An anthology to accompany the Spirit of Shizen exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History in Luxembourg
Tag: Japan
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…
Review—Places, by Setouchi Jakuchō
Few authors have led as storied a life as Setouchi Jakuchō. Writer, translator, feminist, peace activist, and Buddhist nun…
“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
A heartbreaking, yet uplifting, story of two outcasts who find and protect each other through a year of school bullying.
Review—Buddhism and Modernity: Sources from Nineteenth-Century Japan
A valuable source book for Buddhist scholars
A valuable source book for Buddhist scholars
First Book—The Short Story Collective
A thirteen-part journey through contemporary Japan taking in themes as disparate as mental illness, Buddhism, the human drive for validation, workplace harassment, cults, tourist pollution, and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A thirteen-part journey through contemporary Japan taking in themes as disparate as mental illness, Buddhism, the human drive for validation, workplace harassment, cults, tourist pollution, and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Review—Structures of Kyoto: Writers in Kyoto Anthology 4
Judith Clancy and Alex Kerr book-end this remarkable publication offering insight into the physical, spiritual and artistic elements of Kyoto.
Review by Renae Lucas-Hall Judith Clancy and Alex Kerr book-end this remarkable anthology (edited by Rebecca Otowa and Karen Lee Tawarayama), a publication offering incredible insight into the physical, spiritual and artistic elements of Kyoto. In the Foreword, Clancy reminisces on the past fifty years she has spent in Japan’s ancient capital, commenting on how More…
Review—The Art of Emptiness
The Art of Emptiness gives the reader insight into one of the most famous lineages of Japanese pottery.
By Chad Kohalyk The Art of Emptiness gives the reader insight into one of the most famous lineages of Japanese pottery. Interviewer Watada Susumu starts off with a seeming digression: Kakiemon—the fourteenth generation heir to the famous Japanese pottery tradition—gives a detailed and insightful description of how to smoke a pipe. The charismatic Sakaida Kakiemon More…
Review—Bullet Train, by Kōtarō Isaka
An action-packed thriller with mature themes exploring the nature of evil, loyalty, mankind’s weaknesses and the morality of killing.
Excerpt—Rainy Day Ramen and the Cosmic Pachinko
Gordon Vanstone hails from Victoria BC, Canada and has a Bachelor of Education from Simon Fraser University. Rainy Day Ramen and the Cosmic Pachinko is his first novel.