Convenience Store Woman Written by Sayaka Murata | Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori When I was living in Inagi-shi, a once-upon-a-time small city now swallowed up by the swell of suburban Tokyo, I would enter the convenience store next to my apartment every morning and buy a sugar-soaked bun to walk to the station with. The clerk who served me each and every...
Written by Yoko Ogawa | Translated by Stephen Snyder As a twenty-something who has, not for a moment, put learning and discovery behind him, I have spent several years now glued quite earnestly to YouTube as a means of studying things that escaped me as a child. Much like the housekeeper of The Housekeeper and the Professor, one of those things I missed out on was...
So You Want to Teach English in Asia? The most popular countries in which to teach in East Asia are easily China, Korea, and Japan. Each one has its pros and cons with regards to the jobs available, working standards, cultural rules, and a hundred other areas you should be aware of. Having taught English in all three and having known many people who have done the...
Written by Yoko Tawada | Translated by Margaret Mitsutani It can take decades for us to begin to see where dystopian novelists were coming from when they wrote their stories. When their ideas start to pop up in real life, we feel a shaken sense of awe at their powers of foresight, overshadowed by the dread that they were right. They were never meant to be right...
While most of Japan is world-renowned for Zen gardens and temples, Tokyo is a bustling metropolis city. So whether you’re an avid anime fan and have always dreamed of visiting the capital, or you just want to do some sightseeing – here is your complete guide to 24 hours in Tokyo. The beauty of most Asian cities like Seoul, Hong Kong, and Taipei lies in seeing them at...
Welcome to our new bi-monthly run down of the newest books coming out of Asia. There are some really great books out soon and we’re excited to share them with you. Full reviews of several of the novels below will be coming out shortly so sign up at the bottom for notifications and be the first to receive the July/August list. The Last Children of Tokyo Japanese...
Translated by Anne Ishii For the bulk of his career, fifty-four-year-old manga artist Gengoroh Tagame has focussed his creative energy into producing gay erotica. He has been a driving force for gay men in the world of Japanese art, influencing countless gay writers and artists. This year he has come out with something far more introspective and thematically...
Translated by: Bodhi Fishman Japan Today Wherever you were born and raised, you know that World War II changed everything. You may not have been alive before WWII to know this first hand, but you studied history and you spoke to your grandparents who likely lived through a recession, and possibly a subsequent economic boom depending on where you are from. You know...
Translated by Jocelyn Allen Back in the summer of 2016 I was walking through Tokyo, somewhere near the Shibuya district, when I stumbled across a Gay Pride parade marching gleefully, cheering and singing under the crisp blue June sky. It was a wonderful sight, and filled the air with electric vibrancy and colour. A few weeks later, a student of mine at a Tokyo...
In many ways, the women of East Asian literature are the prominent voices of their cultures today. In Japan and Korea especially, those writers who have the greatest clarity of mind and creative spirits are insightful, fascinating, and imaginative women. Women who speak for the sidelined and the unrepresented, women who show us our lives and our cultures from an...
