John Spiri traveled to Korea to ask Koreans about their jobs: what they do all day and what they think of it.
Tag: non-fiction
New Release—Another Bangkok, by Alex Kerr
Just released by Penguin, U.K. Alex Kerr’s latest book Bangkok Found: Reflections on the City, now available only on Amazon.jp, Amazon U.K, and Book Depository, U.K. (free shipping world-wide). Stay posted for a talk with Alex about this book on an upcoming Books on Asia YouTube podcast where he visually walks us through some of the More…
Excerpt—Taiwanese at Work
John Spiri traveled all over Taiwan interviewing people about their typical day of work.
Review—Pax Tokugawana: The Cultural Flowering of Japan 1603-1853
By Haga Tōru (Japan Library, 2021) Transl. Juliet Winters Carpenter Review by Cody Poulton Lightning— girdled by waves the islands of Japan This haiku by Yosa Buson (1716-1784) captures a snapshot of Japan in the Tokugawa era: isolated, peaceful, self-contained. The Tokugawa era (aka Edo period), which stretched from 1603 until its fall in 1868, More…
Excerpt—Japanese at Work
Spiri traveled all over Japan interviewing people about their typical day of work
Excerpt—The Cat With Three Passports
By CJ Fentiman From Chapter 3: A Cat’s Resentment (toward those who help it) (猫の逆恨み / Neko No Sakaurami) I’d had kittens before, but none with such a destructive nature. Finally, I decided it was time to take him to the vets and get some advice. Maybe there was something physically wrong with him that More…
First Book—Jon Tanimura & The World-Traveling Udon Maker
The true story of a world nomad who cooked Japanese Udon noodles for 5,000 people in 24 countries
“First Book” is a new column where we ask first-time authors what inspired them to write their debut book/novel/translation. Books on Asia: What’s your book’s “elevator pitch?” Jon Tanimura: It’s an autobiography of a Japanese man who cooked Japanese Udon noodles for 5,000 people in 24 countries while traveling around the world as a nomad More…
Review—Providence Was With Us: How a Japanese Doctor Turned the Afghan Desert Green
Nakamura Tetsu’s account of his thirty-five years as a volunteer in the nebulous border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan
Reviewed by Chad Kohalyk One day in 1985, from the hills of Kunar province in northeastern Afghanistan, came three women dressed in chador, their faces covered. The two sisters and their mother were victims of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and had come to the hospital ward of Nakamura Tetsu, a volunteer doctor from Fukuoka More…
Review—The Forgotten Japanese
A well-known ethnographer in Japan reveals voluminous details about countryside living before WWII.
Miyamoto Tsuneichi, is author of many ethnographical books on Japanese society, but this is the only one I know of that has been translated into English (transl. Jeffrey Irish). Miyamoto is a well-known scholar and author in Japan. The Forgotten Japanese is a necessary read for anyone interested in Japanese lifestyles in the countryside from More…
Review—Japanese Death Poems
An invaluable book for anyone interested in Japanese culture as well as poetry. — Amy Chavez
Japanese Death Poems is one of those invaluable books for anyone interested in Japanese culture as well as poetry. The lengthy introduction alone is important for the plethora of information on the history of Japanese poetry and in particular, the death poem. From tanka to haiku, written by princes, court nobles, samurai, Buddhist monks and More…