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Elizabeth Ward
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 24, 2002
Moral absolutism on trial
ONE MAN'S JUSTICE, by Akira Yoshimura, translated by Mark Ealey. New York, San Diego and London: Harcourt, 2001, 276 pp., $23 (cloth) In every society, even the most apparently open-minded, there are times when some questions become taboo. In the United States right now, such questions include anything...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 30, 2001
Postwar Japan finds a voice
SILENCE TO LIGHT: Japan and the Shadows of War, Manoa 13:1, edited by Frank Stewart and Leza Lowitz. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2001, 217 pp. Manoa, published by the University of Hawai'i, is a twice-yearly journal of Pacific Rim writing and graphic art, with each issue devoted to a particular...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 22, 2001
Dead-end lives in the suburbs of Tokyo
LIFE IN THE CUL-DE-SAC, by Senji Kuroi. Translated by Philip Gabriel. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 2001, 231 pp., $12.95. To read this version of "Life in the Cul-de-Sac" is to experience two conflicting emotions. On the one hand, there is admiration for the storyteller, as the dozen linked...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2001
Novel ideas
Some great books have made great movies. It's a safe bet that many people, asked to reel off their top five, would name one of the following: "The Godfather" (Mario Puzo); "A Clockwork Orange" (Anthony Burgess); "Blade Runner" (from Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"); and "2001:...
CULTURE / Books
Dec 13, 2000
Book bites
SHONEN: Where It All Started, by Yuji Ando. Kabushiki gaisha 22, 6-6-16 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052. 80 pp., 3,000 yen (cloth). This beautiful bilingual book is basically an album of paintings by the well-known artist Yuji Ando, depicting his memories of a rural Japanese childhood in a setting...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 1, 2000
Sowing authentic 'seeds of peace'
HIROSHIMA WITNESS FOR PEACE: Testimony of A-Bomb Survivor Suzuko Numata, by Chikahiro Hiroiwa. Translated by Tadatoshi Saito. Tokyo: Soeisha Books/Sanseido, 1,000 yen. Thirty-six years ago, not two decades after an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Kenzaburo Oe was already writing about the imperative...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 20, 2000
A holocaust foretold by the pattern in the rock garden
BEFORE HIROSHIMA: The Confession of Murayama Kazuo and other stories, by Joshua Barkan. London: The Toby Press, 2000; 139 pp., $12.95 (paper). "Before Hiroshima" is 31-year-old American Joshua Barkan's first published collection of fiction, and the title story, which makes up almost half the book,...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 25, 2000
Return to Ishiguro's fog-bound world
WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS, by Kazuo Ishiguro. London: Faber & Faber, 313 pp., 16.99 British pounds. Ever since "A Pale View of Hills" (1982), Kazuo Ishiguro has been playing games with his readers' minds. Some people find this infuriating, some fascinating, as the mixed reception accorded his novels...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 29, 2000
Staying on the beaten track in darkest Saitama
THE CITY OF YES, by Peter Oliva. Toronto, Canada: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1999; 336 pp., $21.99. Like many another young, sensitive, well-intentioned foreigner, Canadian-born Peter Oliva -- or his protagonist -- came to Japan for a year and was so bowled over by the place that he felt the world...
CULTURE / Books
May 13, 1999
Miyazawa comes to life for young English readers
GAUCHE THE CELLIST; SNOW CROSSING; THE STORY OF THE ZASHIKI BOKKO and Three Poems; THE RESTAURANT OF MANY ORDERS (4 vols. with four CDs and read-along booklet in English and Japanese), by Kenji Miyazawa, translated by Roger Pulvers, illustrated by Osamu Tsukasa. Tokyo: Labo Teaching Information Center,...
Heatstroke alert issued for 19 prefectures as Japan enters 'once-in-a-decade' heat wave
Japan will experience a heat wave through mid-July on a “level only seen once in a decade,” the Meteorological Agency said on June 30.
Japan braces for more quakes as authorities dismiss doomsday hype
Evacuees from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecuture, arrive at Kagoshima Port on Friday.
Foreign nationals' presence in Japan emerges as key issue in Upper House poll
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a campaign speech next to a Liberal Democratic Party candidate for the Upper House (top center left) in Yokohama on Sunday.
Hidden AI prompts in academic papers spark concern about research integrity
Waseda University is one of 14 institutions in eight countries found to have used hidden prompts in research papers.
China’s housing crisis is worse than it seems
Residential buildings under construction in Shanghai in July 2022. The Chinese government risks long-term decline by repeating Japan’s policy mistakes in handling its real estate and demographic crises.
Lawson to let visitors use larger parking lots as paid car campsites
A Lawson convenience store in Yachiyo, Chiba Prefecture. A new service from the company comes amid the rise in inbound tourists, making hotels and inns harder to book and more expensive.
The future is bright inside the visionary mind of architect Sou Fujimoto
The exhibition of Fujimoto’s architecture surveys his career to date, as well as looks ahead as shown in his proposal of a future floating city designed in collaboration with data scientist Hiroaki Miyata.
A tiny mountain hamlet keeps traditional log rafting afloat
Once a way to transport lumber from the mountains to the coast, log rafting is now Kitayama's biggest attraction.
A furever friend: Tips for responsible dog ownership in Japan
Dog ownership may seem daunting in Japan, but with the right tools and logistical knowledge, you can ensure a healthy, happy life for your pet.
Ainu land rights in crosshairs as Hokkaido communities debate nuclear waste
A street in Suttsu, Hokkaido, with a sign put up by an anti-nuclear organization. The small community is considering hosting a facility that would hold nuclear waste.

Podcast

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What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

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