The Japan Society Review

By S.D.L. Curry Book one of the author’s new ‘Hidden Trilogy’, the story pursues Catholic Father Joaquim Martinez and his two junior clergy who have defied the shogun’s banishment laws and remained in Japan at great risk to [...] Review by Harry Martin

By Kawakami Hiromi The Nakano Thrift Shop tells the story of newly appointed shop assistant Hitomi, as she gets to know her eccentric group of customers and co-workers. The setting of the thrift shop is a treasure trove of [...] Review by Poppy Cosyns

The first thing you notice about the Keshiki series – the new collection of contemporary Japanese writing from Strangers Press – is its striking beauty. Each of the chapbooks has its own unique design, reflecting [...] Review by Eluned Gramich

By Gitte M. Hansen Through evaluation of media including anime, manga, television drama and literature, Hansen addresses three issue: normative femininity, how it is represented in Japanese culture and how self-harm and eating [...] Review by Charlotte Goff

By Murakami Haruki Murakami’s Men without Women, like its titular predecessor of Ernest Hemmingway, deals not only with isolated masculinity, but also with the delicately balanced equilibrium of heterosexual relationships. Review by Chris Corker

By Furukawa Hideo The story is a self-reflective, at times self-loathing, journey through the protagonist’s experiences of Tokyo, and the three girlfriends that characterise this journey. As is typical of Furukawa, the story [...] Review by Alice French

By Arthur Stockwin and Kweku Ampiah An important new book by two senior British scholars of Japan discussing the main issues facing Japan. Their conclusion is that ‘The new Japan that is emerging…will be more controlled, less democratic [...] Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

Edited by Rachael Hutchinson and Leith Douglas Morton The book is particularly refreshing because it does not tackle Japanese literature from an exclusively chronological perspective. Instead, the essays are grouped thematically, creating sections on space and [...] Review by Alice French

Deceptively simple in appearance yet heavy in content, the Sphinxing Rabbit series of books starting with Her Sovereign Majesty aims to communicate tenets of freedom in an entertaining manner. Review by John O'Sullivan

By Shibasaki Tomoka Recently divorced after a short-lived marriage and still reeling from the death of his father, Taro lives on his own in a one-bed flat in a condemned apartment block. The story follows him and his two [...] Review by Eluned Gramich