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Excerpt—Koreans at Work
Koreans at Work is part of the “Asians at Work” series written by John Spiri. Inspired by Studs Terkel’s oral history Working: People Talk about What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They...
View ArticleReview—Bullet Train, by Kōtarō Isaka
Translated by Sam Malissa (Harvill Secker, April 2021; Aug. 3, 2021 in US) Review by Renae Lucas-Hall Shenanigans on the Shinkansen Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka is an action-packed thriller with mature...
View ArticleSecrets of Things: Andon Floor Lamp
In this episode of Alex Kerr’s YouTube channel “Secrets of Things,” Kerr introduces the Japanese andon floor lamp, an item you’ll often come across in classic Japanese literature. See previous...
View ArticleReview—Well-Versed: Exploring Modern Japanese Haiku
By Ozawa Minoru, translated by Janine Beichman, photographs by Maeda Shinzō and Akira (Japan Library, 2021) Review by Cody Poulton Ozawa Minoru is a celebrated haiku poet, winner of the 2006 Yomiuri...
View ArticleReview—Grit, Grace and Gold: Haiku Celebrating the Sports of Summer
Books on Asia is live in Japan to kick off the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games! In these unusual times, we offer you an unusual take on a book review, written by Michael Dylan Welch. No more delays,...
View ArticleReview—The Art of Emptiness
By Chad Kohalyk The Art of Emptiness gives the reader insight into one of the most famous lineages of Japanese pottery. Interviewer Watada Susumu starts off with a seeming digression: Kakiemon—the...
View ArticleReview—Kokoro, by Natsume Sōseki
Review by Tina deBellegarde First published in 1914, Natsume Soseki’s timeless classic Kokoro has been graced with three translations. My first exposure to this book was through Edwin McClellan’s...
View ArticleReview—Structures of Kyoto: Writers in Kyoto Anthology 4
Review by Renae Lucas-Hall Judith Clancy and Alex Kerr book-end this remarkable anthology (edited by Rebecca Otowa and Karen Lee Tawarayama), a publication offering incredible insight into the...
View ArticleSecrets of Things—Charcoal Quenching Jar
In this episode of Alex Kerr’s Youtube Channel Secrets of Things, he introduces a Japanese sumikeshi-tsubo (“charcoal quenching jar”). This video takes place at his home “Chiiori” in the Iya Valley of...
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First Book—Can Machines Bring Peace?: Hope in a Post-Apocalyptic Age
“First Book” is a column where we ask first-time authors what inspired them to write their debut book/novel/translation. Books on Asia: What’s your book’s elevator pitch? Floor Kist: The novel is about...
View ArticleReview—On Haiku, by Hiroaki Sato
Review by Robert MacLean For the last five decades, Hiroaki Sato has been an eminent translator of Japanese poetry, translating over three dozen books into English, including a just-published anthology...
View ArticleFirst Book—The Short Story Collective
“First Book” is a column where we ask first-time authors what inspired them to write their debut book, novel or translation. Books on Asia: What’s your book’s “elevator pitch?” Andrew Innes: The Short...
View ArticleReview—Buddhism and Modernity: Sources from Nineteenth-Century Japan
Review by Chad Kohalyk The rapid modernization of Japan after the Meiji Restoration is often expressed in kilometres of railway laid down, or number of telegraph lines strung up. But there was also a...
View ArticleReview—Where the Wild Ladies Are
Review by Tina deBellegarde In Where the Wild Ladies Are (translated by Polly Barton) author Aoko Matsuda serves up eerie but uplifting feminist ghost stories. Each narrative has an original rakugo...
View ArticleExcerpt—The Wedding Party, by Liu Xinwu
An Excerpt from The Wedding Party, by Liu Xinwu, translated by Jeremy Tiang (Amazon Crossing, Nov 16, 2021) To many adults, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution feels like it happened just...
View ArticleReview—Heaven, by Mieko Kawakami
Review by Tina DeBellegarde Heaven by Mieko Kawakami (translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd) is a heartbreaking, yet uplifting story of two outcasts who find and protect each other through a horrible...
View ArticleReview—Places, by Setouchi Jakuchō
Review by Chad Kohalyk Setouchi Jakuchō—energetic nun, outspoken activist, and prolific author—passed away last month at the age of 99. Spending nearly half her life as a Buddhist nun of the Tendai...
View ArticleReview—Kanazawa by David Joiner
Review by Tina deBellegarde In Kanazawa, David Joiner delivers a slow-burning family drama reminiscent of a film by Yasujirō Ozu or Hirokazu Koreeda. This is a modern tale that, like its protagonist,...
View ArticleReview—The Widow, The Priest and The Octopus Hunter
The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island Review by Tina deBellegarde With The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter, Amy Chavez has...
View ArticleReview—Spirit of Shizen: Japan’s Nature Through its 72 Seasons
Review by Tina deBellegarde Spirit of Shizen: Japan’s nature through its 72 seasons, edited by Robert Weis, is a profound and sensitive collection which captures the impermanence and wonder of the...
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