Issue 21 (July 2009, Volume 4, Number 3)

As we zoom towards the July heat, this issue is packed full of interesting books and films to catch up with during the summer holiday period.

Susan Meehan looks at the highly readable “Japan through writers’ eyes,” which reminds us what fantastic prose Japan has inspired from the pens of both foreign and indigenous authors. For those who love to discuss such writers we launched “Japan Society Book Club” in June which meets regularly (for more information see the Society website or e-mail: events@japansociety.org.uk).

Sir Hugh Cortazzi dissects the thesis of Hans Brinckmann’s new book “Showa Japan: The Post-War Golden Age and Its Troubled Legacy.” It paints rather gloomy future scenarios for the land of the rising sun.

Fumiko Halloran analyzes an insightful new Japanese language book on the surprising economic woes of many of Japan’s best educated people in “Highly Educated Working Poor” (Ko Gakureki Wakingu Puua). Amazingly only about fifty percent of recent Japanese doctoral graduates in humanities and social sciences find fulltime employment and these figures were before the recent economic downturn.

Our movie/DVD offering looks at an acclaimed German film, “Kirschblueten- Hanami” (Cherry Blossoms: Hanami), which is set in Japan and Bavaria. We also explore a fascinating new book on one of Japan’s most Bohemian and contradictory modern artists, Leonard Foujita (Fujita Tsuguharu).

With summer in the air we assess the feasibility of adding “A Japanese Touch for your Garden” before Helen McCarthy looks ahead to the fall with the visually stunning “Autumn Colours of Kyoto” book.

We also ponder the historically complex relationship between swordsmanship, Zen and calligraphy in “Ken Zen Sho, The Zen Calligraphy and painting of Yamaoka Tesshū.”

On a more light- heartened note (and by popular demand) Jayne Kerry reviews another paper-folding publication, this time “A Kaleidoscope of 28 Decorative Origami Creations.”

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