Origins: The Creative Spark Behind Japan’s Best Product Designs by Shu Hagiwara, photography by Masashi Kuma, translated by Philip Price [in Bloomsbury Review]
01 May, by in Adult Readers, Japanese, Nonfiction, Repost
A spectacularly rendered coffee-table collection of the history of how some the best designed Japanese products – from furniture to appliances to toys to even the ubiquitous drip-free soy sauce bottle – ever got made. My...
An expansive, statistics-filled look at why 600,000 to a million North Koreans died in the mid-1990s during one of the worst famines of the 20th-century. In spite of so-called government reforms and the push for growing...
While Tokyo is undoubtedly one the world’s most modern cosmopolitan centers, traditional neighborhoods of bygone eras still exist within the sprawling city – you just need an expert to show you where. With inviting photographs and...
You could build major muscles benching both volumes, but think of it as beefing up your theater knowledge way beyond New York’s Broadway (it ain’t called ‘The Great White Way’ for nothin’!). For both the theater...
Yes, it’s pricey, but if you ever wanted a one-stop primer on Asian American theater, this is definitely it. Besides, I – yes, me, yours truly, don’t be so surprised! – get a very sweet nod...
This superb anthology offers nine challenging, unique, edgy voices, who were each chosen to be produced by one of the nation’s premier, most award-winning Asian American theater companies, the Ma-Yi Theater Company in New York City....
From the “godfather of manga” – who also had a medical degree! – comes the first English translation of the mysterious story of a dedicated young doctor, Kirihito Osanai, who is initially sent to a remote...
While not itself a graphic novel, Mechademia is an inevitable – and arguably necessary – byproduct of the manga and anime craze, imported from Japan and embraced by the West, having now established itself into the...
This Chinese American installment of the Sex in the City-genre features three 20-something childhood best-friends, each pursuing her own brand of happiness in Manhattan. While it starts off with a rather cringe-inducing visit to a Chinatown...
Reddi’s debut – absolutely one of the best short story collections this year – captures the nuanced, often contradictory lives of multiple generations of the Indian diaspora. From the cranky old judge convinced he has...
Don’t start this at night because you won’t get any sleep until you’ve finished the final page. And still, the characters will linger on. Min’s aching debut novel tells the story of Isadora Myung Hee Sohn...
Here’s the updated second edition of what was already considered the definitive overview of modern Chinese literature in English translation, with representative writing from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. With China poised to become a...
Seattle lifestyle guru Deirdre McIntosh’s life turns upside down when her Live Simple television show is suddenly cancelled, her live-in best friend decides to move in with his new soulmate and her bank account is about...
A young woman abandons her promising corporate job to seek out and photograph the scattered stories of women around the world. This slim, densely packed debut gives voice to eight questioning souls – some silenced by...
Marjane Satrapi on the "Axis of Evil," Cheese, and Exploring Family History
Marjane Satrapi changed my reading life. Before I picked up 
This is not a spoiler: Estella Habal's San Francisco's International Hotel: Mobilizing the Filipino American Community in the Anti-Eviction Movement is a story with a happy ending. Proof positive is the 2-year-old International Hotel, which stands...
I have to admit that I had never heard of Indian graphic novels (just not on my radar, even though I have a heavy South Asian diasporic literary bent because...
Well, no wonder why I hadn't heard of Indian graphic novels until discovering Sarnath Banerjee! I wasn't alone as his debut title, Corridor, was widely marketed as Indian's first graphic novel! Although, that's apparently incorrect information...
Any way you look at it, royal life is hell. So here's yet another book to prove it. "Although I had every luxury and my duties were often rewarding, Imperial glory also meant loneliness and living...