Issue 67 (February 2017, Volume 12, Number 1)

This first issue of The Japan Society Review in 2017 covers a wide range of topics and media, from history to humour and origami, from academic books to popular films, aiming to bring you some of the latest Japan-related publications and events in the UK.

The monograph by Dr Gordon Daniels offers a comprehensive study of one particular episode of the Anglo-Japanese history, the Japanese Red Cross Mission to Britain during the First World War. As our reviewer Gill Goddard points out, the story of those Japanese nurses and doctors at the Red Cross Hospital at Netley highlights Japan’s contribution to military nursing and medicine in the early decades of the 20th century as well as the nation’s political position at the time.

The recent re-edition of Womansword: What Japanese Words Say about Women by Kittredge Cherry not only marks the 30th anniversary of its original publication, but also provides reviewer Charlotte Goff, and our readers, the opportunity of reflecting on how the Japanese language expresses womanhood.

Focusing on the socio-historical role of laughter and foolery in Japan and their connections with Japanese folklore, mythology and religion, Holy Foolery in the Life of Japan, reviewed by Sir Hugh Cortazzi, complicates the often baseless stereotype that the Japanese do not have a sense of humour.

As its titles indicates, Origami for Mindfulness by Mari Ono, reviewed by Margaret Russo, presents the art craft of origami from a therapeutic perspective, offering step-by-step instructions to create beautiful paper figures as a useful way of releasing stress and concentrating the mind.

Finally, our last reviews of this issue are dedicated to two celebrated films recently released in the UK. The animated film Your name directed by Shinkai Makoto has been a great success within and beyond Japan and our reviewer Poppy Cosyns confirms the beauty of its animation and the appeal of its coming-of-age story.
On a very different topic, Roger Macy reviews Silence, Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of the homonymous novel by Shusaku Endo, which depicts the violent eradication of Christianity in the early Tokugawa period.

Reviewers
Gill Goddard, Charlotte Goff, Sir Hugh Cortazzi, Margaret Russo, Poppy Cosyns and Roger Macy

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