The Japan Society Review

The December issue of The Japan Society Review closes a wonderful year of publications, films, performances and events which have brought Japanese culture, arts and history to a UK audience. This issue is especially dedicated to our reviewers, with our most sincere gratitude.

In this issue, The Japan Society Review focuses on four non-fiction publications which explore from different perspectives a series of key events and persons in Japanese history, politics and art.

The August issue of The Japan Society Review opens with reviews of two books, both dealing with the modern history of Japan from a political-diplomatic perspective. This issue’s historical approach also extends to literary fiction.

Looking at the titles of Japanese books recently released in the UK, it is evident that the landscape of Japanese literature translated into English is becoming more and more rich and diverse. The June issue of The Japan Society Review illustrates this trend by reviewing two different collections of short stories.

Jim E Hoare reviews the book Carmen Blacker - Scholar of Japanese Religion, Myth and Folklore: Writings and Reflections. Like the pioneer work of Carmen Blacker, the books and films reviewed in this issue continue to examine a wide-range of topics in Japanese culture and history.

This first issue of The Japan Society Review in 2017 covers a wide range of topics and media, from history to humour and origami, from academic books to popular films, aiming to bring you some of the latest Japan-related publications and events in the UK.

Looking back on the books, films, artists and performances featured in this publication throughout 2016 does give an impression of the healthy level of interest in Japan in Britain. This issue is no different with reviews of new historical fiction, theatre, biography and music.

In June we celebrated the launch of Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits, Volume X, the latest addition to a 25-year project documenting the lives of those involved in the development of the UK-Japan relationship. Volume X is dedicated to all those who have contributed to the series.

In this edition of the Japan Society Review we feature three superstars of contemporary Japanese literature, Furukawa Hideo, Tawara Machi and Wataya Risa, all of whom have achieved both critical and popular acclaim.

For two days in May Japan was the focus of the world’s media as it played host to the 42nd G7 summit. The summit was largely eclipsed by President Obama, who gave a speech including the theme of the hibakusha. But the hibakusha have by no means always been at the centre of the nuclear narrative, and in Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War Susan Southard presents the life stories of five hibakusha.