The Japan Society Review

Directed by Suzuki Atsuto 37-year old university friends Sunako and Nachi are working out in a gym in Tokyo, lamenting to grow old without a love interest. Youthful Sunako is paying huge amounts of money for a range of beauty [...] Review by Susan Meehan

By Shiraishi Kazufumi This novel by Naoki Prize winning author Shiraishi Kazufumi begins explaining that the ensuing work was discovered after the sudden death of his friend Mr K. What follows is mostly nihilistic ranting. Review by Poppy Cosyns

By Sir Hugh Cortazzi This volume marks a new high point in this excellent series which profiles people, organizations, and themes related to Anglo-Japanese engagement. The tenth volume is bursting with energy, containing [...] Review by Sean Curtin

By Higuchi Kazunori Foreigners who only meet a few officials and business executives, may foster the idea that the Japanese have no sense of humour. In fact as Higuchi points out laughter and fun have played a significant role in [...] Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Ogura Kazuo In this survey Ambassador Ogura looks at Japan’s relations with China and Korea since the earliest times. He notes that previous studies have concentrated on the ideology of the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity [...] Review by Hugh Cortazzi

Hamlet and Japan was an ambitious attempt to cover aspects of Shakespeare’s extensive history in Japan through talks, music and performances all in the space of a few hours. Review by Susan Meehan

By Matsumoto Seicho The story begins with a hardworking and dedicated government official receiving the news of his wife’s untimely death while he is away on a business trip in Kobe. This is followed by the proceeding twists [...] Review by Harry Martin

By Wataya Risa Written by a nineteen year old student while she was still at university, the bestselling I Want to Kick You in the Back is a slim, deceptively simple tale about teenage life and love. It won the biannual [...] Review by Eluned Gramich

By Furukawa Hideo Horses, Horses was first published in the Shinchō journal in July 2011, and therefore can be read as an almost immediate autobiographical response to the 3.11 tragedy. As a Fukushima native whose [...] Review by Alice French

By Tawara Machi Salad Anniversary, is a delightfully small-sized book, with a washed pink cover, light but solid. And Tawara Machi’s poems are short but lively and personal. They feel more like an album of small photos telling a [...] Review by Chris Beckett