Dr. Natalia Doan appears on ABC-7/WJLA news discussing her book “Civil War Samurai”

Dr. Natalia Doan recently spoke on ABC-7/WJLA about her research on samurai in America in a story hosted by 87-time Regional Emmy award-winner Jay Korff.

This research is from her most recent book, Civil War Samurai: The 1860 Japanese Embassy and Tateishi Onojirō in Antebellum America (Leiden University Press, 2026), which discloses the cultural frenzy inspired by the presence of samurai—and one 17-year-old samurai celebrity in particular—before the American Civil War. Seventeen-year-old samurai Tateishi Onojirō became a national celebrity and reports of his immense popularity with American women, as well as rumors of his romantic relationships, sparked excitement and cultural controversy during one of the most turbulent times in both American and Japanese history. Dr. Doan is a former DPhil and MSc student of the Nissan Institute, and she is now an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.