In 2001 Itoh completed a PhD in history from the London School of Economics on "The Japanese immigrant community in inter-war London: diversity and cohesion", exploring the Japanese community in 1920s and 1930s Britain.[7] As part of her research she organised the exhibition "A Visual History of the Japanese in Britain" in London.[8]
Writing and media
Itoh's PhD thesis was published in 2001 as a book entitled The Japanese Community in Pre-war Britain: From Integration to Disintegration by Curzon Press,[9] now Routledge.[10]
In 2013 she contributed a chapter on 'The Human Legacy of the Japan-British Exhibition' to the book Commerce and Culture at the 1910 Japan-British Exhibition: Centenary Perspectives, edited by Ayako Hotta-Lister and Ian Nish.[11]
In 2015 Itoh published My Shanghai[12] with Renaissance Books,[13] the historical novel looks at the life of the Japanese community in Shanghai in the 1940s.[14] The main character is London-educated protagonist Eiko Kishimoto[15] who is based on Itoh's mother.[16]
In 2021 Itoh was interviewed for the Earth 2 Air podcast[17] by New Earth Theatre[18] and she contributed to the Thames Festival Trust series about the Japanese Seamen's Club in Silvertown.[19][20] In 2022 she gave a talk at the Embassy of Japan, London on how the Japanese community grew in the UK from the late 19th century onwards.[21]
