
Bill teaches across a range of subjects in Asia Pacific Studies. His expertise is in the interconnectedness of Japan’s history with the wider Asia-Pacific region and in labour and gender history. He also does work on documentary film-making. Bill is Fellow of Royal Historical Society, Research Associate at SOAS, University of London, and Chief Editor for Japan Forum (2019-22).
Bill is s a versatile historian, specialising in transnational history with a focus on Japanese encounters with and impact on the wider Asia-Pacific region. He has published widely in peer reviewed journals renowned for their interdisciplinary character and innovative research. Bill’s first monograph Sex in Japan’s Globalization, 1870-1930: Prostitutes, Emigration and Nation Building was published 2011, and reissued in paperback 2016.
Bill has a wealth of international teaching experience having worked in Australia, Japan, Korea, U.A.E and United States of America. Bill grew up on a fruit farm in rural South Australia. Education has allowed him to explore the world in ways he never imagined when he was a young man. He wishes to pass on this opportunity to others.
- Ph.D. History, New York University, 2000
- M. Litt. Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge, 1996
- M.A. Japanese History, Kyushu University, 1988
- B.A. Asian Studies and History, University of Adelaide, 1983
- Japanese modern history
- Anglo-Japanese relations
- Trafficking in people, slavery and human rights
- Legal history and international law
- Fellow of Royal Historical Society
- Association of Asian Studies
- British Association of Japanese Studies
- European Association of Japanese Studies