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Shunbaisai Hokuei's tetraptych from the series "108 Heroes of the Theater Suikoden"

CULTURE / Books

Mar 22, 2025

Osaka’s kabuki fan culture fueled an elusive figure of the ukiyo-e scene

By Martin Laflamme

In his new book, John Fiorillo partly lifts the veil on Shunbaisai Hokuei, who dominated the ukiyo-e art world in the Kamigata region during the early 19th century.

“The Place of Shells” takes place mostly in Gottingen, Germany, where both the author and the book's narrator live, while also jumping both geographically and temporally to Sendai, Japan, through memories of the 3/11 disaster and its aftermath.

CULTURE / Books

Mar 10, 2025

Grief ebbs and flows between two tragedies in 'The Place of Shells'

By Thu-Huong Ha

Mai Ishizawa’s debut novel, which won one of the three Akutagawa Prizes awarded in 2021, is also her first to be released in English, translated by Polly Barton.

“May You Have Delicious Meals” focuses on a trio of young office workers at the same workplace who have mixed feelings for food and each other.

CULTURE / Books

Mar 8, 2025

‘May You Have Delicious Meals’: The ugly taste of office and gender politics

By Eric Margolis

The English-language debut of Junko Takase’s Akutagawa Prize-winning novel serves complex prose in translation by Morgan Giles.

Taiwanese comic artist Rishiazao and interpreter Yun-wen Huang greet an attendee at the 2025 Angouleme International Comics Festival in France.

CULTURE / Books

Mar 1, 2025

Taiwan comics on the rise: Local storytellers, global aspirations

By Mike Fu

A supportive ecosystem and eager audiences — both domestic and global — are boosting the soft power of illustrated narratives from Taiwan.

Jose Ando purposefully wrote his Akutagawa Prize-winning novel “Dtopia” to be accessible to an audience beyond Japan and to spark conversations about race, gender and the effects of modern entertainment.

CULTURE / Books

Feb 27, 2025

Jose Ando's rapid rise from first pages to the Akutagawa Prize

By Eric Margolis

Just three years after dedicating himself to writing, the author won Japan's top literary award for his novel "Dtopia," which offers a fresh perspective on identity and diversity.

In Tomoka Shibasaki's short story collection "A Hundred Years and a Day," time flows architecturally, through the life of structures such as a ramen shop or a cinema.

CULTURE / Books

Feb 22, 2025

'A Hundred Years and a Day': Short stories unfold through the lives of structures and spaces

By Thu-Huong Ha

In Tomoka Shibasaki’s curious collection, time flows architecturally, plots meander by design and humans are unnamed, ephemeral and often disappear.

“Mornings Without Mii,” Mayumi Inaba’s 1999 memoir, charts the course of the author’s 20-year relationship with her calico cat, Mii.

CULTURE / Books

Feb 16, 2025

'Mornings Without Mii': A cozy cat memoir that gets down in the muck

By Thu-Huong Ha

Mayumi Inaba’s 1999 memoir charts the course of the author’s 20-year relationship with her calico cat, Mii.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.

Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.

By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

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