tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18873312332200974912024-03-06T20:00:30.240+11:00January in JapanA Month of J-Lit WondersAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-20256332414444365632015-02-01T06:00:00.000+11:002015-02-01T06:00:02.113+11:00Nichi-Yōbi News - Sayōnara!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This year, I didn't have time for the weekly <b>Nichi-Yōbi News</b> round-up, so this is the first outing for <b>Momotarō</b> in 2015 - and it's to sign off for this year's edition of <b>January in Japan</b>...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Sad as that may be, there's a lot to look back on, so before we wrap things up, let us remind you of what's been happening over the past month :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The <b>J-Lit Giants</b> are always a big part of the event, and this year has seen the induction of five more greats of Japanese literature into our Hall of Fame. <b><a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/j-lit-giants-13-ryu-murakami.html">Ryū Murakami</a>, <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/j-lit-giants-14-yoriko-shono.html">Yoriko Shono</a>, <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/j-lit-giants-15-fumiko-enchi.html">Fumiko Enchi</a>, <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/j-lit-giants-16-mori-ogai.html">Ogai Mori</a></b> and <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/j-lit-giants-17-keigo-higashino.html"><b>Keigo Higashino</b></a> have all been elevated into the pantheon - many thanks to <b>Morgan</b>, <b>Carola, Louis</b> and <b>Kim</b> for providing these posts :)</span><br />
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We've also had the usual giveaways, and this year four publishers have kindly provided prizes, making thirteen readers very happy :) Thanks again are due to <a href="http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/modern-classics/"><b>Penguin Modern Classics (UK)</b></a>, <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/index.html"><b>Kurodahan Press</b></a>, <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/"><b>Columbia University Press</b></a> and <a href="http://pushkinpress.com/"><b>Pushkin Press</b></a> - and speaking of Pushkin Press, it's time to announce our final winners!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><b>Bullfight </b></i>goes to <b>Paul Fulcher</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><b>The Hunting Gun</b></i> goes to <b>Séamus Duggan</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><b>Life of a Counterfeiter</b></i> goes to <b>Delia</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><b>From the Fatherland, With Love</b></i> goes to <b>Rise</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><i><b>The Whale that Fell in Love with a Submarine</b></i> goes to <b>Juliet</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I'll be emailing you all soon for postal details - thanks again to everyone that took part :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">***** </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This year, once again, we also had two group reads. The first was <b>Hiromi Kawakami's <i>Manazuru</i></b>, and the second was <b>Yasunari Kawabata's<i> The Sound of the Mountain</i></b> - please visit the respective pages (<a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/readalong-one-manazuru-by-hiromi.html"><b>here</b></a> and <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/readalong-two-sound-of-mountain-by.html"><b>here</b></a>) to see some blog reviews and extra bits and pieces (e.g. free online stories and Kawabata's Nobel prize speech!). If anyone is lagging behind, please feel free to add your review to the pages, too ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And speaking of reviews, if anyone has any J-Lit reviews published in January (or early February), please add them to the list on the <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/book-reviews-2015.html"><b>Book Reviews (2015)</b></a> page. I'll be leaving the linky active for another week or two, giving you all time to finish off that last-minute write-up. One more for the road? ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">With that, it's time to say 'sayōnara', or perhaps 'ja mata' ;) Thanks to everyone involved for taking part - maybe we'll see you all again next year...</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-12471839246973446492015-01-30T06:00:00.001+11:002015-01-30T06:00:01.752+11:00J-Lit Giants: 17 - Keigo Higashino<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
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<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Baskerville SemiBold Italic";">With <b>January in Japan</b> fast coming to an end, we just have time for one more writer to be inducted into the J-Lit Giants pantheon, and today's author is a more contemporary choice. I'm not a huge fan of crime fiction, but <b>Kim Forrester</b>, curator of the <a href="http://readingmattersblog.com/"><b>Reading Matters</b></a> blog, is, and in this piece she explains why <b>Keigo Higashino</b> deserves his place in our Hall of Fame :)</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Baskerville SemiBold Italic";">***** </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Baskerville SemiBold Italic"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">If you think crime novels are generally formulaic
whodunits, then you probably haven’t read Japanese writer Keigo Higashino.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Baskerville SemiBold Italic"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Arguably Japan’s biggest
selling crime novelist, Higashino does not follow the normal conventions of the
genre. Like his Scandinavian counterparts, he tends to focus on the bigger
picture: he’s less concerned with <i>who</i> did it, but <i>how</i> they did
it, <i>why</i> they did it and <i>whether they’ll get away with it</i>. His
fast-paced narratives, written in stripped back, practically anorexic prose,<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a> also include a dizzying number of twists and turns, so it
becomes simply impossible to guess what is going to happen next.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Baskerville SemiBold Italic"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Only last month, a major
online bookstore in South Korea — where he is widely translated — named him </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2014/12/328978.html#Link%20to%20news%20story"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Baskerville SemiBold Italic"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">as the year’s top writer</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> based on volume of books
sold and votes by readers. But in the English-speaking world he’s far less well
known… though that is changing.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Higashino was b</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Baskerville SemiBold Italic"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">orn in Osaka on 4 February 1958 (he’ll
celebrate his 57<sup>th</sup> birthday next month). He started writing novels in
his spare time while working as an engineer at an automotive components
manufacturer. According to Wikipedia, he quit his day job in 1985, after he</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> won the annual </span><b><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edogawa_Rampo_Award"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #103cc0; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Edogawa
Rampo Award</span></a></span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> for his unpublished novel <i><b>Hōkago</b> </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">(which has never been translated into
English).<i> </i></span>He was just 27 — and a whole new career had opened up
for him.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">But it took about a decade for his
novels to start garnering significant attention — and sales. After he won the
<b>Mystery Writers of Japan Award</b> in 1998 for his novel<i> <b>Naoko,</b></i> every other
novel since then has been a bestseller. When he won the coveted <b>Naoki Prize</b> in
2006 for <i><b>The Devotion of Suspect X</b>, </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">he really hit the big time: as of February 2012, the book has<i> </i></span>sold
2.7 million copies in Japan alone. It was the first of<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> his novels to be translated into English and it was nominated for</span>
an <b>Edgar Award</b> in 2012.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Higashino served as the 13th President
of </span><b><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Writers_of_Japan"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #103cc0; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Mystery
Writers of Japan</span></a></span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> from 2009 to 2013 — and kept
churning out the stories. He’s incredibly prolific, penning up to two novels
per year. He has more than 50 novels to his name, more than 10 short story
collections and several children’s books — yet just four of his books have been
translated into English.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">He’s best known for his <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Detective Galileo</b> series — which
includes <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Devotion of Suspect X</i>
(translated in 2011), <b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Salvation of a
Saint</i></b> (translated in 2012),</span><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Midsummer's
Equation</span></i></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> (to be translated in late 2015) and
five short story collections (none of which have been translated) — and his <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Police Detective Kaga Series</b>, of which
only one (out of nine), <b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Malice</i></b>
(translated in 2014), has been translated into English.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As for his
influences, </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2011/02/11/is-this-guy-the-next-steig-larsson/" title="Wall Street Journal article"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Baskerville SemiBold Italic"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">in
2011, he told the <i>Wall Street Journal</i></span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Baskerville SemiBold Italic"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">that he
liked some Western writers, but </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“I am much more influenced by
Japanese authors and so my work naturally has that Japanese sense of old-fashioned
loyalty and concern for human feeling.” These <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">influences include the classic Japanese crime writers <b>Edogawa Rampo</b> and
<b>Seicho Matsumoto</b>.</span></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrNCqhBsMacfRDX_3B_GWXEbjmT4uue_v4uaRYSgR9Lp4n4HANitZtCxesOIgbwjPr1BJp49Ao1NSA83nd1tvB1rGMnGQnN8btip01bP3LxVhJC-btJpkOxHbaoMoeQt4PwaBnT4-CKbi4/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Baskerville SemiBold Italic"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The same article asked if
Higashino was the “next Stieg Larsson?” No doubt it was just an
attention-grabbing headline, but the comparison is a reasonable enough one to
make: both are best-selling crime novelists, both write in a language that is
not English and both have had their work adapted for the big screen (<i>The
Devotion of Suspect X</i> has been made into a cult film). But there’s one
important difference: Higashino is alive and well —<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and he continues to pen brilliant crime novels. It’s just a shame
so few of them have been translated into English for us to enjoy.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">So, where to start with Higashino's work? Well,
there are only four to choose from...</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">1.
<i>Naoko</i> (translated by Kerim Yasar, 2004)</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1c1c1c; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> —
The book that </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award
in 1998 </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1c1c1c; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">(and the only one I haven’t read) is
supposedly a surreal story about a man who discovers that this dead wife’s soul
now resides in his teenage daughter’s body. Reviewers have described it as
“quirky” and “profound”.</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">2. <i>The
Devotion of Suspect X</i> (translated by </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1c1c1c; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Alexander O. Smith</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">, 2011)</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> — The book that made him a star,
this is one of the most ingenious crime novels you are ever </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">likely to
read. It’s about a maths teacher </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Baskerville SemiBold Italic";">— “Suspect X” of the
title — who goes to extraordinary lengths to cover up a murder. This is despite
the fact that he is innocent of the crime in question. His motivation is
nothing more than love — and an obsession with mathematical puzzles.</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">3.
<i>Salvation of a Saint</i> (translated by </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1c1c1c; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Alexander O. Smith</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">, 2012)</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> — This is a more straightforward
police procedural, but it’s also a “locked room” mystery. It focuses on a
puzzling crime in which a man is found dead in his empty apartment. He’s lying
face down on the floor with a spilled cup of poisoned coffee next to him. But
who put the poison in his drink? His devoted wife or his wife’s young
assistant, with whom he’d been having an affair?</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">4. <i>Malice</i> (translated
by </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Alexander O.
Smith,</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> 2014)</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> — </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Baskerville SemiBold Italic"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">His latest novel to be
translated into English, it</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> tells the story of
three men: two professional rivals, one of whom murders the other, and the
police detective who investigates the crime. It’s another “locked room”
mystery because the murder was carried out in in a locked office within a
locked house, so how did the killer get inside? But as the investigation
unfolds, it becomes a fast-paced cat-and-mouse game between the detective and
his chief suspect, who both take it in turns to narrate their version of
events.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The good news is that a new one in the
Detective Galileo series — <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Midsummer's
Equation</i> — will be published in English later this year.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">*****</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><i>Thanks for that Kim, a wonderful introduction to a very popular - and successful - writer. Has anyone out there tried Higashino's work? Are you as big a fan as Kim is? As always, please let us know :)</i></span></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-56303491248702974312015-01-29T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-29T06:00:02.376+11:00Readalong Two: 'The Sound of the Mountain' by Yasunari Kawabata<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF50oZOtCqY24dDgluzYnoatybHT6OfyGEEXv8NaYHA7r0Mupl2wMQNZhu-gNdC6QHxAQMOBHkbd18BWV7J2n8QYetqVAdC2AUmg85HJMzvPIxtM7MGpfknz5UU0Vj9WGhHdy2GF0rwBlF/s1600/IMG_3847.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF50oZOtCqY24dDgluzYnoatybHT6OfyGEEXv8NaYHA7r0Mupl2wMQNZhu-gNdC6QHxAQMOBHkbd18BWV7J2n8QYetqVAdC2AUmg85HJMzvPIxtM7MGpfknz5UU0Vj9WGhHdy2GF0rwBlF/s1600/IMG_3847.JPG" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">After trying a modern novel for our first group read, it's time to move on to something a little more classic for the second one, and Nobel Prize winner <b>Yasunari Kawabata</b> is most certainly one of the big names in modern Japanese literature, <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/j-lit-giants-10-yasunari-kawabata.html">with his seat in our own pantheon secure</a> :) <i><b>The Sound of the Mountain</b></i> is my favourite Kawabata work - I hope you all liked it too...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I looked online to see what I could point you towards, but there isn't much freely available (at least not from legal sources...). I did find a few interesting bits and pieces, though... </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="https://merespace.wordpress.com/2008/08/27/the-grasshopper-and-the-bell-cricket/">'The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket'</a> </b>(tr. unknown)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/japan_1950_kawabata.htm"><b>'The Pomegranate'</b></a> (tr. <b>Edward Seidensticker</b>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1968/kawabata-lecture.html"><b>'Japan, the Beautiful and Myself'</b></a> (tr. <b>Edward Seidensticker</b>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> - Kawabata's Nobel Prize acceptance speech</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I trust you all enjoyed the book - here are a few questions I thought might interest you:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1) Is Shingo's lack of interference in his children's lives justified or lazy?</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">2) Why do you think Fusako is so angry with her father?</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">3) Is there a special connection between Shingo and Kikuko, or is it all in his mind?</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">4) Do you think Shingo and Yasuko have a good marriage? Why (not)?</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b>5) Why has Kawabata placed such an emphasis on Shingo's dreams?</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Feel
free to leave comments below, or on any of the reviews of the book - and
speaking of reviews... Please use the linky below to post links to
your review of the novel! As we know what the book is, just put your
blog name in the first space and the link in the second. Let's see how you found this one ;)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<link href="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/styles/default.css" media="all" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/loc_en.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/opt_defaults.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/misterlinky.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?mode=standard&owner=TonysReadingList&postid=24Jan2015" type="text/javascript"></script>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-68018663499649906582015-01-26T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-26T06:00:03.090+11:00J-Lit Giants: 16 - Mori Ogai<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ls8HNK3L81m_YKB_DY9WODEetDbwbXpT5lK6aBwQbCIsVMHTSoUntb20tcIiMExA3DwXyhI5TDFHQAcKl0y1LgPvSvMeCia-V85od6sTTUKj1GQvlsof8-W1ckUnk-_5MnYPQUv5s1cY/s1600/Mori+Ogai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ls8HNK3L81m_YKB_DY9WODEetDbwbXpT5lK6aBwQbCIsVMHTSoUntb20tcIiMExA3DwXyhI5TDFHQAcKl0y1LgPvSvMeCia-V85od6sTTUKj1GQvlsof8-W1ckUnk-_5MnYPQUv5s1cY/s1600/Mori+Ogai.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><i>While <b>Natsume Soseki</b> is often regarded as the first great modern Japanese writer, there was one author who preceded him, both in his writing and in his travels abroad. <a href="https://twitter.com/louisbravos"><b>Louis Bravos</b></a>, a Melburnian Japanese-to-English translator, uses today's post to introduce a man who was a contemporary of, and an influence on, the great Soseki. Read on to find out more...</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Mori Ogai</b> was not the first Japanese
writer-translator - since writing came from China, Japanese writers have always
been translators - nor is he the most famous (that honour would go to <b>Haruki
Murakami</b>), but along with <b>Natsume Soseki</b>, Mori played an important part in
shifting the focus of Japanese literature, in line with the Meiji era policy of
</span>脱亜入欧<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language: JA;">, a shift in Japanese foreign policy from Asia to Europe.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language: JA;">Mori Ogai
was born Mori Rintaro in Tsuwano, in Iwami Province on February 17th, 1862. The
eldest son of a family of army physicians, he carried on the family trade,
learning medicine, Dutch and western philosophy. After the Meiji Restoration
saw the abolition of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">han</i> system
of feudal domains, Mori's family moved to Tokyo, where he began to learn German
- the language of medicine at the time. After enlisting in the army as a
surgeon, he was sent to Germany in 1884. Upon returning to Japan, he began to
publish medical journals, and also started to show an interest in Japanese
literature, publishing short stories, editing a literary journal and producing
translations of European classics by authors including Goethe and Ibsen.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language: JA;">His
literary work is described as "anti-realist", reflecting the emotional
and spiritual rather than the actual. His early works, including <i><b>The Dancing
Girl</b></i> and <i><b>Seinen (The Young Men)</b><b>,</b><b> </b></i>bear a resemblance to the work of contemporary
Natsume Soseki, with the added influence of Ogai's time in Germany and his
reading of European classics. Many of his own literary works act as critical
studies of his own translations, particularly in his early career. His later
work veered more towards historical fiction, set in the 17th and 18th century,
as well as some biography and criticism. <i><b>Takasebune (The Boat on the Takase
River</b></i>), one of Mori's later works, tells the story of a boat carrying prisoners
from Kyoto to Osaka for exile, and despite cold critical reception at the time
due to its theme of euthanasia, it is now perhaps one of his most famous works.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language: JA;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuxw3pkN_LeETRMJg_IS9bFRD_3VGJ1_tSFMDtxJ5l6o8AID6IUPfZpRpOxYFk-5N_rTbtEi05PrEFGpbuPCrJHebezss648J9TVsMoJgPsM-dRn_RrkSqwHR4PY03gM5R8P1tv39sWtEd/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuxw3pkN_LeETRMJg_IS9bFRD_3VGJ1_tSFMDtxJ5l6o8AID6IUPfZpRpOxYFk-5N_rTbtEi05PrEFGpbuPCrJHebezss648J9TVsMoJgPsM-dRn_RrkSqwHR4PY03gM5R8P1tv39sWtEd/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language: JA;">Mori's work
in English translation is not easy to find - there are some stories in
collections, and large libraries might have ancient copies of one or two of his
novels, but if you can find them, they're a great companion to Natsume Soseki
and give a great insight into Japan as it was opening up to the world. Here's
my pick of the bunch:</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language: JA;">1) <b><i>The Dancing Girl</i></b>, Mori's first published
story, describing an affair between a Japanese man and a German dancer, is a
sort of <i>Madame Butterfly</i> in reverse. The Japanese man, in Berlin studying, must
choose between his career and his feelings for the dancer, who he has made
pregnant.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language: JA;">2) Mori's
most famous - or perhaps infamous - novel, <i><b>Vita Sexualis</b></i>, is an erotic tale of a
philosopher coming to terms with his sexuality. Though banned almost
immediately after its publication on grounds of obscenity, the novel actually
doesn't describe any sex, instead casting a philosophical eye over Meiji Period
moral struggles with sexuality.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language: JA;">3) <i><b>The Wild
Goose</b></i> (occasionally translated as <i><b>The Wild Geese</b></i>), however, is Mori at his best, and
Finlay Lloyd's beautiful edition of <b>Meredith McKinney's</b> new translation,
published in 2014, allows the subtle nuances of the original to shine. <i>The Wild
Goose</i> is a sort of Meiji Period <i>Lost In Translation</i>, where an old moneylender
sets up house for his young mistress, who, feeling empty, lonely and rejected
in her new world, looks for companionship in a young medical student about to
leave for Germany.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language: JA;"><i>Another excellent introduction to a great Japanese writer, one who, once again, isn't quite as well known as he might be. I've read a different translation of <b>The Wild Geese</b>, and after looking at Louis' piece, I also tried <b>'The Dancing Girl'</b> (and enjoyed it!). If anyone has any comments on these, or other, books, you know what to do - comments, please ;)</i></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-42105367256055115612015-01-23T06:00:00.000+11:002015-02-01T11:30:43.550+11:00Golden Kin-Yōbi: 4 - Pushkin Press<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCn69hPOS4_ZrBPYEA1LMLm94AZMI845bz09N6mI4O8U2QYv46g8EioP1If7u3Nu9fFoea9UVBaJzRhkdvDgst5MU5dQYRszC_UM0WPRfa3eweePi35xkDiCCovEnPylFXh6DuDkWtVCbq/s1600/Golden.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCn69hPOS4_ZrBPYEA1LMLm94AZMI845bz09N6mI4O8U2QYv46g8EioP1If7u3Nu9fFoea9UVBaJzRhkdvDgst5MU5dQYRszC_UM0WPRfa3eweePi35xkDiCCovEnPylFXh6DuDkWtVCbq/s1600/Golden.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Welcome to <b>Golden Kin-Yōbi</b>,
our regular Friday giveaway where you can win some great J-Lit. Why
the name? Well, as some of you may know, the first character used in
Japanese when writing Friday means 'gold', and hopefully many of you
will strike gold over the next few weeks :)</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's Week Four of our giveaways, and today's is a bumper one. The wonderful people over at <a href="http://pushkinpress.com/"><b>Pushkin Press</b></a> are providing <b>five books as prizes, including worldwide postage</b>, so you've got a great chance of being amongst the winners this time ;)</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGbPcRe7DrOh25U7VaQYzDbhdVtmCZQQ-DlHDptOJ0tlNBcuAqH2guWLOfhQAntKiU0I1wtgR8eZYcLlK_dyvWihT5_XlLuLBepl0qhLbRHqx9Xs4RBpZgxB_Pcb7nBZvRmAV5z1NtnMZM/s1600/IMG_5142.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGbPcRe7DrOh25U7VaQYzDbhdVtmCZQQ-DlHDptOJ0tlNBcuAqH2guWLOfhQAntKiU0I1wtgR8eZYcLlK_dyvWihT5_XlLuLBepl0qhLbRHqx9Xs4RBpZgxB_Pcb7nBZvRmAV5z1NtnMZM/s1600/IMG_5142.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The first three prizes are from the series of books by <b>Yasushi Inoue</b> which Pushkin have recently brought out. Beautifully colour-coded, we have <a href="http://pushkinpress.com/book/bullfight/"><i><b>Bullfight</b></i></a> (red), a novella about an attempt to liven up post-war Osaka; <a href="http://pushkinpress.com/book/life-of-a-counterfeiter/"><i><b>Life of a Counterfeiter</b></i></a> (yellow), three of Inoue's short stories; and <a href="http://pushkinpress.com/book/the-hunting-gun/"><i><b>The Hunting Gun</b></i></a> (green), a story of lost love told in three letters, a classic of modern J-Lit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In addition, to those three, we have two very different books on offer. One is a children's book from the <b>Pushkin Children's</b> imprint, Pushkin's latest J-Lit release. <b>Akiyuki Nosaka's <i>The Whale that Fell in Love with a Submarine</i></b> is a collection of war-tinged stories suitable for older children (one I'll be reviewing soon). The other is definitely *not* suitable for kids - in <b>Ryu Murakami's <a href="http://pushkinpress.com/book/from-the-fatherland-with-love-2/"><i>From the Fatherland, with Love</i></a></b>, a story of a North Korean invasion of Japan, there are a whole host of adult themes ;) <b>Please note that this prize will be the paperback edition, not the hardback one pictured. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyxoSdXudrD6jNFOFuIPUHgEfc6AXEbddWdlZhpUIHkyIEstceLdbK_2laRfDN_ldLGcGMyutI-8w-qLorK6Qph1m6-xl64MNEKg1LaOA2bmM6CRQcgDmr-cmUcr_SyBVBUmiSophQ1pQ/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyxoSdXudrD6jNFOFuIPUHgEfc6AXEbddWdlZhpUIHkyIEstceLdbK_2laRfDN_ldLGcGMyutI-8w-qLorK6Qph1m6-xl64MNEKg1LaOA2bmM6CRQcgDmr-cmUcr_SyBVBUmiSophQ1pQ/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So, if you'd like to win one of these books, <b>simply comment below, leaving your name, an e-mail address and the name of the book you'd like to win</b>.
There's no need to follow me, either here, on Facebook or on Twitter
(unless you want to, of course!) - anyone can enter, and everyone has an
equal chance of winning :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Entries will close at <b>8 p.m. (AEST) on <strike>Thursday, January the 29th</strike> </b>extended to <b>Saturday, the 31st of January </b>(that's
9 a.m. on <strike>Thursday</strike> Saturday, London time), and the winners will be announced in
the next Golden Kin-Yōbi post (the winners, naturally, will be chosen entirely randomly, one way or another). So, what are you
waiting for? Get commenting, and good luck!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And, of course, we need to announce the winners of last week's prizes!</span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<br />
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One copy of <i><b>Ground Zero, Nagasaki</b></i> goes to <b>Rathi Dwi</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The second copy goes to <b>Carola</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I will be in contact with the winners shortly - thanks again to <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/"><b>Columbia University Press</b></a> for providing some great prizes :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-89316906016230945762015-01-21T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-21T06:00:02.516+11:00J-Lit Giants: 15 - Fumiko Enchi<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We're back with another <b>J-Lit Giant</b>, and today's post looks at a writer who, while not exactly unknown in the West, still hasn't got the readership she deserves. The person attempting to change that is <b>Carola</b>, a Dutch blogger with a background in Japanese studies, whose work can be seen over at the <b><a href="http://blog.brilliantyears.net/">brilliant years</a> </b>site. Take it away, Carola ;)</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">***** </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">These days <b>Fumiko Enchi</b> (1905-1986)
is perhaps the most well-known female author among the classics. Born in Tokyo,
she was brought up with lessons in English, French and Chinese literature, and
frequented the Kabuki theatre as a child. So it is no surprise that her first
piece of writing was in fact a play, the one-act <b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Furusato</i></b> (<i><b>Birthplace</b></i>) in 1926. She continued to write plays in
the Twenties, and they were positively received.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Enchi, however, did not start writing
novels until after the birth of her daughter in 1930, and she was not having
such an easy time then. Her first book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><b>Sambun
Ren’ai</b></i>,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>appeared in 1936, but her novels did not receive the same attention
as her plays. On top of that, she suffered from cancer and post-surgical
complications and lost her possessions in an air raid in 1945.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNqe_fPd-7ZHU5dv8MCsQImfug4jPTjYFS84cH_MqAcJid9nMEcqs2E_gIK_KuMF_x5D8AJUFVV450O20afwuJJkOoDhZyE5YIR-PPGUb6l2PWmCa0uoaLxUQDdon0AXuxmhvOeiwrum7F/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNqe_fPd-7ZHU5dv8MCsQImfug4jPTjYFS84cH_MqAcJid9nMEcqs2E_gIK_KuMF_x5D8AJUFVV450O20afwuJJkOoDhZyE5YIR-PPGUb6l2PWmCa0uoaLxUQDdon0AXuxmhvOeiwrum7F/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It wasn't until after the war that
her works were received favourably. In 1953, she won the <b>Women’s Literature Prize</b>
for her work <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><b>Himoji Tsukihi</b> </i>(<i><b>Starving
Days</b></i>). What is especially interesting about her work is that she embraces
Japanese traditional values and borrows from the classics, but at the same time
much of her work is surprisingly modern and feminist. It is the women who star
in her books, and they are well-rounded characters, both psychological and sensitive,
but also definitely in a sensual way.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Enchi continued to win prizes with
her novels, the most impressive being the <b>Order of Culture</b> in 1985, awarded by
Emperor Hirohito, just a year before Enchi died.</span><i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b></i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Masks</span></b></i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> (1958)
is perhaps Enchi’s best known work in the western world and the first to get
translated into English. A widow's mother-in-law manipulates the relationship
between the young woman and the two men in love with her. The mother-in-law is
based on Lady Rokujo from the classical <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><b>Genji
Monogatari</b> </i>(<i><b>The Tale of Genji</b></i>).</span><i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></b></i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Waiting Years </span></b></i><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">(1949–1957) won Enchi the <b>Noma Prize for Literature</b> in 1957. A young
woman, Tomo, is married to a government official. Soon she has to accept her husband taking a mistress and is even forced<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a> to pick
him one... and then another, and another...</span><i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></b></i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">A Tale of False Fortunes </span></b></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">gives an alternative account of the classical <b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eiga Monogatari</i> </b>(<i><b>Story of Splendour</b></i>), which is believed to have
been originally written by several authors over a period of nearly a hundred
years, from 1028–1107.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During her
career, Enchi regularly translated classics, such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Genji Monogatari</i>, into Japanese, so this adaptation is
definitely an interesting work.</span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">*****</span></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Many thanks to Carola for the great introduction to Enchi's life and works :) I'd only previously tried a couple of short stories, but I recently read <b>Masks</b> and can definitely recommend it. Hopefully, there'll be some more (re)translations appearing soon...</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;">Has anyone out there tried any of these (or other) Enchi books? If so, please share your views on her work in the comments area - we'd love to hear what you have to say :)<b><br /></b></span></span></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-82431195087023285022015-01-16T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-16T06:00:00.537+11:00Golden Kin-Yōbi: 3 - Columbia University Press<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCn69hPOS4_ZrBPYEA1LMLm94AZMI845bz09N6mI4O8U2QYv46g8EioP1If7u3Nu9fFoea9UVBaJzRhkdvDgst5MU5dQYRszC_UM0WPRfa3eweePi35xkDiCCovEnPylFXh6DuDkWtVCbq/s1600/Golden.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCn69hPOS4_ZrBPYEA1LMLm94AZMI845bz09N6mI4O8U2QYv46g8EioP1If7u3Nu9fFoea9UVBaJzRhkdvDgst5MU5dQYRszC_UM0WPRfa3eweePi35xkDiCCovEnPylFXh6DuDkWtVCbq/s1600/Golden.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Welcome to <b>Golden Kin-Yōbi</b>,
our regular Friday giveaway where you can win some great J-Lit. Why
the name? Well, as some of you may know, the first character used in
Japanese when writing Friday means 'gold', and hopefully many of you
will strike gold over the next few weeks :)</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Our giveaway today is thanks to <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/ground-zero-nagasaki/9780231171168"><b>Columbia University Press</b></a>, and they have kindly offered <b>two copies of a new publication as prizes, including worldwide postage to the winners</b>
- and it's a book I'm keen to get my hands on myself :)</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ5pLxHZ7WY3lyJuXFXVVUGqLUTPVdsLtaQbHPJuZdFrtvwPPpO4eip6pvmhBdqpC4Vz4ZJWII0_lqNUVa5MhS9OLtQJbyZW_5c55O61PmK7v7Ppm-1eCkeH8P1xU6Apq6KMitRDJza1aX/s1600/Nagasaki.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ5pLxHZ7WY3lyJuXFXVVUGqLUTPVdsLtaQbHPJuZdFrtvwPPpO4eip6pvmhBdqpC4Vz4ZJWII0_lqNUVa5MhS9OLtQJbyZW_5c55O61PmK7v7Ppm-1eCkeH8P1xU6Apq6KMitRDJza1aX/s1600/Nagasaki.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The prize being offered today is <b>Yuichi Serai's</b> collection of short stories, <i><b>Ground Zero, Nagasaki</b></i>. The book features six tales set in contemporary Nagasaki, each of which is permeated by the events of 1945. According to <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/ground-zero-nagasaki/9780231171168">the publisher's description</a>, the stories have a strong Catholic influence (Nagasaki was one of the centres of the original Christian movement in 16th-Century Japan), which reminds me of the work of <b>Shusaku Endo</b>. Serai won the <b>Akutagawa Prize</b> for another of his works, and this book won the <b>Ito</b> and <b>Tanizaki Prizes</b> - definitely a book which will appeal to many,</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyxoSdXudrD6jNFOFuIPUHgEfc6AXEbddWdlZhpUIHkyIEstceLdbK_2laRfDN_ldLGcGMyutI-8w-qLorK6Qph1m6-xl64MNEKg1LaOA2bmM6CRQcgDmr-cmUcr_SyBVBUmiSophQ1pQ/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyxoSdXudrD6jNFOFuIPUHgEfc6AXEbddWdlZhpUIHkyIEstceLdbK_2laRfDN_ldLGcGMyutI-8w-qLorK6Qph1m6-xl64MNEKg1LaOA2bmM6CRQcgDmr-cmUcr_SyBVBUmiSophQ1pQ/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So, if you'd like to win a copy, <b>simply comment below, leaving your name and e-mail address</b>.
There's no need to follow me, either here, on Facebook or on Twitter
(unless you want to, of course!) - anyone can enter, and everyone has an
equal chance of winning :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Entries will close at <b>8 p.m. (AEST) on Thursday, January the 22nd </b>(that's
9 a.m. on Thursday, London time), and the winners will be announced in
the next Golden Kin-Yōbi post (the winners, naturally, will be chosen entirely randomly, one way or another). So, what are you
waiting for? Get commenting, and good luck!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And, of course, we need to announce the winners of last week's prizes!</span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b>Rivers</b></i> goes to <b>rhonda</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b>The Early Cases of Akechi Kogoro</b></i> goes to <b>kimbofo</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I will be in contact with the winners shortly - thanks again to <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/index.html"><b>Kurodahan Press</b></a> for providing some great prizes :)</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-1398554274849897332015-01-15T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-15T07:38:50.901+11:00Readalong One: 'Manazuru' by Hiromi Kawakami<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2swms5U-lkRJhxHvTHsxBIXUCNmPlaZaTszE4EdPNfo8ZBynF78UaYuqNeV0MAgcwnTkiEKiWTseZ7WPRopl9dYkkVui2Gir0L43ngIWjObhW4Q52usQu3Eft7q1IEMluUz3f5v6Tn1bC/s1600/IMG_5154.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2swms5U-lkRJhxHvTHsxBIXUCNmPlaZaTszE4EdPNfo8ZBynF78UaYuqNeV0MAgcwnTkiEKiWTseZ7WPRopl9dYkkVui2Gir0L43ngIWjObhW4Q52usQu3Eft7q1IEMluUz3f5v6Tn1bC/s1600/IMG_5154.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Two years ago, during the first edition of <b>January in Japan</b>, my group read choice was <b>Hiromi Kawakami's</b> understated novel <i><b>The Briefcase</b></i>, a book relating a May-to-December relationship between a thirty-something woman and a former high-school teacher (the book later came out in a British edition under the title <i><b>Strange Weather in Tokyo</b></i>). It was a fairly successful choice, so I was happy to go back to Kawakami for <i><b>Manazuru</b></i>, the first of this year's group reads. I wonder if this one was as successful...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">***** </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As far as I'm aware, the two books mentioned above are the only ones to appear in English so far - which is not to say that there's nothing else out there. You'd be surprised what you can find if you look hard enough...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">During my travels through the net, I managed to stumble across a few short stories available for free:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://wordswithoutborders.org/article/record-of-a-night-too-brief"><b>'Record of a Night Too Brief</b>'</a>, translated by Lucy North (Words Without Borders)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.theparisreview.org/fiction/5482/mogera-wogura-hiromi-kawakami">'Mogera Wogura'</a></b>, translated by Michael Emmerich (Paris Review)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2012/january/palace-dragon-king#.VJoq2fPoKA">'In the Palace of the Dragon King'</a></b>, translated by Michael Emmerich (World Literature Today)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.granta.com/New-Writing/God-Bless-You-2011">'God Bless You'</a></b>, translated by Ted Goossen and Motoyuki Shibata (Granta)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In addition, I found <a href="http://www.granta.com/New-Writing/Hiromi-Kawakami-The-Granta-Podcast-Ep.-88">an interview</a> where Kawakami talks about a text ('Blue Moon') which appears in the <i><b>Granta 127: Japan</b></i> edition (the piece, sadly, does not appear online).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">That should keep you busy for a while ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So, onto the main event :) What did you all think of <i>Manazuru</i>? Here are a few questions you might like to ponder:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1) How much can we trust Kei as a narrator? In what way is she perhaps less than reliable?</span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">2) Would you agree that there are a lot of pent-up emotions felt by all the main characters in the book?</span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">3) How effective do you feel the 'otherwordly' sections are?</span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">4) What did you think of the character of the female 'spirit'?</span></b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">5) For those who had read The Briefcase first: how did you feel about the difference between the two books?</span></b></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Feel free to leave comments below, or on any of the reviews of the book - and speaking of reviews... Please use the linky below to post links to your review of the book! As we know what the book is, just put your blog name in the first space and the link in the second.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I can't wait to see what you all thought...</span><br />
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<link href="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/styles/default.css" media="all" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/loc_en.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/opt_defaults.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/misterlinky.js"></script><script src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?mode=standard&owner=TonysReadingList&postid=12Jan2015" type="text/javascript"></script>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-4461780573877403172015-01-14T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-14T06:00:00.873+11:00J-Lit Giants: 14 - Yoriko Shōno<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-xKVIN49m0JQk-8CxX-bIJqupPi9gd8Lcg60G2fh4jJS01d5ntYPIq3sNbct30YmlycwFEEV6KhW3DWSW3BHBFR0JtcZgnRQ4AStv9bDxZeeeU_FzJV0VHwREpBRYpJ2cfL-tfq8HGw7b/s1600/Yoriko+Shono.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-xKVIN49m0JQk-8CxX-bIJqupPi9gd8Lcg60G2fh4jJS01d5ntYPIq3sNbct30YmlycwFEEV6KhW3DWSW3BHBFR0JtcZgnRQ4AStv9bDxZeeeU_FzJV0VHwREpBRYpJ2cfL-tfq8HGw7b/s1600/Yoriko+Shono.jpg" height="320" width="253" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Today sees the first of our guest posts for the 2015 <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/other-posts.html"><b>J-Lit Giants</b></a> series, introducing a writer whose work (unfortunately) hasn't made it into English yet. <b>Morgan Giles</b>, translator and occasional blogger, makes the case for publishing a writer with an impressive track record on the Japanese literary prize scene and some intriguing-sounding books</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> under her belt :)</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">***** </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Yoriko Shōno</b> is a giant of Japanese
literature, the only author ever to win all three major prizes for new writers,
and yet you’ve probably never heard of her. Her ‘avant-pop’ masterpieces remain
untranslated. Thirty four years after her debut, Shōno is, in the words of her
publishers, ‘the guardian deity of Japanese literature, and the eternal newcomer.'</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Maybe it’s because her career hasn’t had
the usual trajectory. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Gothic";">Born in 1956, </span><span lang="EN-US">Shōno</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Gothic";"> began writing while
studying law at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. </span><span lang="EN-US">After
her 1981 debut <i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Paradise</b></i> (</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Gothic";">‘Gokuraku’) won the Gunzo New Writers Prize, she
did not publish much and what she did publish attracted curiously little
attention. But after a decade in the wilderness, </span><span lang="EN-US">Shōno</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Gothic";"> returned to the forefront of the literary scene
in a big way. Between 1991 and 1994, she won the Noma Literary Prize for New
Writers, the Yukio Mishima Prize, and the Akutagawa Prize. Those ‘triple crown’
winning works, <i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Not Doing Anything</b></i>
(‘Nani mo shitenai’), <i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Two-Hundredth
Death Anniversary</b></i> (‘Ni-hyaku-kai-ki’), and <i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Time Warp Industrial Complex</b></i> (‘Taimu surippu konbinaato’)
cemented </span><span lang="EN-US">Shōno’s</span><span lang="EN-US"> reputation as an elegantly inventive postmodernist and
occasional autofictionalist.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Shōno writes lucidly and poetically in a
way that makes the strange seem perfectly reasonable,</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Gothic";"> slipping her characters into languid dream worlds before
taking them on a detour into slapstick humor and rampant paranoia. Her
narrators frequently bear a resemblance to her (unattractive, single,
middle-aged female writers without money or fame), calling to mind the Japanese
tradition of the “I-novel”, which </span><span lang="EN-US">Shōno subverts in
order to explore her main themes: gender and feminism. Her background as a law
student, she says, is the main influence on her writing, making her question
the supposedly “logical” and giving her subjective reality higher importance.
She also uses mystical elements, from the Izanagi-Izanami origin story to
Shinto and Buddhist traditions, to interrogate the role of women in Japanese
society.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">In <i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Time Warp Industrial Complex</b></i>, a writer is awakened from a dream about being
in love with a tuna fish by a phone call from a man she does not know and is
sent off to Umishibaura, a railway station at the end of a line near Tokyo Bay.
To one side of the station is a Toshiba factory; to the other side is the sea.
As she makes her way there, the past and present merge and the writer finds
herself both in “the scene of what’s left after everything is over” and the
industrial town she grew up in. A personal meditation on Japan’s Bubble Era, Shōno
depicts “the conflict between illusion and brutal reality” both in love and
economics.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtD_pPEYnDAovxec6ZgTiOMjGL7Uisrlh0eSfgEbOM_O9t0ak3lFgbvsDbl5g5IDROXKVUidyCKDaYEUFvEx2YXH-FV4PN1BNJZrMSHy1p-us0RAc1Nz51gu63tXjtrHdfDlvtnDNOCW5V/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtD_pPEYnDAovxec6ZgTiOMjGL7Uisrlh0eSfgEbOM_O9t0ak3lFgbvsDbl5g5IDROXKVUidyCKDaYEUFvEx2YXH-FV4PN1BNJZrMSHy1p-us0RAc1Nz51gu63tXjtrHdfDlvtnDNOCW5V/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Shōno has continued to invent and define
her own world through writing; her 2004 novel <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>Konpira</i> </b>(</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Gothic";">‘Kompira’),
winner of the Ito Sei Prize, is about a female writer much like </span><span lang="EN-US">Shōno </span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Gothic";">who comes to
the realization that she is the Hindu crocodile god Kumbhira, adopted in Japan
as Konpira, the Buddhist guardian of those at sea. In a review, her fellow
postmodernist, <b>Gen’ichiro Takahashi</b>, echoed </span><span lang="EN-US">Shōno’s
feelings about her own writing when he </span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Gothic";">wrote that, “To be Konpira is to believe. It is
to offer ultrapersonal prayers. Prayer is not an illusion. It needs no
interpretation or metaphor.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Gothic";">Her most
recent work, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i>Record of a Non-Illness:
Collagen Disorder, “Mixed Connective Tissue Disease”</i> </b>(</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #292f33; letter-spacing: .2pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Gothic";">‘Mi-tōbyō-ki ――
kōgenbyō, “kongō seiketsu gōsoshiki<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>byō” no’)</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Gothic";">, won the 2014 Noma Prize for </span><span lang="EN-US">Shōno’s</span><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Gothic";"> depiction of
the realities of life with a chronic autoimmune disease. In her comments after
winning the prize, she said, “I’ve been referred to as having become critical
of neoliberalism or said to have written about the nuclear state before the
2011 disaster, but I have only one simple rule: I write about what I see, and
when I can’t write I write about why I can’t…. Ten years ago I was diagnosed with
an incurable disease with little hope…. And now twenty three years later [after
her 1991 Noma Prize for New Writers win], I have received the prize I always
hoped for! Is this the irony of fate? No, this is divine will!”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="background: white; color: #252525; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Gothic";">If there is
such a thing as divine will, someday we’ll see Yoriko </span><span lang="EN-US">Shōno’s
writing in English. Until then, an excerpt from the beginning of <i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Time Warp Complex</b></i> is all we have.
Konpira, save us.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">*****</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Some Interesting Links:</span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Time+Warp+Complex.-a089928975">An Excerpt from <i>Time Warp Complex</i></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">An Interview with Yoriko Shōno: (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070117190907/http://www.centerforbookculture.org/review/02_2_inter/interview_shono.html">Review of Contemporary Fiction, June 2002</a>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">J-Lit profile: (<a href="http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/authors/cjw/item/503-yoriko-shono">Books from Japan</a>)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">*****</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><i>Many thanks to Morgan for her excellent introduction to a Japanese writer overlooked by the English-speaking publishing world (alas, one of far too many). If any publishers out there have had their interest piqued by this short biography, you know who to call ;)<b><br /></b></i></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-79317233164095704922015-01-09T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-09T06:00:03.479+11:00Golden Kin-Yōbi: 2 - Kurodahan Press<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCn69hPOS4_ZrBPYEA1LMLm94AZMI845bz09N6mI4O8U2QYv46g8EioP1If7u3Nu9fFoea9UVBaJzRhkdvDgst5MU5dQYRszC_UM0WPRfa3eweePi35xkDiCCovEnPylFXh6DuDkWtVCbq/s1600/Golden.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCn69hPOS4_ZrBPYEA1LMLm94AZMI845bz09N6mI4O8U2QYv46g8EioP1If7u3Nu9fFoea9UVBaJzRhkdvDgst5MU5dQYRszC_UM0WPRfa3eweePi35xkDiCCovEnPylFXh6DuDkWtVCbq/s1600/Golden.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Welcome to <b>Golden Kin-Yōbi</b>,
our regular Friday giveaway where you can win some great J-Lit. Why
the name? Well, as some of you may know, the first character used in
Japanese when writing Friday means 'gold', and hopefully many of you
will strike gold over the next few weeks :)</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This week's contest has <b>two books as prizes, including worldwide postage to the winners</b>, and this time they are kindly provided by <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/"><b>Kurodahan Press</b></a>, a small publisher based in Japan which breathes new life into gems which may otherwise have passed us by.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguMiQJqCU8laPyewjTaNDFPfVTFFXaxnpNr-Ox0NutelOGlTg5U5lTZ57_RfBkeaHzlUR6smMINbAu6FFXeQ2WBa7GxaW3j21-5rmFPr26Tuh1oGZU65I1f7i0BGlNiXyH6j_nrmIjNT-q/s1600/IMG_5137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguMiQJqCU8laPyewjTaNDFPfVTFFXaxnpNr-Ox0NutelOGlTg5U5lTZ57_RfBkeaHzlUR6smMINbAu6FFXeQ2WBa7GxaW3j21-5rmFPr26Tuh1oGZU65I1f7i0BGlNiXyH6j_nrmIjNT-q/s1600/IMG_5137.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The first offering is <b>Teru Miyamoto's</b> <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/catalog/jp0061cate.html#more"><i><b>Rivers</b></i></a>, a loose trilogy of stories set between 1955 and 1969. The three stories (two of which took out the prestigious <b>Osamu Dazai</b> and <b>Akutagawa Prizes</b>) look at boys of different ages growing up in the post-war era. I read this recently, and as you can see from <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/rivers-by-teru-miyamoto-review.html">my review</a>, it's a book I can definitely recommend :)</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZVpxddsnR-nWuyA2F_wIgpQtNYp05IC8oFeYcKh-Ya0-t0rk4inp11yi0EjetGsIZ3AL5DrSKewq2VmP725ZJVhKxua_9A1VCO5Wb3h0E2s_N8xoe0Ijb96wLtfwBxBOpmUsDBQURING/s1600/IMG_5138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZVpxddsnR-nWuyA2F_wIgpQtNYp05IC8oFeYcKh-Ya0-t0rk4inp11yi0EjetGsIZ3AL5DrSKewq2VmP725ZJVhKxua_9A1VCO5Wb3h0E2s_N8xoe0Ijb96wLtfwBxBOpmUsDBQURING/s1600/IMG_5138.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The second prize on offer is something a little different. <b>Edogawa Rampo</b> was a pen name playing both on the American writer Edgar Allan Poe and the Tokyo setting of the Japanese author's noir mysteries. <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/catalog/jp0064cate.html#more"><b><i>The Early Cases of Akechi Kogor</i></b></a></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/catalog/jp0064cate.html#more"><b><i><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>ō</b></span></i></i></b></a> is a collection of stories introducing the detective who would later feature in some of Rampo's more famous pieces, and it's perhaps a welcome change of pace from the usual tea ceremony and cherry blossom viewing of classical J-Lit ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyxoSdXudrD6jNFOFuIPUHgEfc6AXEbddWdlZhpUIHkyIEstceLdbK_2laRfDN_ldLGcGMyutI-8w-qLorK6Qph1m6-xl64MNEKg1LaOA2bmM6CRQcgDmr-cmUcr_SyBVBUmiSophQ1pQ/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyxoSdXudrD6jNFOFuIPUHgEfc6AXEbddWdlZhpUIHkyIEstceLdbK_2laRfDN_ldLGcGMyutI-8w-qLorK6Qph1m6-xl64MNEKg1LaOA2bmM6CRQcgDmr-cmUcr_SyBVBUmiSophQ1pQ/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So, if you'd like to win one of these books, <b>simply comment below, leaving your name, an e-mail address and the name of the book you'd like to win</b>.
There's no need to follow me, either here, on Facebook or on Twitter
(unless you want to, of course!) - anyone can enter, and everyone has an
equal chance of winning :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Entries will close at <b>8 p.m. (AEST) on Thursday, January the 15th </b>(that's
9 a.m. on Thursday, London time), and the winners will be announced in
the next Golden Kin-Yōbi post (the winners, naturally, will be chosen entirely randomly, one way or another). So, what are you
waiting for? Get commenting, and good luck!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And, of course, we need to announce the winners of last week's prizes!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b>The Sound of the Mountain</b></i> goes to <b>Parrish Lantern</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b>Beauty and Sadness</b></i> goes to <b>David H.</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b>Thousand Cranes</b></i> goes to <b>Chelsea McGill</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b>Snow Country</b></i> goes to <b>Kamo</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I will be in contact with the winners shortly - thanks again to <a href="http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/modern-classics/"><b>Penguin Modern Classics (UK)</b></a><a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/index.html"><b></b></a> for providing some great prizes :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-37972959454459517132015-01-07T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-08T19:19:01.450+11:00J-Lit Giants: 13 - Ryū Murakami<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhupW0CWrWbg4hcZIvui1rGTb5z3hUqGuCmIZs93wobPuRqsdl9KRSCb4pVdHxPYL4p4WfYmAjX7X8zanjx3uF86ofAT-37x6O1OR07Vt-nhGBuT_5Nn39KmSeZksDU0kThGK2t80QgrYUs/s1600/300px-Ryu_Murakami.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhupW0CWrWbg4hcZIvui1rGTb5z3hUqGuCmIZs93wobPuRqsdl9KRSCb4pVdHxPYL4p4WfYmAjX7X8zanjx3uF86ofAT-37x6O1OR07Vt-nhGBuT_5Nn39KmSeZksDU0kThGK2t80QgrYUs/s1600/300px-Ryu_Murakami.jpg" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Welcome to another year of <b>J-Lit Giants</b>, where we sing the praises of great Japanese writers. We're starting off the third set of inductees with a man who, despite his success, can sometimes be a little unfairly overlooked overseas. However, this is hardly surprising - it's difficult to get all the fame you deserve when you share your family name with perhaps the most famous Japanese writer in history...</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Ryū Murakami</b>, once the enfant terrible of Japanese literature, has gradually grown into its grumpy old man, a writer always willing to take out his rage against society in his books, destroying Tokyo several times in the process. Born in Nagasaki in 1952, he was a bit of a rebel during his school days, and quite apart from his short-lived time as a drummer, he did his part during the student protests of the late sixties, including a roof-top protest at his school (an event later fictionalised in his novel <i><b>Sixty-Nine</b></i>).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Like many Japanese writers, he eventually headed off to Tokyo; unlike many Japanese writers, he studied sculpture rather than literature. This didn't stop him from moving into writing, and his first work, <i><b>Almost Transparent Blue</b></i>, was written while he was still a student. A rather disturbing look at street life and drug use, it won both the <b>Gunzo Prize</b> for new writers and the prestigious <b>Akutagawa Prize </b>(one which a certain other writer never managed to win...).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ryū continued to focus on the dark underbelly of Japanese society, and most of his novels focus on the down-and-out, those left behind by the conveyor belt taking young Japanese through the school system, into a nice university and then onto an exhausting job for life in a major company, or a few years of making tea before finding a husband (depending on gender). While some of his books vibrate with anger and frustration (e.g. <i><b>Coin Locker Babies</b></i>), others can take a more humorous, surreal approach (such as <i><b>Popular Hits of the <br />Shōwa Era</b></i>). Whatever the approach, the body count can be quite high - it's always best for people to be out of Tokyo when Ryū's characters come to town ;)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ6f83NBdsCymdV249-_WZIIYen5bGhYBvF6Mah3yBG-_sHN_EalUBvqPR07mAW5GjFG3oH3-twqlliqzlYE4AVSailnxhjQ59-WrfHoR936UcnIy86SuQeI_TMuRBieGo3jScIWSsBjDC/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ6f83NBdsCymdV249-_WZIIYen5bGhYBvF6Mah3yBG-_sHN_EalUBvqPR07mAW5GjFG3oH3-twqlliqzlYE4AVSailnxhjQ59-WrfHoR936UcnIy86SuQeI_TMuRBieGo3jScIWSsBjDC/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Of course, the elephant in the room when discussing </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ryū is the other Murakami, <b>Haruki</b>, a man with a very different style, but whose path mirrors </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ryū's to a certain extent. They were born a few years apart, and </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ryū published his first book a couple of years before Haruki. In a way, particularly for overseas readers, they will forever be linked, even if stylistically they're the Yin and Yang of their era of J-Lit. This is perhaps best displayed in the novels <i><b>Norwegian Wood</b></i> and <i><b>Sixty-Nine</b></i> - while Haruki's university student Toru Watanabe avoids the protests going on around him, retreating into literature and long walks through Tokyo, down in Sasebo, Kensuke Yazaki is trashing his school and organising a rock concert.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Who would you rather hang out with? ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I've still to get to a lot of<b> </b></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ryū's work, mainly because I'm a sensitive soul, but what I have read I've enjoyed for the most part (with the exception of a few scenes...). Here are a few to check out:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1) <b><i>Coin Locker Babies</i></b> - Two unwanted babies, abandoned in coin lockers at Tokyo Station by their mothers, are miraculously rescued and sent to an orphanage. This is a searing look at Tokyo's underworld, and it's a gripping read. Two friends, two very different futures: sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll and a city that's going to wish the boys had never been born...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">2) <i><b>Popular Hits of the Shōwa Era</b></i> - Lunacy, pure lunacy. A gang of karaoke-loving losers fight a battle to the death against a group of thirty-something women whose only previous concern was losing the excess weight they'd managed to amass over the years. This is a book which deserves to be a graphic novel - it's pure cartoon madness, and I loved it :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">3) <i><b>Sixty-Nine</b></i> - I've already mentioned this one above several times, and there's a reason for that. It's probably the most accessible of the ones I've read, a fun look back to the <strike>writer's</strike> narrator's high-school days. 'If you put it on, they will come' is his approach to the concert he dreams of holding - if only he can cope with teachers, aggressive gang members and the wiles of the opposite sex...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b>Bonus Suggestions</b></i> - While I haven't yet read it, <i><b>Almost Transparent Blue</b></i> is a book which I've heard great things about (<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/almost-transparent-blue-by-ryu-murakami.html"><b>UPDATE - review out now!</b></a>), and another to recommend is <i><b>Audition</b></i>. I watched the movie adaptation a while back, and... well, let's just say that it's fairly dark ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So, we're off and running, with another excellent writer inducted into our Hall of Fame :) Who's next up for the J-Lit Giants pantheon? You'll just have to wait until next Wednesday to find out ;)</span></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-71347193986108371992015-01-02T06:00:00.000+11:002015-01-02T06:00:02.035+11:00Golden Kin-Yōbi: 1 - Penguin Modern Classics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCn69hPOS4_ZrBPYEA1LMLm94AZMI845bz09N6mI4O8U2QYv46g8EioP1If7u3Nu9fFoea9UVBaJzRhkdvDgst5MU5dQYRszC_UM0WPRfa3eweePi35xkDiCCovEnPylFXh6DuDkWtVCbq/s1600/Golden.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCn69hPOS4_ZrBPYEA1LMLm94AZMI845bz09N6mI4O8U2QYv46g8EioP1If7u3Nu9fFoea9UVBaJzRhkdvDgst5MU5dQYRszC_UM0WPRfa3eweePi35xkDiCCovEnPylFXh6DuDkWtVCbq/s1600/Golden.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Welcome to <b>Golden Kin-Yōbi</b>,
our regular Friday giveaway where you can win some great J-Lit. Why
the name? Well, as some of you may know, the first character used in
Japanese when writing Friday means 'gold', and hopefully many of you
will strike gold over the next few weeks :)</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Today's first giveaway, one to kick off this year's <b>January in Japan</b>, comes to us courtesy of <a href="http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/modern-classics/"><b>Penguin Modern Classics (UK)</b></a>, and they have kindly offered <b>four books as prizes, including worldwide postage to the winners</b> - and great books they are too. All four are by the first Japanese winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (and J-Lit Giant), <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/j-lit-giants-10-yasunari-kawabata.html"><b>Yasunari Kawabata</b></a>, and they're all great reads.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn99iO6hz8bkwQsjriPDfWtFUYLBR6mSXpMVZJCo1GorWLLo-8nuXbFTZWhkqpD8hbcygkbI13iD-bc1bgewuunBZwviKwPXJD28rwZSsPJiRegKYi6GFenZCY-0I34IvAoaXUUhxIiuDo/s1600/IMG_5139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn99iO6hz8bkwQsjriPDfWtFUYLBR6mSXpMVZJCo1GorWLLo-8nuXbFTZWhkqpD8hbcygkbI13iD-bc1bgewuunBZwviKwPXJD28rwZSsPJiRegKYi6GFenZCY-0I34IvAoaXUUhxIiuDo/s1600/IMG_5139.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The four up for grabs are <i><b>Snow Country</b></i> (an elegant novella set in the mountains of northern Honshu), <i><b>Thousand Cranes</b></i> (another short piece which looks at traditional manners and customs), <i><b>Beauty and Sadness</b></i> (an excellent story of an affair gone sour) and <i><b>The Sound of the Mountain</b></i> (my favourite Kawabata, a tale of an old man coming to grips with mortality). This last book is the choice for the second of our readalongs - with luck, the winner may even get their copy in time to join in!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyxoSdXudrD6jNFOFuIPUHgEfc6AXEbddWdlZhpUIHkyIEstceLdbK_2laRfDN_ldLGcGMyutI-8w-qLorK6Qph1m6-xl64MNEKg1LaOA2bmM6CRQcgDmr-cmUcr_SyBVBUmiSophQ1pQ/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyxoSdXudrD6jNFOFuIPUHgEfc6AXEbddWdlZhpUIHkyIEstceLdbK_2laRfDN_ldLGcGMyutI-8w-qLorK6Qph1m6-xl64MNEKg1LaOA2bmM6CRQcgDmr-cmUcr_SyBVBUmiSophQ1pQ/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So, if you'd like to win one of these books, <b>simply comment below, leaving your name, an e-mail address and the name of the book you'd like to win</b>.
There's no need to follow me, either here, on Facebook or on Twitter
(unless you want to, of course!) - anyone can enter, and everyone has an
equal chance of winning :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Entries will close at <b>8 p.m. (AEST) on Thursday, January the 8th </b>(that's
9 a.m. on Thursday, London time), and the winners will be announced in
the next Golden Kin-Yōbi post (the winners, naturally, will be chosen entirely randomly, one way or another). So, what are you
waiting for? Get commenting, and good luck!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-57290744476109786492014-12-07T06:00:00.000+11:002014-12-07T06:00:01.666+11:00January in Japan 2015 - Group Reads Announcement!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiAsyXR1997KenjES2hgTgu4jaRMrk9TaxjYFUvF2jKwAutQfswcwj5u2B7OQYSV9RW888P4tO6wvnfBZeVdT0rpnXYb9foIGRLqK8XscZ00NPXta2VDvoxVx61xAGE-UgskrP3Sg5fbLx/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiAsyXR1997KenjES2hgTgu4jaRMrk9TaxjYFUvF2jKwAutQfswcwj5u2B7OQYSV9RW888P4tO6wvnfBZeVdT0rpnXYb9foIGRLqK8XscZ00NPXta2VDvoxVx61xAGE-UgskrP3Sg5fbLx/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>January in Japan 2015</b> is less than a month away now, so the announcement of the group read books is well overdue. Still, I got there in the end, and these are the two books I'm suggesting this time around :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9m0kz7evdr7bl2HDcyctzuwdZn0L3tMVcNkvKQSQ-EcOruujIQX-MBG3JPi97EgjYh80haFeQ0z4QlP1MsI5x-5n2AtTdWthHJT3n4hWbF6fnArlxWoVifGpJHzQsvE0p3Nex-SejXJBf/s1600/manazuru.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9m0kz7evdr7bl2HDcyctzuwdZn0L3tMVcNkvKQSQ-EcOruujIQX-MBG3JPi97EgjYh80haFeQ0z4QlP1MsI5x-5n2AtTdWthHJT3n4hWbF6fnArlxWoVifGpJHzQsvE0p3Nex-SejXJBf/s1600/manazuru.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A couple of years ago, our group read choice was <b>Hiromi Kawakami's <i>The Briefcase</i></b> (later released in the UK as <i><b>Strange Weather in Tokyo</b></i>), and I've gone back to Kawakami for one of my choices for 2015. This time it's her novel <i><b>Manazuru</b></i> - even if the weather's cold, it should make for a nice trip to the Japanese coast :)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDPYhT8DI7RF6DLcaLiIImJMnckL0z72k8opG-mGZhYujqzMucUZa5-KCWCEG-ApojBWZWfQwuHfkhWkqWewTOgXdaKREfsI4Yj05CwIjN567WxG4rdePAFFtaUhagZCdlaO9kx_Vvo4NQ/s1600/mountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDPYhT8DI7RF6DLcaLiIImJMnckL0z72k8opG-mGZhYujqzMucUZa5-KCWCEG-ApojBWZWfQwuHfkhWkqWewTOgXdaKREfsI4Yj05CwIjN567WxG4rdePAFFtaUhagZCdlaO9kx_Vvo4NQ/s1600/mountain.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The second choice is a classic of modern Japanese literature. <b>Yasunari Kawabata</b> needs no introduction (but if he does, try <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/j-lit-giants-10-yasunari-kawabata.html">this one</a>!), and we'll be reading his novel <i><b>The Sound of the Mountain</b></i>, a wonderful story of a man coming to terms with the frailty that arrives with age.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The idea is that we'll read the books and post reviews around the same time - I'll be creating a page on this blog as a home for links to those reviews. The schedule is:</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">January 15th - <i>Manazuru</i></span></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">January 29th - <i>The Sound of the Mountain</i></span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">I hope that many of you will decide to join in - the more people who read the books and take part in the discussions, the better it will be. See you in January :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-7046587931803518442014-11-22T06:00:00.000+11:002014-12-30T22:07:01.529+11:00January in Japan 2015: Sign Up Now!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj25XQkHcFR4vC35XSbbHMJ8ZQ3v1HodSWEVxoqYIvBNDs0OTZ4HE4H6rQM1v6j5v5zYUa9U2GZ2YoMbYS9-ijsiYppof0DmGK16dzOXc_sRZ0OXhxRl0SiTXNbFoE3qzjpPHsS2SaLTebY/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj25XQkHcFR4vC35XSbbHMJ8ZQ3v1HodSWEVxoqYIvBNDs0OTZ4HE4H6rQM1v6j5v5zYUa9U2GZ2YoMbYS9-ijsiYppof0DmGK16dzOXc_sRZ0OXhxRl0SiTXNbFoE3qzjpPHsS2SaLTebY/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We're back! Once again, I'll be starting the year with a whole month dedicated to J-Lit :) <b>January in Japan</b> returns in <b>2015</b>, and today I'd just like to give you a taste of what lies in store at the start of the new year.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*J-Lit Giants*</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Series three of <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/other-posts.html"><b>J-Lit Giants</b></a>
will build on our collection of great writers. So far, we've inducted twelve into our hall of fame - whose turn is it this year? I'm a busy boy, so I'll need your help with this: if
anyone is interested in penning a guest post for posterity, please leave
a comment, or e-mail me at <i><b>tonysreadinglist at y7mail dot com</b></i> :)</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*Readalongs*</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I'm
planning to have two group reads for the month, on the <b>15th and 29th of January</b>, but I haven't confirmed the titles yet (and I'm very open to suggestions!). If anyone has any ideas, please leave a comment below :)</span><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><u>Update (6/12):</u> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The decision has been made!</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">15/1 - Hiromi Kawakami's <i>Manazuru</i></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">29/1 - Yasunari Kawabata's <i>The Sound of the Mountain</i> </span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*Giveaways*</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Yes, once again we'll be running some <b>Golden Kin-Yōbi </b>giveaways. Publishers to jump on board so far include <a href="http://pushkinpress.com/"><b>Pushkin Press</b></a>, <a href="http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk/modern-classics/"><b>Penguin Modern Classics</b></a>, <a href="http://fightstart.blogspot.com.au/"><b>Columbia University Press</b></a> and <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/"><b>Kurodahan Press</b></a>: make sure you're subscribed to this blog so as not to miss out on the great books offered!</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*News and Reviews*</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In addition to all that, every Sunday in January will see a new edition of </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Nichi-Y%C5%8Dbi%20News"><b>Nichi-Yōbi News</b></a>, where <b>Momotar</b></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>ō</b>
and I will round up all the latest Japanese literary gossip.
Contributions are welcome - and for the review section they're
absolutely vital ;)</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></i>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b><i>So, over to you! To sign up, just leave a comment below, and
don't forget to follow the blog today to keep up with all the news and giveaways next January :)</i></b></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-77884427556334806272014-02-02T06:00:00.000+11:002014-10-26T21:54:08.304+11:00Nichi-Yōbi News: Week 5 - Sayōnara! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiENZI43Uy05lAyw4W8EuBDSfwGG8c579lxau-lRFSx7a8lGdQnYWMQlUE1dnewz0NY4myTqs1l423i5Lll6qVB3kqjvdqI8zLPncICckrEZ7AaAzvbxs7XCbEt340uzJjtCYYjHAwPZKD/s1600/IMG_4528+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiENZI43Uy05lAyw4W8EuBDSfwGG8c579lxau-lRFSx7a8lGdQnYWMQlUE1dnewz0NY4myTqs1l423i5Lll6qVB3kqjvdqI8zLPncICckrEZ7AaAzvbxs7XCbEt340uzJjtCYYjHAwPZKD/s1600/IMG_4528+-+Copy.JPG" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Well, it's been fun, but January (sadly) is over for another year, and it's time to pack away our kimonos and bid farewell to <b>January in Japan</b>. Before we shut up shop for 2014 though, I just wanted to remind everyone of what's been going on over the past month :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The past few Sundays have seen some great links in our <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Nichi-Y%C5%8Dbi%20News"><b>Nichi-Yōbi News</b></a> round-ups. I'm hoping to find a few quiet minutes to store them all on the J-Lit resources page for posterity, but for now, you can always check out all the pages for some great news, reviews and links to free online J-Lit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We've also been very fortunate, spoiled even, by the number of books offered for our </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Golden%20Kin-Y%C5%8Dbi">Golden Kin-Yōbi</a> </b>giveaways. So far, we've had twelve happy winners, and our final giveaway (<b>which closes on Thursday</b>!) will produce six more. Many thanks again to all the contributing publishing houses: <b><a href="http://www.pmpress.org/content/index.php">PM Press</a>, <a href="http://pushkinpress.com/">Pushkin Press</a>, <a href="http://www.cup.columbia.edu/">Columbia University Press</a>, <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/index.html">Kurodahan Press</a>, <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/index.html">Stone Bridge Press</a></b> and <a href="http://www.peterowen.com/"><b>Peter Owen Publishers</b></a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrZ9AYAOw8X7hj5nEnhAMIZtGd6RC5xN3qpTusGqAVxQHaDe1hYePfqgQ867-Gju0-jsLhma48Q46jl6Oh0awQWPWNvfFAxqvr4kdbQ2IE-xfa3jBOEiuLEGWKVXi01eHoDWaOs7OYFx_q/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrZ9AYAOw8X7hj5nEnhAMIZtGd6RC5xN3qpTusGqAVxQHaDe1hYePfqgQ867-Gju0-jsLhma48Q46jl6Oh0awQWPWNvfFAxqvr4kdbQ2IE-xfa3jBOEiuLEGWKVXi01eHoDWaOs7OYFx_q/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This year, we've continued every Wednesday with our <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/other-posts.html"><b>J-Lit Giants</b></a> series, and 2014 has seen five more greats of Japanese Literature inducted into our pantheon. This time around, we even managed to make up for some of last year's oversights - both Nobel laureates (<a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/j-lit-giants-11-kenzaburo-oe.html"><b>Kenzaburo Oe</b></a> and <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/j-lit-giants-10-yasunari-kawabata.html"><b>Yasunari Kawabata</b></a>) were honoured, and <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/j-lit-giants-8-yoko-ogawa.html"><b>Yoko Ogawa</b></a> and <b><a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/j-lit-giants-12-banana-yoshimoto.html">Banana Yoshimoto</a> </b>became the first female members of our hall of fame. Many thanks to <a href="http://matttodd.wordpress.com/"><b>Matt Todd</b></a> for his excellent contribution on <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/j-lit-giants-9-shusaku-endo.html"><b>Shusaku Endo</b></a> too :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Finally, we had a few more events happening this year. Many people have submitted their reviews (see the <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/book-reviews-2014.html"><b>2014 Book Reviews</b></a> tab at the top of the page), and the linky will remain open for a week or so for you to get your late reviews in. <a href="https://twitter.com/JacquiWine"><b>Jacqui</b></a> was kind enough to submit <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/guest-post-strange-weather-in-tokyo-by.html">a guest review of <b>Hiromi Kawakami's <i>Strange Weather in Tokyo</i></b></a> (AKA <i><b>The Briefcase</b></i>), and we also had two group readalongs. <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/readalong-one-diving-pool-by-yoko-ogawa.html">The first, <b>Yoko Ogawa's <i>The Diving Pool</i></b></a>, was a great success - <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/readalong-two-norwegian-wood-by-haruki.html">the second, <b>Haruki Murakami's <i>Norwegian Wood</i></b></a>... wasn't ;)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Thanks to everyone who has taken part over the past month, whether that entailed taking part in the readalongs, posting reviews, leaving comments or just trying to win books - it all helps make the event what it is :) But that's it for 2014; it's been a lot of fun, but pretty frenetic too (I'm due for a rest now...).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">If you're lucky, I might see you all in 2015... ;)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-86044349328256857022014-01-31T06:00:00.000+11:002014-01-31T06:00:02.063+11:00Golden Kin-Yōbi: 5 - Stone Bridge Press & Peter Owen Publishers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsdl4vlsEITzjqVIGSmIcBHXmsoeqxOjoKN2owoNWzeEEumwhMMRA2OQctvQW2SRBuC1hoNA2v1BTknAtPByLh7BPxpiGgG1mXN_jlOkpRSLZUnbZevEd_qL-XylUvPMslJjGlnb9eoqoC/s1600/IMG_4916.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsdl4vlsEITzjqVIGSmIcBHXmsoeqxOjoKN2owoNWzeEEumwhMMRA2OQctvQW2SRBuC1hoNA2v1BTknAtPByLh7BPxpiGgG1mXN_jlOkpRSLZUnbZevEd_qL-XylUvPMslJjGlnb9eoqoC/s1600/IMG_4916.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Welcome to the last Friday of January and the final <b>Golden Kin-Yōbi</b> for 2014! While parting may be sweet sorrow, I'm trying to ease the pain a little with a very special post - <b>today's giveaway is a double :)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Two more publishers of quality J-Lit have kindly offered some prizes - American-based <a href="http://www.stonebridge.com/"><b>Stone Bridge Press</b></a> and British-based <a href="http://www.peterowen.com/"><b>Peter Owen Publishers</b></a>. These giveaways will be geographically limited: <b>the Stone Bridge Press books will be US and Canada only</b> while <b>the Peter Owen books will be for everyone outside those countries</b>. All clear? Then it's time to introduce today's books :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFFusHgrgNdXHq_WXyV0LFmt9dL0HXdUAjGk0dOOGHOn0sWkQ8qyenLIh5XRVNN6943txx6TJoVT62bO8dsXHuF26nQ7hh3-9EVOBViIEbK-uIKm6oQ2STpFFKByggy5ylWEQAy5G5Gy9A/s1600/EveningClouds_L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFFusHgrgNdXHq_WXyV0LFmt9dL0HXdUAjGk0dOOGHOn0sWkQ8qyenLIh5XRVNN6943txx6TJoVT62bO8dsXHuF26nQ7hh3-9EVOBViIEbK-uIKm6oQ2STpFFKByggy5ylWEQAy5G5Gy9A/s1600/EveningClouds_L.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3pl2ydGotsaABMxl3FBDl-iM2CWfcqsmbY5pQjgVA5Ymd1f7Ve7HhEGKZ-HIxhcHLYHTbIamyOiEkpn536MUStzcK4OqLZt2AVqyZ5qwNRpJPZe5NN4amvO5ulGXAV9By4WOp9eWOIFCF/s1600/StillLife_L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3pl2ydGotsaABMxl3FBDl-iM2CWfcqsmbY5pQjgVA5Ymd1f7Ve7HhEGKZ-HIxhcHLYHTbIamyOiEkpn536MUStzcK4OqLZt2AVqyZ5qwNRpJPZe5NN4amvO5ulGXAV9By4WOp9eWOIFCF/s1600/StillLife_L.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Stone Bridge Press</b> have kindly put three of their recent publications up for grabs, two of which are from acclaimed writer <b>Junzo Shono</b>. <a href="http://www.stonebridge.com/shopexd.asp?id=76"><i><b>Evening Clouds</b></i></a> is a short novel, an elegant, lyrical description of everyday life in suburban Tokyo, while <a href="http://www.stonebridge.com/shopexd.asp?id=158"><i><b>Still Life and Other Stories</b></i></a> is a collection of tales which Stone Bridge publisher <b>Peter Goodman</b> describes as "<span class="caption"><span style="font-style: italic;">one of the books I'm most proud to have published at Stone Bridge Press.</span>"</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgziUl6FALuPAWuymB2BN_O1V_Y7VN3MvRgmUWsaxpwXTCRNoZ2oSJghIpy7BQ7lCGnLxBBf59iAtFo0l2xfFs2B8LzsCncmvT6-0qvKm9F5QbiQLtTCSzACD7w4ecm4fkGYiS05drB0kGM/s1600/WindandStone_L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgziUl6FALuPAWuymB2BN_O1V_Y7VN3MvRgmUWsaxpwXTCRNoZ2oSJghIpy7BQ7lCGnLxBBf59iAtFo0l2xfFs2B8LzsCncmvT6-0qvKm9F5QbiQLtTCSzACD7w4ecm4fkGYiS05drB0kGM/s1600/WindandStone_L.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4LAGZJVyKkHEEYvUb3y4RU8wsgDzEewgHdtq-dbTmDLzzjT_UEYtqKM0EZbN87weqyI6sSErAcYlxss5208_umZHSc5TWJf9TpiO38D8PA82s6uD3XXKaE8vjKSS6hEjhPU04My4cR1JY/s1600/volcanolge.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4LAGZJVyKkHEEYvUb3y4RU8wsgDzEewgHdtq-dbTmDLzzjT_UEYtqKM0EZbN87weqyI6sSErAcYlxss5208_umZHSc5TWJf9TpiO38D8PA82s6uD3XXKaE8vjKSS6hEjhPU04My4cR1JY/s1600/volcanolge.gif" height="200" width="142" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span class="caption">The third Stone Bridge offering is <b>Masaaki Tachihara's <a href="http://www.stonebridge.com/shopexd.asp?id=180"><i>Wind and Stone</i></a></b>, a short novel which is described as </span>"<i>a</i><span class="caption"><i> disturbing tale of seduction, based on Japanese aesthetics and the artistic pursuit of destructive beauty.</i>" The writer won the popular <b>Naoki Prize</b> and was twice nominated for the <b>Akutagawa Prize</b>, so this is bound to be a good read :)</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV6o46hxUe-wD8OpOm1xVNiwQCjT4Q-xoflZXU0RlPIGn00hulwEHFAUsQt6z092_dfHH_8ucTu6VBFO9QnkhyD1CEDx-3HzgPORs6lxlPXFGL1n7HsoDSwgN4R8dB3sbHVngZtzgqsRja/s1600/wheniwhistlelge.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV6o46hxUe-wD8OpOm1xVNiwQCjT4Q-xoflZXU0RlPIGn00hulwEHFAUsQt6z092_dfHH_8ucTu6VBFO9QnkhyD1CEDx-3HzgPORs6lxlPXFGL1n7HsoDSwgN4R8dB3sbHVngZtzgqsRja/s1600/wheniwhistlelge.gif" height="200" width="142" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiI4OFHjFBbopseQ0kEOkwq4cNRnn6YFgmQomF0eZ19f6rQv60r8MkiL-ooZqMQY6fRmyEgRIrKcHhOattQhiWvBVsCugHo8fTYLDhYEFtSXjgbldgSsphJPw9_GiwuNJxs-i6e0y-IX2-/s1600/Kappa+180.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiI4OFHjFBbopseQ0kEOkwq4cNRnn6YFgmQomF0eZ19f6rQv60r8MkiL-ooZqMQY6fRmyEgRIrKcHhOattQhiWvBVsCugHo8fTYLDhYEFtSXjgbldgSsphJPw9_GiwuNJxs-i6e0y-IX2-/s1600/Kappa+180.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span class="caption">The selection offfered by <b>Peter Owen Publishers</b> is also an impressive one. There are two excellent novels by <b>Shusaku Endo</b> to be had: <a href="http://www.peterowen.com/pages/modclas/volcano.html"><i><b>Volcano</b></i></a>, a simmering tale of life in the shadow of sin and the natural world (<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/volcano-by-shusaku-endo-review.html">my review here</a>); and <a href="http://www.peterowen.com/pages/modclas/When%20I%20Whistle.html"><i><b>When I Whistle</b></i></a>, an excellent story about dealing with right and wrong in the modern world (<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/whistling-in-dark.html">my review here</a>).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span class="caption"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span class="caption">The third of the books on offer is <b>Ryunosuke Akutagawa's <a href="http://www.peterowen.com/pages/modclas/kappa.htm"><i>Kappa</i></a></b>, a rare longer outing for Japan's supreme short-story writer. Let's face it - if you have a country's major literary award named in your honour, your books must be worth a read...</span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">***** </span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So, if you'd like to win one of these books, <b>simply comment below, leaving your name, an e-mail address and the name of the book you'd like to win</b>.
There's no need to follow me, either here, on Facebook or on Twitter
(unless you want to, of course!) - anyone can enter (<b>in their geographical zone...</b>), and everyone has an
equal chance of winning :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Entries will close at <b>8 p.m. (AEST) on Thursday, February the 6th </b>(that's
9 a.m. on Thursday, London time), and the winners will be posted here once they've been announced (the winners, naturally, will be chosen
using some kind of random on-line draw thingy). So, what are you
waiting for? Get commenting, and good luck!</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span class="caption"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span class="caption">*****</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And, of course, we need to announce the winners of last week's prizes!</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b>Oh, Tama!</b></i> goes to <b>Mihai</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b>The Nobility of Failure</b></i> goes to <b>Paul</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i><b>Blue Bamboo</b></i> goes to <b>M</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I will be in contact with the winners shortly - thanks again to <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/index.html"><b>Kurodahan Press</b></a> for providing some great prizes :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-86373044863451785212014-01-30T14:00:00.000+11:002014-01-30T15:11:40.421+11:00Readalong Two: 'Norwegian Wood' by Haruki Murakami<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Welcome to the home page for the second of our two </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>January in Japan</b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> readalongs :) This time we're looking at </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Haruki Murakami's</b> </span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">breakthrough novel, <b>Norwegian Wood</b>,
and below you'll find links to the reviews and thoughts of all the
readalong participants (this will be updated as I become aware of the
posts!).</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">***** </span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Before that though, I just thought I'd leave a few posers for people to ponder (and perhaps reply to in the comments section):</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">1) What did you think of Toru and his behaviour?</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">2)
Did the tone of nostalgia strike a chord with you, or did you find it hard to empathise with the characters?</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">3) </span></b></i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Norwegian Wood </span></b><i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">is a much 'straighter' novel than much of Murakami's work - did you enjoy the realistic tone, or would you have preferred his usual twists on reality?</span></b></i><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">P.S.</span></b><i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> Did you know that the original title is based on a mistranslation? In the original song, the 'wood' referred to is a wooden floor, but the Japanese translation is actually 'wood' as in a group of trees... Murakami kept the mistranslation as it suits his themes :) </span></b></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">If you'd like to comment on these questions (or anything else...), please feel free to ;) And now, the reviews...</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/norwegian-wood-by-haruki-murakami-review.html">Tony's Reading List</a> </b></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-10283684923998503192014-01-29T06:00:00.000+11:002014-01-29T06:00:09.888+11:00J-Lit Giants: 12 - Banana Yoshimoto<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdDuKt9Ahj5VrJCKWPzOUen9UscjnkVpEpN648jlUU8QPpt2TKMx0OucZ_dtEb_K_vX-IebWtmmcA5Q4cj7g4YX3fgNHj8bW7P9abOsBpppUZNUJ6oZlWFwJ7FMTFmtn04TZvP3dWI2cbX/s1600/banana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdDuKt9Ahj5VrJCKWPzOUen9UscjnkVpEpN648jlUU8QPpt2TKMx0OucZ_dtEb_K_vX-IebWtmmcA5Q4cj7g4YX3fgNHj8bW7P9abOsBpppUZNUJ6oZlWFwJ7FMTFmtn04TZvP3dWI2cbX/s1600/banana.jpg" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We're back on Wednesday with the final <b>J-Lit Giants </b>induction for this January, and it may well be the most controversial so far. While one definition of 'giant' might be a writer whose work shines out from among that of other writers, another might be that of a writer whose personality and work somehow hits a chord with a generation of readers, both at home and overseas - which brings me to today's addition...</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Banana Yoshimoto</b> was born with the less fruity name of <b>Mahoko Yoshimoto</b> in 1964. She grew up in a rather liberal family, where she enjoyed an unusual (for a Japanese woman) amount of freedom. She later studied literature, deciding to choose her new name (while the pseudonym itself is unusual, the idea of taking one is a long-standing Japanese tradition).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">She worked on her writing while she was working as a waitress, and her first story, <i><b>Moonlight Shadow</b></i>, was a big hit. This was followed by <i><b>Kitchen</b></i>, a book which led to instant success at home, which was then mirrored overseas. Yoshimoto was to become a J-Lit star, a Japanese export suited to a cutesy image people in the west were developing of the country; in fact, she was perhaps second only to you-know-who in her branding in the west.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">She has since written several more books, with around eight of her works currently available in English. The majority of her stories centre on familiar themes, such as the loss of a loved one, the difficulty of settling down into adult life and - of course - the supernatural...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">While Yoshimoto is a big name in J-Lit, reviews of her work have not always been positive, and many see her work as light and superficial. Her response?</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"A lot of my critics like to point out the fun, escapist side of my
writing. Some even say that it is superficial and specially catered for
popular consumption. Sometimes, I feel guilty since I write my stories
for fun, not for therapy. But I am not deterred from my ultimate dream
of receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature."</span></b></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Well, that's confidence for you ;) I have to admit that this quote comes from a blog which may or may not be hers (<a href="http://yoshibanana.blogspot.com.au/2009/01/little-bit-about-me.html">click here to see it</a>). However,while the quote is no longer on her English-language Wikipedia page (it used to be), much of the rest of the blog post still is. True or not, it's all part of the image that is Banana Yoshimoto :)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_kyxMS5yHy7ogiigYUOwS5Rf3wm2IeZZO7B0uFVrhXod2zvnoXp8shkZK5L7Vzafe1GZzDyJmRlNWG8CJc33u93zVHJX4p9HBjrbntHEBewGnZx0Vz5Z7jslIKAIo5a3xtBgeXWGMyRJ6/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_kyxMS5yHy7ogiigYUOwS5Rf3wm2IeZZO7B0uFVrhXod2zvnoXp8shkZK5L7Vzafe1GZzDyJmRlNWG8CJc33u93zVHJX4p9HBjrbntHEBewGnZx0Vz5Z7jslIKAIo5a3xtBgeXWGMyRJ6/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I've now read most of Yoshimoto's work available in English, and I'm still not convinced. However, while I struggle with some aspects of her writing, there's always something there that makes me come back for another try. But where should the new reader begin?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1) <i><b>Kitchen</b></i> - The English version of <i>Kitchen</i> actually contains the title story, a two-part novella and the short story 'Moonlight Shadow'. Both deal with the theme of grieving for loved ones and finding a way to move on with your life, and the stories are perfect examples of Yoshimoto's style and ideas. If you don't like these, then it's probably best to just keep moving...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">2) <i><b>Amrita</b></i> - This is one of Yoshimoto's longest books in English, probably her only full-length novel. A stressed-out woman, on the verge of entering her thirties, has her life turned upside down by a simple slip on some stairs. What follows is a story which has as its moral the importance of seizing the day - with some added ghosts, of course ;)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">3) <i><b>The Lake</b></i> - Yoshimoto's most recent novel in English was longlisted for <b>The Man Asian Prize</b>, and it's a more nuanced work than some of her earlier efforts (even if the metaphor of the fog, which dominates parts of the novel, is a touch heavy-handed for some). This is another tale of a struggling relationship, but one with a slightly more tangible root to its problems...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>I've had my say - now it's over to you! Are you a big fan of Ms. Banana, or is she a writer you love to hate? Which of her books do you love (or loathe)? Let me know in the usual place ;)</i></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-62302126182515915082014-01-27T06:00:00.000+11:002014-01-27T06:00:01.889+11:00Guest Post - 'Strange Weather in Tokyo' by Hiromi Kawakami (Review)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Today's post is a break from the usual schedule as we play host to a guest review. Jacqui (aka </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>@JacquiWine</b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> on Twitter) has been a great supporter of </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>January in Japan</b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">, and even though she doesn't have a blog, she wanted to share her thoughts on one of her reads - so I generously offered to hand the blog over to her for a day. Jacqui's choice was <b>Hiromi Kawakami's </b></span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Strange Weather in Tokyo</b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> (previously released in the US under the alternative title of </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>The Briefcase</b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">). Over to you, Jacqui :)</span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">*****</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Sensei, I whispered.
Sensei, I can’t find my way home.</span></i></span></b> </div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">But Sensei wasn’t here. I
wondered where he was, on a night like this. It made me realise that I had
never telephoned Sensei. We always met by chance, then we’d happen to go for a
walk together. Or I would show up at his house, and we’d end up drinking
together. Sometimes a month would go by without seeing or speaking to each
other. In the past, if I didn’t hear from a boyfriend or if we didn’t have a
date for a month, I’d be seized with worry. I’d wonder if, during that time
he’s completely vanished from my life, or become a stranger to me.</span></i></span></b></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Sensei and I didn’t see
each other very often. It stands to reason since we weren’t a couple. Yet even
when we were apart, Sensei never seemed far away. Sensei would always be
Sensei. On a night like this, I knew he was out there somewhere.</span></i></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">p.59 (Portobello Books, 2013)</span></span></b></span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><i><b>Strange Weather in Tokyo</b></i> (translated by <b>Allison Markin Powell</b>) is the story of Tsukiko, a woman in her
late thirties, who re-encounters one of her old high-school teachers (‘Sensei’,
a man thirty years or so her senior) in a sake bar. They meet by chance one
evening, and over the course of the following months a connection develops as
they seek solace in food, beer and sake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their relationship feels quite unstructured; they rarely make
arrangements to reconnect, and weeks can pass before their visits to the sake
bar coincide. They are both essentially quite solitary individuals, but there’s
a sense that they gain some comfort from these encounters.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">The story is told through the eyes of Tsukiko, and there is an almost
dreamlike, slightly surreal quality to the narrative as it unfolds over the
course of the novel. We follow the couple as their relationship evolves and
deepens; it starts with shared moments in the sake bar, and develops to include
trips to a local market, a mountain hike to collect mushrooms and a cherry
blossom party. There are some wonderfully-observed details in these passages;
nature features as a theme, and we see the changing of the seasons as the months
pass. Another passage features a description of Sensei’s house with its
collection of railway teapots, and this adds to the slightly off-beat tone of
the novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a poignant scene, Tsukiko
attempts to peel an apple whole, in one long curly piece (she had impressed a
former boyfriend some years ago by managing to keep an apple skin intact). This
time, however, the apple skin breaks part way round, and Tsukiko bursts into
tears as the broken peel comes to signify her loss. Tsukiko had been very much
in love with this former boyfriend, but she seemed unable to express her
feelings, or demonstrate she cared for him.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsGfQZ9vV4sO0k9QPLkIoUBr5p4dKjZf5QW7UGPVdhYwlxiqeXMuc6yoIPXUM6R6Rx-yG4GhpAcq7rXbIoN1gJLSLpjHMBGL5Pm-HwzN0eX7F6iwH4kHasBek7PbhngURCTCbXU57u17Go/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsGfQZ9vV4sO0k9QPLkIoUBr5p4dKjZf5QW7UGPVdhYwlxiqeXMuc6yoIPXUM6R6Rx-yG4GhpAcq7rXbIoN1gJLSLpjHMBGL5Pm-HwzN0eX7F6iwH4kHasBek7PbhngURCTCbXU57u17Go/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">I loved the delicate, nuanced quality of the relationship between
Tsukiko and Sensei. There are times when they seem to communicate predominantly
through feelings, using few words, soundlessly conveying deeper emotions and an
intimacy through thoughts and gestures. The unstated, yet deep, nature of their
relationship contrasts somewhat with Tsukiko’s brief flirtation with an old
classmate from school (Kojima) whom she bumps into at the cherry blossom event.
There’s a sense that Tsukiko is only really content and able to ‘settle’ in
some way when she is with Sensei:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB"><b>Everything felt so far
away. Sensei, Kojima, the moon – they were all so distant from me. I stared out
of the window, watching the streetscape as it rushed by. The taxi hurtled
through the night-time city. Sensei! I forced out a cry. My voice was
immediately drowned out by the sound of the car’s engine. I could see many
cherry trees in bloom as we sped through the streets. The trees, some young and
some many years old, were heavy with blossom in the night air. Sensei, I called
out again, but of course no one could hear me. The taxi carried me along,
speeding through the city night. </b></span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB"><b>(p.92)</b></span></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">I found this to be a beautifully-written and moving novel, expertly
and sensitively translated by Allison Markin Powell. I think it will stay with
me for some time; the ending in particular brings real emotional weight to the
story of Tsukiko and Sensei’s relationship. I read this last year and revisited
it this month for Tony Malone’s focus on Japanese literature (<b>January in Japan</b>)
and can recommend it to anyone interested in a quietly powerful book about
loneliness, connections and the uncertain nature of relationships.</span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Thanks, Jacqui :) This was our readalong choice last year, and as I recall, most people enjoyed its understated nature. But what do you think? Was this one for you, or was it a little slow for your tastes? And what's your take on the change of title (and cover...)? As always, let us know in the comments - we'd love to hear your thoughts :)</span></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-47000724324301376992014-01-26T06:00:00.000+11:002014-01-26T06:00:00.675+11:00Nichi-Yōbi News: Week 4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6BmWM8XTCjLbahyiiFSX_frPLbAOIm0wwRZJpma4KPZnzZXC5N9ya_Ik4irqR1-jEcZRGnMfxqGdxlU4bZ_Q4y8SDWHhHa1eVvINP8fW4TTGtfuDayWYJ3wK1u9Fb9oO03iNAwiKDpYru/s1600/IMG_4528+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6BmWM8XTCjLbahyiiFSX_frPLbAOIm0wwRZJpma4KPZnzZXC5N9ya_Ik4irqR1-jEcZRGnMfxqGdxlU4bZ_Q4y8SDWHhHa1eVvINP8fW4TTGtfuDayWYJ3wK1u9Fb9oO03iNAwiKDpYru/s1600/IMG_4528+-+Copy.JPG" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">January is fast moving towards its end, and there isn't long to go for this year's <b>January in Japan</b> (sigh...), but let's not dwell on that - there's still a lot going on for you to enjoy :)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A couple of weeks ago, via <a href="http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/index.htm"><b>The Literary Saloon</b></a>, I saw <a href="http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/people/AJ201401010027">a piece on <b>Haruki Murakami</b></a> by translator and academic <b>Michael Emmerich</b> which would be of interest to the writer's fans. It was only when I got around to reading the article that I realised that it was actually part of a wider series, <b>'Chasing Murakami'</b>. <a href="http://ajw.asahi.com/category/special/HARUKI_MURAKAMI/">Click here</a> to see all the articles available, or feel free to move on if Mr. M's work is not to your taste ;) </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Another interesting translation-related piece I saw recently was from a site called <a href="http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/"><b>J'Lit - Books from Japan</b></a>. It's one of those excellent sites that plugs away, promoting the country's literature, and <a href="http://www.booksfromjapan.jp/news-a-info/column/item/2291-translating-ryotaro-shibas-saka-no-ue-no-kumo-clouds-above-the-hill">one of its latest posts</a> was on the translation of a lengthy piece of <span style="font-size: small;">classic J-Lit,</span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> <b>Ryotaro Shiba's <i>Saka no ue no kumo</i> (<i>Clouds above the Hill</i>)</b>. It's a very interesting piece on the translation of a big, big book - and the rest of the site's well worth a browse too :)</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPA4cfqn_92GItNen6-vX0rspkEpG3ChuiUV0OAVPVFHbQ-ZT3rBGMyuUcO0ng4GWNDVVyG1zBKlzrISsHitVflGLQdNIqKK_XysYfNwe6dfRCbbKlx5fS09ra-XTNd18B0__VaH2dMUxR/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPA4cfqn_92GItNen6-vX0rspkEpG3ChuiUV0OAVPVFHbQ-ZT3rBGMyuUcO0ng4GWNDVVyG1zBKlzrISsHitVflGLQdNIqKK_XysYfNwe6dfRCbbKlx5fS09ra-XTNd18B0__VaH2dMUxR/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">One of my favourite bloggers, <b>me.</b> of <a href="http://nihondistractions.blogspot.com.au/"><b>Nihon Distractions</b></a>, keeps me up to date with what's available online in J-Lit, and there was a recent post with more great (mostly) free online J-Lit links. <a href="http://nihondistractions.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/japanese-literature-online-translations.html">Click here</a> to see what the recent collection consists of, and don't miss the links at the bottom of the page</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> to the first two posts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As always, don't forget to check out the rest of the JiJ blog to see what you might have missed during the week. Our latest <b>J-Lit Giant</b> inductee was <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/j-lit-giants-11-kenzaburo-oe.html"><b>Kenzaburo Oe</b></a> (and about time too...) while <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/golden-kin-yobi-4-kurodahan-press.html">this week's</a></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/golden-kin-yobi-4-kurodahan-press.html"> <b>Golden Kin-Yōbi</b> giveaway</a>, courtesy of <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/index.html"><b>Kurodahan Press</b></a>, features books by <b>Osamu Dazai</b>, <b>Ivan Morris</b> and <b>Mieko Kanai</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">That's all for this week, but before I go, I just thought I'd mention that our second readalong, of <b>Haruki Murakami's <i>Norwegian Wood</i></b>, is scheduled for next <b>Thursday (30/1)</b>. Just to avoid confusion, this date is actually the one when everyone is <b>*posting*</b> their review (next time, I really need to find an alternative word to 'readalong'...). I hope to see all your reviews then :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-83562941421708885612014-01-24T06:00:00.000+11:002014-01-24T06:00:05.254+11:00Golden Kin-Yōbi: 4 - Kurodahan Press<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDe2lMWErMc46ipyWcDu0gqWCots-cK6FnmGhVIf6C5rkMPeLX7Nw7Wrv3IZKDopMYpfcNqXkfm9r4XPtDZ5QDjJbV6B-kfFij1OS1lUbSGW3JrrkrmTEHcdeaTZPG1i8uvm66N_GXqCe3/s1600/IMG_4916.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDe2lMWErMc46ipyWcDu0gqWCots-cK6FnmGhVIf6C5rkMPeLX7Nw7Wrv3IZKDopMYpfcNqXkfm9r4XPtDZ5QDjJbV6B-kfFij1OS1lUbSGW3JrrkrmTEHcdeaTZPG1i8uvm66N_GXqCe3/s1600/IMG_4916.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It's Friday again, and that means it's time for another giveaway! This week, it's courtesy of <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/index.html"><b>Kurodahan Press</b></a>, a great small publisher which has a mix of new translations and reissues of out-of-print books, both from Japan and elsewhere in East Asia. The selection comprises an eclectic mix of literary fiction, speculative fiction and non-fiction, and this giveaway will feature <b>three of their books - with free worldwide delivery :)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1AF-WcUrEwemL0vigAXFw60IWh434jo_jRglK3TFrbX3X0AOnM_vCHCLKHZ0YxIsnDvaznNwX8r8cjvQ4ts4lX3jMGVXmwL9Nn-9W4YyaDJSI8BRUS9cC0mHPq2YRfb7Dr6ytEPQMfeH4/s1600/jp0040l.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1AF-WcUrEwemL0vigAXFw60IWh434jo_jRglK3TFrbX3X0AOnM_vCHCLKHZ0YxIsnDvaznNwX8r8cjvQ4ts4lX3jMGVXmwL9Nn-9W4YyaDJSI8BRUS9cC0mHPq2YRfb7Dr6ytEPQMfeH4/s1600/jp0040l.gif" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">First up is <b>Osamu Dazai's <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/catalog/jp0040cate.html#more"><i>Blue Bamboo</i></a></b>, a reissued collection of several of the writer's short stories. The collection shows the same great style as his more famous work, but it has a much lighter tone and is a joy to read. It's a mixture of oriental fairy tales, autobiographical pieces and contemporary stories, all wonderfully translated by <b>Ralph McCarthy</b>. I loved it - find my review <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/blue-bamboo-by-osamu-dazai-review.html">here</a>.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0dO8eCgsNmJ4TsxYH1bEe6GMdXpWMLFEtZSslSayLNHy1zgln2xeTQ-yVR0YULkwwooeO5T7frsud45rQukrlJlqjHU7H6GbqATskvFAEHszKKqylm6OaDh0iAhKQ4SPYyzgXE_J_0qoP/s1600/jp0035l.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0dO8eCgsNmJ4TsxYH1bEe6GMdXpWMLFEtZSslSayLNHy1zgln2xeTQ-yVR0YULkwwooeO5T7frsud45rQukrlJlqjHU7H6GbqATskvFAEHszKKqylm6OaDh0iAhKQ4SPYyzgXE_J_0qoP/s1600/jp0035l.gif" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Next up, it's some non-fiction. <b>Ivan Morris </b>was a well-known Japanophile (see <a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/modern-japanese-stories-anthology-by.html">my review of his Modern Japanese Stories anthology</a>), and his work <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/catalog/jp0035cate.html#more"><i><b>The Nobility of Failure</b></i></a> is a study of several Japanese historical figures. In his book, Morris attempts to answer a simple question: why does Japan celebrate its heroic failures? It's an old book, but a good one, a fascinating insight into the Japanese psyche - and one I'd love to try :)</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisHfy9-M7yOtAjqxBSU_kcGFp7GZgRDLOKEiidZmxfwakqGpN39SXgRW5JztzaFoCyRFWnxSiWallY1xsJ2hkB8DU3p72pRBnGw0FmU8nRXsttZ3SPwA-P6YYiMYbB0u3C4u76-GhYeUz1/s1600/jp0041l.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisHfy9-M7yOtAjqxBSU_kcGFp7GZgRDLOKEiidZmxfwakqGpN39SXgRW5JztzaFoCyRFWnxSiWallY1xsJ2hkB8DU3p72pRBnGw0FmU8nRXsttZ3SPwA-P6YYiMYbB0u3C4u76-GhYeUz1/s1600/jp0041l.gif" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As is the third book today - although this one is a very different creature. The latest Kurodahan release is a slice of more contemporary J-Lit, <b>Mieko Kanai's <a href="http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/catalog/JP0041cate.html#more"><i>Oh, Tama!</i></a></b> It's a warm, humorous tale set in Tokyo, where a man with many problems to address receives an additional headache in the form of a cat. <i>Oh, Tama!</i> is a lighter work which sounds like something most readers would enjoy!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">***** </span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So, if you'd like to win one of these books, <b>simply comment below, leaving your name, an e-mail address and the name of the book you'd like to win</b>.
There's no need to follow me, either here, on Facebook or on Twitter
(unless you want to, of course!) - anyone can enter, and everyone has an
equal chance of winning :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Entries will close at <b>8 p.m. (AEST) on Thursday, January the 30th </b>(that's
9 a.m. on Thursday, London time), and the winners will be announced in
the next Golden Kin-Yōbi post (the winners, naturally, will be chosen
using some kind of random on-line draw thingy). So, what are you
waiting for? Get commenting, and good luck!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And, of course, we need to announce the winners of last week's prizes!</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The three copies of <b>Natsume Soseki's <i>Light and Dark</i></b> go to:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Marina Sofia</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Judith (Leeswammes)</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>and Emma (Words and Peace) </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I will be in contact with the winners shortly - thanks again to <a href="http://www.cup.columbia.edu/"><b>Columbia University Press</b></a> for the great prizes :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-42082175859738766692014-01-22T06:00:00.000+11:002014-11-16T11:41:15.721+11:00J-Lit Giants: 11 - Kenzaburo Oe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6doYWCIaDmp1JfNmSF7AK8CmCan6619Llg8GE_Ojb2TNkkyKgMdGuYoq0Q7L1Hn4DozNW7CAJ_DHZ3meht8Pl6RWzKGokrifzp5vtcBGJex6U_d50iRgC0tvSZRlW50t62yxQ4hdYFX2/s1600/oe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6doYWCIaDmp1JfNmSF7AK8CmCan6619Llg8GE_Ojb2TNkkyKgMdGuYoq0Q7L1Hn4DozNW7CAJ_DHZ3meht8Pl6RWzKGokrifzp5vtcBGJex6U_d50iRgC0tvSZRlW50t62yxQ4hdYFX2/s1600/oe.jpg" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It's Wednesday again, which means that it's time for another <b>J-Lit Giant</b> to be introduced, and it's a big one today. He's one of just two Japanese writers to have been awarded the world's highest literary honour, the Nobel Prize for Literature - truly a worthy giant...</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Kenzaburo Oe</b> was born in 1935 in a small, secluded town on the island of Shikoku. As a child growing up during the war, his experiences (mostly second hand) were to have an influence on his later writing. Although he wanted to stay at home and follow in his conservationist father's footsteps, he eventually visited Tokyo at the age of eighteen and later moved there to work on his writing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Greatly influenced by French writers, such as <b>Jean-Paul Sartre</b>, he began to write short stories and quickly won acclaim. One of his first efforts, <b>'Prize Stock'</b>, the story of a small mountain village and a captured American soldier, won the prestigious <b>Akutagawa Prize</b> in 1958, after which he began to write short novels (e.g. <i><b>Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids</b></i>).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">His life (and writing) changed forever with the birth of his son, Hikari. The baby was born with a brain swelling which led to a mental handicap, and the trauma Oe felt was to overshadow his subsequent writing. Many of his later works, including <i><b>A Personal Matter</b></i>, were semi-autobiographical works attempting to work through the writer's demons.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnLOjpaqqRYhBMvhqMkr_i8YGdNs54NBQLmV2wtjZEyuqgNvRfT8BztVhEKafPT2xzR6jRf-Hg4SvYj2jNrymHPoreoZGtC6cpbeqE2jGFhbQ18ZKJlkK_4YaY5y0o21EaJEi1F-pmGSb4/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnLOjpaqqRYhBMvhqMkr_i8YGdNs54NBQLmV2wtjZEyuqgNvRfT8BztVhEKafPT2xzR6jRf-Hg4SvYj2jNrymHPoreoZGtC6cpbeqE2jGFhbQ18ZKJlkK_4YaY5y0o21EaJEi1F-pmGSb4/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Besides his works about Hikari, Oe also wrote much about the war (especially in his early stories and in <b><i>Hiroshima Notes</i></b>, a book of essays) and the seclusion of his home town (<i><b>The Silent Cry</b></i>). He gradually became an elder statesman of the Japanese literary scene, an influence on many younger writers (I can think of one prominent example...). In addition to the Akutagawa Prize, he received many of Japan's highest literary awards (e.g. the <b>Yomiuri Prize</b> and the <b>Tanizaki Prize</b>) before being awarded with the Nobel Prize in 1994. That wasn't the end of his career though; in fact, he published a new book (<i><b>In Late Style</b></i>) very recently :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I haven't read a lot by Oe, compared to some other Japanese writers, but all three I have read (from his early career) are very good:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">1) <i><b>The Silent Cry</b></i> - An intense, claustrophobic novel set in a place similar to Oe's real hometown. While it's another attempt to deal with his disabled son, it's also a superb piece of writing about isolation from society. Anyone wanting to see where Murakami got his inspiration should read this, as you'll be seeing hints in the first few pages ;)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">2) <i><b>A Personal Matter</b></i> - A child is born, and a family's life falls apart. A wonderfully honest account of the dilemmas facing a 1960s man who isn't ready for the task of bringing up a mentally-handicapped child.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">3) <i><b>Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids</b></i> - A bunch of kids sent to a village in the mountains arrive to find it ravaged by disease. What happens next? A kind of <i><b>Lord of the Flies</b></i> in the Japanese countryside...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Bonus suggestion</b> - My first encounter with Oe was <b>'Prize Stock'</b>, a forty-page story found both in <i><b>The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories</b></i> and the Oe collection <i><b>Teach Us to Outgrow our Madness</b></i>. It's a great story which is extremely worthy of winning the Akutagawa Prize :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There you have it - another giant inducted :) What do you think - have you read anything by Oe? What are your favourites? Let us know by leaving a comment in the usual place...</span></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-70379948000191530742014-01-19T06:00:00.000+11:002014-01-19T06:00:00.495+11:00Nichi-Yōbi News: Week 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt3PMU48pFYNX901a6vJbWdguZZjamFUgRurcdKhx_a7Fr6MHxUFfe8iMrFt076DombTKDkuuPHchSvxWhaaDCd_OWjeE10_O_6lsWxYL9JrVFgl4SsZppBm2GCByYgsF1Oioiwc86zQRW/s1600/IMG_4528+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt3PMU48pFYNX901a6vJbWdguZZjamFUgRurcdKhx_a7Fr6MHxUFfe8iMrFt076DombTKDkuuPHchSvxWhaaDCd_OWjeE10_O_6lsWxYL9JrVFgl4SsZppBm2GCByYgsF1Oioiwc86zQRW/s1600/IMG_4528+-+Copy.JPG" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We're more than half-way through January now, and <b>January in Japan</b> is motoring along. This was a big week in J-Lit, so there are a few interesting links to show you this week - <i><b>ikimasho!</b></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">First up today is an interesting piece from <b>kamo</b> over at <b>this is how she fight start</b>. In lieu of a review of two short introduction books, we have a post on Japan as the archetypal sci-fi nation, with some fascinating thoughts on Japan and 'first contact' - click <a href="http://fightstart.blogspot.jp/2014/01/very-short-introductions.html">here</a> to have a look :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">You may have heard of the <b>Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes</b>, but do you know exactly what they are? <b>The Japan News</b> fills you in with some useful information on the two prizes in <a href="http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0000935649">one of its recent articles</a>. It's good to have this background information...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">...because the latest winners have just been announced!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Akutagawa Prize was awarded to <b>Hiroko Oyamada</b> for <i><b>Ana (Hole)</b></i> while the Naoki Prize was awarded jointly to <b>Makate Asai </b>for <i><b>Renka (Love Poem)</b></i> and<b> Kaoruko Himeno</b> for <i><b>Showa no Inu (Dog in the Showa Era)</b></i>. This time round it's a female trifecta :) For anyone interested, there's <a href="http://mainichi.jp/english/english/features/news/20140117p2g00m0et030000c.html">more information here</a> courtesy of the English version of the <b>Mainichi</b> newspaper. Don't hold your breath waiting for an English translation of the books though...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn52bkd2-EskGKdLXqag_MLociQxWOwAg4ReKza3FQ5eg_0tI7jHLHFH_41S-7htyh3sn0maOUpRlv8diPkQM_ccZKbNMsUPlaUJEWWjMS1ArlmNxv_mujN4jG5byvDIReS_zdeEoRygxl/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn52bkd2-EskGKdLXqag_MLociQxWOwAg4ReKza3FQ5eg_0tI7jHLHFH_41S-7htyh3sn0maOUpRlv8diPkQM_ccZKbNMsUPlaUJEWWjMS1ArlmNxv_mujN4jG5byvDIReS_zdeEoRygxl/s1600/January+in+Japan.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It's been a big week on the January in Japan blog too. Wednesday saw <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/j-lit-giants-10-yasunari-kawabata.html"><b>Yasunari Kawabata's</b> belated induction as a J-Lit Giant</a>, while Thursday was the day when participants posted on our first readalong choice, <b>Yoko Ogawa's <i>The Diving Pool</i></b> (<a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/readalong-one-diving-pool-by-yoko-ogawa.html">reviews collected here</a>). Finally, this week's </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Golden Kin-Yōbi </b>giveaway was revealed as <b>Natsume Soseki's <i>Light and Dark</i></b>, his final work, and widely considered as his masterpiece - <a href="http://januaryjapan.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/golden-kin-yobi-3-columbia-university.html">click here to have a chance of winning one of three copies</a> :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">That's quite enough for one Sunday - time for </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Momotarō </b>and I to have a well-earned rest. See you next week...</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-86108453928220651582014-01-17T06:00:00.000+11:002014-01-17T06:00:04.708+11:00Golden Kin-Yōbi: 3 - Columbia University Press<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDXW1n4e7ykBuATU4RXHupEW-vZ5nD-urT1tIvXJqR3WgmyEd-t2TO44gw8uJD89C0g55zjNbkoXt86u6nu2F0TBHx3kShc8DKo9CaiAnL_Ahb4JDQ2zBoBxSgXoiCGh6iU6m8u06-edRY/s1600/IMG_4916.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDXW1n4e7ykBuATU4RXHupEW-vZ5nD-urT1tIvXJqR3WgmyEd-t2TO44gw8uJD89C0g55zjNbkoXt86u6nu2F0TBHx3kShc8DKo9CaiAnL_Ahb4JDQ2zBoBxSgXoiCGh6iU6m8u06-edRY/s320/IMG_4916.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We're back with another <b>Golden Kin-Yōbi</b>, a day of opportunity for lovers of J-Lit :) Our generous donors today are <a href="http://www.cup.columbia.edu/"><b>Columbia University Press</b></a>, who release a wide range of fascinating Japanese books, both fiction and non-fiction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Which of their books are being offered as prizes? Well, it's one of their most recent publications, and it's a chance to try one of Japan's most famous writers - in a book which few English speakers will have read...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Natsume Soseki</b> was the first of my J-Lit Giants, and in his home country he is arguably seen as the most famous Japanese writer of the modern era. He is known for such works as <i><b>Kokoro</b></i>, <i><b>Botchan</b></i>, <i><b>I am a Cat</b></i> and <i><b>Kusamakura</b></i>, but one of his best books has just reappeared in English with a new translation by <b>John Nathan</b>. <i><b>Light and Dark</b></i> is Natsume's final work, his longest novel - one I've just finished reading and enjoyed immensely :)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLdb1rg6cc62TpMbkW7rtfJAm4yFthlksAQuMf-ncGlzussBz_x_3TZhpb2Eiz3gsmtDoR_WYSJpr71KoiRGfp-N5mHcLS6vvIpak53ihJMA2xtEm3tqTwqLIyZNQ05okATheMwqhO8ld/s1600/light-dark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFLdb1rg6cc62TpMbkW7rtfJAm4yFthlksAQuMf-ncGlzussBz_x_3TZhpb2Eiz3gsmtDoR_WYSJpr71KoiRGfp-N5mHcLS6vvIpak53ihJMA2xtEm3tqTwqLIyZNQ05okATheMwqhO8ld/s200/light-dark.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Set on the eve of World War One, it is described as <i>"a minutely observed study of haute-bourgeois manners"</i> and <i>"a psychological portrait of a new marriage that achieves a depth and
exactitude of character revelation that had no precedent in Japan at the
time of its publication and has not been equaled since"</i>. In the introduction, translator John Nathan compares the style to Henry James, and while Soseki uses much shorter sentences than the Anglo-American writer, the way he analyses his characters' thoughts is very similar.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Sounds like something you'd like to read? Well, CUP are offering <i><b>three copies, with worldwide postage for the winners</b></i>, so you might just get the chance sooner than you thought :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If you'd like to win a copy of <i>Light and Dark</i>, <b>simply comment below, leaving your name and an e-mail address</b>. <b>For courier purposes, the winners will also have to provide me with a telephone number once I've confirmed the names (not yet!).</b> There's no need to follow me, either here, on Facebook or on Twitter
(unless you want to, of course!) - anyone can enter, and everyone has an
equal chance of winning :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Entries will close at <b>8 p.m. (AEST) on Thursday, January the 23rd </b>(that's
9 a.m. on Thursday, London time), and the winners will be announced in
the next Golden Kin-Yōbi post (the winners, naturally, will be chosen
using some kind of random on-line draw thingy). So, what are you
waiting for? Get commenting, and good luck!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And, of course, we need to announce the winners of last week's prizes!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A copy of <b>Yasushi Inoue's <i>Bullfight</i></b> goes to <b>Lizzy Siddal</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A copy of <b>Ryu Murakami's</b> <i><b>Coin Locker Babies</b></i> goes to <b>Reuven Pinnata</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A copy of Murakami's <i><b>Popular Hits of the Showa Era</b></i> goes to <b>Jacqui</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A copy of Murakami's <i><b>Sixty-Nine</b></i> goes to <b>Ally (Snow Feathers)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I will be in contact with the winners shortly - thanks again to <a href="http://pushkinpress.com/"><b>Pushkin Press</b></a> for the great prizes :)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1887331233220097491.post-73552295653205521842014-01-16T14:00:00.000+11:002014-01-27T11:26:40.748+11:00Readalong One: 'The Diving Pool' by Yōko Ogawa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIn5JJd0Iq2MCTIp_UbcUzGodBg2uWy-9tc6GLmHZXOfyV5iHbYw8miNA5Fr5DziWLc1R1jz4DDxP6ISmSFWD0E7946HXfbiYuHBXnAP05pKcFmoNPUZENX78TfNuG4SEUpzKfl8Wdbo4K/s1600/IMG_4925.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIn5JJd0Iq2MCTIp_UbcUzGodBg2uWy-9tc6GLmHZXOfyV5iHbYw8miNA5Fr5DziWLc1R1jz4DDxP6ISmSFWD0E7946HXfbiYuHBXnAP05pKcFmoNPUZENX78TfNuG4SEUpzKfl8Wdbo4K/s320/IMG_4925.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Welcome to the home page for the first of our two </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>January in Japan</b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> readalongs :) The first of our choices is </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Yoko Ogawa's</b> </span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">collection of three novellas, <b>The Diving Pool</b>, and below you'll find links to the reviews and thoughts of all the readalong participants (this will be updated as I become aware of the posts!).</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">***** </span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Before that though, I just thought I'd leave a few posers for people to ponder (and perhaps reply to in the comments sections):</span></i><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">1) Which was your favourite story (and why)?</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">2) Bearing in mind that these stories were published individually in the original language, do you think the book worked well as a collection?</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">3) Did the slightly dark tone enhance your enjoyment of the stories, or would you have preferred a lighter approach?</span></b></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">If you'd like to comment on these questions (or anything else...), please feel free to ;) And now, the reviews...</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span><br />
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<a href="http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/the-diving-pool-by-yoko-ogawa-review.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Tony's Reading List</b></span></a><br />
<a href="https://winstonsdad.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/the-diving-pool-by-yoko-ogawa/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Winstonsdad's Blog</b></span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://fightstart.blogspot.jp/2014/01/the-diving-pool.html">this is how she fight start</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://blog.brilliantyears.net/archives/1033">Brilliant years</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/the-diving-pool-yoko-ogawa/">Lizzy's Literary Life</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.bookloverbookreviews.com/2014/01/book-review-diving-pool-yoko-ogawa.html">Booklover Book Reviews</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://thewritesofwoman.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/the-diving-pool-yoko-ogawa-translated-by-stephen-snyder/">The Writes of Woman</a> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://5eyedbookworm.wordpress.com/2014/01/22/the-diving-pool-by-yoko-ogawa/">The Five-Eyed Bookworm</a> </b></span></div>
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