Nichi-Yōbi News: Week 1

Welcome, one and all, to the first weekly instalment of my January in Japan round-up posts, Nichi-Yōbi News!  For those of you unfamiliar with Japanese, Nichi-Yobi means 'Sunday' - and the picture to the left is my pathetic attempt to put it into Japanese writing (poor Momotarō is looking away in disgust...).  Anyway, let's see what's been happening this week :)

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First up, I have to point you in the direction of all the reviews we've had so far.  For a couple of days, I did think that my two would be the only ones there, but we've had several more posted over the past few days on a wide variety of books.  Just click on this link (or the Book Reviews tab at the top of the page) to see who has been reviewing what this week :)

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This week also saw the third in our J-Lit Giants series, the first by a guest contributor.  Gary, from The Parrish Lantern, submitted an excellent post on poet Ryuichi Tamura that you should all check out :)

Again, you can see all the submissions so far by clicking here or on the J-Lit Giants tab at the top of the page.  There are more giants to come before the end of the month.  In addition to a couple I'm planning to write, Gary has kindly offered up another bio, and one other guest contributor has sent me a great biography to post.  And if you would like to talk about your favourite J-Lit writer, my ear is always open...

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As well as reading a lot of J-Lit over the past few weeks, I have also listened to a couple of podcasts on the subject.  The Centre for the Art of Translation in San Francisco has a podcast entitled Two Voices, which usually features a translator discussing some of the writers whose works they have brought into the English language.  The programme features translators from all languages, but (naturally) I was interested in the ones concerning J-Lit.

The first featured Stephen Snyder, who talked about Yoko Ogawa and informed the audience how her stories came to be featured in the New Yorker magazine, how the editors interfered with her stories and why The Housekeeper and the Professor was earmarked as the novel likely to be a hit in translation.

The second was a double teaming of Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel, talking (of course) about Haruki Murakami.  This was recorded just after 1Q84 had been published, and it was interesting to hear what the two translators thought of the book.  Perhaps of more interest to most readers was a casual mention by Rubin that a retranslation of Murakami's first two novellas, Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973, was underway (although I've been unable to find any other mention of this on the net...).

The quality isn't perfect (the Q&A sections at the end are virtually inaudible...), but these podcasts are well worth a listen :)

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And on that note, I'll bid you farewell for this week.  Remember to use the #januaryinjapan hashtag on Twitter to mark posts of interest, and don't forget the readalong of Hiromi Kawakami's novel The Briefcase at the end of the month.  If you would like to join in, simply post your review on the 31st of January (and leave a link on the Book Reviews page).

Same place, same time, next week?  Ja, mata ;)

J-Lit Giants: 3 - Ryuichi Tamura

We're into January now, and it's time for another episode of our J-Lit Giants series.  Today's post marks a couple of firsts: Gary, of The Parrish Lantern, is the first guest reviewer to offer up a favourite writer; and his choice (which should surprise nobody) is the first poet in the series too...

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The Four Thousand Days and Nights ~ A few words on Ryuichi Tamura

Ryuichi Tamura (田村隆 ~ Tamura Ryūichi ) was born in Otsuka, Tokyo in 1923. He graduated from the Third Tokyo High School in 1940 and entered the Literature Department of Meiji University in 1941. He was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1943, serving at the Yokosuka Second Naval Barracks as an instructor with the Naval Flying Corps. This would have seen him when necessary having also to man one of the gun emplacements in the case of an American invasion and, although this never happened, because of the USA’s nuclear strikes, he had already lost a good many friends in the Kamikaze missions, and his hometown no longer existed - this would obviously have a major impact on his writing.

His career as a poet started before the war.  Whilst still in his teens, he contributed to the coterie* magazine Shin-ryodo (New Territory**), with Taro Kitamura a fellow student & member of the Arechi (The Waste Land) group. It was in the post-war period, with the revival of Arechi and with Tamura being instrumental in establishing it as a literary magazine with his surviving friends, that his reputation took off. The Arechi poets mixed the influences of T.S Elliot and W.H. Auden with the Existentialist musings of writers such as Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre to express their perception of themselves and through that their country. This featured a harder tone than had been previously seen in Japanese poetry, and perfectly described the sense of dislocation and crisis that was the post-war experience of most Japanese as they tried to come to terms with the destruction and onslaught of a rapid modernisation programme that saw most of what was originally considered to be “Nihon”*** being brushed aside.

The Poet Ooka Makoto, writing about this period, said “The key subjects for poetry in this period were devastation, anxiety, desperation and death; this reflected the social circumstances just as prose writing does. Poets, living in grim uncertainty and suffering the horrifying aftermath of the atom bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, generally expressed their pessimistic vision of the future of humankind through their works.”

This was the subject matter of his first anthology Yosen no hi no yoru ("Four Thousand Days and Nights", 1956), particularly in the title poem which starts;

In order for a single poem to come into existence
you and I have to kill,
have to kill many things,
many lovable things, kill by shooting, kill by assassination,
kill by poisoning.

He followed this with the publication of his second collection The World Without Words, in 1962.  This was to establish him as a major poet and would see him universally regarded as an important figure in modern Japanese poetry. In 1998, Ryuichi Tamura received Japan's highest honour, The 54th Japan Academy of Arts Award for Poetry.  Later that same year, he died of cancer of the oesophagus.

EMPEROR.

There are eyes in the stone, the eyes

closed in grief and fatigue.

The man in black passes my door -

You, the Emperor of Winter,

my lonely Emperor, walking to your own

grave in Europe,

your white forehead shadowed by

civilisation

your back to the sun.

Your self-punishment is so painful,

Flowers! You stretch out your hands to

them.

But universal winter has set in

after the era of reason and progress.

European beauties are nothing but

fantasies.

Who will kiss your hands

whose fated palms are dark and dry and

barren?

Flowers! Those scars are flowers.

Books 
Poetry of Ryuichi Tamura

Tamura Ryuichi: On the Life & Work of a 20th Century Master

Dead Languages: Selected Poems 1946-1984 (Asian Poetry in Translation: Japan)

* Japanese poets usually form groups of like-minded writers with the aim of helping each other to become better poets & they usually publish their own magazines - such groups are called coteries.

** A title in homage to Michael Roberts's anthology of contemporary English poetry New Country.

*** The constitutional monarchy occupying the Japanese Archipelago.

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Thanks for that Gary - a great introduction to a writer I hadn't heard of before :)  Has anyone else tried Tamura?  Do you have any favourite Japanese poets?

If you are itching to post on your favourite Japanese writer, just let me know - next time, it could be your post adorning the blog ;)

The Winner Is... & Readalong Details

Hello one and all!  Before the Christmas festivities get under way, I just thought I'd round up a few bits and pieces about January in Japan (which is only a week or so away!).

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Firstly, I'd like to give you details of a readalong for anyone who is interested.  Hiromi Kawakami's The Briefcase is the only Japanese title on the longlist of this year's Man Asian Literary Prize, and after consulting the eminent bloggers on the Shadow Panel, I thought it would be nice to use it for a group read :)  There won't be any questions or anything like that - there'll just be a few reviews on the 31st of January to wrap up the month.

If you'd like to join us, it's very simple.  You can leave a comment below, or simply post your review on the day and leave your link on the Book Reviews tab at the top of the screen.  Hope you can join us!

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Secondly, I'm still looking for anyone wanting to contribute to my J-Lit Giants series.  If you have a favourite Japanese writer, and you'd like to submit a brief bio and a few recommendations, I'd be happy to add your offering to the list.  Please help: otherwise I'll have to write them all myself :(

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Thirdly (and perhaps most importantly), it's time to announce the winner of my giveaway.  Thanks to all who entered, but the winner of The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories is JoV of JoV's Book Pyramid!  Congratulations Jo - the book will be on its way to you very soon :)

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Finally, have a great holidays, and remember to check out all the January in Japan action next year.  How?  Well, you can:

• Follow this blog so you don't miss any news or reviews
• Post your reviews on the Book Reviews page
• Use (and follow) the #januaryinjapan hashtag on Twitter

All good?  Let's make the first month of the new year a great one :)

It's Giveaway Time!

When I announced my intention to host January in Japan, I hinted that there might be some giveaways, and while I haven't been lucky enough to source any publisher freebies, I'm more than happy to provide a prize or two out of my own pocket :)

The question though is what to choose out of all the excellent Japanese books I've read over the past few years.  There are a lot of books I've enjoyed, and would like others to enjoy, but there is one I've recommended several times and will undoubtedly do so again in the future...

...and it is, of course, The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories :)

I reviewed this collection a few years back, and its a book I've dipped into several times since then.  It's probably the best starter anthology for J-Lit around, with a wide variety of classic and modern writers - not too old and not too heavy either ;)

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So, on to the giveaway!  I will be giving away a copy of the book shown above - if you want to enter, simply:

  - comment on this post.

  - write the word 'please' somewhere in your comment; manners are important :)

  - a contact e-mail would be nice, but I will endeavour to track down the winner!
  - commenting on my review is welcome but not obligatory ;)

This competition is open to all, but please note that I will be using The Book Depository to send this prize, so it is limited to people living in countries where The Book Depository has free delivery.  Entries will close at midnight (Melbourne time) on Saturday, the 22nd of December, 2012, and I'll be announcing the winner shortly after.

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Apologies to those who already have this one - I'll try to fit in another giveaway during the event itself.  To everyone who intends to enter - good luck :)

J-Lit Giants: 2 - Yukio Mishima

I'm back again with another in my J-Lit Giants series, in which I (and, hopefully, a few guests) introduce a famous Japanese writer and recommend a few books to get you started.  Today, we'll be looking at a writer who made the headlines for more than just his literary legacy...

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Yukio Mishima (real name Kimitake Hiraoka) was a prolific writer who came to a rather untimely end.  He began writing during his high-school days (even though his father was against his literary pursuits), and he had one of his stories published in a famous literary magazine.  His career began in earnest after World War Two, and he went on to write a host of famous novels, including the four-part Sea of Fertility quadrilogy.

Mishima was very different to your average writer.  He was an actor and a model, appearing in films and photo campaigns, and he also had a keen interest in weight-training and body-building (something your average writer is not exactly known for!).  He also had a keen sense of tradition and responsibility - something which was to have an impact later on in his life...

In November 1970, Mishima and a group of his followers attempted to start a coup against the Emperor.  After his half-hearted attempt was laughed down, he calmly went inside and committed seppuku - ritual suicide.  One of the most famous writers in the world attempted to disembowel himself with a sword before being beheaded by a helper.  Imagine the headlines today...

One reason for his decision may have been the fact that Yasunari Kawabata was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968, meaning that Mishima was unlikely to ever win the award, despite having been a favourite to win it several times.  Whether this was the reason or not, it was a sad end for a great writer.

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Mishima is probably not the most accessible of Japanese writers.  Some of his best works are dense and can be hard going for newcomers to his work.  However, they're not all quite so difficult to get into.  My three to try would be:

1) Spring Snow - This is a late-career novel, the first in his famous Sea of Fertility series, but it's a wonderful love story and a novel which is easy to get lost in.

2) After the Banquet - The story of a high-class restaurant owner's marriage to a dour politician is a novel about opposites attracting, but failing to go the distance.  Again, it displays a much lighter touch than some of Mishima's works.

3) The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea - This is a short work, more of a novella than a novel, but it is a powerful one.  A sailor's relationship with a single mother is threatened by the woman's son - a boy with some very disturbing tendencies.  This may not be one for those with faint hearts and weak stomachs...

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So there you have it - another great writer with lots of books to explore :)  As always, let us know about your experiences with today's giant, be they happy or depressing ones.  Our comments box is always open ;)