Issue 68 (April 2017, Volume 12, Number 2)
Dr Carmen Blacker (1924-2009), scholar and teacher of Japanese religion and folklore, was an important figure in the field of Japanese Studies in the UK. The book Carmen Blacker – Scholar of Japanese Religion, Myth and Folklore: Writings and Reflections, reviewed for this issue of The Japan Society Review by Jim E Hoare, offers new insights into her research and life. This tribute volume not only includes texts written by family members, friends and colleagues, but also reproduces excerpts from Carmen Blacker’s diaries and some of her writings giving ‘a fascinating picture of a very full life’.
Like the pioneer work of Carmen Blacker, the books and films reviewed in the April issue of The Japan Society Review continue to examine a wide-range of topics in Japanese culture and history.
Our film reviewer Roger Macy looks at two very different films dealing with unexplored war-time relationships: the activities of a poets’ group in occupied Taiwan (Le Moulin) and the experiences of an Irish prisoner of war in Japan (A Doctor’s Sword).
Also involving the military past of Japan and its legacy in the present day, Sir Hugh Cortazzi reviews the English translation of Kumagai Naoko’s work The Comfort Women: Historical, Political, Legal and Moral Perspectives which discusses in detail the controversial issue of female sexual slavery in the Japanese colonies during World War II.
In terms of Japanese fiction and literature, this issue brings you reviews of the latest translation of celebrated writer Kawakami Hiromi (Record of a Night Too Brief reviewed by Harry Martin) and the second novel of the young author Shibasaki Tomoka (Spring Garden reviewed by Eluned Gramich), both recently published by Pushkin Press. And to better understand and contextualise these and other works of Japanese modern and contemporary literature, The Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature. reviewed by Alice French, could be a useful and stimulating resource.
Contents
- Record of a Night Too Brief by Kawakami Hiromi
- Spring Garden by Tomoka Shibasaki
- The Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature
- A Doctor’s Sword directed by Gary Lennon
- Le Moulin directed by Huang Ya-li
- The Comfort Women: Historical, Political, Legal and Moral Perspectives by Kumagai Naoko
- Carmen Blacker – Scholar of Japanese Religion, Myth and Folklore: Writings and Reflections
Contributors
Editor
Alejandra Armendariz-Hernandez
Reviewers
Sir Hugh Cortazzi, Alice French, Eluned Gramich, Jim E Hoare, Harry Martin and Roger Macy