Review—Life Ceremony, by Sayaka Murata (transl. Takemori)

Review by Tina deBellegarde Sayaka Murata’s Life Ceremony, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, is a wildly imaginative and chilling short story collection about loners and outcasts. Once again, Murata writes about non-conformity and once again she does it in her unique subversive style. She presents us with a world turned on its head, where what More…

Review—The Widow, The Priest and The Octopus Hunter

book cover
book cover

Portraits of the lives of 31 members of a small community on a tiny island in Japan’s Inland Sea, spanning the Taisho to Reiwa periods (the past 100 years).

Support BOA by ordering The Widow, The Priest and The Octopus Hunter through these links:

Amazon U.S.
Bookshop U.S.
Amazon Japan

Thanks for helping support Books on Asia!

The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island Review by Tina deBellegarde With The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter, Amy Chavez has presented us with a gift of cultural preservation. The author conducted a year-long oral history project on the Island of More…

Review—Kanazawa by David Joiner

book cover
book cover

In Kanazawa, David Joiner delivers a slow-burning family drama reminiscent of a film by Yasujirō Ozu or Hirokazu Koreeda.

Support BOA by ordering Kanazawa through these links:

Amazon international
Bookshop U.S.
Amazon Japan

Thanks for helping support Books on Asia!

Joiner adds a layer of reading pleasure by intertwining key aspects of Izumi Kyōka’s works into his own narrative.

Review—Places, by Setouchi Jakuchō

Few authors have led as storied a life as Setouchi Jakuchō. Writer, translator, feminist, peace activist, and Buddhist nun…

Support BOA by ordering Places, by Setouchi Jakuchō through these links:

Amazon international

Thanks for helping support Books on Asia!

“Places” is a braid of success stories: female independence, authorial achievement, and a mind taken to the brink of suicide, and back.

Review—Heaven, by Mieko Kawakami

book cover
book cover

A heartbreaking, yet uplifting, story of two outcasts who find and protect each other through a year of school bullying.

Support BOA by ordering Heaven, by Mieko Kawakami through these links:

Amazon international
Bookshop U.S.

Thanks for helping support Books on Asia!

A heartbreaking, yet uplifting, story of two outcasts who find and protect each other through a year of school bullying.

Review—Where the Wild Ladies Are

book cover
book cover

Witty and exuberant feminist re-tellings of traditional Japanese folktales

Support BOA by ordering Where the Wild Ladies Are through these links:

Amazon international
Amazon Japan
Bookshop U.S.

Thanks for helping support Books on Asia!

In Matsuda’s collection, familiar ghosts are treated as commonplace: They are neither surprising nor frightening as they comfortably situate themselves in the modern world

Review—Buddhism and Modernity: Sources from Nineteenth-Century Japan

A valuable source book for Buddhist scholars

Support BOA by ordering Buddhism and Modernity: Sources from Nineteenth-Century Japan through these links:

Amazon international
Bookshop U.S.

Thanks for helping support Books on Asia!

A valuable source book for Buddhist scholars

Review—On Haiku, by Hiroaki Sato

Hiroaki Sato reveals how the radical brevity of the haiku genre contains worlds within worlds. This is a book to cherish, and which nurtures in return.

Support BOA by ordering On Haiku through these links:

Amazon international
Amazon Japan
Bookshop U.S.

Thanks for helping support Books on Asia!

Hiroaki Sato reveals how the radical brevity of the haiku genre contains worlds within worlds. This is a book to cherish, and which nurtures in return.