The Japan Society Review

By Rana Mitter As the title implies Mitter looks at the conflict from a Chinese perspective and his main focus is understandably on China and the impact of events elsewhere on China. He has put together a [...] Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Haruki Murakami The book reads more like a fleshed-out short story than a true novel. This is giving the work a refreshing simplicity and leanness that Murakami hasn’t adopted since his early works such as [...] Review by Chris Corker

By Inoue Hisashi The structure of the book involves a tale within a tale, a jigsaw compilation of the mysterious story-teller’s persona, an old man living in the mountain cave of the title, and that of his avid listener the narrator. Review by Jack Cooke

Edited by Yuka Igarashi Granta Literary Magazine has released an edition focusing exclusively on Japan and its culture. Combining fiction and photo exhibitions, this volume offers something exciting and unfamiliar for those [...] Review by Chris Corker

By Edogawa Rampo The detective, Akechi Kogorō is very much moulded in the image of Sherlock Holmes, on the one hand quick and ingenious, on the other eccentric and haughty. When taken to an extreme, Kogorō’s lack of humility [...] Review by Chris Corker

By Sharon Kinsella This sociological study contains interesting material about aspects of the life of young women in modern Japan. The reader needs to bear in mind that Japan remains a male chauvinist society and Japanese women [...] Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Hisaki Matsuura The story is an intriguing one: while wondering through Tokyo backstreets after an unfulfilling romantic affair with a married woman, Otsuki is surprised to bump into one of his old colleagues, Sugimoto, representing [...] Review by Chris Corker

By Nancy Broadbent Casserley This book is based on the Parkes collection of Washi, part of the collections of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. It contains colour reproductions of a wide variety of Japanese handmade papers. Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

By Ronald Searle The book tells his story from the fall of Singapore to his survival against the odds and eventual liberation. The text is fairly limited allowing the many finely drawn sketches to tell their own gruesome tale. Review by Sean Curtin

By Mark Peattie, Edward Drea & Hans van de Ven (eds); Franco David Macri Apart from expert analyses of the Chinese and Japanese armies in 1937, the studies concentrate mainly on the war in the north and central belt of China, where Chinese industry and population were [...] Reviews by Ian Nish