ARCHIVED IN-PERSON EVENT - Japan Society Book Club: Japan Sinks by Sakyo Komatsu

Date
Monday 12 June 2023
Time
7.00pm

Venue
The Japan Society
13 / 14 Cornwall Terrace
London NW1 4QP

Booking Details
Free for Japan Society Members

Book available from Waterstones, Amazon, and Blackwell's 
Japanese version available: Volume 1; Volume 2

The book is also available to borrow digitally for free with sign up at archive.org

The activities of the Japan Society are made possible thanks to the support of its members. This event is free of charge and open to all. We realise that this is a difficult time for many people. However, if you are planning to attend and do not have a membership subscription as an individual or through your employer, please consider making a donation. You can find details of membership and how to join the Japan Society community here.

After dropping anchor for the night near a small island to the south of Japan, a crew of fishermen awaken to find that the island has vanished without a trace. An investigating scientist theorises that the tiny island has succumbed to the same force that divided the Japanese archipelago from the mainland―and that the disastrous shifting of a fault in the Japan Trench has placed the entire country in danger of being swallowed by the sea. Based on rigorous scientific speculation, Japan Sinks recounts a completely credible series of geological events. The story unfolds from multiple points of view, offering fascinating perspectives on the catastrophe's political, social, and psychological effects. Winner of the Mystery Writers of Japan Award and the Seiun Award, this prescient 1973 science-fiction novel foreshadowed the consequences of the 1995 Osaka-Kobe earthquake and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. 

Sakyo Komatsu was one of Japan's leading science-fiction writers, and a television reporter. His other books include Virus and Sayonara Jupiter. Despite prominence in the Japanese science fiction field, Komatsu's work has rarely been translated into English. His most popular work, in Japan and in translation, is the Nippon Chinbotsu (Japan Sinks). It won the 1974 Seiun Award for Long-Form Fiction, sold about four million copies in Japan and was filmed by Toho Eiga as Nippon Chinbotsu (1973) with a very limited release overseas as The Submersion of Japan. Komatsu worked as a magazine editor, factory foreman, and comedy scriptwriter before turning to writing science fiction. Many of his works have been adapted as anime, TV, and movies.

If you have any questions, please call the Japan Society office on 020 3075 1996 or email events@japansociety.org.uk.

Booking Info