Review—The Nature of Kyoto

Review by John Rucynski The Nature of Kyoto is the fifth anthology from Writers in Kyoto (WiK), a “group of published and self-published English-language authors working or living in the city.” Anthologies always run the risk of focusing on too narrow a theme, attracting a certain number of readers, but giving pause to many others More…

Review—Life Ceremony, by Sayaka Murata (transl. Takemori)

Review by Tina deBellegarde Sayaka Murata’s Life Ceremony, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, is a wildly imaginative and chilling short story collection about loners and outcasts. Once again, Murata writes about non-conformity and once again she does it in her unique subversive style. She presents us with a world turned on its head, where what More…

Review—The Widow, The Priest and The Octopus Hunter

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Portraits of the lives of 31 members of a small community on a tiny island in Japan’s Inland Sea, spanning the Taisho to Reiwa periods (the past 100 years).

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The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island Review by Tina deBellegarde With The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter, Amy Chavez has presented us with a gift of cultural preservation. The author conducted a year-long oral history project on the Island of More…

Review—Kanazawa by David Joiner

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In Kanazawa, David Joiner delivers a slow-burning family drama reminiscent of a film by Yasujirō Ozu or Hirokazu Koreeda.

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Joiner adds a layer of reading pleasure by intertwining key aspects of Izumi Kyōka’s works into his own narrative.

Review—Places, by Setouchi Jakuchō

Few authors have led as storied a life as Setouchi Jakuchō. Writer, translator, feminist, peace activist, and Buddhist nun…

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“Places” is a braid of success stories: female independence, authorial achievement, and a mind taken to the brink of suicide, and back.

Review—Heaven, by Mieko Kawakami

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A heartbreaking, yet uplifting, story of two outcasts who find and protect each other through a year of school bullying.

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A heartbreaking, yet uplifting, story of two outcasts who find and protect each other through a year of school bullying.