Century Japan (which has been translated into Japanese), Private Academies of Chinese Learning in Meiji Japan: The Decline and Transformation of the Kangaku Juku, and Not by Love Alone: The Violin in Japan, 1850–2010.

My latest book, Music and the Making of Modern Japan: Joining the Global Concert can be read and downloaded at https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0374