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April 27, 2024
 

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FICTION

Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 26, 2023
Jim Rion casts a keen eye on the spirit of Yamaguchi
Author, translator and certified sake professional Jim Rion puts people at the heart of sake production in his nonfiction debut, 'Discovering Yamaguchi Sake.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 1, 2021
'Kiba: The Fangs of Fiction' shows the gory details of modern-day publishing
Director Daihachi Yoshida brings a sympathetic lens to an industry in trouble in his film “Kiba: The Fangs of Fiction.”
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 25, 2021
‘Kiba: The Fangs of Fiction’: The politics of publishing can deliver a real bite
Warring editors of middling magazines go to battle over writers and readership in Daihachi Yoshida's intriguing drama about the publishing world.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 21, 2020
Ken Mogi: Brain science and other thoughts
Ken Mogi talks about the significance of studying the brain and how he likes to use his.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2019
Japan shelves bill on stricter copyright control after academics, manga artists and fans air concerns
The government on Wednesday decided not to submit to the Diet a bill that would make it illegal to download literary materials without the permission of copyright holders.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN
Jan 12, 2019
'Friendship for Grown-Ups' evokes the ambiguity of everyday life
Keshiki is a chapbook series published by Strangers Press designed to showcase some of the most exciting writers working in Japan today. "Friendship for Grown-Ups" by Nao-Cola Yamazaki is the second book in the series. The recipient of five Akutagawa Prize nominations, Yamazaki's skill in evoking the ambiguity of contemporary life is exhibited by the three short stories that make up the publication.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN
Sep 22, 2018
There's a story for every taste in 'Speculative Japan 4'
'Speculative Japan 4' is the latest in Kumamoto-based Kurodahan Press' mission to bring the best of Japanese science fiction and fantasy to the English-speaking world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 2, 2017
Eli K. P. William's dystopian 'The Naked World' is not a tale for technophobes
It's been a banner year for science-fiction films. In October, cinema fans flocked to see Harrison Ford in "Blade Runner 2049." And "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," featuring Mark Hamill and the late Carrie Fisher, premiers in the U.S. on Dec. 15.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Mar 4, 2017
Sawako Ariyoshi's 'The River Ki' explores characters who swim against life's current
When we read Japanese history it's easy to forget that the revolutionary changes that washed through the country from the 19th century into the 20th all took place within a single human life span.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 25, 2017
'A Dark Night's Passing': Naoya Shiga sounds the depths of rootlessness
It takes a brave writer to make their main character as unlikeable as Kensaku Tokito. It is even more startling because Naoya Shiga was consciously writing within the 'I' novel tradition, where the author deliberately draws on their life story for source material.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 8, 2016
The topic of AI always raises HAL and more
An astronaut in deep space finishes up some repairs to the parabolic antenna on his spacecraft's exterior. Through his helmet's microphone, he commands the ship's controlling supercomputer, HAL 9000, "Open the pod bay doors, HAL." A second later he gets a calm, cold response in his helmet: "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 5, 2015
Hanzai Japan
Hackneyed writing and plot devices grow like kabi (mold) in crime fiction, but this anthology of 16 stories by writers in and outside Japan serves up tasty surprises. "Jigoku" by Naomi Hirahara is a heartfelt, surefooted tale by a serial killer confined to a cardboard-box in hell. Carrie Vaughn's "The Girl Who Loved Shonen Knife" is a breathless, manga-esque escapade about a schoolgirl who'll stop at nothing to win a battle of the bands contest. And Yumeaki Hirayama's "Monologue of a Universal Transverse Mercator Projection" overcomes its clunky title with an animistic tale of grisly slayings — narrated by none other than an atlas of Tokyo. There's more guts and gore than a Japanese whaling research vessel here — some of it ridiculously gratuitous, as in "The Saitama Chain Saw Massacre" by Japanese science-fiction heavyweight Hiroshi Sakurazaka, author of "All You Need is Kill."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 11, 2015
Steve Spencer Baker: 'No one in their right mind gets on a frantic elevator'
Freelance company director on science fiction, social media and early incarnations of Simply Red
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2015
'Selma' and the biopic perversion of history
The Ava DuVernay-directed film 'Selma' is at the center of controversy due to its semi-snubbing by the Oscars and correct observations that it plays loose with history.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 15, 2014
Holiday gifts they'll cherish from cover to cover
As the holiday season rolls around, it's time to dash about in a mad panic in search of gifts that say "I've given this one some thought, honest." Or you can just let us do the thinking for you, with gift suggestions from our regular book reviewers — tailor-made for the Japanophile reader.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 8, 2014
Phantasm Japan
In simple terms, "Phantasm Japan" is a fantasy anthology on the theme of "light and dark, from and about Japan."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 1, 2014
Fuminori writes noir, but not as we know it
Fuminori Nakamura has won many of the major literary prizes in Japan and is quickly making the same kind of impact in the English-speaking world. His third novel to be translated into English, "Last Winter, We Parted," is out now. It's a tense, layered story centered around a young writer commissioned by his editor to write about photographer Yudai Kiharazaka, in prison for murdering two women.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 1, 2014
Malice
"The incident took place on April 16, 1996, a Tuesday." This meditative, clever novel from the author of 2011's "The Devotion of Suspect X" begins with a journal entry by Osamu Nonoguchi, a children's author who happens upon the body of his friend and fellow writer, Kunihiko Hidaka, facedown in his office.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Oct 25, 2014
No Longer Human
Osamu Dazai's "No Longer Human" comprises a series of three fictionalized notebooks, with each increasingly darker than the last. The character writing these books, Yozo, is detached from the beginning and is afraid of human interactions, but he learns how to socialize with people by playing the clown and entertaining his way into favor from a young age. Yet his alienation remains, despite how he may appear from the outside.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 25, 2014
Perfidia
This sprawling period piece from the prolific author of such works as "L.A. Confidential" and "The Black Dalia" takes place in Los Angeles and environs between Dec. 5 and 29, 1941. Central to the plot are the enigmatic slayings of a Japanese family of four in the suburb of Highland Park on the eve of Pearl Harbor. Was it political, racial or commercial motives that led to their murders?
New JAL chief concerned about yen’s ‘excessive’ weakness
Mitsuko Tottori became Japan Airlines’ first female CEO on April 1, having risen through the ranks as a flight attendant and heading the flight attendant and customer experience divisions.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Yen inches closer to intervention point as BOJ meeting starts
The rate of the yen against the U.S. dollar is displayed in the trading room at foreign exchange brokerage Gaitame.com in Tokyo on Thursday.
Princess Aiko makes debut at imperial garden party
Princess Aiko attends an imperial garden party in Tokyo on Tuesday.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
Kyotographie's strong 12th edition shines light into the margins
Yassine Alaoui Ismaili, who goes by Yoriyas, turned to photography, shooting motion while in motion himself, after an injury forced him to give up his career as a professional breakdancer.
For amateur sumo, a fresh start offers hope against time-wasting and gamesmanship
Wrestlers prepare for the start of a bout at the 2023 Sumo World Championships in Tokyo. Starting this month, placing one hand on the clay first is no longer allowed.
LDP veteran Nikai's youngest son expected to succeed him in Wakayama
Toshihiro Nikai, former secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, announced in March that he would not run in the next Lower House election to take responsibility for the political funds scandal that rocked his party and his own faction.
New workers name Shohei Ohtani as 'dream boss' for two years running
Shohei Ohtani has been overwhelmingly voted as the “dream boss” for people who started working in April, according to a survey.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Leading Japan’s sustainability from Tokyo
Leading Japan’s sustainability from Tokyo

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