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January 20, 2025
 

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ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES

Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Mar 31, 2018
'The Bridge Over the River Kwai' explores the cultural pride and folly of the Asia-Pacific War
A war between nations is innately a clash of cultures. Pierre Boulle's best-selling novel "The Bridge Over the River Kwai," first published in English in 1954 and made into a movie by David Lean, mixes military fiction with the cultural pride and folly of the Asia-Pacific War. It is a lean, jumpy book,...
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Mar 24, 2018
'Quicksand': A racy transition from old Tanizaki to new
A young lady from Osaka begins to attend an art class and, while painting a picture of the Kannon (the goddess of mercy), substitutes the head for that of a beguiling student. Soon, she is drawn into a complex web of lesbian passion, pitted against the social norms of marriage in a deadly game that will...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Mar 17, 2018
In 'The Rape of Nanking' Iris Chang deconstructs the horrors of war
Iris Chang's groundbreaking work, "The Rape of Nanking" is widely credited with publicizing the World War II atrocity that many in Japan continue to deny or belittle as exaggeration. Graphically observant to multiple atrocities, it is not a book for the faint-hearted. Despite this, it is immensely readable....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jan 6, 2018
In 'The Tokyo-Montana Express,' Richard Brautigan sees Japan with a fresh eye
There is a magical realism to the first steps in a new country. Some of the finest prose to convey this enchantment is Richard Brautigan's short story collection "The Tokyo-Montana Express," first published by Delacorte Press/Seymor Lawrence in 1980. Like stations on a fantasy railroad, the vignettes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Dec 30, 2017
'Strong in the Rain': Poetry from the heart and mind by Kenji Miyazawa
'Strong in the Rain," a classic Japanese poetry collection from Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1921), beautifully reveals much about both nature and humanity.
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Dec 23, 2017
'The Confessions of Lady Nijo': a memoir of timeless depth and beauty
In 1940, a scholar was going through the holdings of the Imperial Household when a manuscript in the geography section caught his eye. Seeing it titled "Towazugatari," meaning "Unrequested Tale," he took it home to inspect it more closely. It soon became clear that the work was not a treatise on geography...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Dec 16, 2017
'Child of Fortune': Yuko Tsushima's prize-winning and feminist novel on womanhood
Yuko Tsushima's "Child of Fortune," winner of the 1978 Women's Literature Prize in Japan, is a classic novel as relevant today as when it was published nearly 40 years ago. Called an "archaeologist of the female psyche," Tsushima wrote a stream-of-consciousness narrative that follows the mental revelations...
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Dec 9, 2017
'Secret Rendezvous' reveals primeval urge for knowledge and sexual satisfaction
"Secret Rendezvous" opens with an ambulance in the dead of night: The narrator's wife is taken to an underground hospital from which she vanishes. The connections to Franz Kafka's "The Trial" in the absurdist, comical and sinister world of Kobo Abe are unmissable, but Abe characteristically takes his...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Dec 2, 2017
'A Brief History of Japan': Jonathan Clements guides readers from ancient lore to otaku obsessions
Ask any Japanese high school student which is their most difficult subject, and chances are they'll answer Japanese History — a consequence of the endless litany of dates, names and battles they need to memorize. Pity then, that they don't use this little book in class, because it manages to make thousands...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Nov 25, 2017
'The Paper Door and Other Stories': Naoya Shiga's rollercoaster ride of human emotions
Considered a master of the Japanese short story, Naoya Shiga's "The Paper Door and Other Stories" truly impresses. Seventeen stories explore a vast range of human emotions, from fever-induced insanity in "The Razor" to the analytical musings of a circus performer whose stunt has just gone horribly wrong...
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Nov 18, 2017
'The Broken Commandment': Toson Shimazaki's humanist bildungsroman of a 'burakumin'
A classic from 1906, Toson Shimazaki's "The Broken Commandment" follows the ideological struggles of a young teacher, Ushimatsu Segawa.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Nov 11, 2017
'Hiroshima Notes': Kenzaburo Oe on Hiroshima and the U.S. Occupation
In 1963, 28-year-old novelist and rising star Kenzaburo Oe was sent to Hiroshima to report on the rancorous split between political groups calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Nov 4, 2017
'Blue Bamboo: Japanese Tales of Fantasy': Between the fantasy and reality of Osamu Dazai
Osamu Dazai packs wry humor and warm humanity into seven short stories, as his collection, "Blue Bamboo," inventively blurs the line between fantasy and reality.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Oct 28, 2017
'Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice': Learning the art of zazen meditation
Good books on Zen urge you to put them down and start meditating, but the best ones make you actually want to.
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Oct 21, 2017
'A Brief History of the Samurai': offers thrilling take on Japan's ancient warrior class
On reading Jonathan Clements’ brief history of the samurai, first published in 2010, you can’t help but see parallels with the recent blockbuster television series “Game of Thrones.”
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Oct 14, 2017
'A Hundred Years of Japanese Film': Donald Richie gives us the long shot
Donald Richie didn't just open a window on Japanese cinema — the renowned film critic broke down a wall and put in a cultural door.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Oct 7, 2017
'Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan': Donald Keene's memoir is not to be missed
For insight into the heart of Japan, pick up Donald Keene's memoir, "Chronicles of My Life."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Sep 30, 2017
'The Making of Urban Japan': The best introduction to Japanese urban planning in English
In "The Making of Urban Japan," professor Andre Sorensen explains the genesis of modern Japanese cities, from bustling stations to intimate alleyways. Published in 2002, while he was a lecturer at the University of Tokyo, it remains the best introduction to Japanese urban planning in English.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Sep 23, 2017
'One Piece': Manga still popular, influential after two decades
Eiichiro Oda's long-running contemporary manga "One Piece" is the undisputed king of Japanese pop culture today.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Sep 16, 2017
'The Book of Five Rings': The text that showed many a Japanophile 'the way'
Legendary 17th-century swordsman Miyamoto Musashi authored this book in the last years of his life, expanding his 'two heavens as one' double-sword strategies into a complete life philosophy.
Chinese buyer of Okinawa island to make visit in summer
Yanaha Island in Okinawa Prefecture as seen from a ferry.
More bird flu cases found in Japan; 1.44 million birds to be culled
Officials with the agriculture ministry hold a news conference in Nagoya on Friday following an outbreak of avian influenza in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, earlier this month.
Top sumo pros to enter the ring in Paris in June 2026
Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku (right) alongside David Rothschild, the promoter of an upcoming tournament in Paris, on Sunday in Tokyo
Amid rising world hunger, a Japan-inspired group in Kenya is making a big impact
Wawira Njiru, the founder of Food4Education, serves food during the opening of a new kitchen in Mombasa County, Kenya, in 2022. The organization started in 2012 by feeding 25 children out of a single kitchen. Now it feeds nearly half a million every day.
LDP heavyweight Moriyama boosting profile within party
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama speaks to reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday.
Amid rising world hunger, a Japan-inspired group in Kenya is making a big impact
Wawira Njiru, the founder of Food4Education, serves food during the opening of a new kitchen in Mombasa County, Kenya, in 2022. The organization started in 2012 by feeding 25 children out of a single kitchen. Now it feeds nearly half a million every day.
From Tokyo to Manhattan, Takuma Watanabe stirs up a stiff drink
It's taken Takuma Watanabe little time to establish himself as one of New York's hottest bartenders.
For tourists in search of seasonal sights, Yamagata makes its case
For some time away from Tokyo's suffocating urban sameness, Yamagata Prefecture is home to a soothing array of natural abundance.
A slow dive into ‘a moment and an eternity’ with Ryuichi Sakamoto
From the mid-2000s onward, Ryuichi Sakamoto created a number of installation works, often in collaboration with Shiro Takatani, of multimedia art collective Dumb Type.
The efforts to bridge the disaster information gap, 30 years on
Roxana Oshiro and her husband gather their belongings in front of their house in Furukawacho, in Kobe's Suma Ward, after the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go
By Kazuaki Nagata and Richard Meyer

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