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November 22, 2024
 

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Damian Flanagan
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Mar 9, 2019
Kafu Nagai's 'Geisha in Rivalry' abounds with scheming, manipulation and, yes, sex
Although this edition of 'Geisha in Rivalry' is a translation of a censored version of the more racy original, it represents Nagai's rediscovery of the fast-disappearing traditional culture of Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 23, 2019
Meet one of Japan's greatest modern philosophers in 'Nishida Kitaro: The Man and His Thought'
First published in Japanese in 1985, 'Nishida Kitaro: The Man and His Thought' brings together diverse essays about both Nishida and his philosophy of 'absolute nothingness' written by his former pupil Keiji Nishitani (1900-90).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 16, 2019
'Japan Story': History enlivened at every turn with flashes of wit
Christopher Harding's comprehensive 'Japan Story' is an ultra-progressive account of modern Japanese history, ushering the often-ignored maverick women, socialist thinkers and doubters of the state version of modernity to the front.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 9, 2019
'Philosophers of Nothingness': Philosophy built on quietly gripping human dramas
Heisig's 'Philosophers of Nothingness' introduces the Kyoto School's three main philosophers: Kitaro Nishida, Hajime Tanabe and Keiji Nishitani.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 2, 2019
How Japan unleashed Lu Xun's ferocious literary passion
Although he was poised to be a doctor, Lu Xun, the most celebrated of all modern Chinese authors, abandoned medicine for something he felt would truly enlighten and modernize his nation: literature.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jan 26, 2019
With deft portraits and prescient predictions, Lafcadio Hearn's 'Kokoro' offers snapshots of early modern Japan
'Kokoro,' a collection of essays published in 1896 by the prolific Anglo-Irish author Lafcadio Hearn, teems with a diverse panorama of observations from a country swelling with national pride.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 15, 2018
Spreading the word of the philosophers of nothingness
The Kyoto School of philosophy — which offers stimulating ideas, a distinctive critique of Western philosophy and applies a Western methodology to Japanese thought — represents Japan's greatest contribution to world philosophy in the 20th century.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Dec 8, 2018
Kobo Abe's 'The Ark Sakura': A surreal narrative worth reading twice
'The Ark Sakura,' Kobo Abe's puzzling, dream-like narrative about an obese recluse living in a vast underground bunker, is a dense interlacing of punning wordplay, psychological excavation and surreal imagery.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 24, 2018
'The Frolic of the Beasts': A Mishima classic, roused from its long hibernation
Andrew Clare has published an impressive array of translations of novels by Japanese authors, all while putting in long hours at the corporate coalface. Now, Clare is launching his translation — the first in English — of a classic, but little-known, Yukio Mishima novel, 'The Frolic of the Beasts.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 10, 2018
A journey to hell with Osamu Dazai, Japan's ultimate bad boy novelist
Dazai is the ultimate bad boy of Japanese literature and 'Ningen Shikkaku,' recently re-translated by Mark Gibeau as 'A Shameful Life,' is his supreme masterpiece, a novel that still shocks today with its brutal honesty and unflinching, strangely thrilling pessimism.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Nov 10, 2018
Rational analysis and mystic poetry combine in Kenzaburo Oe's 'Rouse Up O Young Men'
Through the poetry of William Blake, Kenzaburo Oe takes a new approach to probing the emotional consequences of his father's death, and parenting a severely disabled son.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Oct 13, 2018
Kenzaburo Oe's 'Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness': Reflections on father-son relationships
In Oe's 'Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness,' the lifelong sense of obsession and profound sense of guilt engendered within his own familial history finds acute literary expression.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Sep 8, 2018
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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Aug 25, 2018
'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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Aug 11, 2018
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.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 10, 2018
Taking the path once trodden by Ian Fleming and James Bond
In 1962, Ian Fleming, the author of James Bond, visited Japan. His journey here, and the characters he met, would go on to inspire 007's adventures in 'You Only Live Twice.' But in 2018, how possible is it to retrace the author's footsteps across Japan?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN
Jul 28, 2018
'On the Bullet Train with Emily Bronte' delves into Japan's fascination with an English classic
Both Japan and Judith Pascoe are passionate about 'Wuthering Heights.' In 'On the Bullet Train with Emily Bronte' Pascoe blends personal self-discovery with academic analysis to investigate the cross-cultural translation and adaptation of a literary classic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jun 9, 2018
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?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 26, 2018
Twenty-five years on, Alan Booth's voice is brought back to life
'This Great Stage of Fools' offers a collection of Alan Booth's uncollected journalism and writings between 1979 and his untimely death in 1993. Booth is be considered one of the greatest writers on Japan of his generation.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
May 23, 2018
Zen and the art of Premier League dominance: Buddhist philosophy links Manchester United, Arsenal and Japan
Can the success of Alex Ferguson's 'kids' and Arsene Wenger's 'Invincibles' be linked to Buddhist philosophy? It's worth a try.
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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