Reviewed by Chad Kohalyk One day in 1985, from the hills of Kunar province in northeastern Afghanistan, came three women dressed in chador, their faces covered. The two sisters and their mother were victims of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and had come to the hospital ward of Nakamura Tetsu, a volunteer doctor from Fukuoka More…
Category: Reviews
Excerpt—Angkor’s Temples in the Modern Era
The following is an excerpt from a new release by John Burgess, Angkor’s Temples in the Modern Era: War, Pride, and Tourist Dollars (River Books, 2021). During the research for this book, the author’s fifth on Angkor, he found an abiding theme: tensions between the foreigners who came to Angkor—the capital of a great empire More…
Excerpt—7+2: A Mountain Climber’s Journal
Review—Pearl City: Stories from Japan and Elsewhere
Eight short stories from Japan and eight from other countries including Hong Kong, Philippines, Cambodia, Malaysia, France, Austria, Australia and New Zealand
Susan K Burton Interviews Nick Bradley about ‘The Cat and The City’
Nick Bradley masterfully weaves together seemingly disparate threads to conjure up a vivid tapestry of Tokyo; its glory, its shame, its characters, and a calico cat. -—David Peace
Interview by Susan Karen Burton I first encountered Nick Bradley in the University of East Anglia campus pub in 2015. We were both studying creative writing and a lecturer had suggested we meet because our area of interest—Japan—was, he stated, somewhat specialized. It was felt that we could use each other’s support. He was right. More…
Review—Japan’s Quest for Stability in Southeast Asia: Navigating the Turning Points in Postwar Asia
How Japan navigated independence movements and revolutions in Southeast Asia during a fractious postwar period.
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Review by Chad Kohalyk A rising China and receding America has Japan once again focused on the confluence of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Yet the recent Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) vision — to promote a new regional security environment anchored by India, Australia, Japan, and the United States — is in stark contrast More…
Review—The Woman in the White Kimono
A promising debut novel by Ana Johns
A promising debut book by Ana Johns
Review—Hōjōki: A Hermit’s Hut as Metaphor
Japanese Buddhist literature is filled with the struggle to overcome the pain of transience.
The Hōjōki, written in 1212 by the Buddhist monk Kamo no Chōmei, is one of the most beloved works of medieval literature in Japan.
Review—From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia
Asian intellectuals fighting western colonialism in the 19th and early 20th centuries offer points that we can learn from today
Pankaj Mishra delivers a sweeping account of the intellectual history of anti-colonial thought in the early years of Western colonialism. He builds this narrative through mini-biographies of two lesser-known intellectuals: Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī and Liang Qichao. These early thinkers diagnosed the challenge of Western imperialism…
Review—The Forgotten Japanese
A well-known ethnographer in Japan reveals voluminous details about countryside living before WWII.
Miyamoto Tsuneichi, is author of many ethnographical books on Japanese society, but this is the only one I know of that has been translated into English (transl. Jeffrey Irish). Miyamoto is a well-known scholar and author in Japan. The Forgotten Japanese is a necessary read for anyone interested in Japanese lifestyles in the countryside from More…