An anthology to accompany the Spirit of Shizen exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History in Luxembourg
Category: Non-fiction
Review—The Widow, The Priest and The Octopus Hunter
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).
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…
Excerpt—Koreans at Work
John Spiri traveled to Korea to ask Koreans about their jobs: what they do all day and what they think of it.
New Release—Another Bangkok, by Alex Kerr
Just released by Penguin, U.K. Alex Kerr’s latest book Bangkok Found: Reflections on the City, now available only on Amazon.jp, Amazon U.K, and Book Depository, U.K. (free shipping world-wide). Stay posted for a talk with Alex about this book on an upcoming Books on Asia YouTube podcast where he visually walks us through some of the More…
Excerpt—Taiwanese at Work
John Spiri traveled all over Taiwan interviewing people about their typical day of work.
Excerpt—Japanese at Work
Spiri traveled all over Japan interviewing people about their typical day of work
Recent Release—The Gion Festival: Exploring its Mysteries
Explains, in layman’s terms, what Buddhism is and how we can manifest its teachings into our daily lives, and why we should
In preparation for an upcoming podcast with Catherine Pawasarat, we’re revisiting her two books: The recently released (Nov. 2020) The Gion Festival: Exploring its Mysteries (review here) and From Wasteland to Pureland: Reflections on the Path to Awakening (for a BOA quick take, click here).
Review—How Human is Human?: The View from Robotics Research
The Other Ishiguro Review by Cody Poulton Last month in Books on Asia I reviewed Klara and the Sun and contrasted Kazuo Ishiguro with another author with the same surname. Well, here’s a book by the other Ishiguro, Hiroshi, who happens to make robots—and not just imagine them. Ishiguro Hiroshi is probably the most famous More…
Review—Noh as Living Art: Inside Japan’s Oldest Theatrical Tradition
Yasuda has provided a witty and fresh approach to this art.
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Review by Cody Poulton This slim volume, at just over 100 pages, is a primer to noh, Japan’s classic performance art. First appearing in Japanese, the text was translated by Kawamoto Nozomu, who was raised in the United States and currently trains with the author in noh utai singing. The work was published by Japan More…
Excerpt—The Cat With Three Passports
By CJ Fentiman From Chapter 3: A Cat’s Resentment (toward those who help it) (猫の逆恨み / Neko No Sakaurami) I’d had kittens before, but none with such a destructive nature. Finally, I decided it was time to take him to the vets and get some advice. Maybe there was something physically wrong with him that More…