Japanese Archives - Page 6 of 32

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen [in Christian Science Monitor]

09 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

'Killing Commendatore' is the latest evasive, magical, utterly unique novel by Murakami A famous painter succumbing to dementia living out his final days in a posh care facility. A wealthy, middle-aged white-haired man who lives alone in a mountainside white mansion. A motherless schoolgirl whose father...

Time for Bed, Miyuki by Roxane Marie Galliez, illustrated by Seng Soun Ratanavanh [in Shelf Awareness]

28 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, European, Fiction, Japanese, Repost

"As the sun slowly hides to watch the moon rise," the nightingale, the ants, the toad all anticipate the approaching "hour of rest." Only Miyuki is still "busy playing and trying to push back time." Resisting her grandfather's gentle reminders, Miyuki insists, "I still have...

A Tokyo Romance: A Romance by Ian Buruma [in Library Journal]

14 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, European, Japanese, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

“Japan shaped me when the plaster was still wet,” writes New York Review of Books editor Ian Buruma. In his mid-20s in 1975, the Dutch-born Buruma, who is half English and half German Jew, arrived in Tokyo to study film at Nihon University College of...

Onibi: Diary of a Yokai Ghost Hunter by Cécile Brun and Olivier Pichard, iIllustrated by Cécile Brun, translated by Marie S. Velde [in Booklist]

27 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in European, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

In fall 2014, Cécile Brun and Olivier Pichard (fictional versions of the artists who comprise Atelier Sentō) traveled to Niigata Prefecture on Japan’s west coast. To escape the rain, they duck into a dimly lit shop, where they discover a camera that can allegedly “shoot...

Shadow Child by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto [in Library Journal]

24 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Hawaiian, Japanese, Japanese American, Repost

Dreading her twin sister Keiko's visit from Hawai'i, Hanako deliberately delays returning to her Manhattan apartment, but when she does, she finds Kei in the shower, unconscious from a mysterious attack. While Kei lies comatose in the hospital, Hana recalls their inseparable, even interchangeable childhoods...

Japanese Folktales: Classic Stories from Japan’s Enchanted Past by Yei Theodora Ozaki, foreword by Lucy Fraser [in Booklist]

19 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese, Repost, Short Stories, Young Adult Readers

Nasty neighbors, otherworldly children, and malevolent monsters populate some of the 22 traditional Japanese folktales in Ozaki’s century-old collection, reissued with an introduction by Australian academic Lucy Fraser. In her 1903 preface, Ozaki – whose father was Japanese, mother, English – that her “stories are not...

Anglophoned Fiction Favorites [in Global Literature in Libraries Initiative’s “Japan in Translation” series]

22 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

My two unfinished almost-ABD-PhDs still makes my mother cringe. I know, I know: even in middle age, my tiger mother looms, not to mention I still have occasional nightmares about missing seminar with my beloved, last advisor. His passing remains my excuse for academic desertion,...

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori [in Booklist]

07 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW In nursery school, Keiko pragmatically suggested that the dead bird in the park could become a grilled treat for her father. In primary school, she ended a forbidden brawl by hitting a boy on the head with a spade. She stopped a teacher’s hysterics...

A River in Darkness: One Man’s Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa, translated by Risa Kobayashi [in Library Journal]

23 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Japanese, Korean, Memoir, Nonfiction, North Korean, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW Memoirs by North Korean defectors have proliferated, but Masaji Ishikawa's, originally published in 2000, might be the first available in English translation by a Japanese-born escapee. The Japanese bestseller, I Was Kim Jong Il's Cook (2004), by pseudonymous Kenji Fujimoto, could be the only other...

Graphic Gems: Novels, Biographies, and Memoirs for Younger Readers [in The Booklist Reader]

05 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Chinese American, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Japanese American, Lists, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, Russian, Russian American, Translation, Turkish, Turkish American, Young Adult Readers

Since I recently shared some utterly satisfying single-volume graphic titles for adults, I figured I should point out a few outstanding titles for middle-grade and YA readers, as well. That said, so-called grown-ups will surely find many of these titles just as satisfying. Equal literary...

Graphic Gems: Novels, Story Collections, and Memoirs for Adults [in The Booklist Reader]

04 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, British Asian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese, Japanese American, Korean American, Lists, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, Short Stories, Translation

While I’m addicted to various manga series (click here and here for some of my favorites), I’ve also discovered the satisfaction of single-volume graphic titles offering that perfect balance of fascinating narrative and gorgeously complementary, enhancing art. From goofy to haunting, comforting to challenging, and...

Sakura’s Cherry Blossoms by Robert Paul Weston, illustrated by Misa Saburi [in Shelf Awareness]

23 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Japanese, Japanese American, Repost

With a name that means "cherry blossom," Sakura's favorite time of the year is understandably spring, when her namesake blooms. Her grandmother gently nurtures her floral appreciation: "Together they sat/ in the shade of pink petals/...

GO by Kazuki Kaneshiro, translated by Takami Nieda [in Booklist]

22 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Korean, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Japan and Korea’s centuries-long, combative history has long made Koreans in Japan second-class citizens. Kaneshiro, who is Korean Japanese, channels his own experiences into his teenage protagonist, Sugihara, a Japan-born-and-raised ethnic Korean. Sugihara decides to transfer into a Japanese high school after attending only Korean...

Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Louise Heal Kawai [in Library Journal]

21 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

Fourth grader he may be, but our narrator is quite the sharp observer of his surroundings. His father is dead; his mother runs a "fortune-telling and that kind of stuff" salon. She's often the recipient of his unguarded bluntness: "If video games make you stupid,...

In Black and White by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, translated by Phyllis I. Lyons [in Booklist]

19 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

“[W]e can’t distinguish what is the truthful artist and what is the lying social man.” For Jun'ichirō Tanizaki’s (The Gourmet Club, 2001) protagonist, the writer Mizuno, creating fiction using real-life details – he models a murder victim on a casual acquaintance, even inadvertently slipping in...

Soul Cage [Reiko Himekawa, Book 2] by Tetsuya Honda, translated by Giles Murray [in Library Journal]

09 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Translation

Narrator Emily Woo Zeller went solo in The Silent Dead, which introduced Anglophone readers to Tokyo Metropolitan Police lieutenant Reiko Himekawa in her 2016 debut (smoothly rendered by Giles Murray who consistently translates again here); in Honda's sophomore series title, Zeller has company. Feodor Chin...

Dissolving Classroom by Junji Ito, translated by Melissa Tanaka

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

Here's your upfront warning: gruesome horror ahead. As one of Japan's most successful horror manga artists, Junji Ito knows how to make your hair rise, your heart race, your stomach churn. This one comes with quite the social commentary, too: beware of empty, false apologies....

The Emissary by Yoko Tawada, translated by Margaret Mitsutani [in Library Journal]

02 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Translation

Japanese-born, Germany-based Tawada (Memoirs of a Polar Bear) writes facilely in both languages and creates incomparable award-winning fiction that defies easy labels. Tawada's latest in translation (smoothly rendered by Mitsutani, who also translated one of Tawada's earliest works, the three-storied The Bridegroom Was a Dog)...

My Brother’s Husband (Volume 1) by Gengoroh Tagame, translated by Anne Ishii

29 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Canadian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Talk about a new kind of family ...

I Want That Love and I Will Love You Forever (Tyrannosaurus Series 3-4) by Tatsuya Miyanishi, translated by Mariko Shii Gharbi

26 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Japanese, Translation

While this lovable series is 13-titles strong in its native Japan with over three million copies sold throughout Asia and France, more Stateside readers could use multiple doses of this dinosaur-sized delight. Even for a reptilian-averse cynic like me, Tatsuya Miyanishi's Tyrannosaurus provides irresistible charm. As...

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