Category: Japan

May 13, 2021

Q&A: Minae Mizumura on An I-Novel

Minae Mizumura is one of Japan’s most respected novelists. Published in 1995, her An I-Novel— a semi-autobiographical work that takes place over the course of a single day in the 1980s—radically broke with Japanese literary tradition. In this Q&A, Mizumura...

September 8, 2020

The Unprecedented 1827 Osaka Incident

By Kate Wildman Nakai, Mark Teeuwen, and Fumiko Miyazaki

“Christian Sorcerers on Trial is a model of consummate scholarship and at the same time a gripping narrative which will be of great interest not just to students of Japanese religion and history, but to anyone curious about Japan in the...

September 1, 2020

Translation Month! Celebrating Works of Literature and History from Japan, Korea, and Russia

September is National Translation Month, and we’re ready to celebrate! This year’s featured books take us back to unsettling times in Japan, Korea, and Russia. Peruse the list and book excerpts below, and check back every Tuesday for a guest post....

March 19, 2020

Book Excerpt! Manchu Princess, Japanese Spy, By Phyllis Birnbaum (chapter 17)

“Richly illustrated with rare photos, and enlivened by numerous interviews, Phyllis Birnbaum’s book is a balanced, well-written biography of one of the most notorious figures to emerge in the early twentieth-century contest for empire in northeast Asia. Anyone interested in...

August 15, 2019

Book Excerpt! The Pillow Bookfrom The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Essays: Zuihitsu from the Tenth to the Twenty-First Century

“The focused ramble of the traditional Japanese essay format called zuihitsu (literally, ‘following the brush’) has appealed to writers of both genders, all ages, and every class in Japanese society. Highly personal, these essays contain dollops of philosophy, odd anecdotes,...

August 13, 2019

Q&A: Gergana Ivanova on Unbinding The Pillow Book: The Many Lives of a Japanese Classic

“Ivanova elucidates the complex reception of [The Pillow Book] as an ongoing dialogue between the irretrievable past and the dynamic present. I cannot think of a better match between a scholar and her subject. It is a dazzling accomplishment.” ~Paul...

March 7, 2019

In Memoriam: Donald Keene (June 18, 1922 – February 24, 2019)

Revered author and professor Donald Keene passed away on February 24 at the age of 96. The following post is written by Press Director Jennifer Crewe, who was Keene’s editor for many years. •  •  •  •  •  • I...

September 14, 2018

Monstrous Media: Keller Kimbrough on Monsters, Animals, and Other Worlds

As part of our ongoing feature celebrating National Translation Month, today we have a guest post written by Keller Kimbrough, who edited Monsters, Animals and Other Worlds: A Collection of Short Medieval Japanese Tales with with Haruo Shirane. Don’t forget...

September 13, 2018

Phyllis I. Lyons on Translating An Unknown Novel: Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s In Black and White

Today we have a guest post written by Phyllis I. Lyons, professor emeritus of Japanese language and literature at Northwestern University and translator of Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s lost novel In Black and White, for our month-long feature celebrating National Translation Month. Don’t...

September 12, 2018

Richard F. Calichman on Translating Abe Kōbō’s Beasts Head For Home

Today’s post for our National Translation Month feature is written by Richard F. Calichman, professor of Japanese studies at the City College of New York, CUNY and translator of the novel Beasts Head for Home by Abe Kōbō. Remember to enter...

September 11, 2018

A Reluctant Translator: Reflections from John Nathan

As part of our month-long feature celebrating National Translation Month, today we have a guest post by John Nathan, author of Sōseki: Modern Japan’s Greatest Novelist and translator of Natsume Sōseki’s final novel Light and Dark. Remember to enter our drawing...

June 29, 2017

Kyūzō and the Red Army

Read an excerpt from BEASTS HEAD FOR HOME: A NOVEL, by Abe Kōbō, translated by Richard Calichman!