The Japan Society Review

By Ayatsuji Yukito Despite revitalizing the classic murder mystery genre in Japan, The Decagon House Murders is the first of Ayatsuji Yukito’s works to be translated into English. This is surprising considering how steeped the novel is in the Western “whodunit” tradition. And yet, the world Ayatsuji crafts is also distinctly Japanese. Review by Cameron Bassindale

By Nakajima Kyoko Forced to deliver their emotional payload within a compact format, time and again Nakajima lulls us into a sense of comforting security, only to pull a killer twist on us. What we think we know is always only half the story. Review by Laurence Green

This exhibition focuses primarily on how kimonos reflected major socio-economic shifts in the Edo period (1603-1868), a time which witnessed a rapidly changing consumerist culture in Japan. Review by Fiona Collins

By Winifred Bird In this book, journalist Winifred Bird eats her way from one end of the country to the other in search of the hidden stories of Japan's wild foods, the people who pick them, and the places whose histories they've shaped. Review by Katie Croft

By Robert Whiting As journalist and author who has lived in Tokyo on and off for more than fifty years, Robert Whiting looks back over that vast spread of years comes in the form of a fascinating memoir, interweaving his personal narrative into the unfolding backdrop of Japan’s own great journey through time. Review by Laurence Green

By John D. Person In this book, John D. Person explores the lives of two of the most notorious right-wing intellectuals responsible for leading such attacks in prewar and wartime Japan: Minoda Muneki (1894-1946) and Mitsui Koshi (1883-1953) of the Genri Nippon (Japan Principle) Society. Review by Francesco Cioffo

A new year has begun, and with this issue of The Japan Society Review in February 2021 we start the 16th year of our publication. We hope so far our readers have enjoyed discovering new books, films and events and learning about Japan. None of this would have been possible without our fantastic reviewers so we want to open this issue with a big thank you to all of them for their help.

By David Watts Barton Japan from Anime to Zen is the latest in a long line of guidebooks and travelogues that attempt to answer that eternal ‘why?’ we have all posed at one point or other when considering what exactly it is that fascinates us so much about Japan. Review by Laurence Green

By Hashizume Bun The Day the Sun Fell is an accessible emotional thriller through which we follow Hashizume and her family and friends as they try to recover from the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Review by Elizabeth Chappell

By Robert Morton In this well-illustrated biography of Harry Parkes, Robert Morton records his life and achievements, as well as his personality in a balanced and judicious way, and with a biographer’s voice that is an attractive mixture of chatty enthusiasm and rigorous scholarship. Review by David Warren