Photographer Eugene Smith’s books documenting the Minamata Disease are, unfortunately, out of print and thus difficult to find these days. Smith’s photos brought attention to the disease, the effects of mercury poisoning from heavy metals released in and around Minamata in Kumamoto Prefecture (Kyushu, Japan) by the Chiso factory in the early 1970’s.
Minamata Disease is considered one of the major events of Japan’s post-war era which helped spur grass-roots activism in 1968 along with the Todai Riots of 1968-69. The rise of Japan’s Red Army in 1971 led to massacres, bombings and hijackings until 1988. The 1985 crash of a Japan Airlines Flight 123, blamed on poor maintenance, killed 520 people and was recounted in Hideo Yokoyama’s book Seventeen (translated into English by Louise Heal Kawai).
Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche
First published in Japanese in 1997–1998 (as two books) under the name アンダーグラウンド (Andāguraundo)
Translated into English by Alfred Birnbaum and Philip Gabriel in 2000
Note from the BOA Editor: I’ll never forget the morning of March 21, 1995 when I was on my way to teach at university in Okayama, Japan. Every street corner in the city had a policeman standing erect, silent, observing. I didn’t have a TV in my apartment and I certainly didn’t have internet in my abode in 1995. It wasn’t until I reached the university that I learned of the sarin gas attack the previous day. In Tokyo, over 650 kilometers away, 13 people had been killed and thousands injured. At high commute time on the subways, the religious cult Aum Shinrikyo, led by Shōko Asahara (sentenced to death, and executed in 2018), poisoned subway passengers by releasing liquid sarin gas in the subway cars. Naturally, this terrorist attack on their own soil was a shock to the Japanese. For the next week or so, the rest of Japan was on red-alert for any further suspicious activity; even the police in Okayama were omnipresent.
Just like most people know where they were when they heard Princess Diana was killed, John Lennon was shot, or when the Twin Towers were targeted in the 9-11 terrorist attack, most Japanese people know where they were when the Sarin Gas Incident happened in Tokyo’s subway. In his book Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche, Haruki Murakami interviews survivors of this incident. This is one of Murakami’s few non-fiction books. To me, this book offers a rare glimpse of the true nature of the Japanese.
Book Description:
Haruki Murakami talks to the people who lived through the catastrophe, and in so doing lays bare the Japanese psyche. As he discerns the fundamental issues that led to the attack, Murakami paints a clear vision of the event.
From the Introduction:
“The Japanese media had bombarded us with so many in-depth profiles of the Aum cult perpetrators—the ‘attackers’—forming such a slick, seductive narrative that the average citizen—the ‘victim’—was an afterthought … which is why I wanted, if at all possible, to get away from any formula; to recognise that each person on the subway that morning had a face, a life, a family, hopes and fears, contradictions and dilemmas—and that all these factors had a place in the drama.
Furthermore, I had a hunch that we needed to see a true picture of all the survivors, whether they were severely traumatized or not, in order to better grasp the whole incident.”
BOA’s take: Masaji Ishikawa was born in Japan in 1947 to a Korean father and a Japanese mother. In the late 50’s and early 60’s, Japanese of Korean decent were offered repatriation to Korea. For most, Korea had been a unified country when they left and many dreamed of returning. The new North Korea, however, proved to be exactly what the returnees had not expected. Rich by the standards of North Korea, the previous inhabitants of Japan were stripped of all their belongings soon after arrival and forced to live in poverty. It is this desperate situation that prompts the author to attempt his escape. The way this true story ends is especially profound.
Book Description:
Half-Korean, half-Japanese, Masaji Ishikawa has spent his whole life feeling like a man without a country. This feeling only deepened when his family moved from Japan to North Korea when Ishikawa was just thirteen years old, and unwittingly became members of the lowest social caste. His father, himself a Korean national, was lured to the new Communist country by promises of abundant work, education for his children, and a higher station in society. But the reality of their new life was far from utopian.
In this memoir translated from the original Japanese, Ishikawa candidly recounts his tumultuous upbringing and the brutal thirty-six years he spent living under a crushing totalitarian regime, as well as the challenges he faced repatriating to Japan after barely escaping North Korea with his life. A River in Darkness is not only a shocking portrait of life inside the country but a testament to the dignity—and indomitable nature—of the human spirit.
In this award-winning bilingual children’s book, Yuko-chan saves her village from a devastating volcano. Author and illustrator Sunny Seki takes readers on a journey into ancient Japan and the story behind the famous Daruma Doll.
Yuko-chan, an adventurous blind orphan, is able to do amazing things. She confronts a burglar in the dead of night and crosses treacherous mountain passes to deliver food to hungry people. During her travels, Yuko-chan trips and tumbles down a snowy cliff. She discovers a strange thing as she waits for help: her tea gourd, regardless of how she drops it, always lands right-side-up. The tea has frozen in the bottom of the gourd! Inspired by this, she creates the famous Daruma doll toy, which rights itself when tipped—a true symbol of resilience.
Thanks to Yuko-chan’s invention, the villagers are able to earn a living and feed themselves by selling the dolls. Yuko-chan never gave up, no matter the obstacles she faced, and the Daruma doll is a charming reminder of the power of perseverance.
“Cry when you need to if you have a lot of troubles, but grow up with a kind heart, filled with compassion” —Masahiro Sasaki (brother of Sadako)
Anyone who has been to the Hiroshima Peace Park in Western Japan will remember seeing the Children’s Peace Monument that features Sadako Sasaki standing on top, reaching for the stars. Her famous story can be recited by any Japanese person, and her memorial is constantly heaped with long colorful strands of paper cranes donated by school children and others. But who exactly was Sadako? What was she like before the Atomic Bomb dropped on her city? And why has she been memorialized over the thousands of other children who met the same fate? What is it that made Sadako such an extraordinary child?
This is the story of a civilian family living with the effects of the Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end of WWII. Sadako’s older brother fills in some of the missing information about Sadako’s childhood and her family which are integral to her story. It also tells the significance of cranes and the number ‘one thousand’ and informs how the Children’s Peace Monument came to be. Readers will learn important vocabulary such as hibakusha (survivors of the atomic bomb) and Japanese concepts such as omoiyari-no-kokoro (compassion for all people, no matter what their situation). Paper crane drawings drifting among the pages, and black and white photos of Sadako, her father and brother make for lovely additions to the text. A heartfelt Epilogue written by her brother Masahiro (also an Atomic Bomb survivor) reminds readers why we must all strive for world peace.
For fans of Sujata Massey and her Rei Shimura books, this is the 11th book in the mystery series concerning Rei, a Japanese-American, and her sleuthing in Tokyo. In The Kizuna Coast, Rei travels to Japan just after the 2011 triple disaster to help rescue her antique-dealer friend Mr. Ishida. This is light fiction compared to the other books we’ve highlighted in this issue, so might be a good place to start if you want an introduction to Japan’s Tohoku Earthquake, the volunteers who went up to help, and the aftermath of the event. Oh, and there’s a dog involved whose name is, of course, Hachiko!
About the author:
Sujata Massey is an American author who has bagged the the Agatha and Macavity awards for mystery fiction, as well as the accomplishment of being a finalist for the Edgar, Anthony and Mary Higgins Clark prizes. Her books are published in 18 countries.
“Successfully captures the raw emotions of loss, grief, and what it means to move forward.” —BuzzFeed
A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK FOR TEENS, 2016
BOA’s take: This story is put into the beautiful rhythms of verse that ebb and flow like small waves in a calm sea. This hypnotic cadence is what makes it bearable to read about the destruction and after-effects of one large and powerful wave that destroys, in one yawning gulp, the lives of 18,000 people. Like the A-Bomb art of of the 1970’s that brought humanity to the suffering of victims in Hiroshima, Lowitz’s narrative brings beauty among pathos to the tsunami of March 11, 2011.
Book Description
A powerful novel-in-verse about how one teen boy survives the March 2011 tsunami that devastates his coastal Japanese village. On the day the tsunami strikes, Kai loses nearly everyone and everything he cares about. But a trip to New York to meet kids whose lives were changed by 9/11 gives him new hope and the chance to look for his estranged American father. Visiting Ground Zero on its tenth anniversary, Kai learns that the only way to make something good come out of disaster is to return and rebuild.
Heartrending yet hopeful, Up from the Sea is a story about loss, survival, and starting anew.
Elephants of the Tsunami is based on a true story of rescue and survival. How did the elephants know a tsunami was coming? What did they do to help people? Find out in this beautifully illustrated re-telling of the story involving elephants in Thailand.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book are donated to Tsunami Relief.
Visit the most compelling cultural and nature sites in all of Japan.
In Japan’s World Heritage Sites, readers are introduced to the temples, gardens, castles and natural wonders for which Japan is so justly renowned—all of those now declared to be Unesco World Heritage Sites. Author John Dougill describes each site in detail, stating why they were singled out by Unesco, the current number and types of sites, the application process, how the sites have been selected, and how difficult it is to be given the special status of a World Heritage Site.
Dougill traveled to all of the sites in Japan to research this book. Because the Japanese archipelago extends from Siberia all the way down to Taiwan, Dougill describes how his journey led him from the sub-Arctic to the sub-tropical zones. These are without a doubt the most interesting sites that Japan has to offer, including the following:
Mount Fuji, Japan’s tallest and most sacred volcano. Located on Honshu Island near Tokyo, Mt. Fuji is considered the sacred symbol of Japan
Himeji Castle, a monument from Japan’s long feudal history. Also known as Egret Castle, because it looks like a bird taking off in flight.
Horyu-ji Temple, the world’s oldest surviving wooden structure—a center of Buddhist learning that still serves as a seminary and monastery
Hiroshima Peace Memorial or Atomic-Bomb Dome—one of the few structures to partially survive the atomic blast in 1945
The Ogasawara Islands, a remote archipelago of over 30 islands—including Iwo Jima—that is home to rare wildlife and spectacular scenery
Readers will learn how Japan first became involved with the World Heritage Sites program back in 1993, the importance of these designations, and their popularity in Japan, where they are visited by millions of people annually, both Japanese and foreigners.
Of Japan’s two great religious traditions, Shinto is far less known and understood in the West. Although there are a number of books that explain the religion and its philosophy, this work is the first in English to focus on sites where Shinto has been practiced since the dawn of Japanese history. In an extensive introductory section, authors Joseph Cali and John Dougill delve into the fascinating aspects of Shinto, clarifying its relationship with Buddhism as well as its customs, symbolism, and pilgrimage routes. This is followed by a fully illustrated guide to 57 major Shinto shrines throughout Japan, many of which have been designated World Heritage Sites or National Treasures. In each comprehensive entry, the authors highlight important spiritual and physical features of the individual shrines (architecture, design, and art), associated festivals, and enshrined gods. They note the prayers offered and, for travelers, the best times to visit. With over 125 color photographs and 50 detailed illustrations of archetypical Shinto objects and shrines, this volume will enthrall not only those interested in religion but also armchair travelers and visitors to Japan alike.
Visit the most compelling cultural and nature sites in all of Japan.
