Understanding the challenging world of the literary translator
English translations of Japanese books have found an enthusiastic audience around the world, and while the author is undoubtedly the star of the show, the translator's role should not be ...
The lifelong rebellion of children's author Eiko Kadono
Author of the beloved "Kiki's Delivery Service" series about a young witch in training, Eiko Kadono continues to bring magic to the world of Japanese children's literature.
'The Memory Police': An island where a good memory won't do you any favors
In Yoko Ogawa's "The Memory Police," as memories of everyday objects are ripped away from society, one novelist sets out to conceal her editor — a person who cannot forget ...
'The Bells of Old Tokyo': Present-day Tokyo explored through its historical soundscape
Anna Sherman's book, "The Bells of Old Tokyo," unveils a new way to look at Japan's capital: A people-centric examination of its lyrical, historical soundscape and the people that populate its many unique residential neighborhoods.
How Japan's modern literature came under Nietzsche's spell
To truly understand some of 20th-century Japan's most iconic literary works, you have to go back to ancient Greek tragedy and the "Dionysian" philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.
'Mishima: A Vision of the Void': Remembering a literary giant as he would have wanted
Marguerite Yourcenar's literary biography of Yukio Mishima delves into the enigmatic author as well as the social conditions that shaped his rise and fall.
'Beyond the Gender Gap in Japan': A nuanced take on the status of women in Japan
Gill Steel's "Beyond the Gender Gap in Japan" fills in some of the gaps in previous research into the status of women in Japan, including the myriad ways in which they exercise agency in their lives.
'China and Japan': Facing off across the aeons, two giants of East Asia
Ezra Vogel's "China and Japan" is a timely reminder of how public perceptions are shaped by political expediency, how new leaders and propaganda can efface existing goodwill.
'Pink Samurai': Resolving the paradoxes of Japan's appetite for sex
Scholarly in the depth of its research methods and the sheer scope of its coverage, Nicholas Bornoff explores the means and instruments for achieving erotic pleasure in 1991 Japan.
'Waste: Consuming Postwar Japan': Japan's approach to waste is trash
In "Waste: Consuming Postwar Japan," Eiko Maruko Siniawer traces the evolution of Japanese values and aspirations from 1945 to the present through the lense of waste and waste consciousness.
'Night in the American Village': Touching base with the women of Okinawa
Akemi Johnson's "Night in the American Village" is a meticulously researched volume on the intersection of cultures, the divides of power and gender, and on the politics and people behind the overseas American military presence.
'Shadows of Tokyo': Assassinations, nationalism and intrigue in Taisho Era noir
Matthew Legare's "Shadows of Tokyo" portrays the somber zeitgeist of Japan's capital in 1931, where rightist assassins armed with swords, handguns and bombs stalk key political and business figures.
