Japanese Archives - Page 12 of 32

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel [in Library Journal]

16 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW In high school, Tsukuru Tazaki was part of a "perfect community" of five best friends. Each had a color attached to their family names – red, blue, white, black –except for Tsukuru, rendering him "colorless." After Tsukuru begins college in Tokyo, he's brutally excised...

The Flowers of Evil (vols. 8-9) by Shuzo Oshimi, translated by Paul Starr

06 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

While he's not exactly Mr. Popularity at his new school, Takao Kasuga is gingerly settling into his uprooted life far from the small town of Gunma where he was involved in so many shameful, difficult, frustrating, violent experiences. His favorite book, Baudelaire's The Flowers of Evil,...

Thermae Romae III by Mari Yamazaki, translated by Stephen Paul

30 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, European, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Before you can fully appreciate the final volume of the adventures of our favorite time-traveling hunky bathing beauty, you'll need to dive into the two previous volumes to catch up. If nothing else, aren't you curious why our ancient stoner is holding that bottle of Yakult? You won't find...

How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway

26 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese, Japanese American

Okay, I confess the cover put me off from opening the book for months (well, actually, years); I recently compromised by choosing to go aural and was surprisingly delighted to spend almost eight hours with narrators Laural Merlington and Emily Durante (who take turns reading as mother and...

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (vols. 8-9) by Motoro Mase, translated by John Werry, English adaptation by Kristina Blachere

23 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

First thing first: although every volume offers possibly standalone chapters, to get the full narrative arc, you really need to read them all in order. [Click here to check out the rest of Ikigami.] If you're not yet familiar with this chillingly effective, utterly addictive series, the most important...

Summer Wars (vols. 1-2) by Mamoru Hosoda, illustrated by Iqura Sugimoto, character design by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto

16 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

"2010 late July. A record of the biggest, hottest summer of my life." High school student Kenji is 17, and mourning the fact that he "failed to become Japan's rep in the Math Olympics." At the suggestion of his best friend Sakuma, he's agreed to...

what did you eat yesterday? (vol. 1) by Fumi Yoshinaga, translated by Maya Rosewood

09 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Before you open this tasty title, ask your stomach if it's full. Any hint of hunger and you just might embarrass yourself salivating. The cover is already a toothsome teaser: salmon-and-burdock seasoned mixed rice, boiled bamboo shoots with konjac and wakame seaweed, eggplants and tomatoes with Chinese-style...

Insufficient Direction by Moyoco Anno, translated by Satsuki Yamashita

18 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

If you can get over the initially disturbing caricatures of a toddler and bearded man as the two married-to-each-other protagonists, you're in for some ingenious, goofy fun. [Having had a parent at our kids' school be convicted as one of the country's worst child pornographers...

Nijigahara Holograph by Inio Asano, translated by Matt Thorn

07 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

Long before the latest translated-into-English title from award-winning transgender manga creator Inio Asano is due to hit shelves (fabulous Seattle-based publisher Fantagraphics lists an unspecified February pub date; Amazon lists March 19, 2014 and B&N March 5 for available shipping), the internet has been abuzz...

The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida, foreword by David Mitchell, translated by KA Yoshida and David Mitchell

29 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Japanese, Memoir, Nonfiction, Translation

As spare as this book is, it's turned out to be one of the most bookmarked (with skinny stick-its) titles I've recently read. Written by an autistic Japanese then-13-year-old, the English translation arrives six years later courtesy of parents of an autistic child – internationally...

Sickness Unto Death (vols. 1-2) by Hikaru Asada, illustrated by Takahiro Seguchi, translated by Vertical, Inc.

24 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Determined to become a clinical psychologist, young Futaba arrives in an unnamed city to begin college. Before he even gets to his lodgings – arranged through a friend of his father's – he helps a young woman who collapses in a crowded plaza. While he can't deny...

Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami by Gretel Ehrlich

23 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Japanese, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction

Before discussing content, I must start with a warning about presentation – think of it as a public service announcement: Choose the page, choose the page, choose the page! Although narrator Sumalee Montano (an American actress of Filipina and Thai/Chinese descent with a Harvard degree) lists...

Wandering Son (vol. 6) by Shimura Takako, translated by Matt Thorn

17 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Our daughter, now a senior at one of the most progressive of progressive schools where she's been a 'lifer,' was recently trying to explain the specifics of what 'gender-fluid' means using a classmate's evolving, changing behavior as descriptive examples. We old folks were still a...

Author Interview: Nina Schuyler (Part 2) [in Bloom]

09 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Japanese, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Following is Part 2 of an extensive interview with author Nina Schuyler. Click here to read Part 1. Click here for the Schuyler feature. As a writer who is a woman, who also happens to be a mother of two small young kids – do you feel...

Author Interview: Nina Schuyler (Part 1) [in Bloom]

08 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Japanese, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

With all the vastness of the internet, I had quite a difficult time finding answers to the sorts of questions I had about Nina Schuyler and her relationship to her fiction – most especially regarding race and identity. (I know, so loaded!) In both of her lauded novels...

Author Profile: Nina Schuyler [in Bloom]

06 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Japanese, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

"Like most writers, I work at the edges of the day" Wife, mother, teacher, poet, writer – Nina Schuyler wears many labels. Her youngest is still a toddler, she balances multiple part-time jobs, keeps up with the daily-life expectations of cooking and laundry, soccer and basketball mom-ing, not...

Triton of the Sea (vols. 1-2) by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Eugene Woodbury, edited by Eileen Tse

03 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

When I say 'brought to you by popular demand,' I have indisputable proof here: 715 supporters put up almost 150% more than the requested funds in answer to Digital Manga's 2012 Kickstarter campaign to bring Triton of the Sea (along with two additional Tezuka titles, Unico and...

pink by Kyoko Okazaki, translated by Vertical, Inc.

27 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

Well, goodness gracious, looks sure can be deceiving: here's your official warning – this dressed up girl is anything but saccharine-sweet, that pink-toned cover comes printed with an "18+" warning, although those turned-in toes actually do belie a twisted sort of innocence ...

Barbara by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Ben Applegate, foreword by Frederik L. Schodt

20 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

For readers familiar with Astro Boy, Buddha, or Black Jack – a few of 'godfather of manga' Osamu Tezuka's signature titles – Barbara might present quite the surprise. This is definitely not your kiddie fare: the front cover warns "explicit content"; the back cover is marked with...

Yokohama Yankee: My Family’s Five Generations as Outsiders in Japan by Leslie Helm

17 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, European, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese, Japanese American, Memoir, Nonfiction

'Sprawling' barely begins to describe journalist/editor Leslie Helm's ambitious family history that spans nearly a century-and-a-half, three continents, and the titular five generations of a German Japanese American family with current branches spread throughout the rest of the world. Prompted by the death of his difficult...

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