Author: Amy Chavez

Review—Cake Tree in the Ruins

November 11, 2018

NEW RELEASE! Moving stories that tell of the absurd violence of war, and tenderly depict the animals and children caught in its vortex.

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The Cake Tree in the Ruins, by Akiyuki Nosaka (Transl. Ginny Tapley Takemori) Pushkin Press (Nov. 13, 2018) Reviewed by Suzanne Kamata As an American reader, conditioned to expect happily-ever-after endings, or at least those in which justice is served, I found this to be an odd and disturbing book. From the titles of stories More…

Issue 3: Japanese Literature in Translation

September 30, 2018

In Issue 3 of Books on Asia, we introduce three prominent women translators of Japanese literature: Juliet Winters Carpenter, Ginny Tapley Takemori and Cathy Hirano. All three have translated prize-winning literature from best-selling Japanese authors such as Marie Kondo, Abe Kobo, and Ryu Murakami. These women have been instrumental in bringing Japanese literature to English More…

Ginny Tapley Takemori on translating Convenience Store Woman

September 29, 2018

Convenience Store Woman was originally published as Conbini ningen (Bungeishunju Ltd., Tokyo, 2016) Ginny Tapley Takemori talks with Books on Asia about translating “Convenience Store Woman,” for the English audience Books on Asia: Convenience Store Woman challenges us to reconsider how we should define a “normal person” in modern society and prods us to accept More…

Issue 2: Wuthering Heights in Japan

July 6, 2018

In this issue of Books on Asia, we delve into Emily Bronte’s classic “Wuthering Heights” and the popularity of the novel in Japan, which is also the subject of Judith Pascoe’s book “On the Bullet Train with Emily Bronte.” A fun, engaging read, Dr. Pascoe deliberates on some of the 20 or so Japanese interpretations More…

Seeking Judith Pascoe

June 29, 2018

Emily Bronte’s only novel “Wuthering Heights,” set in the moors of northern England in the late 18th century, has long been staple reading in Japan. The story of Catherine Earnshaw and her adopted brother Heathcliff, has spawned over 20 Japanese interpretations since the novel was first translated into Japanese by Yasuo Yamamoto in 1932. Japanese More…

Zen or Shinto? John Dougill takes on D.T. Suzuki

May 27, 2018

By John Dougill Sincerity, loyalty, self-sacrifice.  Zen or Shinto values? Mindfulness is a key concept in both Zen and Shinto.  Purification and egolessness too. Harae (purification) and kegare (impurity) in Shinto resemble Delusion and Attachment in Buddhism.  The goal in both religions is similar, though the means are different. In Shinto people look to restore More…

The Long Read — Eric Johnston on why the world still needs full-time foreign correspondents

May 26, 2018

By Eric Johnston Along with polar bears and black rhinos, the plight of the full-time foreign news correspondent is a subject of growing concern among arm-chair zoologists who fear the magnificent beast, which once roamed the world at will and congregated at exotic watering holes, is now on the verge of extinction. As the years More…