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July 16, 2024
 

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THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 30, 2005
A war of obstinacy and misery
BURMA: The Forgotten War, by Jon Latimer. London: John Murray: 2005. 610 pp., £9.99 (paper). The ambitions and fanaticism of officers all too often imperil the men they lead into battle. The story of Imperial Japan's invasion and occupation of colonial Burma in World War II reveals just how many...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 30, 2005
The freedom found in anominity
A MAN WITH NO TALENTS: Memoirs of a Tokyo Day Laborer, by Shiro Oyama, translated by Edward Fowler. Ithica/London: Cornell University Press, 2005, 140 pp., $21.00 (cloth). Toward the end of his account of what life is like at the bottom of Japan's social structure, Shiro Oyama (a pseudonym) observes...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 23, 2005
Genghis Khan: Greatest leader or brutal monster?
GENGHIS KHAN: Conqueror of the World, by Leo de Hartog. London/New York: Tauris Parke, 2004, 230 pp., with maps, $12.99 (paper). The warrior who united the Mongol tribes and created an empire that was the largest the world has known, has long defied historians.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 23, 2005
Japanese emperors: Between the people and the gods
ENIGMA OF THE EMPERORS: Sacred Subservience in Japanese History, by Ben-Ami Shillony, Global Oriental, 2005, 312 pp., (cloth). This well-researched and scholarly study by Ben-Ami Shillony of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem will interest not only students of Japanese history but also all those concerned...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 16, 2005
Willam Empson, 'The tale of Genji' and the Westerner's view of Japan
WILLIAM EMPSON: Volume I -- Among the Mandarins, by John Haffenden. Oxford University Press, 2005, 695 pp., 16 illustrations, £30 (cloth). Author of several major critical works, notably "Seven Types of Ambiguity" (1930) and "Some Versions of the Pastoral" (1935), William Empson (1906-1984) was...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 16, 2005
Unconventional and unorthodox, but still fun to read
LAST SEEN IN SHANGHAI, by Howard Turk. Hong Kong: Asia 2000 Ltd., 1998, 286 pp., $18 (paper). INSPECTOR MORIMOTO AND THE SUSHI CHEF, by Timothy Hemion. Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse, Inc., 2005, 222 pp., $25.95 (cloth). THE TIGER'S GOLD by Donald G. Moore. Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse, Inc., 2005, 214...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 9, 2005
Breaking the silence on sexuality in Japan
GENDERS, TRANSGENDERS AND SEXUALITIES IN JAPAN, edited by Mark McLelland and Romit Dasgupta. London: Routledge, 2005, 218 pp., £60 (cloth). Now that the conspiracies of silence have begun to evaporate, scholarly works on gender and transgender have begun to proliferate. This very interesting collection...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 9, 2005
Why has militant extremism become such a strong force for radical Islam?
JEMAAH ISLAMIYAH: Radical Islam in Indonesia, by Greg Barton. Ridge Books: Singapore, 2005, 118 pp., $15 (paper). Eerily the news of the recent Bali bombings broke as I was reading this concise analysis of why radical Islam remains a potent threat in Indonesia and the region. It is believed that there...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 2, 2005
Timeless complement of form and function
INSPIRED SHAPES: Contemporary Designs for Japan's Ancient Crafts, by Ori Koyama, translated by Charles Whipple, photographs by Mizuho Kuwata. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2005, 112 pp., 3,900 yen (cloth). Life in urban Japan is so suffused with artificial, factory-produced materials that the soul can...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 2, 2005
The looking glass of Chinese history
MIRRORING THE PAST: The Writing and Use of History in Imperial China, by On-cho Ng and Q. Edward Wang. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005, 307 pp., $50 (cloth). It was the 19th-century English historian E.A. Freeman who observed that "history is past politics, and politics is present history."...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 25, 2005
Corruption and intrigue in high places
THE ASSASSIN'S TOUCH, by Laura Joh Rowland. New York: St. Martin's Minotaur, 2005, 312 pp., $24.95 (cloth). BEAUTIFUL GHOSTS, by Eliot Pattison. New York: St. Martin's Minotaur, 360 pp., 2004, $24.95 (cloth). A day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast, I fired off an e-mail message...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 25, 2005
Women of poetic substance
PATHWAYS, by Edith Shiffert, New York: White Pine Press, 2005, 115 pp., $14 (paper). A WOMAN'S LIFE, by Harue Aoki, Tokyo: Shichigatsudo, 2004, 120 pp., 1,200 yen (paper).
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 25, 2005
What could have been from what was seen
KANNANI AND DOCUMENT OF FLAMES: Two Japanese Colonial Novels, by Katsuei Yuasa, translated and with an introduction and critical afterword by Mark Driscoll. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2005, 193 pp., $19.95 (paper). The odd rightwing extremist excepted, it is difficult to find anyone...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 18, 2005
Sweet Mysteries of the Orient
THE ASIAN MYSTIQUE, by Sheridan Prasso. Public Affairs Books, 437 pp., 2005, $27.95, 2,850 yen (cloth). Apparently, there are still Western men who believe that the East is an obliging seductress, mass producing an endless line of voluptuous women, whose laconic sexual pliancy is only exceeded by their...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 11, 2005
The curious Mr. Longfellow
LONGFELLOW'S TATTOOS: Tourism, Collecting, and Japan, by Christine M.E. Guth. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2004, 256 pp., 123 illustrations, $29.95 (paper). After the new Japanese government was officially installed in 1868, only a decade or so after the country had been, more or less, forcibly...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 11, 2005
Views from Asia suggest that 'Team Bush' is playing poorly for all sides
CONFRONTING THE BUSH DOCTRINE: Critical Views From the Asia-Pacific, edited by Mel Gurtov and Peter Van Ness. London: Routledge Curzon, 2004, 277 pp., £20.99 (cloth). Characterizing the Bush administration's foreign policy of zigzagging, dysfunctional initiatives and self-inflicted wounds a "doctrine"...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 4, 2005
When money and politics merge
THE THAKSINIZATION OF THAILAND, by Duncan McCargo and Ukrist Pathmanand. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2005, 277 pp., $23 (cloth). Thaksin Shinawatra is Thailand's flamboyant and controversial prime minister, a wealthy telecom magnate who has transformed the domestic political scene...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 4, 2005
For the love of Bollywood
BEHIND THE SCENES OF HINDI CINEMA. Edited by Johan Manschot and Marijke de Vos. With contributions by P.K. Nair, Deepa Gahlot, Gayatri Chatterjee et al. Foreword by Amitabh Bachchan, Amsterdam: KIT Publishers, 2005, 160 pp., profusely illustrated (cloth). The subtitle of this beautifully produced, lavishly...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 28, 2005
Soviet checkmate finished Japan
RACING THE ENEMY: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan, by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005, 382 pp., $29.95 (cloth). Wartime U.S. President Harry Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb remains controversial. Until Murray Sayle's seminal article in the New Yorker (July...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 28, 2005
The face of joy and happiness
OTAFUKU: Joy of Japan, by Amy Sylvester Katoh, photographs by Yutaka Sato. Singapore: Tuttle/Periplus, bilingual (English and Japanese), 2005, 192 pp., many illustrations, 1,700 yen (cloth). Most of us know Otafuku without knowing her name. She is the full-faced folk figure we see all around us in Japan,...
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
Amid same-sex marriage ban, LGBTQ couples opt for 'photo weddings'
A lesbian couple, consisting of a 35-year-old woman (left) and 40-year-old woman, cover their faces with bouquets as they pose for wedding photos in Yokohama on Nov. 1.
China and Russia conduct joint Pacific military patrol
The Russian corvette Gromkiy enters the Chinese port of Zhanjiang as part of a joint China-Russia naval exercise on Saturday.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.
How to tweak your diet when temperatures spike
Most people think of hydration as a strictly liquid-based concept, but eating foods with high water content is an essential part of making it through a Japanese summer unscathed.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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