A Rabbit’s Eyes by Kenjiro Haitani, translated by Paul Sminkey [in AsianWeek]
03 Nov, by in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation
What first-time teacher Fumi Kotani lacks in experience, she makes up with unflagging devotion to her first-grade students, taking special interest in a misunderstood, silent boy who raises flies. With the guidance of an...
Marking the 60th anniversary of that fateful August 6th morning comes a richly detailed examination of the three weeks that led up to the Hiroshima bombing. While it reads like a riveting novel – scientists, politicians,...
A new translation of a Japanese classic that follows Botchan, the mischievous, fun-loving Tokyo-ite to rural southern Japan where he’s assigned to teach in a boys’ school. What’s a rule-breaker to do?
Review: 
The first available translation of important fiction highlighting the Japanese colonization of Korea: Kannani exposes the brutality endured by Koreans at the hands of their Japanese oppressors – even among the children – while Document follows...
Two novellas about women on the verge of change: in Hardboiled, a woman hiking in remote mountains realizes it’s the anniversary of her ex-lover’s death and overnights with a ghost,...
Innocence lost: 17-year-old Ami is both schoolgirl and prostitute, pregnant by her mentally challenged older brother, brutally gang raped by a rock star and his groupies, but capable of restoring the dormant virility of...
If this 120-page novel rife with sex and violence were any longer, reading it would be unbearable. That it won Japan’s highest literary honor, the Akutagawa Prize, for its then 20-year-old author,...
Who needs McMansions when you can make even the smallest spaces look THIS fabulous and inviting?
Review: 
Photographer Yoshio Komatsu captures the homes of 10 families in 10 countries, including Mongolia, Indonesia, Tunisia, and Bolivia. The photos are paired together with an illustrated glimpse of the everyday lives inhabited within.
Review: <a...
The discovery of an illicit link between the murder of a middle-aged salaryman and a college student is just the beginning. What the police find is a fantasy family the murdered man formed online,...
The paperback reissue of a beautifully illustrated collection of interrelated haikus that follow a little girl as she explores the riches of a Japanese garden, counting all the...
If you understand the word “otaku” (and if you don’t, you’ll have to read this to find out), then this book’s for you: the first insider’s guide in English to...
The detailed, illustrated chapters on Kabuki, Bunraku, Nō, Kyōgen, and contemporary theater (with even a theater listings guide), make me wish this book was around when I was...
WOW! A gorgeous photographic essay of the world’s second-largest economy that captures its ultimately high-tech contemporary achievements, sharply juxtaposed with striking images of a strongly traditional society of timeless beauty.
Review: 
Talk about bad first impression: Reading the jacket cover description with the glaring spelling error, “Shitimachi” (what does that sound like?!) instead of the correct “Shitamachi” (which literally means ‘below-town’ or more...
Here’s the set up: a 15-year-old boy runs away from home possibly in search of his long-missing mother and sister, and is befriended by a library employee and a young...
This boxed set, complete with an easy-to-follow how-to booklet and 60 sheets of origami paper in perfect holiday colors, is the ideal gift for children of any age – the big ones included!
Review: <a...
Mmmm, mmmm, good – the pictures alone will make you hungry. Who knew tofu could be toothsome on the page? You can even learn how to make tofu from scratch. After all...
A worthy compendium to enhance the understanding and enjoyment of contemporary Japanese cinema, with authoritative profiles of 19 filmmakers, filmographies, and selected reviews. The final chapter includes a “New and Notable”-like section...
Through three generations of strong, independent women, Ariyoshi captures and conveys the tumultuous period of Japan from the stratified, socially constrictive end of the 19th century to the modern postwar era of the 20th.
Review:...