'The Journey': Jiro Osaragi depicts a society coming to grips with defeat and occupation
Jiro Osaragi's "The Journey" is an intriguing literary and psychological depiction of a society coming to grips with the aftermath of defeat and occupation.
Strongly autobiographical, 'Death by Water' reflects on Kenzaburo Oe's own oeuvre
Written in dialogue with Oe's own, earlier works on similar subjects "Death by Water" is a careful, multilayered contemplation on the methodology and potential of art itself.
'The Crazy Iris': Unflinching stories inspired by the aftermath of the atomic bomb
Compiled and edited by Kenzaburo Oe, "The Crazy Iris and Other Stories of the Atomic Aftermath" is a multifaceted look at the nightmarish horrors of the atomic bomb.
Kenzaburo Oe's 'Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids' condemns wartime cruelty
Oe's first novel, published in 1958 when he was only 23, tells of a group of school children evacuated to a remote village to escape wartime bombing raids, only to be cut off and abandoned when plague breaks out.
'First Snow on Fuji': Yasunari Kawabata exhibits his mastery of the short story
In "First Snow on Fuji," nine short stories and one dramatic work selected by Kawabata himself highlight this literary master's minimalist prose.
'Suicide Forest' by Jeremy Bates: Creatively creepy and sure to scare
In Jeremy Bates' "Suicide Forest," not everyone will return from a deadly journey through Aokigahara Jukai, the "Sea of Trees" at the foot of Mount Fuji...
Kobo Abe's 'Kangaroo Notebook' is absurdist, surrealist and occasionally exasperating
Is this bizarrely oneiric journey, daikon sprouts and all, really just Kobo Abe's exteriorized exploration of a tortured psyche?
Yukio Mishima's demons are out in full force in 'Runaway Horses'
"Perfect purity is possible," Mishima writes, "if you turn your life into a line of poetry written with a splash of death."
'Of Dogs and Walls': A concentrated hit of Yuko Tsushima
Pick up this small chapbook for a double dose of classic Japanese short fiction from Yuko Tsushima.
Yasunari Kawabata's 'Dandelions' probes the nature of mental illness
Initially published by Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972) in 22 installments between June 1964 and October 1968, and subsequently revised from his notes after his death, "Dandelions" examines the nature of memory.
Kenzaburo Oe's 'Seventeen and J: Two Novels': 1960s Japan on the brink of social revolution
On the cusp of the 1960s sexual revolution and the anti-Vietnam War movement, "Seventeen" and "J" are intriguing primers on the seething social turbulence of the age.
The "Konjaku Monogatari" is one of Japan's oldest collection of stories. Many are supernatural folktales that warn against foxes and demons. All are meant to educate.
