A Tale of Three Memoirs: A Tokyo Romance, by Ian Buruma, Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere by John Nathan and Sarasvati’s Gift: The Autobiography of Mayumi Oda–Artist, Activist, and Modern Buddhist Revolutionary, by Mayumi Oda By Leanne Ogasawara It was Japan before the Bubble. And yet, despite the lack of economic miracles, 1960s Tokyo More…
Tag: reviews
Review—Buddhism and Modernity: Sources from Nineteenth-Century Japan
A valuable source book for Buddhist scholars
A valuable source book for Buddhist scholars
Review—First Person Singular, by Haruki Murakami
It is that so-called “insignificant encounter” that Murakami focuses on to develop beautiful short stories.
It is that so-called “insignificant encounter” that Murakami focuses on to develop beautiful short stories.
Review—Lonely Planet Best Day Hikes Japan
The long-awaited third installment in the series, entitled Best Day Walks Japan (US edition: Best Day Hikes Japan) has been published.
Review by Wes Lang My time in Japan coincides directly with the history of Lonely Planet’s Hiking in Japan guidebook. I arrived on these shores in March of 2001, just one month after the release of the first edition of the guide. I soon picked up a copy of the teal and black cover and More…
Review—Earthlings: A Novel
Opens as a coming-of-age story, evolves into psychological suspense, and settles into dark fantasy and horror.
Grove Press (October 8, 2020) Review by Tina deBellegarde Earthlings by Sayaka Murata (transl. Ginny Tapley Takemori) is a unique literary experience, one that is impossible to pigeonhole into any specific genre. It opens as a coming-of-age story, evolves into psychological suspense, and settles into dark fantasy and horror. As she did in Convenience Store More…
Review—Pearl City: Stories from Japan and Elsewhere
Simon Rowe’s second volume of short-stories on Japan and Asia
Eight short stories from Japan and eight from other countries including Hong Kong, Philippines, Cambodia, Malaysia, France, Austria, Australia and New Zealand
Our Reviewers Pick their Top Books for 2020
We read lots of books here at Books on Asia, so we asked our reviewers to give you their picks for the best books they’ve read this year! For more information on a particular book, click on the book cover. Chad Kohalyk‘s Top Picks Biography The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade More…
Review—Japan in Asia: Post-Cold-War Diplomacy
Is Asia becoming one common, shared culture?
Tanaka Akihiko suggests it may be possible to say that a common culture—what might be called an ‘East Asian way of life’—is emerging, especially among the East Asian urban middle class.
Review—Inaka: Portraits of Life in Rural Japan
In eighteen chapters, this anthology takes an epic journey the length of Japan, from subtropical Okinawa, through the Japanese heartland, all the way to the wilds of Hokkaido.
Review by Renae Lucas-Hall “It’s easy to fall under the spell of rural Japan” is the first sentence in the introduction to this anthology that sets the reader upon a path to enchantment. Each essay acts as a beguiling incantation that will amplify one’s desire to explore the Japanese countryside. If you’re an avid reader More…
Review—The Era of Great Disasters
Recent Release! A fascinating look at three of Japan’s most devastating earthquakes.
The Era of Great Disasters: Japan and Its Three Major Earth Quakes, by Iokibe Makoto (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, July 2020) Review by Amy Chavez Included in the University of Michigan Press ‘Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies,’ The Era of Great Disasters is a scholarly but highly readable text that investigates Japan’s More…
