Japan: A Traveler's Literary Companion

Traveler's Literary Companion

by Jeffrey Angles (editor), Donald Richie (Foreword), J. Thomas Rimer (Editor)

This collection guides the reader through the complexity that is Japan. Although frequently misunderstood as a homogenous nation, Japan is a land of tremendous linguistic, geographical, and cultural diversity. Hino Keizo leads the reader through Tokyo's mazes in "Jacob's Tokyo Ladder." Nakagami Kenji explores the ghostly, mythology-laden backwoods of Kumano. Atoda Takashi takes us to Kyoto to follow the mystery of a pair of shoes and discover the death of a stranger. The stories, like the country and the people, are beautiful and compelling. Let these literary masters be your guide — from the beauty of northern Honshu through the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, to the many temples in Kyoto, through Osaka and the coastline of the Sea of Japan, and down to southern Kushu — to a Japan that only the finest stories can reveal. Contributors include Hino Keizo, Maruya Saiichi, Inoue Yasushi, Oda Sakunosuke, Miyamoto Teru, Tada Chimako, Atoda Takashi, Nakagami Kenji, Mizukami Tsutomu, Kawabata Yasunari, Takahashi Mutsuo, and Shima Tsuyoshi.

Genres: Japan, Travel, Short Stories, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2006

Reviews

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a selection of Japanese short stories each set in a different region of Japan: Tokyo (two stories), Northern Honshu (one story), Osaka (two stories), Kobe (one story), Kyoto (one story), Kumano (one story), the Sea of Japan coast (one story), Kyushu (two stories) and Okinawa (one story). The authors range from very well-known such as Yasunari Kawabata and Yasushi Inoue to lesser known, such as Tsuyoshi Shima. I will review two stories from this book - one presenting the Kyushu island in Japan and one presenting Northern Honshu.

Under the Shadow of Mt. Bandai [1961] by Yasushi Inoue - ★★★1/2

Yasushi Inoue (The Hunting Gun [1949]) wrote this short, "slow-burn" story about a tax collector who is sent with his entourage on a journey to a foreign-to-him region of Japan to make "a tax survey". As he nears the region and the village of his destination, he starts to hear strange rumours of mysterious cataclysmic happenings in the area. People's reactions are also strange and contradictory: some are struck by some unnamed horror to come, while others try to laugh off this "supposedly-coming" large earthquake. The story, translated by Stephen W. Kohl, may be slow-moving and simplistic, but it is also vividly introspective and convincing. It taps into Shinto's holy-yama veneration, bad omens and island claustrophobia.

Yumiura [1958] by Yasunari Kawabata - ★★★1/2

This short story, translated by Michael Emmerich, comes from Nobel Prize Laureate Yasunari Kawabata (The Old Capital [1962]), and tells of one woman who comes from afar to see famous novelist Kozumi Shozuke. She tells the novelist that she met him one night thirty years ago in the town of Yumiura. Shozuke tries hard to recollect the memory that ties him to the woman, but the woman's recollections also throw him off course and he feels slowly engulfed in the woman's elaborate "fantasy," despite having no memory of her. This short story is about human memory ("a blessing bestowed...by the gods" [185]) and its fragility. The story is eerie as it becomes hard to distinguish truth from fiction, and portrays the sheer dread of a situation whereby someone can recall more about us and our past than we can do so ourselves.

[Maria Longley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection has a very interesting thesis. The locations of the story or the author shape the stories and tales and there are regional differences to pick out and celebrate. It's a great reason to bring together great writing and short stories and I enjoyed being introduced to new authors (to me obviously, most of the authors in the collection are very well known and prolific writers in Japan).

There is a mixture of fiction and autobiographical essays in the book which worked for me. My favourite stories were The Swallow's Nest by Miyamoto Teru (set in Osaka) and Bones by Shima Tsuyoshi (set in Okinawa). The City of Trees by Oda Sakunosuke appeared in print in 1944 and is about his memories of an area in Osaka he grew up in and going back to visit and remembering his life there and noticing what had changed. Shortly after publication this area was destroyed by bombing.

[shuji · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful compilation of short stories. I enjoyed reading many of them as intended: as I traveled and visited particular cities and regions in Japan while riding the Shinkansen bullet train (and also when wide awake in the middle of the night fending off jet lag). This was a broad collection of short stories, beautifully written and translated, with many whose voices were melancholy and sad. However, I definitely appreciated its tone; raw, emotional, and genuine human experiences that one can relate to. Reading the stories was a pleasant journey, transporting me to various times, its many spectrum of cultures, and very real characters. The emotional expressions in many, if not all of the stories, somehow seemed more liberated and honest than what I typically read in Western writings. I hope you are transported to another world, culture, and people as I was. I am so grateful to all of the translators whose amazing knowledge and skill allowed these beautiful works to blossom for me and others to experience. I, for one, would never have had an opportunity to explore such works and am truly amazed at people's ability to master multiple languages at such a high level.

[Derrick Grose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories and memoirs connects the reader with nostalgic reflections on the everyday lives of people in Japan. The stories range from the account of the journey of a late C19th tax surveyor travelling on logging roads on his way to assess remote mountain villages that are abruptly erased from the face of the earth by a volcanic eruption to a description of an old woman's curse on a construction foreman who is required to desecrate a mass grave from World War II to make way for a luxury hotel on Okinawa. There is the blindness of a young man to the fact that his lover's feelings for him transcend his own inadequacies. There is sadness tinged with guilt over the drowning of a beloved family dog. There is a man in the shoe trade whose shoes carry him to his death on a scenic point overlooking his hometown. There is surprising juxtaposition of delicacy of feeling with harsh pragmatism in these portraits of life in Japan.

[Michaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are short stories by older, but not ancient, Japanese writers. The stories are set in different areas of Japan and in some cases very influenced by their settings. One or two were misses, but several were very moving.

I appreciated:
Jacob's Tokyo Ladder - by Hino Keizo. A story of a suddenly surreal evening stroll.

The City of Trees -by Oda Sakunosuke. Narrator returns to boyhood home of Osaka but tells a story of family love.

The Destiny of Shoes - by Atoda Takashi. Musings on destiny and it's connection with an intimate material object.

Bones - by Shima Tsuyoshi. Tale of corporate greed having no respect for the war dead, buried in Okinawa.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is a really cool idea that mostly works in execution. What can you learn about a country through their literature? I'm not exactly sure, though these stories all seemed to reinforce the Japanese dichotomy of tradition and innovation.
I enjoyed reading them on the train, travelling from Tokyo to Kyoto and up to Akita, and enjoyed finishing up six months after my return.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not fond of short stories but some of these are quite haunting.

[Mel Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this window into Japan through its modern literature.

[Edie Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is part of a series of short stories that feature specific places in different countries. In this case, we travel through Japan. I thought these selections were wonderful.

Recommended.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're going to Japan and looking for a literary companion, it's definitely worth the space in your suitcase. I read this at a resort in Hakone in between soaks in the onsen, so maybe that colored my enjoyment of it, but this was a really nice selection of stories. Even though most of them were pretty sad. I'm going to look into reading more by some of these authors now. Hadn't heard of most of them before.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of quirky stories set in various places throughout Japan. The purpose of this collection was to give a number of stories that would represent, through literature, different places in Japan. Here is an NPR interview with the editor.

[Deon Mixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like/love anything about Japan, this is for you. These Japanese authors were very contemplative. They were delicate in their ideas and subtle with their literary approaches. It's all about seeing their experiences, even if they were fiction. The title of this book holds everything together well. That's for sure.

[Maria]

I thought it was a really interesting collection of stories. They have a mystical, fantastical element to them. Very interesting. They also did a great job of selecting stories which reflect the regional variations of the country.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book of short stories by various Japanese authors, ably translated into English. Most of them were written quite a number of years ago and show that even in a different time and place we are basically the same. I found them quietly enjoyable and actually quite thought-provoking.

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are interested in Japanese culture it's a good read but keep in mind that it's literature and best read if know more about the culture before reading this book. I got lost a bit.

[Richard Janzen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly interesting collection of stories. Very descriptive...strong sense of setting as the main character in many of the stories. Kind of magical in places.

[Sarah Brandel]

The stories in this collection were a bit too literary for me. I was hoping for more plot. Still, a very fast read.