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July 16, 2024
 

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THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 26, 2003
Stories about the storytellers
FIVE MODERN JAPANESE NOVELISTS, by Donald Keene. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003, 144 pp., $24.50 (cloth) In this new book, the doyen of Western scholars of Japanese literature introduces the writing of five novelists with whom he has worked and reminisces about his relationships with them....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 26, 2003
First, dump the zombie debtors
JAPANESE PHOENIX: The Long Road to Economic Revival, by Richard Katz. M.E. Sharpe: Armonk, NY, 2003, 351 pp., $24.95 (paper) As Japan limps further into a second decade of recession, optimists about its future economic prospects are thin on the ground. In this provocative and thoughtful study, Richard...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 26, 2003
Rambo rides again on the mean streets of Tokyo
RAIN FALL, by Barry Eisler. G.P. Putnam's Sons: New York, 2002, 306 pp., $24.95 (cloth) What's it like to open a book and read an account of yourself being gunned down on the streets of Akasaka?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 19, 2003
Facts are first casualty in U.S. march to war
WAR PLAN IRAQ: Ten Reasons Against War on Iraq, by Milan Rai. Verso, 2002, 240 pp., $15 (paper) When Richard Butler, head of the first U.N. weapons inspections team in Iraq, said in 1997 that "Truth in some cultures is kind of what you can get away with saying," he was referring to the regime of Iraqi...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 12, 2003
Art that arose from the ashes of World War II
JAPANESE PRINTS DURING THE ALLIED OCCUPATION: 1945-1952, by Lawrence Smith. London: The British Museum Press, 2002, 128 pp., 40 color and 75 black-and-white illustrations, £35 (cloth) At the end of the Pacific portion of World War II, Japan was occupied by the wartime Allies, and Gen. Douglas MacArthur,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 12, 2003
Facing economic facts, even if it hurts
STRADDLING ECONOMICS AND POLITICS: Cross-Cutting Issues in Asia, the United States, and the Global Economy, by Charles Wolf Jr. Santa Monica, CA.: Rand, 2002, 210 pp., $20 (paper) You have to give Charles Wolf credit. It takes courage to reprint articles when some of the predictions included are flat-out...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 5, 2003
Author reveals the human face of Japan's kamikaze pilots
KAMIKAZE, CHERRY BLOSSOMS AND NATIONALISMS: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History, by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney. Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press, 2002, 412 pp., nine black-and-white photos, cloth ($45)/paper ($20) How is state nationalism developed? Why do individuals sacrifice...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 5, 2003
Essay collection by master haiku poet wins high praise
THE NICK OF TIME: Essays on Haiku Aesthetics, by Paul O. Williams. Edited by Lee Gurga and Michael Dylan Welch. Foster City, CA: Press Here Books, 2001, 112 pp., paper ($12) What is a haiku, really? How do we know one when we see it? Are English-language haiku less authentic than Japanese haiku? And...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 29, 2002
Stymied by a myopic military
THE SHADOW WARRIORS OF NAKANO: A History of the Imperial Japanese Army's Elite Intelligence School, by Stephen C. Mercado. Brassey's: Washington, D.C., 2002, 331 pp., $27.95 (cloth) This is the groundbreaking story of Japan's World War II intelligence agents, an elite cadre of approximately 2,500 men...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 29, 2002
Mt. Fuji observed, and revealed
FUJI: Images of Contemporary Japan, by Chris Steele-Perkins. New York: Umbrage Editions, 2001, 136 pp., 104 color plates, $45 (cloth) Ukiyo-e master Hokusai established a tradition when he traveled around Mount Fuji in the 19th century, illustrating his 36 views of the mountain. He made it the locus...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 29, 2002
A practical politician with his eyes fixed firmly on the stars
SPARKY: Warrior, Peacemaker, Poet, Patriot. A Portrait of Senator Spark M. Matsunaga, by Richard Halloran. Honolulu: Matsunaga Charitable Foundation, 2002, 259 pp., paper ($16.95) At a reception for a visiting Japanese prime minister held at the White House in 1981, Alexander Haig, recently confirmed...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 22, 2002
Kazuko Shiraishi does it her way
KAZUKO SHIRAISHI: Let Those Who Appear. Translated by Samuel Grolmes and Yumiko Tsumura. New Directions, 2002, 49 pp., $12.95 (paper). I've met the poet Kazuko Shiraishi three times, on each of her visits to New York. Shiraishi made her latest trip to this city in the spring of 2002, to mark the publication...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 22, 2002
A little something for the god
GRACIOUS GIFTS: Japan's Sacred Offerings, photographed by Gorazd Vilhar, text by Charlotte Anderson. Tokyo: Shufunotomo-sha, 1999, 128 pp., 172 color plates, 4,000 yen (cloth) All religions encourage gifts. From Catholic prayer boxes to Protestant collection plates, from the donation repositories of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 15, 2002
On the trail of a killer in ancient Kyoto
RASHOMON GATE, by I.J. Parker. St. Martin's Minotaur: New York, 2002, 336 pp., $24.95 (cloth) Scholars who pen historical mystery fiction must tread a fine line between being faithful to the materials they research and creating stories and characters that will appeal to contemporary readers. It's by...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 15, 2002
Traveling in search of truth
IN SEARCH OF THE MAHABHARATA: Notes of Travels in India with Peter Brook, 1982-1985, by Jean-Claude Carriere. Translated from the French by Aruna Vasudev, with a forward by Jyoti Sabharwal. New Delhi: Macmillan India, 2001, 120 pp., with line drawings by Carriere, 198 rupees (cloth) Between 1982 and...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 8, 2002
Where West met East
A HISTORICAL GUIDE TO YOKOHAMA: Sketches of the Twice-Risen Phoenix, by Burritt Sabin. Yokohama: Yurindo, 2002, 304 pp., 176 pp. of plates, illustrations and maps, 2,500 yen (cloth) Isabella Bird, that sharp-eyed, tart-tongued early traveler to Japan, opined that Yokohama had irregularity without picturesqueness,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 8, 2002
Take me back to the ball game
WE ARE NIPPON: The World Cup in Japan, by Simon Moran. S.U. Press, 2002, 190 pp., 1,500 yen (paper) As anyone who was here will undoubtedly recall, things got a little raucous in Japan and South Korea last summer. But hosting a World Cup will do that to a nation or, as in this case, two nations.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 8, 2002
Expat writers shoot from the lip
FACES IN THE CROWDS: A Tokyo International Anthology, edited by Hillel Wright. Printed Matter Press: Tokyo, 2002, 254 pp., 2 yen,500/$25 (cloth) "Faces in the Crowds" is a hyperkinetic grab bag that brings work by a cross section of Tokyo's expat writers, and Japanese writers working in English, together...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 1, 2002
A trip down Japan's garden path
THEMES IN THE HISTORY OF JAPANESE GARDEN ART, by Wybe Kuitert. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002, 284 pp., including 25 pp. of color plates and 72 pp. black-and-white photos, drawings and plans, $50 (cloth) LANDSCAPE GARDENING IN JAPAN, by Josiah Conder, with a foreword by Azby Brown and an...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 24, 2002
'Dewy-eyed' U.S. no match for Japan's samurai values
BAMBOOZLED! How America Loses the Intellectual Game with Japan and its Implications for Our Future in Asia, by Ivan P. Hall. M.E. Sharpe: Armonk, New York, 2002, 324 pp., $26.95 (paper) For an enjoyable and stimulating read, one could do much worse than this thoughtful polemic on what ails bilateral...
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
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.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
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.
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.

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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Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals
Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals

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