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November 22, 2024
 

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Martin Laflamme
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 28, 2020
‘Tokyo Before Tokyo’: A guided tour through Tokugawa Ieyasu’s Edo
Timon Screech details how Tokyo, formerly known as Edo, developed from a backwater town to the seat of a warlord and, eventually, Japan's modern capital.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 29, 2020
The books that explain Japan's path to war in the Pacific and its denouement
Ronald H. Spector, S.C.M. Paine and Eri Hotta's texts on Japan's involvement in Asia help to understand the origins of the war.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 27, 2020
'The Art of Persistence': Toshiko Akamatsu and the ghosts she couldn't forget
Artist Toshiko Akamatsu's depiction of the horrors of World War II earned her renown, but it was her earlier work that came back to haunt her.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 20, 2020
‘Agents of World Renewal’: More than you need to know about short-lived deities
If you're curious about “world-renewing” gods, Takashi Miura's “Agents of World Renewal: The Rise of Yonaoshi Gods in Japan” has you covered.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 16, 2020
‘The Tatar Whirlwind’: A regional romp of pirates and princesses
The 17th century provided boundless material for the setting of Ryotaro Shiba's final novel, “The Tatar Whirlwind.”
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 25, 2020
'The Dutch East India Company in Early Modern Japan': Water buffaloes, cassowaries and Arabian horses
From exotic animals to spectacles and chandeliers, Michael Laver's “The Dutch East India Company in Early Modern Japan” shows how well-placed gifts were essential in opening up Japan to early European traders.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN
Feb 22, 2020
'The Japanese Discovery of Chinese Fiction': A literary classic's outsize impact on Japan
In 'The Japanese Discovery of Chinese Fiction,' William C. Helberg delves into Japan's fascination with 'The Water Margin,' and how its influence spread beyond the confines of pure literature.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 3, 2020
The battle of ukiyo-e: Hokusai vs. his pupils
Refusing to be bound by tradition or convention, Hokusai bent rules and sought inspiration from all corners — but how did such audacity influence his own students and followers?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 11, 2020
'Japanese Woodblock Prints': Mass entertainment began with the humble woodblock
'Japanese Woodblock Prints' exhibits classic ukiyo-e artwork in near-original size, allowing readers to examine them in all their splendid detail. Its 200 reproductions embrace the entire history of the genre and also cover the new print movements of the early 20th century.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 18, 2019
Japan's Showa flash flood of photography
The National Gallery of Canada showcases Showa Era (1926-89) photographers, whose documentation and interpretation of politics, culture, social issues and even the quotidian changed the face of modern photography in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 26, 2019
'Studies from Nature': Kitagawa Utamaro's glorious prints
Utamaro is justly remembered as one of the greatest ukiyo-e print designers of the 18th century. The Folio Society's reproduction of his 'Studies from Nature' reminds us why.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN
Sep 28, 2019
Brad Glosserman's 'Peak Japan': Japan on the down and out
'Peak Japan' provides a painstaking overview of the country's social, economic and political trajectory since the 1990s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Sep 7, 2019
'The Barren Zone': A POW's trauma doesn't end at home
Toyoko Yamasaki's 'The Barren Zone' is a chilling portrayal of the harsh realities of being a POW and the social difficulties faced by survivors upon returning to Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 8, 2019
'The Great Successor': The making of Kim Jong Un, North Korea's despot leader
Years of extensive research and interviews make Anna Fifield's biography of Kim Jong Un and others in the Kim dynasty a must-read for those striving to understand North Korea's enigmatic comrade-in-chief.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 8, 2019
In discussion with Anna Fifield, author of 'The Great Successor'
The Washington Post Beijing bureau chief Anna Fifield's new book, 'The Great Successor,' details the life of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN
May 25, 2019
'Maritime Ryukyu' review: Marauders, smugglers and a colorful cast of adventurers
As a fulcrum of exchange, the Ryukyu archipelago was multilingual and multicultural from its earliest days.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 10, 2019
Ohara Koson: Bringing ukiyo-e back to life
Ohara Koson created a large body of ukiyo-e prints that delighted a foreign clientelle, yet garnered relatively little attention in Japan. More than 70 years after his death, he is finally being honored with a retrospective in his native country.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 12, 2019
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, the undisputed master of warrior prints
Utagawa Kuniyoshi was a true son of Edo. Born near Nihonbashi in 1797, his father a dyer, he grew up among the hoi polloi in the crowded streets of the low city, where popular stories of tattooed otokodate, the revered "street knights" of the kabuki stage, were capturing people's imagination. Bluff in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 27, 2018
'Soseki: Modern Japan's Greatest Novelist': A portrait of a brilliant man, neither happy nor endearing
Natsume Soseki, widely viewed as Japan's greatest literary figure, was a complicated man. A new full-length biography by John Nathan, 'Soseki: Modern Japan's Greatest Novelist,' sheds light on the challenging, and often painful, life of this literary giant.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 28, 2018
Old photos illuminate a Japan now 'lost'
In 'Lost Japan,' Rosella Menegazzo brings talented daguerreotype photographer Felice Beato and his previously overlooked photos of daily life in Meiji Era Japan into the foreground.
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.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
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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