The Japan Society Review is published on a bimonthly basis. Each issue covers a selection of Japan-related books and films, as well as theatre and stage productions. Its purpose is to inform, entertain and encourage readers to explore the works for themselves.
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3 February 2012
by Yukinobu Hoshino, translated by Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, Hiromi Uchida and Timothy Clark, British Museum Press, 2011, 264 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0714124650, £14.99 Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi This is the English version of an original Japanese Manga book. It was translated into English by Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere with Uchida Hiromi and Timothy Clark. It has [...]
2 February 2012
by Lian Hearn, Quercus Publishing, 2011, 400 pages, ISBN 978-0-85738-297-9, £12.99 Review by Ali Muskett Blossoms and Shadows by Lian Hearn (real name Gillian Rubinstein), is set in 19th century Japan, and is narrated by fictional character Tsuru. The daughter of a doctor, Tsuru is raised in a world of medicine where, due to cultural [...]
1 February 2012
directed by Koichi Omiya (大宮浩一), 2011, 75 minutes Review by Susan Meehan This documentary is the first to have been made in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami which wrecked the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan on 11 March 2011. Tohoku is the land of Omiya’s birth and his parents’ home so the disaster [...]
1 February 2012
directed by Yojiro Takita [滝田洋二郎], 2008, 131 minutes Review by Michael Sullivan Departures is based on an autobiographical book by Aoki Shinmon [新門青木] and features Masahiro Motoki [本木雅弘] as Daigo Kobayashi, a cellist who after losing his job moves back to his hometown and starts a new job helping ‘departures.’ In 2009 it won an [...]
1 February 2012
directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi [米林 宏昌], 2012, 91 minutes, Released on DVD 9th January 2012. Review by Michael Sullivan In 1952 The Borrowers was written by Mary Norton, since then it has been adapted for the screen several times in America and the UK. As recently as December 2011 a version of The Borrowers starring [...]
1 February 2012
by Taichi Yamada [山田 太一], translated by Michael Emmerich, Faber and Faber Limited, 2006 (originally published in 1989, Tokyo), 183 pages, £8.99, ISBN 0571229719. Review by Michael Sullivan Taichi Yamada [山田 太一] was born in 1934 in Tokyo, he has worked as a screenwriter for television and film. In 1987 his novel Strangers [異人たちとの夏] was [...]
1 February 2012
by Giles Milton, Hodder and Stoughton, 2003, 399 pages, £7.99, ISBN 0340794682 Review by Michael Sullivan Using extensive research of letters and other documents of the seventeenth century, this book tells the fascinating story of the first Englishman and the first English factory in Japan. In 1620 William Adams, otherwise known as Miura Anjin [三浦按針], [...]
1 February 2012
directed by Hirotsugu Kawasaki (川﨑博嗣), 2011, 98 minutes Review by Susan Meehan This anime opens with scenes of verdant ancient Japan. Amidst scenes of temples, shrines, mountains, paddy fields and old towns samurai, representing humanity, are fighting huge monsters with blazing red eyes otherwise known as “oni.” One is enormous, rivalling Godzilla in terms of [...]
1 February 2012
directed by Yuya Ishii (石井裕也), 2011, 110 minutes. Review by Susan Meehan Director Yuya Ishii is only 27 and has already released a number of films including last year’s hit, the hilarious and poignant Sawako Decides (川の底からこんにちは). A Man With Style is a bittersweet family drama which has at its centre two fifty-something school friends [...]
1 February 2012
directed by Shinji Aoyama (青山 真治), 2011, 119 minutes. Review by Susan Meehan Tokyo Park, based on a novel by Shoji Yukiya [小路幸也], opens with university student and aspiring photographer Koji, played by rising heart-throb Haruma Miura (三浦 春馬), taking photos in a Tokyo park. He directs his lens towards a beautiful woman pushing a [...]
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