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July 27, 2024
 

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Iain Maloney
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN
May 19, 2018
Hideo Yokoyama's 'Seventeen': A plane crash, a newsroom, an all-engrossing thriller
Based on the author's own experiences as an investigative reporter at a local paper in Gunma Prefecture, 'Seventeen' uses the 1985 crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 as the catalyst for a gripping newsroom drama.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN
Apr 14, 2018
'Sweet Bean Paste' offers an original take on the odd couple genre
Durian Sukegawa's novel is an original twist on the 'odd couple' genre, in which two unlikely companions find they have much to offer each other, and retains much of the humor that genre entails.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 31, 2018
'Ms Ice Sandwich': Lonely and obsessive, a boy comes of age
Despite being prominent in Japan as an Akutagawa Prize-winning writer and singer-songwriter, "Ms Ice Sandwich" is Mieko Kawakami's first book to be translated into English.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 17, 2018
'Tokyo Poetry Journal' is back, this time exploring the beats
The fifth issue of the Tokyo Poetry Journal (ToPoJo) shows it has the scope of ambition and the depth of talent to become a lasting landmark in Japan's English-language poetry scene. This issue focuses on the way in which U.S. beat poets such as Ginsberg, Snyder, and Rexroth were influenced by Japan...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 25, 2017
Ensuring women are not lost in translation
The literary arts are mainly solitary activities. Wordsmiths are, however, social animals and — the odd Pynchon aside — seek out the company of the rest of the species.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 4, 2017
'Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life': Does happiness lie in your purpose in life?
Ikigai is the idea that having a purpose in your life is key to happiness. Curious whether ikigai and longevity have a causal connection, software engineer Hector Garcia and writer/translator Francesc Miralles set out to interview the residents of Ogimi, Okinawa, the so-called Village of Longevity. Their...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 30, 2017
'Sonic Peace': Troubling poetry about the modern world
“Sonic Peace,” which won the Chuya Nakahara Prize in 2006, is in the classic “artist-versus-modernity” vein. It rings with contemporary loneliness, solitary figures awake in the night and vending machines glowing in the gloom. Many of the voices are personified electronic devices, our phones...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 26, 2017
'The Part of Me That Isn't Broken Inside': A hard look at the dark in the human psyche
Ennui and existential loneliness have become synonymous with contemporary Japanese literature, and those sentiments receive one of their most direct treatments in this newly translated novel from 2002. "The Part of Me That Isn't Broken Inside" is as unrelentingly bleak as its title suggests.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 29, 2017
'The Boy in the Earth': A short, sharp shock of a novella
"The Boy in the Earth" was Fuminori Nakamura's fifth book and it won him the Akutagawa Prize in 2005. It's a short sharp shock of a novella and Allison Markin Powell's powerful recent translation finally brings its creeping dread alive for English readers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jul 22, 2017
'Building Japan, 1868-1876': Reflections from the father of Japan's modern public works
Richard Henry Brunton was a Scottish engineer who came to Japan in 1868, one of a number of o-yatoi-gaikokujin — foreigners hired to help Japan modernize at the beginning of the Meiji Era (1868-1912). This book is his memoir, the story of the eight years he spent living in Yokohama and traveling...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 15, 2017
'A Tokyo Anthology: Literature from Japan's Modern Metropolis, 1850-1920': Collection sheds light on corners of the Meiji Era
"A Tokyo Anthology" is the latest in a series of books that aims to introduce Japanese literature to readers within the context of history and cultural developments. "An Edo Anthology" came out in 2013 and covers the century from 1750. "A Kamigata Anthology" is on its way, taking the story back to 1600....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 15, 2017
'The Diplomat's Daughter': Exploring the experience of WWII internees with fiction
Karin Tanabe's fourth novel explores the experience of Japanese and German internees in the U.S. during World War II, set against the experience of foreign detainees in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jul 1, 2017
'A Diplomat in Japan': Eyewitness accounts of the birth of a modern nation
The "Great Man" theory of history has largely been discredited. Propounded by Thomas Carlyle in the 1840s, it suggests that history is moved and swayed by the personalities of "great men" such as Alexander the Great and Napoleon. While there are clearly examples throughout history of men and women who...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 1, 2017
'The Nakano Thrift Shop': Hiromi Kawakami furthers her exploration of form and style
Hiromi Kawakami is fast becoming the go-to novelist for publishers looking to expand their Japanese list, slipping effortlessly into the "quirky" space once occupied by Banana Yoshimoto. "The Nakano Thrift Shop" is exactly what readers have come to expect from her: eccentric character excavations that...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 10, 2017
'Spring Garden': A masterful look at loneliness and malaise in Tokyo
The civic story of Japan from the dawn of the 20th century to the present is one of migration from the countryside to the city.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 10, 2017
'Slow Boat': Hideo Furukawa beats Haruki Murakami at his own game
Comparing a Japanese writer with Haruki Murakami is the laziest move a reviewer can make, but with "Slow Boat," Hideo Furukawa leaves critics no choice.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jun 3, 2017
'Nagasaki: The British Experience, 1854-1945': Loving portrait of a storied city
Nagasaki is something of an outlier in Japanese history. While the country closed itself off from external influence between the 1630s and 1853, this western port remained partially exempt, a crack through which people, ideas and products could pass. Today, the city retains its cosmopolitan attitude...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
May 27, 2017
'The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan': Is it fair to compare wartime experiences?
Despite regular, if sometimes half-hearted apologies, China and South Korea have repeatedly accused Japan of being unrepentant and insincere in its attitude to World War II. The nation's acceptance of defeat and acknowledgment or denial of guilt is most often compared with that of Germany.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
May 20, 2017
'100 Poems from the Japanese": A classic collection
Kenneth Rexroth was heavily influenced by the moods and modes of Japanese poetry, which in turn reached those who were influenced by him. Named by Time Magazine as the “father of the Beats” and a friend of that other great Japanophile poet, Gary Snyder, Rexroth famously passed off his own poems “in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 20, 2017
'Japanese Garden Notes': An informative photo book
...
Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
Ahead of the Olympics, Japan is still talking about the gymnast who won't be there
Japan's Shoko Miyata withdrew from the gymnastics team herself over her drinking and smoking, although it had already appeared as though the association was prepared to send her home from the team’s training camp in Monaco.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
One dead, three missing as heavy rain batters Tohoku
Camera footage shows the Mogami River bursting its banks in Tozawa, Yamagata Prefecture, on Friday morning.
Brazil issues apology for persecuting Japan immigrants during WWII
Enea Almeida (right), chair of the Brazilian amnesty commission, shakes hands with the representative for Japanese immigrants on Thursday in Brasilia.
When did summer in Japan stop being fun?
Summer in Japan is now consistently brutal enough to drive you indoors and keep you there until autumn.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
Japan loses top spot on strongest passport list to Singapore
Japan had the strongest passport for six years running from 2018, before being dethroned by Singapore on the 2024 list.
Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japan eyes gold — and the future — as Olympic men's soccer campaign begins
Japan midfielder Yu Hirakawa controls the ball during a match against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.

Podcast

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

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals
By Alex K.T. Martin

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