The Japan Society Review

Crossfire is the third novel by Miyuki Miyabe to be published in English. Originally this was a bestseller in Japan and was adapted into a movie in 2000 called Pyrokinesis [クロスファイア]. It was directed by Shusuke Kaneko [金子 修介], and starred Akiko Yada [矢田亜希子] and Hideaki Ito [伊藤 英明]. Miyabe is a full time writer and has received numerous literary prizes including the Naoki Prize.

By Sir Hugh Cortazzi. In Images of Japan 1885-1912: Scenes, Tales and Flowers, Sir Hugh Cortazzi provides a compelling introduction to the multiple forms of visual material published in Japan for mostly European and American consumption. His carefully researched books is a much-needed addition to this rich and yet surprisingly under explored field.

Review by Michael Sullivan In Japan there is a curious word play regarding the 29th day of the month in Japanese, put into just its number components it creates the word ni-kyuu [二九] which is the same as niku [肉] which means meat. So, quite often many people can be found eating meat on this […]

The Devil’s Whisper [魔術はささやく], By Miyuki Miyabe [宮部 みゆき], translated by Deborah Stuhr Iwabuchi, Kodansha International, 2007 (originally published in 1989, Tokyo), 264 pages, £8.99, ISBN 4770031173. Review by Michael Sullivan. Miyuki Miyabe was born in 1960 in Tokyo, she has been writing since the 1980s and a number of her books have been adapted […]

By Yukinobu Hoshino, translated by Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, Hiromi Uchida and Timothy Clark, British Museum Press, 2011, 264 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0714124650, £14.99. Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi. This is the English version of an original Japanese Manga book. It was translated into English by Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere with Uchida Hiromi and Timothy Clark. It has […]

By Lian Hearn, Quercus Publishing, 2011, 400 pages, ISBN 978-0-85738-297-9; £12.99. Review by Susan Meehan. Blossoms and Shadows is an absolutely riveting piece of historical fiction which brings alive a fascinating period of late nineteenth century Japanese history. The book begins in 1857 and spans ten years, which are the twilight of the Bakufu (the […]

Directed by Koichi Omiya (大宮浩一), 2011, 75 minutes Review by Susan Meehan. This documentary is the first to have been made in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami which wrecked the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan on 11 March 2011. Tohoku is the land of Omiya’s birth and his parents’ home so the disaster […]

Directed by Yojiro Takita [滝田洋二郎], 2008, 131 minutes. Review by Michael Sullivan. Departures is based on an autobiographical book by Aoki Shinmon [新門青木] and features Masahiro Motoki [本木雅弘] as Daigo Kobayashi, a cellist who after losing his job moves back to his hometown and starts a new job helping ‘departures.’ In 2009 it won an […]

By Taichi Yamada [山田 太一], translated by Michael Emmerich, Faber and Faber Limited, 2006 (originally published in 1989, Tokyo), 183 pages, £8.99, ISBN 0571229719. Review by Michael Sullivan Taichi Yamada [山田 太一] was born in 1934 in Tokyo, he has worked as a screenwriter for television and film. In 1987 his novel Strangers [異人たちとの夏] was […]

By Giles Milton, Hodder and Stoughton, 2003, 399 pages, £7.99, ISBN 0340794682. Review by Michael Sullivan. Using extensive research of letters and other documents of the seventeenth century, this book tells the fascinating story of the first Englishman and the first English factory in Japan. In 1620 William Adams, otherwise known as Miura Anjin [三浦按針], […]