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July 27, 2024
 

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Iain Maloney
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
May 16, 2015
MacArthur's JapaneseConstitution
The Constitution is one of the more controversial documents of our age. Some want it rewritten, some hold it as an inviolable sacred text. Article 9 — the article renouncing war — has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants it abolished. Yet for all the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
May 9, 2015
'The Last Shogun' is a rare translation of Ryotaro Shiba's historical fiction
Ryotaro Shiba was one of Japan's most popular writers of historical fiction, described in Frank Gibney's introduction to "The Last Shogun" as "Japan's national writer ... his name on a book virtually guarantees a wide readership."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 9, 2015
Legendary translator Jay Rubin's novel 'The Sun Gods' evokes horror of internment camps
Set between 1939 and 1963, "The Sun Gods" tells the story of Tom Morton, a Seattle pastor and widower, who falls in love with Japanese immigrant Mitsuko Fukai. They marry but their happiness is soon shattered by the attack on Pearl Harbor and Tom's reaction to it. Years later, his son Bill attempts to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Apr 25, 2015
Banana Yoshimoto's magical realist rumination on life and death
Amrita, a Sanskrit word that literally means "immortality," is the name of Banana Yoshimoto's strange 1994 novel. It's an essentially plotless tale, but deeply affecting in its blend of ennui and hope.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Apr 11, 2015
'Salad Anniversary' comes dripping with honesty
My entry to Japanese poetry was, I suspect, similar to most. It began with Matsuo Basho; anthologies by R. H. Blyth and Kenneth Rexroth; haiku by Edo Period (1603-1868) monks; and tanka by Heian Period (794-1185 ) noblewomen.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 11, 2015
'The Japan-South Korea Identity Clash' reveals a minefield of political opportunism
The relationship between Japan and South Korea is a minefield of historical wrongs and political opportunism.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Apr 4, 2015
Mishima's weakling in a world of military machismo in 'Confessions of a Mask'
'Confessions of a Mask' is Yukio Mishima's second novel, published in 1949.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 28, 2015
The messy, lonesome worlds of Risa Wataya
In 2003, two young female authors won the Akutagawa Prize — arguably the most important literary prize in Japan. One winner was 21-year-old Hitomi Kanehara for her novel "Snakes and Earrings" ("Hebi ni Piasu"); the other was Risa Wataya, who was only 19 at the time — the youngest winner of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Mar 14, 2015
A Personal Matter
In the 1960s, Kenzaburo Oe began regularly writing about a character based on his autistic son, Hikari.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Mar 7, 2015
An Artist of the Floating World
Released in 1986, this relatively short novel is dense with ideas and possibilities. Set in Japan in the late 1940s, the story is narrated by Masuji Ono, a celebrated painter who once created propaganda for the Imperial Army. He now finds himself labeled a traitor by the younger generation, a reputation...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 7, 2015
The Buried Giant
Kazuo Ishiguro's latest novel, "The Buried Giant," is his best book to date. It's a masterpiece of refined storytelling shot through with deep empathy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 28, 2015
War and National Reinvention
Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, a conflict which many of Asia's current foreign policy headaches grew out of. It's strange then that the role East Asia played in the Great War has often been overlooked by commentators. In that context, Frederick R. Dickinson's "War...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 21, 2015
An embattled Japan engages a hostile world
It has been an eventful year for Japan since David Pilling's "Bending Adversity" was published to critical acclaim. For many, including its reviewer in The Japan Times, the book was considered one of the year's — if not the decade's — best books about Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 14, 2015
Manchu Princess, Japanese Spy: The Story of Kawashima Yoshiko, the Cross-Dressing Spy Who Commanded Her Own Army
Yoshiko Kawashima's life has been the subject of novels, soap operas and movies since the 1920s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 7, 2015
Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear: Russia's War with Japan
Richard Connaughton's "Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear" is a detailed study of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, the first war where an Asian power defeated a European power since the Mongol invasion of the 13th century.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jan 10, 2015
Life of a Counterfeiter
Yasushi Inoue's "Life of a Counterfeiter," translated by Michael Emmerich, contains three stories: the eponymous novella and two shorter pieces, "Reeds" and "Mr Goodall's Gloves."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Dec 13, 2014
Deep River
In "Deep River" a group of elderly Japanese tourists and a couple join a tour of holy Buddhist sites in India. Motivated by different forms of grief and guilt, each is searching for healing. The narrative involves four main characters: Isobe, recently widowed, Kiguchi, a war veteran haunted by memories...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 13, 2014
Night Boat
"Night Boat" is Alan Spence's second novel set in Japan, but his first to deal entirely with Japanese characters and situations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 29, 2014
Crafting words with Osamu Dazai's translator
Two of the most successful Japanese novels of the past few years that have been translated into English are Hiromi Kawakami's "The Briefcase" and Fuminori Nakamura's "Last Winter, We Parted." Both were translated by Allison Markin Powell, a literary translator and editor based in New York.
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...
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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