Nichi-Yōbi News: Week 4

January is drawing to a close, and sadly this is the penultimate Nichi-Yōbi News - January in Japan will be officially closed in next week's edition :(  But don't despair - we still have a lot more J-Lit fun to get through before then :)

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As always to start off, I'd like to point you in the direction of our Reviews Page - the total is now pushing fifty, and I'm sure there's something there for everyone to enjoy.  Also, this week's J-Lit Giants post was Gary's take on Kobo Abe - if you haven't already done so, please check it out.  I'll be contributing one last post to the series on Wednesday (any guesses?!), so make sure you come back then too :)

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I received a couple of review copies this week, but unfortunately I won't have time to review them for our event.  However, I though this might be a good time to introduce the publisher to those of you who are unaware of their work.  Kurodahan Press is a small publisher based in Japan, with an interesting catalogue of works.  They offer a variety of genres, and perhaps the most interesting books for many people are their Speculative Japan collections (three so far) of Japanese science-fiction and fantasy stories.  I'm not such a fan of those genres myself, but one of the books I received, Osamu Dazai's Blue Bamboo (mentioned in Patrick's J-Lit Giants post!), is more to my taste :)  Take the time to browse the catalogue - you never know what you might find...

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I've been trying to bring you all the J-Lit news over the past few weeks, but who is going to do this when January in Japan has finished?  Well, you could do worse than follow Junbungaku, a blog which concentrates on what is going on in the world of Japanese literature.  Consider this link a public service for those of you who can't cope with going cold turkey ;)

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Finally, I've been doing a lot of thinking about my second giveaway for our event, and in the end I decided that rather than try to attract lots of page views and comments, I would rather use it to reward the people who have taken part.  As a result, I have decided that I will be giving away any J-Lit book (up to the value of approximately AU$15 - I won't quibble about cents!) to one lucky person, sent via the Book Depository (the book, not the person...).

How can you enter?  Many of you already have...  This contest is open (and limited) to anyone who has posted a review (or J-Lit Giants post) on the January in Japan blog.  I will be closing the Review Page linky next weekend, so if you've got your review up and posted by the end of Friday, the 1st of February, you'll be in the draw.  Good luck :)

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That's all for this week, except for a brief reminder about our readalong.  I'll be posting my review of Hiromi Kawakami's The Briefcase next Thursday, and I hope that some of you will be joining me.  I can't wait to see if you had similar feelings to mine...