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Strange Tale of Panorama Island
The reviews that I've seen of Strange Tale of Panorama Island have managed to steer away from divulging plot details, as it's novella size in length it makes it difficult not to give one thing away...
View ArticleKobayashi Issa - Oraga Haru/The Year of My Life
15.06.2013 marked the 250th birthday of Kobayashi Issa, although I wanted to mark the day by posting on the actual day, the opportunity passed me by in the blink of an eye.Kobayashi Issa's Oraga Haru -...
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Rain in the Wind - Stories
After posting on the Kawabata Prize recently Rain in the Wind - Stories by Maruya Saiichi seems like an intriguing collection to turn to, translated by Dennis Keene and published as part of Kodansha's...
View ArticleForthcoming translations for 2013
As we're heading into the second half of the year I've updated my older post on forthcoming translations with some new titles heading our way, but thought I'd list the additions here - New Tales of...
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A Day in the Life by Senji Kuroi
It's been difficult deciding which of Dalkey Archive's latest books published in their Japanese Literature series to go for first, but something about the slightly enigmatic presentation of Senji...
View ArticleSomething Strange Across the River
Following on from Dazai's Schoolgirl and 3 Strange Tales by Akutagawa, both published as part of their Modern Japanese Classics, (perhaps hopefully part of an on going series?), One Peace Books are set...
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recent visit.
Recently returned from some time in Japan, although not really intending to look too specifically at books or bookshops I did end up with a few that I'll hope to post on in the near future, my time...
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Yoshimoto Takaaki 吉本 隆明
A book that I wanted to remind myself of before it disappears over the horizon of my memory, published back in February, (2013), by Kawade Shobo, an interesting hardback commemorative of Yoshimoto...
View ArticleHaruki Murakami - A Walk to Kobe
Murakami Haruki's A Walk To Kobe is available to read over at > Granta online included in issue number 124 - Travel.
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Stories of Osaka Life
There are a number of collections of short stories that I've wanted to read but due to costing and price thought that the opportunity would never arise, one of those was "Love" and Other Stories by...
View ArticleInterview with Mutsuo Takahashi via REVS magazine.
A recent brief interview uploaded last month with poet Mutsuo Takahashi/高橋 睦郎 is available to read via REVS magazine, which also includes translations of two of his poems - Traveling Blood and...
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Sunny
Sunny is a book that I've been anticipating to read since it was published back in May, the translation of vol 2 is due to be published in November so I thought I'd better track out a copy of vol...
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Carl Randall - Japan Portraits
Carl Randall was awarded the NPG Travel Award in 2012 for following the Tokaido Highway in the footsteps of Ando Hiroshige, (1797-1858), and recording what he saw. The works form a part...
View ArticleThe Quilt and Other Stories by Tayama Katai
The central character of Futon or The Quilt is a man caught in the midst of many contradictory desires, originally appearing in 1907 its mention and discussion of repressed passions may have...
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Bullfight by Inoue Yasushi
Recently published from Pushkin Press is Bullfight by Inoue Yasushi, translated by Michael Emmerich, the story won Inoue the Akutagawa Prize in 1949, it can't be overstated enough to say how much...
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The Kobe Hotel
Stuck somewhere between a desire to read either fiction or poetry The Kobe Hotel offers the opportunity to read both with the prose and haiku of Saitō Sanki, 西東三鬼, (1900-1962), who leaving his wife...
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Floating Clouds - Ukigumo
Sometime ago I borrowed a copy of Hayashi Fumiko's novel Floating Clouds/Ukigumo, (translated by Lane Dunlop), from the library but had to return it before being able to finish it, recently I managed...
View ArticleThe Funeral of A Giraffe - Seven Stories by Tomioka Taeko
The Funeral of A Giraffe is a collection that would be difficult to improve upon, coming with a thorough introduction covering Tomioka Taeko's career as a writer who made the transition from poetry to...
View ArticleForthcoming translations for 2014
As 2013 begins to fade into the rear view thought I'd take a moment to list some translations forthcoming for next year, some delayed and carried over from 2013. I've not managed to fathom too many new...
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Lou-lan and Other Stories by Inoue Yasushi
Lou-lan and Other Stories is a collection of six stories by Inoue Yasushi, translated in an almost tag team kind of fashion by James T. Araki and Edward Seidensticker, published by Kodansha...
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