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November 21, 2024
 

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CULTURE

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For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
CULTURE / Books
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
“The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” newly translated into English, is an explicit rerun of the author’s older works with an alternate ending.
CULTURE / Books
Brutal beauty worth saving from the wrecking ball
Paul Tulett advocates for preserving concrete Brutalist architecture in his new book “Brutalist Japan.”
CULTURE / Books
The sentimental gastronomies of ‘Taiwan Travelogue’
Yang Shuang-zi’s layered tale of female companionship takes readers on an epicurean frolic through Taiwan's colonial era.
Izumi Suzuki’s autobiographical novel “Set My Heart on Fire” is the first novel by the author and actor to appear in English.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 12, 2024
‘Set My Heart on Fire’: Izumi Suzuki captures the heady cravings of youth
By Thu-Huong Ha
The cult writer’s autobiographical novel follows its unapologetic groupie narrator as she romps through Yokohama’s underground music scene in the 1970s.
Suzumi Suzuki’s “Gifted,” translated by Allison Markin Powell, centers on a hostess working in Kabukicho. Rather than focusing on the protagonist’s occupation, the story plunges the reader into her strained relationship with her dying mother.  
CULTURE / Books
Nov 3, 2024
A nuanced glimpse into the cloistered world of Kabukicho
By Kris Kosaka
Drawing on her own experience working in adult entertainment, Suzumi Suzuki crafts a fresh, visceral work for her debut novel, "Gifted"
In recent years, anglophone publishers have perked up to the potential of “healing fiction,” driven by a healthy appetite for East Asian literature. Japan figures prominently in this literary landscape, and a fondness for felines in the "iyashikei" (healing type) genre has proven commercially viable abroad.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 2, 2024
Cat companions and the 'healing fiction' boom
By Mike Fu
Japan's "iyashikei" (healing type) cultural products are gaining audiences, and non-Japanese readers are craving cozy feline literature in translation.
“The Secret Lives of Numbers” co-author Kate Kitagawa discovered the power of storytelling as a research assistant for a professor in Japanese history. Since then, Kitagawa has been dedicated to using storytelling to show that humans are able to unlock the greater secrets of the universe through collaboration, not competition.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 21, 2024
'The Secret Lives of Numbers' reveals the unsung figures of mathematics
By Kris Kosaka
The book’s core message of creative collaboration leading to great discoveries is the brainchild of co-author Kate Kitagawa, a leading expert on the history of math.
Sanzo K. Matsunaga’s Akutagawa Prize-winning novel “Bari Sanko” centers on two men involved in an office hiking club. One is into dangerous off-path trekking, the other is more of a by-the-book conformist.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 19, 2024
Akutagawa winner ‘Bari Sanko’ takes office politics to the mountains
By Thu-Huong Ha
Though the plot takes time to get going, Sanzo K. Matsunaga’s novel takes a nuanced look at the implications of being an independent thinker in Japan’s corporate culture.
South Korean author Han Kang, the winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, attends a press conference, in Seoul in November.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 11, 2024
Han Kang’s Nobel win underscores essential role of translators as literary tastemakers
By Mike Fu
The trailblazing South Korean author was virtually unknown in the West just 10 years ago — then came Deborah Smith’s translation of "The Vegetarian."
Han Kang is the first South Korean author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 10, 2024
South Korean author Han Kang wins Nobel Prize in literature
By Thu-Huong Ha
Han is the first Asian woman and the first writer from South Korea to receive the award.

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.
China may soon resume visa exemptions for Japanese nationals, reports say
A view inside Beijing Daxing International Airport. Japanese nationals could soon visit China without a visa for up to 15 days, according to reports.
Why Yamanashi gave up building a light-rail system on Mount Fuji
A rubber-tired tram system, tentatively called the “Fuji Tram,” would run along magnetic markers, reducing environmental damage, according to the Yamanashi Prefectural Government.
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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono
The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

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