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[Bill]

Mired in the middle of three enormous books, I needed some variety so am now near the end of Digital Geishas and Talking Frogs, the 'sequel' to New Japanese Voices.

There are both very good and very lame stories in here, the best of which are the longer, more realistic ones. The lame ones are the experimental stories that, in my opinion, fall flat. The anthology is overall worth a read for the good parts of it.

I cannot give kudos to the editor, though, because I don't think she put sufficient effort into her job. Her single-paragraph intros to the stories don't give the date of publication and don't tell us when the authors were born. This is important because it's supposed to be 21st century fiction, and not only doesn't it read like the 21st century but the editor doesn't provide any evidence to that claim.

A number of the authors here were established well before the turn of the century and can be considered 20th century authors carrying over into the new millennium. A number of the stories contain 20th century elements such as PHS and VCR that died out before the 21st. I didn't see a single instance in this volume of the so-far defining element of 21st century life: the smartphone.

And don't get me started on people who put an S on the end of Japanese words. Chrome appears to agree with me: it says Geisha is spelled correctly and Geishas isn't.

[Carol]

Bill wrote: "Mired in the middle of three enormous books, I needed some variety so am now near the end of Digital Geishas and Talking Frogs, the 'sequel' to New Japanese Voices.

T..."

Lazy editors annoy the hell out of me. They are key to whether an anthology works. The lack of any smartphone references would raise my eyebrow to the ceiling.

[Alison]

I need to talk to someone about the ending of Tokyo Ueno Station.

[Carol]

Alison wrote: "I need to talk to someone about the ending of Tokyo Ueno Station."

Here's the thread, Alison.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[BookMonkey]

Hi everybody, I couldn't find an "introductions" thread, so I just wanted to say here that I'm excited to join the group. I've been interested in Japanese literature for years but have found myself reading more and more of it lately and am looking forward to discussing it with all of you. I speak Japanese badly, write it slightly less badly, and read it slowly, so I mostly read in translation, though my goal is to start reading more work in the original.

I've just recently finished two books by Japanese authors that I highly recommend, Horses, Horses, in the End the Light Remains Pure: A Tale That Begins with Fukushima by Hideo Furukawa, and Inheritors by Asako Serizawa, and I'm about to start Tokyo Ueno Station, which fortunately happens to be the group read for this month.

[Nocturnalux]

BookMonkey wrote: "I speak Japanese badly, write it slightly less badly, and read it slowly, so I mostly read in translation, though my goal is to start reading more work in the original."

Hi there! I also read in Japanese, albeit slowly (not half as slow as I used to be, though), am currently reading 海辺のカフカ〈上〉. It's always great fellow Japanese language readers.

[BookMonkey]

Nocturnalux wrote: "Hi there! I also read in Japanese, albeit slowly (not half as slow as I used to be, though), am currently reading 海辺のカフカ〈上〉. It's always great fellow Japanese language readers."

How great! You've certainly picked a long book to work through. I've just started reading 山の音, which is shorter but will still take me a long time.

[Nocturnalux]

BookMonkey wrote: ".How great! You've certainly picked a long book to work through. I've just started reading 山の音, which is shorter but will still take me a long time."

Heh, yeah, it is very long indeed and I'll be lucky if I can finish this first volume before the year closes. I've taken to reading out loud. It slows me down considerably but I noticed it greatly increases my familiarity with the text. I'll go over the same passage until I can reading it without tripping or consulting the dictionary, only then do I move on to the next.

That's a great pick! How are you liking it? I was also considering reading that one in the original but was unsure if I'd make much headway.

[BookMonkey]

I've still only just begun, but I can tell that it will be a challenge. I have read most of Kawabata in English and thought the "simple" language might be easier, but I've already encountered some old-timey constructions I haven't seen much.

I also read out loud, but really just sentence by sentence. It really helps me not only get familiar with the text but also learn how to pronounce unfamiliar words (which of course makes it go even slower). But part of the point of this for me is improving my language skills, so I don't mind the slow pace.

Good luck with your reading!

[Nocturnalux]

I know what you mean about old fashioned expressions and archaic language. It's one of the reasons why I have yet to read any classic but tend to stick to either contemporary fiction or light novels. I tried 人間失格 Ningen Shikkaku a while back but gave up almost right away, the very abstract language of the opening lines gave me so much trouble that I decided to just move on something else even though I had already read it in English.

I have become somewhat familiar with Murakami's style so I can read most of his fiction with some ease. But I fear that if I try some other author, I will be back to square one and find it very difficult.

How great that you are also reading out loud! It really helps a lot, doesn't it?

I too don't mind that it is very slow going but at times I yearn to pick up some other book in Japanese that is sitting on the shelf but am resolved not to tackle two books in the language at the same time. I fear it would lead to much confusion and that I wouldn't be able to appreciate them.

If you ever get stumped on your reading, feel free to drop me a PM. Odds are I won't be able to help any but at times, a fresh pair of eyes clears off confusion.

[Bill]

The first author I tried to read a whole volume by in Japanese was Yoshimoto Banana. Then I moved on to a Murakami I'd already read. Neither was much of a problem.

If I wasn't so lazy, I'd read more novels in Japanese. As it is, most of my reading in Japanese is manga.

[Bill]

Currently reading Japan's Medieval Population.

It's not a dry tome full of numbers (though there is, of course, some of that). Much of it is climate, disease, and social structures that increase or decrease fertility and/or mortality.

One example:
One is used to thinking of Japanese peasants as tied to the land, like medieval European serfs. But prior to Hideyoshi this was less the case. Farris talks about Kamakura-era land allocation, and how the steward would assign land to available peasants each spring, and some of them would move to a different estate and landlord the next year. This system came about and continued because of a severe labor shortage. There was more land than farmers to work it, and the farmers could 'vote with their feet' for better landlords.

[Carol]

Bill wrote: "Currently reading Japan's Medieval Population.

It's not a dry tome full of numbers (though there is, of course, some of that). Much of it is climate, disease, and social structures..."

This is really interesting stuff, Bill. Thanks for sharing it.

I (finally) finished The Honjin Murders and was pleasantly surprised. I expected to like it, but not as much as I did, since I was a bit let down by the long-windedness and the mechanical device explanation of Murder in the Crooked House. My enjoyment of locked room mysteries is restored. I'm looking forward to picking up The Inugami Clan in the next several weeks.

[Bill]

Started Woman on the Other Shore.

As I opened this I thought "Are my expectations too high? Am I eager to read this only because it's OOP and hard to find? I've read nothing by this author."

But it's a quick read and I'm really drawn into the story. The title doesn't clearly express it, but it's about two women symbolically looking at each other across a body of water, each on the opposite shore. Three, really, since it's about two women the same age approaching middle age, alternating chapters with the high school life of one of them and her best friend at the time. Two of the three consider themselves to have problems socializing and fitting into groups (though not to the extent of The Convenience Store Woman).

Too soon to tell if it'll have a happy ending. Given that it's Japanese literature, probably not ^_^

It's a shame when books go OOP so quickly. This was written in 2004, translated in 2007, and OOP before I heard of it in 2014.

[Alison]

Bill wrote: "Started Woman on the Other Shore.

As I opened this I thought "Are my expectations too high? Am I eager to read this only because it's OOP and hard to find? I've read nothing by this..."

I LOVE this book. You put tilted the scales in favor of forking over the money for a used copy.

As a woman, I often find the way Japanese women write about women very compelling. I'm excited to hear your opinion, Bill, as a man and an excellent mind.

[Bill]

Flattery will make me comment ^_^

I like the variety of ways Kakuta expressed social awkwardness in the novel. None of the women show the same kind of awkwardness, or even really understand each other's.

The biggest thing I take from the book is separation from friends as people move from one stage of life to the next. Is it as inevitable as she says? I know there are people I didn't bother to maintain contact with, but I'm fortunate to have a sizable group of college friends I've known for 30 years and who I still see on a regular basis (though we didn't get together for this summer's holidays, for some reason). Not all social bonds have to break as we mature and move through life.

Would you call the ending happy, Alison? I think many people would, including the author. To me, I guess it depends on what the company does from here on out.

I wish Sayoko's husband had been better developed. We mostly get a one-dimensional view of him through Sayoko's eyes as a man who sits on the couch drinking beer, and rarely consents to doing any household or family chores. Yet the one time he's allowed to speak directly, I find he has reasonable views. One of the other reviewers mentioned that Kakuta isn't good at male characters. I'll have to read at least one other of her books before I can draw that conclusion. There isn't a large enough sample of men here to work with.

I found a used copy of The Eighth Day in Japanese a few years ago. Maybe now I'll get around to reading it. I'm usually too lazy to read whole novels in Japanese.

[Bill]

Halfway through Last Winter, We Parted.

I don't think I'll be able to rate this book. I can't be particularly objective about it, and I doubt the author would want me to be, either.

LWWP has occasional deepity in it, words that you might think make sense but on further reflection are just word play. Along those lines I'll describe it as: It implies rather than is a novel.

I'll definitely finish it. It's a quick read. I'll keep in on the shelf and may read it again someday to get more out of it.

[Agnetta]

Alison wrote: "Bill wrote: "Started Woman on the Other Shore.

As I opened this I thought "Are my expectations too high? Am I eager to read this only because it's OOP and hard to find? I've read no..."

OH !!! I loved this book too !!! my library had a digital copy in spanish.

What most surprised me (I hope I remember it right) SPOILER AHEAD is that at some point the manager , explaining her youth , reveals she was a complete different personality, much more shy and in the shadow of her best friend, if I remember well. She was not always an adventurous type. Then thru adulthood she became this incredible personality who fully launches into setting up her own company. So for me, "the other shore" was also symbolizing that, how Sayoko is not yet allowing herself to be free, while Aoi, already is on the ohter shore.
I read in the novel that you may "be" a certain way (Sayoko, housewife, awkward in social relationship with the other mothers, no carreer), but you may at some point let go of all what is defined about you, center yourself anew and become something else.

I found the ending quite happy, I had full confidence the 2 women would move forward, growing.

About the husband... well, i didnt care much about that character, he was just annoying, the less i saw of him, the better :)

[Bill]

I don't care for the penultimate chapter of LWWP. It's written like a letter, but why would he write it down? It's exposition without an audience.

[Alison]

Help! Does anyone have a copy of the UK Where the Wild Ladies Are? I'm writing a review for the Asian Review of Books and the editor thinks there may be a typo in the passage I'm quoting from the review copy of the American edition.

[Jon]

I read Dazai's "Otogizōshi: The Fairy Tale Book of Dazai Osamu"... I think this is on a list of future or possible reads here.

I posted a review on the book's page:

The particular humor of another culture is usually related to the humor of one's own (since we are all the same humans, at base), but with an aspect or aspects more sharply pronounced -- making it often hard to get the joke. So much gets lost from translation from a different language, with its unique structures and sounds, and from a distinct cultural history (again, similar but different), but the mind that finds a way of viewing things amusing or a subject of amusement does come through. I enjoyed this book mainly in these senses. Having some amount of experience with Japanese culture, history (also language) I can get a sense of why Dazai's voice is "typically Japanese": deprecating, grotesque, wryly and critically observant while simultaneously respectful of tradition, familial, and finally bemused and charmed.

Especially "funny" is the author's struggle to make sense of the morals to be learned from old Japanese folk tales, both because the tales are so weird, but also by virtue of the framing device the author uses: he is huddling in a bomb shelter in the middle of WWII in Japan, reading stories to his daughter, but having to elaborate or invent the stories' content since he only has a child's picture book to which to refer. This frame is a subversive attempt by the author (since books written during the war had to adhere to a patriotic disposition): he struggles to discern the value in the mythical aspects of the Japanese myth even as that myth has led me to hiding in a hole in the ground as his country gets bombed to oblivion. Thus, another type of humor: gallows.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Salma]

I'm currently reading a book called Starfish, about a young half-Japanese high school girl trying to pursue her calling as an artist and make peace with her abusive mother. It's YA, technically. Really beautiful writing- not too far in yet, but I think it's going to be a great story.

[Bill]

I was hoping that reading the first half of the first volume of Sansom's History of Japan would spur me to get back to Genji.

I read these in a library long ago, and years later picked them up in paperback when Borders went out of business. They've been sitting on my to-read shelf ever since.

Despite being 60 years old, much of it holds up quite well. Chapter 2 on Japanese pre-history is a notable exception, because so much more has been learned since Sansom's time.

My only serious concern is with some of his interpretive rather than factual content. His comparisons to Europe and America aren't particularly apt. And can be quite judgmental especially in the area of religion, where he uses pejorative terms and/or unnecessarily uses terms from European history instead of letting Japanese religion speak for itself.

[iliana]

Hi! I just found today on a local bookstore ( ! ) one of what it seems an 80-page story by Tanizaki (1919) called in English "Fumiko's feet". I searched online but I couldn't find it in English however, not in Goodreads either! So I'm now more curious to know why they chose to make a Greek translation of it?! Very weird!! Oh, and I just checked the publication date and it was in fact printed in 2020!... hahaha Many classic Japanese stories/novels are currently out of print in Greek (and only available through libraries or on second hand bookstores)... Have anyone heard of this story/read it? I plan to read it over the weekend!

[iliana]

It is also translated straight from the Japanese text in Greek, which is also interesting.

[Bill]

I'm reading Japanese Tales from Times Past translated & edited by Koriyama and Allen. This is a selection of 90 tales from the thousand or so in the Konjaku Monogatari compiled in the 12th century. The Konjaku is one the collections of medieval tales known as setsuwa.

I have two other similar collections, with of course a fair amount of overlap. Tales of Times Now Past by Ury contains 62 tales from the Konjaku. Japanese Tales by Tyler contains 220 setsuwa tales, 111 of them from the Konjaku.

I think Koriyama & Allen's book is inferior to Tyler's in a number of ways. Their translations are stilted and unnatural, while he goes out of his way to make his amusing. Fully half of their book is taken up with Buddhist parables, whose repetitiveness gets tiring long before you get through them all, while he selects a wide variety of subject matter from all the collections. Tyler's only shortcoming is that he doesn't cite the official Konjaku tale number at the end of each story; it's a very minor quibble.

If you want to pick up one of these, I recommend Tyler. If he turns you into an aficionado, you can get the others afterwards.

[Alison]

Iliana wrote: "It is also translated straight from the Japanese text in Greek, which is also interesting."

I wonder whether Lafcadio Hearn's inspired other Greeks.

I've noticed how many Japanese books are in Russian or French translation, but not in English. I think JLit has been on some other countries's radars for a lot longer. Frustrating.

[Bill]

Yes, the number of books that show up in the recommendations here and are only available in French translation are quite frustrating. All by authors I've read before and want to read more by...

[Carol]

Bill wrote: "I'm reading Japanese Tales from Times Past translated & edited by Koriyama and Allen. This is a selection of 90 tales from the thousand or so in the Konjaku Monogatari compiled in t..."

I’m taking your lead and pursuing the Tyler. This sounds like a perfect collection for January.

[Ayacchi]

Hi! New member here. I'm currently reading The Travelling Cat Chronicles. Love how the story goes, but I'm not ready if there's any chance of sad ending.

[Alison]

Ayacchi wrote: "Hi! New member here. I'm currently reading The Travelling Cat Chronicles. Love how the story goes, but I'm not ready if there's any chance of sad ending."

Welcome! I loved The Traveling Cat Chronicles. Are you looking for a warning if the book has a sad ending?

A good follow-up for The Traveling Cat Chronicles is If Cats Disappeared from the World.

[Carol]

I started Thousand Cranes and am unsure how I feel about it. I am a big Snow Country fan, so there’s that.

[Ayacchi]

Alison wrote: "Welcome! I loved The Traveling Cat Chronicles. Are you looking for a warning if the book has a sad ending?

A good follow-up for The Traveling Cat Chronicles is If Cats Disappeared from the World"

Their trips were memorable and sweet, so it's sad if they really have to be separated.

I've put the book on my list, thanks a lot!

[Akylina]

I started Where the Wild Ladies Are by Matsuda Aoko today, as one of my spooky books for October. Just read two of the stories so far, and I'm quite amazed at the unexpected turns they've taken. Has anyone else read it?

@Ayacchi Welcome! The Traveling Cat Chronicles is such a sweet book. You'll figure it out soon enough if there's a sad ending or not :)

@Carol Oh no :( What exactly makes you feel unsure about it?

[Carol]

Akylina wrote: "I started Where the Wild Ladies Are by Matsuda Aoko today, as one of my spooky books for October. Just read two of the stories so far, and I'm quite amazed at the unexpected turns t..."

I'm 75% of the way through and it is inspiring a raft of "meh." I like many individual sentences, but am weary of the limited subject matter. He may surprise me yet!

[Em]

I'm very overwhelmed with coursework and other things at the moment, but I'm 100% ready to push all of that aside in favor of starting Earthlings. I can't remember the last time I was so excited for a book!

Akylina wrote: "I started Where the Wild Ladies Are by Matsuda Aoko today, as one of my spooky books for October. Just read two of the stories so far, and I'm quite amazed at the unexpected turns t..."

I read it, I loved it, and I'm looking forward to reading up on the stories it references once I find the time! Even with the little context provided in the Tilted Axis version (not sure if it changed with Soft Skull), I really did enjoy it.

[Edgar]

This is my first entry in any of this group's discussions. I am starting with Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, the third book for me by this author (after 1Q84 and Hardboiled Wonderland). I am reading the German translation which is called Naokos Lächeln (engl. Naoko's Smile).

[Bill]

Welcome, Edgar!

Norwegian Wood is one of his better ones. I'm surprised you gave him another chance after 1Q84 :)

[Edgar]

Cheers, Bill. Only the third part of 1Q84 was not so good, especially the second part I liked a lot. Looking forward to this one!

[Ayacchi]

Akylina wrote: "@Ayacchi Welcome! The Traveling Cat Chronicles is such a sweet book. You'll figure it out soon enough if there's a sad ending or not :)"

I've finished it, definitely a 5 stars for me!

[J]

The Traveling Cat Chronicles is beautiful, I love it and cried buckets reading it. There is a film adaptation too.

I'm reading something non-Japanese at the moment, which is Persuasion by Jane Austen. I did finish The Forest of Wool and Steel, which is nice but rather underwhelming.

[iliana]

Alison wrote: "Iliana wrote: "It is also translated straight from the Japanese text in Greek, which is also interesting."

I wonder whether Lafcadio Hearn's inspired other Greeks.

I've noticed how many Japanese ..."

Oh, I didn't know that there is this issue with other countries' translations as well! How interesting... But yes, also frustrating!

[iliana]

Bill wrote: "Welcome, Edgar!

Norwegian Wood is one of his better ones. I'm surprised you gave him another chance after 1Q84 :)"

Ha ha, I actually started with 1Q84 and wanted to read more books by the author because of it (since this one really stayed with me, especially the last part where we meet Ushikawa), ending up never finding one that came close to it...! But I haven't read Norwegian wood yet. I know it hasn't much of the magical realism element but I really enjoyed the "South of the border west of the sun" one, so we'll see.

[iliana]

Carol wrote: "I started Thousand Cranes and am unsure how I feel about it. I am a big Snow Country fan, so there’s that."

Ha ha, I am currently (super slowly...) reading The sound of the mountain (this and the master of go are the only novels left to read by the author) and halfway through I really don't like it very much... I found the story a bit odd and I'm not really interested in the characters or the plot at all... I also find the main character a bit annoying.. haha who knew! I can see that I have very unpopular opinions sometimes...! Having said the above, the author may still surprise me in the end, since this has happened before, with several of his books ending up being a 5-star read due to the overall closure and synthesis/rhythm, even if they started as a 1-2-star...! He is one of my favorite authors still, however. (I'm coping this comment on the books thread as well)

[iliana]

I'm not sure, however, if it's ok/wise or not to post to so older book discussions.....

[Bill]

Tales of the Ghost Sword A collection of tales set in the Edo period, featuring ghosts and swordsmen.

Perhaps I was spoiled by the first story, and most of the others didn't seem as a good as a result. In the long first story (50 pages out of this 200 page collection) the ghost has character and personality, leading one to almost agree with the samurai's mother's opinion at the end. Some of the other stories here are very short, designed solely around their endings. The last story stands out positively as more of a myth than a ghost story.

Thames River Press decided not to include a table of contents. It seems strange to me to not include one in a collection of stories. So I can't say offhand how many are in it.

Overall, it strikes me as a bit better than one of our group reads, Apparitions. But with how negative some people felt about that one, they may want to give this a pass.

[Bill]

Giants of Japan is a collection of biographies of prominent individuals through history, most of them from the 19th and 20th centuries.

It's divided into sections by type of person, and I just finished part 1: Industry. This is the part I knew I was least familiar with, and I expect to skim the remaining parts of the book because I'm familiar with many of those individuals already.

Based on part 1, I don't recommend the book. It is very hagiographic. Also, its bios of industrial leaders are more 'bios' of important technology corporations in the 19th and 20th centuries rather than bios of their founders. They tell us little about these men except that they started poor, struggled and worked hard, and innovated.

[Em]

I'm just starting Goze: Women, Musical Performance, and Visual Disability in Traditional Japan as research for a paper. After getting derailed multiple times while tracking down sources, I now have a very long list of Japan-related non-fiction books to add to my to-read pile– I might as well switch my major to Asian Studies at this rate.
If anyone has recommendations, fiction or non-fiction, for books touching on Ainu culture, please share!

[Carol]

Emily wrote: "I'm just starting Goze: Women, Musical Performance, and Visual Disability in Traditional Japan as research for a paper. After getting derailed multiple times while tracking down sou..."

I like very much the idea of a parallel universe where I would be an Asian Studies major. Maybe what I really want is to audit all the classes so I don’t have to deal with grades. In any event, I look forward to seeing your NF reads and recommended readings.

[Bill]

@Emily

The only book I've read about the Ainu is Our Land Was a Forest