Issue 62 (April 2016, Volume 11, Number 2)

February’s Review dealt heavily with the aftermath of the Second World War in East Asia.

In this issue, Annabelle Sami reviews a production that brings such issues closer to home. After Hiroshima considers the reception in the UK of the news of the atomic bombings and the way in which they were reported in the media.

On a similar note, Jenny White, reporting on Japan Now, a conference examining contemporary Japanese art and culture, sets the event in the context of the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, protests in Britain against the renewing of Trident, and coverage of the reopening of the Takahama Nuclear Plant in Fukui Prefecture.

Among the stellar cast of speakers at Japan Now was Shimada Soji, darling of the Japanese crime fiction community, and we are delighted to include a review of his The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, recently published in translation by Pushkin Vertigo Press. Shimada writes honkaku mysteries, giving readers the chance to solve the crime before the detective. At the opposite end of the spectrum of Japanese crime writers is Yokoyama Hideo, whose atmospheric and political Six Four has been receiving the kind of critical attention one would normally expect of a new Murakami novel. In her review, Charlotte Goff tells us that it more than lives up to the hype.

One might expect the use of a talking dolphin in a satirical critique of consumer culture to risk overplaying things, but Susan Meehan tells us that Suzuki Atsuto’s The Bite doesn’t lack for subtlety or humour.

Lastly, Annabelle Sami revels in Director Tetsuya Nakashima’s overblown Kamikaze Girls.

As ever, we are extremely grateful to all of our contributors, who give up a considerable amount of time in writing for this publication.

Editor
William Upton

Reviewers
Chris Corker, Charlotte Goff, Susan Meehan, Annabelle Sami, and Jenny White

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